The Unavailable Career Booster turned Ego Booster

Some of you may remember my friends over at WTF is up with my love life!? and the amazing knowledge they've dropped on the world over the last couple of years regarding millenials and the post-dating world we live in today. If not, definitely check out their website and keep reading because I'll touch briefly on a few of their Gaggle definitions in this post.

Subway Chronicles

I'd like to open this post with a disclaimer: I grew up in suburbia. Everyone in my family had a car by the time they turned 16, and before that, we had parents who were able to drive us to and from school, track practice, little league, etc. Public transit was never a big part of my life - it was something we'd use only when we thought parking was going to be too much of a pain in downtown Atlanta. It was a cheap and fairly safe alternative but never a preferred use of transportation. It was inconvenient for the most part, dirty, and rather slow. And I'll admit, that may sound snobby or pretentious, but that's simply how it was for me. I took it for granted growing up but that's just the way things were.

It's been a New York Minute

You: Where the hell have you been? It's been months. You didn't call, you didn't write. You could have been lying dead in a gutter somewhere and I wouldn't have known!
Me: I know. I'm sorry. I could give you some made up excuse for my lack of communication, but what's the use at this point? I know my actions cannot be forgiven.

Are we romantically challenged?

So being unemployed has resulted in quite a bit of channel surfing. As I mentioned in my last post, OTH has been crowding my DVR, as have old episodes of SATC, The OC, The Bachelorette, HIMYM, and other countless dramedies and sitcoms.

Today I caught an old SATC episode in which Aidan and Carrie have just begun dating. And of course, the ever-insecure Carrie thinks that after a week and a half of dating but not sleeping together, that Aidan just wants to be friends. Aidan takes her out and at the end of each date he has to go home and feed his dog and doesn't want to come in. She's unsure if he's putting her in the friend zone or if his excuse for not staying over is legitimate. After discussing it - and by discussing it, I mean she slams the door in his face when he says he can't come in, Aidan takes the opportunity to explain that he simply doesn't want to rush things. He's been down this road before where he sleeps with someone too quickly and here he stands before her, still single. And apparently he doesn't want to do that with her. He thinks he can see himself caring for Carrie, if you will and he wants to get to that point before getting down between the sheets. After all, it had only been a week and a half at this point.

Strengths Finder

After my post yesterday I decided to go out and buy the book that I had heard about - the online personality assessment to determine where my strengths lie. It's called Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath. After reading part 1, I came to realize that everything it was telling me was inherently true. The gist of the book is this: all too often people focus on their weaknesses and do their best to overcome them. They try to work so hard on the areas where they come up short in their lives...to try to achieve balance and become a more "well-rounded" individual. But Strengths Finder 2.0 encourages us to focus not on what we do poorly, but what we do well. It helps us take a look at what we excel in, and teaches us how to capitalize on those strengths in whatever it is that we're passionate about.

Apparently, I've Got It All Wrong

So as most of you know, I've been job searching and trying my damndest to find opportunities out of state, specifically in New York. I just know that my golden opportunity is out there but I haven't yet figured out what that opportunity is.

Tuesday I went to a career fair for all UGA alums. I did my research ahead of time and knew which companies I wanted to seek out while I was there. So I met with each of them and one of them turned into an impromptu informal interview.