Double Dream Hands!

Now that I ranted about how I'm never going to get a job, I GOT A JOB! I feel like an idiot, but a happy idiot. 

I'll be working with homeless teenagers to help them secure stable housing, as well as working on their goals with them and connecting them with resources within the community. I'm so excited! I'm nervous too, but I know I'll be good at it once I get into the flow of things. 

Anyway, I'm watching Ellen, so I gotta go.

Rolling in the Deep

Well, I've decided that it is time to resurrect the ol' blog. I just read over the few posts that I made in the past, and they still made me feel angry. Hmm... that probably isn't good.

Anyway, as of right now, I am a college graduate with a ton of student loans to pay back and no job. There are few things more frustrating than this for me. I spent so much money, time, and energy on my education. I know that I'm qualified to work in the Human Services field. Buuut since I haven't been working in the field for 35 years, it's next to impossible to find a job doing what I want to do. This is only one of the negative reprecussions of cutting funding to nonprofits and service organizations. Frankly, it's one of the less negative repercussions. Services are being cut, and people aren't getting the help they need.  Where are our values?

I've been on quite a few job interviews, one of which I should be hearing back about tomorrow. Honestly, I'm so used to hearing "no" at this point that I can't expect anything else. I know that's not "positive thinking" (mom and Pamela will be so ashamed) but staying positive is extremely difficult in the face of constant rejection. The up-side is that I'm experiencing something that a lot of my future clients will be experiencing, which gives me some insight into what it's like. What is it like? AWFUL. 

Other than the lack of paid employment, I can't really complain about life. My family is awesome, my friends are wonderful, and my boyfriend is lovely! I'm very fortunate to have such a strong support system. Still, the stress of wondering whether or not I'll be able to afford my share of the rent and bills is enough to make me pretty depressed. 

In other news, I'm slooowly learning to play guitar. I can't wait to be somewhat decent at it. I'm sincerely looking forward to writing songs again and singing more. Til then it's practice, practice, practice!

Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with my blog this time around (not that many people read it.) I'm still wary about posting the link on facebook, because there are people who would be better off not reading it... Haha. 

Anyway, that's it for now. Here's to change!

Jamie

Tuesday Night Nonsense

Hello again.

If this week was going by any more slowly, I think I would run away. Maybe to Hawaii... I'd need to go somewhere warm. The fact that it is only Tuesday is inconceivable to me.

Regardless, it is Tuesday, and I am stuck.

The only set plan that I have for spring break thus far is that I am going to make it a priority to spend an entire day at the spa with a good book. I don't care that it is expensive, and I don't care that I could be doing something more productive with my time. This quarter has absolutely drained me, and I deserve some pampering!

In other news, Friday will be my last day at my internship. I am definitely excited about the amount of time I will be getting back next quarter because of this, but I'm also a bit sad. I really care about the kids and moms that I've been working with, and it is going to be difficult not to be up to date on what is going on with them. At least I will still have my one-on-one sessions, though. This kid is pretty amazing and very unique... I'm still trying to wrap my head around her.

This time tomorrow, I will be officially finished with Human Services for the quarter... This means that I will also be finished with group presentations. THANK GOD/ALLAH/BUDDHA/RICKY GERVAIS. The group presentations definitely contributed to sending me over the edge this quarter. I will be very happy this time tomorrow. Then, I have dance and internship Thursday, class and internship Friday, and a final on Monday. And then I'm DONE!

As a somewhat premature celebratory gesture, this  Friday night will involve delicious food and adult beverages at New York Pizza with the roomie. Wooo!

So yes, enough of this (again) Nyquil inspired chatter.... (yup, still sick.) Have an excellent remainder of the week!

Here we go again...

If there is one thing I will absolutely not miss about college, it is group projects.

I'm currently in the process of working on two group projects, with two seperate groups. Both are driving me a little bit insane.

The members in one of my groups expect me to do pretty much everything. In fact, I have organized pretty much all of the important stuff for our project. Then, I go to class, and they tell me that they're feeling nervous about our presentation because they don't think we have enough good information. Um... Maybe you should take on some responsibility and DO SOMETHING. They practically confronted me about it, which I thought was ridiculous. I've organized everything so far (including an interview, in which one of my lovely group members grabbed my prepared questions from my hands, and proceeded to ask each one of them. Awesome.) I just got an e-mail that said they are meeting tomorrow to work on it. It would have been nice to have been involved in choosing a time to meet, since I will be at internship all day tomorrow, and won't be able to participate. But hey, maybe this will give them a chance to redeem themselves and actually do some work.  SO frustrating.

My other group members are lazy. Last week, I had to go up in front of the class and write down what our group had discussed. Then, my professor asked someone from each group to come up and explain everything. I told my group that one of them could do it since I had already done my share of work. None of them even considered it. My professor heard me, and said "this should be someone different from the person who wrote on the board." Still, nothing. My professor looked at me and said, "sorry, Jamie. I tried." They're even lazy when the professor is sitting right next to them!! Then, I get an e-mail from one of my group members today asking if I can send her my paper so that she can just read off of it for her part of the presentation. I told her that I wasn't planning on it, and that everyone needs to do some of the work. She texted me today and said the the professor told her everyone was supposed to go off of my work. What kind of project is this?! I am so done.

No wonder I'm sick all the time.. I'm doing the work of 6 other people on top of what I already have to do.

You call yourselves "Professionals." Really?

Pissed.

Nyquil Inspired Rambling

Nothing interesting is going on, I'm just waiting for the Nyquil to kick in so my throat will stop trying to murder me while I sleep.

I'm heading home for the weekend, and I'm really excited. Rylee (Ian's niece) is turning a year old this weekend, which is kind of insane. I'm looking forward to seeing her. I'm also going to get to see Trevor and maybe Jaeson (I never really know until he either shows up or he doesn't...)

Only a couple of weeks left in this quarter... Thank goodness. 14 hours a week of internship on top of 19 credits of senior level classes is definitely not good for my health or wellbeing. I think I'll be taking 18 or 19 credits next quarter too, but I won't have an internship. It's bittersweet, but if I'm being honest, more sweet than bitter. I really do enjoy my internship (at a transitional housing program for women and children), but I also enjoy having time to do things other than homework and internship. I'm going to get to keep meeting weekly with the kid I've been working with, though, which is awesome. I think I can handle an hour a week of therapeutic play. Hell, I think I need it.

Anyway, on to the complaining segment of this blog... You know what sucks? When people don't pay you back for lending them money when they would have been completely screwed without it. I'm no pushover, however. I will be as annoying and naggy as I need to be until I get my money back. I will see my $30.00 again. GRR.

I think that's about it for now... I'm going into my Nyquil induced coma. When I wake up, it will be Friday. Woohoo!

Why isn't it Friday?

It's been awhile since I've had a blog. I expect that this will become a place where I ramble about random events that take place from day to day, and will probably also serve as an outlet for occasional, somewhat articulate complaining.

If I were you, I probably wouldn't read it... It's likely to become pretty annoying.

I guess I do have some interesting thoughts and ideas occasionally. We'll see.