Today I went to a slightly different area from where I live to go check out some possible places to work/ volunteer for the rest of the summer. (If any of you have any ideas, please let me know.) It's not terribly far; only about half an hour by public transportation.
It was a long day. I got a lot of pretty yarn, two new books, an interesting lunch, and a tour of a historical place where I may volunteer later this summer. (Before you get on my back for buying new books, I did finish the book for this week. The review will be on Friday.)
The book shop was the last place I went - it was a spur of the moment sort of thing. I didn't know whether they were hiring. They hadn't posted anything saying they were. This was the first time I'd ever been in that used book shop in my life. I decided it was worth a shot because... well... USED BOOKS! It turned out to be a tiny store cramped with more books than could probably fit in the space. Well, let me rephrase that. Barnes and Noble probably has more books than this place, but this local shop is doing its level best to show how it can make up the difference. It's tiny, it's cramped, and I got two good-looking books for under $10 because USED BOOKS! (I may sell back old books there, actually).
Anyway, they don't need any help around there, but as I was finally heading back to the subway, someone said my name. Turns out it was one of my friends from the Turkey trip. By that, I don't mean he's a kid from my church or a kid from my college. He's from Turkey. He showed us around Istanbul last summer. And he's staying not terribly far away from me for a while during the summer.
It was one of the spectacular moments where I realized that if I hadn't taken the exact amount of time in the book shop that I did - if I hadn't gone into the bookstore at all - then I would have had no idea that he would be anywhere near me. THIS IS CRAZY.
That is my story for today. I hope you like it.
Showing posts with label job. Show all posts
Showing posts with label job. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Friday, March 21, 2014
On Spring Break
While most college students have returned to school this week, I go to a school with a January-Term and a break after, so I'm leaving in the morning. HUZZAH!
Well, not really. Since I'm pretty much the only one from my hometown who has break this week (that I know of and who I am also willing to hang out with), it will be a week mostly of dealing with a lot of reading and writing. For homework. (Not for pleasure, unfortunately). Also, internships. The stereotype, of course, is that a group of my college friends who live near me would gather and go party at the beach, but that's probably not going to happen either - if we do hang out, we'll be going downtown for a day or so because we're nerds and there's a lot of museums in our area.
Maybe that should be my spring break goal... go to a museum every day...
But, alas, HOMEWORK! GAH!
In reality, my college spring break, at least this year, is going to be fueled by getting stuff done - catching up on studying, practicing for choir tour, sending a few forms to various places, getting a haircut and stuff. So, in other words, attempting to be a responsible adult. It sounds horribly dull, I know. Maybe I should try and blog every day to make it more interesting.
There is also another thing that I might be doing in April: Camp NaNoWriMo. I haven't decided whether I want to do it yet - so far, my attempts to write novels during college have wound up falling flat, by a lot. Maybe I should do Camp Finish The Novel You Started Three Years Ago Because You're Still Only Halfway Done. Or Camp Finish Writing The Story You've Been Working On For Five Years But Don't Want To Stop Because The Character Means A Lot And You Want To Bring Closure To The Story.
Intrepid readers, what camp of your own invention would you attend? Right now, I'm attending Camp Allergy, and I'm not having a very good time.
Well, not really. Since I'm pretty much the only one from my hometown who has break this week (that I know of and who I am also willing to hang out with), it will be a week mostly of dealing with a lot of reading and writing. For homework. (Not for pleasure, unfortunately). Also, internships. The stereotype, of course, is that a group of my college friends who live near me would gather and go party at the beach, but that's probably not going to happen either - if we do hang out, we'll be going downtown for a day or so because we're nerds and there's a lot of museums in our area.
Maybe that should be my spring break goal... go to a museum every day...
But, alas, HOMEWORK! GAH!
In reality, my college spring break, at least this year, is going to be fueled by getting stuff done - catching up on studying, practicing for choir tour, sending a few forms to various places, getting a haircut and stuff. So, in other words, attempting to be a responsible adult. It sounds horribly dull, I know. Maybe I should try and blog every day to make it more interesting.
There is also another thing that I might be doing in April: Camp NaNoWriMo. I haven't decided whether I want to do it yet - so far, my attempts to write novels during college have wound up falling flat, by a lot. Maybe I should do Camp Finish The Novel You Started Three Years Ago Because You're Still Only Halfway Done. Or Camp Finish Writing The Story You've Been Working On For Five Years But Don't Want To Stop Because The Character Means A Lot And You Want To Bring Closure To The Story.
Intrepid readers, what camp of your own invention would you attend? Right now, I'm attending Camp Allergy, and I'm not having a very good time.
Friday, February 28, 2014
On Big Things
I recently had a cause to put together my resume, and I've noticed something about things like that: there is work experience and there is life experience.
I didn't have a real job for most of high school. So far in college, I've only been able to knit a few things for a sale. It's safe to say that I haven't had Official Work Experience since 2012, when I worked at a summer camp at my dojang. When I look at the Work Experience part of my resume, I feel kind of lame - one of my biggest fears is that I'm going to get trapped into a vicious cycle where my lack of work experience, especially in the field where I'm applying, prevents me from getting hired. Generally speaking, companies that need writer-type people don't hire people who are lifeguards, camp counselors, and/ or knitters. Even if those people are blogging novelists who can translate Homer. (I think I'm learning that translating Homer might not be the most important life skill I acquire in college).
At the same time, I've also noticed that there is another kind of experience - the kind that doesn't go onto your resume. What the hiring committee might not see is that I'm a second degree black belt, I know classical Greek, I can knit in two different directions (I'm assuming that the hiring committee might not even know that there are multiple ways to knit... but that's not the point), that I hiked to Machu Picchu and haggled at the Grand Bazaar in the same summer, or that I've been to seven different countries.
I don't think a resume says everything about a person - I don't know if it's supposed to. At the same time, I think there should be more room to provide more context for someone's abilities - maybe the reason I didn't work the summer of 2011 is because I was traveling to Europe, traveling to help people, and learning how to act. Work experience is important, yes, but so is life experience. Hopefully everyone gets the chance to go out of their hometown - and if they do, they should take it.
Do I wish that I had given up one summer of travel for a summer of building my resume or something similar? No. Otherwise, I wouldn't have stories. I also wouldn't have the following pictures.
I didn't have a real job for most of high school. So far in college, I've only been able to knit a few things for a sale. It's safe to say that I haven't had Official Work Experience since 2012, when I worked at a summer camp at my dojang. When I look at the Work Experience part of my resume, I feel kind of lame - one of my biggest fears is that I'm going to get trapped into a vicious cycle where my lack of work experience, especially in the field where I'm applying, prevents me from getting hired. Generally speaking, companies that need writer-type people don't hire people who are lifeguards, camp counselors, and/ or knitters. Even if those people are blogging novelists who can translate Homer. (I think I'm learning that translating Homer might not be the most important life skill I acquire in college).
At the same time, I've also noticed that there is another kind of experience - the kind that doesn't go onto your resume. What the hiring committee might not see is that I'm a second degree black belt, I know classical Greek, I can knit in two different directions (I'm assuming that the hiring committee might not even know that there are multiple ways to knit... but that's not the point), that I hiked to Machu Picchu and haggled at the Grand Bazaar in the same summer, or that I've been to seven different countries.
I don't think a resume says everything about a person - I don't know if it's supposed to. At the same time, I think there should be more room to provide more context for someone's abilities - maybe the reason I didn't work the summer of 2011 is because I was traveling to Europe, traveling to help people, and learning how to act. Work experience is important, yes, but so is life experience. Hopefully everyone gets the chance to go out of their hometown - and if they do, they should take it.
Do I wish that I had given up one summer of travel for a summer of building my resume or something similar? No. Otherwise, I wouldn't have stories. I also wouldn't have the following pictures.
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