Job Hunting - Day 1

"Good morning, VIETNAM!!!" - such a classic movie.

Seriously, happy Friday to all of you! 

As the title says, today's the first (serious) day of my job hunting. I've tried to job hunt before, but I've been quite lazy and uninterested in said job hunting. With my recent graduation and a grandiose $50k of debt (thank you, high quality college education) hanging over my head, I can't afford to spend any more time lounging about. 

The truth of the matter is, I don't know what I'm doing! Although, that can be said of any recent college graduate, I'm the first in my family to have made it this far. I'm the first with a formal education in my family (whether I'm truly educated or not, that can be debated), and I'm the first to be seeking a career, not a job. It's a bizarre feeling that I'm the first in the family to make a positive impact in my family.

So today, I set up a LinkdIn account, to portray my more professional side(???, I don't know what to say), as well as erasing (well, to the extent of my power) any dubious "events" on my social media (I really don't have any...I think, but I can never be too safe, I suppose). Oh, and I've got a résumé down. And that's all I got.

Not. Very. Productive.

The problem lies with me - "What do I to be? Who do I want to be?" I've been so used to being the busboy, the landscaper, the cashier, or the manufacturer that I don't know what else I could be! I can't see myself being in the upper echelons of the workforce here in the US. I'm too accustomed to being a blue-collar worker that becoming a white-collar worker seems an impossible goal to achieve.

I must reflect on what I want for myself career-wise and go from there. In the mean time, I'll be looking for postings online and nearby and hope to the Good Lord Upstairs that I can find something that I want and can do and can be immensely satisfying. It's such a shame to end today's post on a bummer note, but on the positive side, this also is a good exercise in whittling out what I don't want to do for my career, which is nice. I'll update you guys this upcoming Monday. Until then, fellow readers!

P.S.: I've gotta find a new name for you guys - "Readers" is too generic for my taste. You guys need a cool name or something.

Setbacks and Unfriendings

Ugh. I had been hoping to kickstart the beginnings of August with a running start. I spent so much time in July being so lax/lazy with moving forward in life, that I wanted to change that with the beginnings of this month, August.

What I've gotten to do in the past few day is Spring Cleaning. IN %@#!*^ JULY. All thanks to my family feeling the need to clean up our modest apartment. I don't know why or where this is coming from, but since I'm living with the family for now, I am respectfully helping them out (I was adamant on opposing this). It'll all be over in another day or two and then I can my plans for the month of August.

So for now, I've got to say, it's a bizarre sensation to know I've unfriended so many people. Ninety-five percent (95%), to be more precise. It's nice to see my Facebook and Instagram feeds devoid of such pointless and unoriginal posts (or in FB, sharing lame stories and memes). Surprisingly, I haven't gotten any flack from those who noticed I've unfriended them (Will and Daren, the podcast I mentioned in the previous post, got lots of flack for unfriending the majority of their friends on FB). The next step now is to find more established people to follow - find sources of inspiration that can challenge me to grow and develop, as a person and as content creator. I know I'm not the most creative person out there, but I've learned that I'm capable of doing so. As of now, I don't see myself making any money off of my creative endeavors, but I do like to learn new skills and, more importantly, it's so insanely satisfying to know that I can do these types of things and receive positive feedback.

Well, at least to me, which is why I'm doing this to begin with. But I'm a few days behind. Oh, well, tomorrow's a new day, right? Until next time, fellow readers!

I'm Back!!! (for the Umpteenth Time Now...)

After having two somewhat surprising posts sprinkled in a desolate landscape of nothingness (I'm talking about California Institute of Abnormal Arts and moving to Tumblr), I've decided to kickstart this blog post again, in hopes to become more consistent with this. 

It began with She Didn't Text Back, a podcast in which two friends, Will and Daren, discuss anything and everything that comes to their minds. In one of their more recent episodes, they had talked about how they had to remove all the clutter in their lives in order to make room and make more time for their passions, comedy and music (Will and Daren, respectively). One of the few things they've done was removing just about everyone from their friends list on all social media platforms and instead, replacing those friends by following people that inspire them to do greater.

I have to say, it's a pretty ballsy move, since they definitely got a lot of flack for doing so, but that advice stuck out to me. I want make room and time for my passions too (namely music and writing), and having so many people weigh me down isn't helping. Furthermore, I don't even know over half of these people *personally*!

They are people I don't know at all!

So why am I so caught up on trying to befriend them? At first, I had decided to delete my Facebook. Though after hearing that particular episode of She Didn't Text Back (ep. 9 or 10, I forget), I began to realize, "It's not me, it's them!" And so, as a first measure, I've decided to remove 95% of the people from my social media platforms - these are people that don't do anything to help me, nor do I do anything to help them. Essentially, they are dead relationships and I don't want them in my life anymore. If they want to still be connected (and I don't know why would they, considering our tenuous connections) they can find me here, on Instagram, and Tumblr

Tomorrow, I will write more about what the plan is for the rest of August and more importantly, what I'll be doing next to get my life going forward again.

"One Sky, One Destiny"

"Thinking of you, wherever you are...There are many worlds, but they share the same sky - one sky, one destiny."

As I've posted something earlier this year, I have signed up for an Instagram account. For the most part, I've been quite lax with my activity, having developed a modest following and such, but I suppose I could put more effort into it. However, that's not the point. The point is that I try to interact with others and I feel that there are several people that I've taken a liking to, mostly because we are able to practically have exchange conversations through the comment sections. As I have more conversations and learn more about the other people that I follow, it always takes me by surprise that some of the people that I interact with are from different parts of the world. Scotland, the Philippines, Canada...the countries go on! Of course, I shouldn't be so surprised that this is the case - this is the modern age of the Internet, after all. So why does it take me by surprise that it does?

Perhaps it has to do that there is a personal connection (albeit a small, distant connection), since users that I follow and converse with regularly become more than just a clever user name and a series of random photographs. They become nurses, gamers, photographers, dog lovers, celebrators of life, and so much more! I guess this can be compared to the random strangers in our daily lives. Maybe that's why I'm always taken aback when I learn more about the people I follow or who follow me. They become a person, with hopes, fears, hopes, and despairs, (although the Internet always shows the best of us, never the worst of us). I can add a face, a personality, and perhaps if I'm ever lucky enough, a voice to those so far away from where I'm from. 

 

But it isn't just technology that connects us, as the quote reveals. There are some many things we share together. The sun, the moon, the stars, the skies, the world, the human condition. Only we forget to that we do, since it seems that we're always drowning in a sea of our own problems to remember that our lives are much more than the forever now. I know I'm at fault at this from time to time. Which is why I'm writing this now - I had to be reminded of those connections. The hope is that I (or rather, we) don't forget this simple truth and the we continually reach out and impact the lives of those around us, both near and far away.