It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

One of the only downfalls to living in Florida is that there are no seasons here. There’s hot and really hot with about two weeks of nice whether that usually land sometime in January. Inevitably, it can be hard to get into the Christmas spirit – particularly on the beaches.

That said, I found a category that Orlando wins – seasonal spirit.

Now, usually, I get angry when Christmas stomps all over Thanksgiving. But as someone mindful to the fast-approaching holidays, I’ve already started my Christmas shopping. And if I’ve already started the shopping, well, I want to start the celebrating. I’m beginning to adopt the mindset that we can, indeed, celebrate two holidays at once and I find it very refreshing and uplifting to bump into holiday cheer every where I go in Central Florida.

For instance, we all know the malls start celebrating early, but even my office building and apartment complex is decorated. Also, why haven’t I shopped at Cracker Barrel before? There are so many cute trinkets and gifts and everything is reasonably priced – well, I can only vouch for this particular Christmas season, since this is the first time I’ve noticed. Perhaps it’s because Disney isn’t far away, or maybe it’s because there are so many malls, or maybe it’s simply because Orlando is a tourist trap and it’s easier to start celebrating the holidays early here – but whatever the reason, I love the festive mood and I’m going to take it in while I can.

By the way, Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Have and safe and fun-filled holiday.

It’s not so bad, afterall

When I first started at Agility, I didn’t know what to expect. I’ve never been a consultant before and it was a lot to take in. The first month or so that I worked at The Proposal Center, I was an administrative assistant with a few minor opportunities to contribute to marketing material.

Don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled. I’ve been doing administrative/clerical work for most of my adult life and this certainly paid better. I don’t know that it’s what I expected when I was hired, but I was definitely very thankful for the opportunity.

In fact, every time I become concerned or stressed out, something fantastic happens to reassure me. I can’t really go into all the details, but let’s just say that the end product  is that I’m officially a technical writer! (Again, it’s all in who you know. My boss is the best, honestly! He’s absolutely a “make it happen” kind of guy.)

So, last Monday, November 2, I started on my first proposal. I have helped with Past Performance once before, but when I arrived back at work that day, I learned that I was the section lead for this particular Past Performance volume.

Dude, talk about “Ask and you shall receive.”

I can’t say that I’ve been completely independent in this journey. Nearly everyone in the building has had to help me and direct me, and they’ve all been very patient and receptive, but I feel like I’m gaining quite an understanding and I’m relieved to find that I’m on target. Not only am I on target, but I’m meeting my deadlines.

I’ll admit, since I’m doing Past Performance, much of the information is already available, but I get to play editor and there are a few new pieces of information that I’ve had to research and create. I must tell you, proposal writing is more similiar to journalism than you would think – at least Past Performance. You do significant research, compile and verify information, interview subject matter experts (SMEs) for new information and try to crank it all out on deadline.

Truthfully, it’s very excited and I’m really enjoying it. I think I might stick to this, after all. No, I’m definitely going to.

On a more personal note, the distance has been hard for me. I really miss Matt.

I feel like everyone here is married with children and no one wants to go out, even for one drink, on weeknights. There have been exceptions, but not often enough for me. Of course, if I were here on the weekends, it might be different, but I’m not. Between USF games, birthdays, house-warmings, Halloween, concerts, my brother’s visit, and my trip to the Keys, I haven’t actually spent much time in Orlando – except at work.

I will say that I’m totally stoked to have Jess back. I know she’s not happy about it, but I’m selfish! The only thing now is that she works nights while I work days. I’m asleep by the time she’s ready to go out. We have made time to work out and have some dinners and last weekend she came over for a bit – the first time we’ve seen midnight together since we both lived in St. Pete – but I don’t get to see her like I did before. And I can’t completely blame it on our schedules – like I said, I go home often.

But, you know, it’s not my fault that Central Florida sucks! I thought that having every thing I was missing last time I lived here – no roommates, a car, pocket money and being “of age” – would help. But it didn’t. And it’s not just me. All my friends that graduated from UCF and many of my coworkers agree. Too much traffic, too many tourists, no local bars or “Mom and Pop” restaurants. Not to mention, there’s no beach. I mean, it’s not terrible here. I’m still evaluating Orlando and I have a great deal, still, to learn about the area, so I hope it’s going to get better. I’m spending more time here and O-town’s slowly growing on me.

I can say that I really like my coworkers, and that when we do get together – inside or outside of work – I feel like I’m part of a family. You see, many of us are consultants or ex-military, from different cities (many accustomed to moving pretty often), missing our family, friends, and spouses. It certainly helps with the camaraderie.

Oh, and I love my job. Did I mention that? Was that clear? Being a technical writer is very fulfilling and I’m still spending every day in Orlando counting my blessings.

What a completely different lifestyle from just 6 months ago.

Public Service Announcement

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not great with money. It’s not that I can’t add or subtract. It’s just that I expect people to do their job. Unfortunately, quite a few of the big banks (Bank of America, Wachovia) like to feed on people’s mistakes.

Don’t  get me wrong. When I overdraft, I take full responsibility for being a sucky person, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to take advantage of me. For one thing, do not reorder my transactions to get more fees. It’s greedy. Stop it.

But, instead of complaining about general situations that we’ve all dealt with, I just want to say one thing. At least Bank of America isn’t shady about their greed. They broadcast it and they don’t care. If you’re a risky customer, they let you know they will rape you for every penny of that sad little paycheck you get.

Wachovia, however, sneaks into your account in the middle of the night and readjusts things to make the most money off of you.

Let me explain. I will admit that in switching banks, I mistaked which card I was using and overdrafted my Wachovia account – even though I have overdraft protection. I’ve already conceded that I won’t win this argument. They say, “overdraft protection requires that you have enough money in your savings account to transfer and to cover the fee.” Intriguing. It’s not okay for you to transfer $5 and then charge $10 to put me $10 in the negative (Wachovia claims this is for my sake) but it is okay for you to avoid transferring $5 so that I’m $5 negative plus the $35 overdraft fee to put me $40 in the negative. How were you keeping me in mind then? Not to mention, it’s nothing for a computer to automatically transfer money.

I don’t care which way you spin that, it’s greed. Fine, I admit I’m the one who messed up. I just find it funny that last Saturday (the 12) you did transfer the $5 to cover the transaction but when I logged in on Monday, suddenly my savings account was $5 richer and my checking account was $40 poorer. Sneaky, very sneaky. In a matter of 36 hours, I went from a positive balance to the red.

So this past Friday, around 2 p.m., I walked into Wachovia with $426 cash. I wanted to put the money into my account to cover my upcoming gym membership fee, Netflix fee, and to keep track of how I spent my money over the weekend. Plus, who wants to run the risk of carrying $426 cash in downtown St. Pete or at a USF football game? So I walk up to the teller and tell her I want to deposit the cash.

“It won’t be available until Monday because it’s after 2 p.m.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks. Why?”

“Because we have to process it. You can deposit it into the ATM and it will be immediately available though since it is cash and it’s before 4 p.m.”

“Sweet. Thanks!” So I walk out to the ATM and stand there for a minute thinking, “It’s cash. What’s to process? Should I deposit this? Is it going to be available for Christie’s birthday? For the USF game? Yes, of course. The lady just told me I’m good.” So I deposit $426. Alright, let’s go…

Wait, before I get my card back, let’s check my balance just to be sure.

“$34.”

What the ____?!

So I go back inside and talk to another teller: “She just told me that my cash would be immediately available if I deposited it before 4 p.m.”

“Oh no, ma’am. We have to process it. It’ll be available tomorrow.”

“Great. Thanks.” So I crumple up the receipt, throw it on the ground, and walk out of Wachovia. I think, “Processing?! How do I pay for Christie’s dinner and hair cut now? Why isn’t cash as good as cash? Give me that envelop back. I’ll keep it!”

So dad loans me the money until Saturday – which is silly because I had the freaking money. But it gets better. Wouldn’t you know that Saturday my money wasn’t available either. In fact, my account now reflects a -$94 balance.

So I call Wachovia and sparing you the exact conversation, they said that the tellers are stupid and that I’m a crappy customer so they put a hold on my money. So what happened to that positive $34 balance that I have a written record of showing? They took it back, she said, because during processing (known to the general public as manipulation)  they decided I couldn’t have it. Yes, that’s right. They changed it. (Notice a trend?) What if I had spent that $34? Another overdraft fee, of course!

Now, what I don’t understand and what the customer service representatives couldn’t explain to me is why cash isn’t immediately available. It’s cash. You saw it. You know it exists. It’s in your hand. Check? I get it. It may not clear. But cash? Even Bank of America gives me that!

Their only explanation was that my account was overdrawn for a couple days (which was unfair in my eyes anyway) so they kept my cash because I’m a risky customer. So I asked them, “why would I give you my money then?” I’m safer carrying it downtown than putting it in my own bank  because at least downtown I can only lose what I have. Bums can’t steal any more money than I am carrying.

But dad pointed out that most people don’t care or even notice. If 5 million customers deposit cold hard cash on Friday, the bank “processes” it over the weekend while it sits in their accounts collecting a fraction of a fraction of a cent in interest. But guess what! A fraction of a fraction of a cent times 5 million is a few pretty pennies.

Another irritation: if I’m a risky customer, drop me. Just tell me you don’t want my $xx,xxx a year in your accounts. But I can overspend my money on Tuesday just the same as I could have this weekend. I told the customer service reps that they were the thieves and I didn’t know how they could sleep at night. I almost had one admit to me that they wouldn’t bank at Wachovia. Almost.

But it doesn’t matter. It’s over and my father and boyfriend had to pay for yet another weekend in St. Pete. All so that another bank could pay their employees with my mistakes. And you can agree with them. Go ahead. I don’t care. Don’t lecture me. I have already been told by two representatives that I’m a crappy banker and person. I get it. Some guy on a bicycle even preached to me. But you know, there is a difference between protecting your bank and kicking people while they are down.

I can tell you one thing, I finally get my paycheck this week and it’s no crappy Columbia salary. NO bank will ever take my money again. I’ll make myself “bulletproof,” as dad would say. Besides, maybe this rant will prevent someone else from making my mistakes.

(Oh, anyone find it funny that Wachovia is owned by Wells Fargo. I should have known better!)

-End Transmission-

The Good Life

Every single day before my start date at Agility, I waited for the ball to drop. I anticipated every single thing that could go wrong in this terrible economy – things that have already happened to me and happened to my friends. I crossed my fingers every day that I wasn’t promised a position that would disappear before my start date and that someone better wouldn’t come along and my emails go unreturned. I have many other concerns. So far, so good. And until the rest of my worries have been alleviated, I don’t really see the point in writing an exhaustive list of the things that concern every person that has a job in this economy.

I should also tell you, I strongly considered never writing in this blog again – just leaving this blog with a big question mark. But at the request of so many supportive friends, I kind of feel like I owe it to you guys.

I started this blog because I was/am a journalist.  I feel it’s our job to inform the public of everything and anything about our jobs and the way they are done.  I think blogs are a form of objectivity – in that they are honest and they reveal any bias or flaws to our procedure. It helps people decide about the level of truth in the news we report. As a journalist on a deadline, it’s usually a safe bet that I could write about my work because it was probably published an hour before I ever even considered writing a blog.

That, of course, was in anticipation of actually becoming a journalist. When that didn’t work out, the direction of this blog changed into some malformation of “keep my writing current/show that I’ve paid my dues/show that I’m a savvy internet journalist/pour my heart out” blog.

That said, I am obviously not working at a newspaper. Instead, thanks to the Hartmans, I got a kick ass job as a consultant at The Proposal Center, which is a division of Agility. I have to tell you, in case you didn’t know, it is not wise to really talk about anything related to these sort of jobs – what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, why you’re doing it, or sometimes even that you’re doing it at all.

Every single day since I’ve been in Orlando, I’ve counted my lucky stars. I’m still in disbelief. The company, my coworkers, the pay, the hours – it’s every thing any person could ever ask for. They even put me in an apartment until I get my first paycheck and have time to find my own.

So, at the risk of losing such an incredibly opportunity, I have to tell you, this might be my last blog. Sure, I’ll put updates on Facebook about whether I’m happy or sad; at home, east coast, or staying here for the weekends – the things that Facebook was essentially built for – but I don’t really see the need to continue this blog. Not as a journalist and certainly not about this job. It’s just too risky.

I haven’t decided whether I will continue this blog about the non-job things in Orlando – restaurants, bars, new friends, vacations. I do have a Livejournal. I’ve had one for eight years. I don’t write in it much anymore and I usually write it for myself, but I do post things there occasionally. In fact, I posted something brief today. You can read it here.

So, I guess the question is: Do I continue to dive deeper into a professional blog gone personal or do I just scrap it and return to Livejournal? I’ll keep you posted – haha, I’m so witty with my puns.

Start date

August 24.

I can’t breathe. I have so much to do before then. It’s all really happening.

It’s all in who you know

I have to tell you, I had some pretty dreary thoughts yesterday. So far, I’ve made 27 cents on the four how-to articles I’ve written for Ehow. To be more accurate, one of my articles has made 27 cents.

Yes, I just said 27 cents.

The only article I’ve completed for Demand Studios, for a mere $5, hasn’t even been approved yet.

Things were looking a little scary and I had no idea what to expect from my interview with Agility. I began to consider any possibility to gain experience and pay my bills. Truth is, I started to panic.

But it turns out, I’d underestimated my best opportunity.

I guess you could compare “freelancing” to “consulting” but to me those words have different connotations. In short, what I expected was a few freelance articles for, well, not a lot of money. Trust me, I was appreciative for the opportunity, but I couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised when I met with the senior director of Agility today.

I haven’t gotten all the details about when I start and how many hours they’ll want me to work, but if I understood them correctly, I just got hired for a very kick-ass job, for an amount of money that I’m very happy with, for the amount of hours I need, on an essentially full-time consulting basis.

Well, yeah, that’s what they said. But I’ve just been working so hard, for so long, feeling so hopeless that I probably won’t believe it until I’m in the office in Orlando. But I AM STOKED. I’ll give you more details soon – as soon as I’ve clarified that I didn’t completely dream today. I’m just still in disbelief.

Thank you, Jess. Thank you, Mr. Hartman.

I should also mention that I’ve been more than tempted to delete a slue of posts about my journey. Hell, I thought about deleting my entire blog. Now that I have the opportunity to work at a company that I feel will challenge me and pay me appropriately for my skills and help me grow, I’m embarrassed about all my indecisiveness.

I don’t want people to be able to look back and say, “She wanted to get a Master’s degree in the same field she got her Bachelor’s in?” ” She thought she could be admitted and afford law school?” “She wanted to be a technical writer when she’s so creative?” “She wrote articles for companies that pays pennies for site hits?” “She panicked instead of waiting it out?” Most importantly, “She underestimated such an excellent opportunity?”

But I decided every single post is important. I made those plans. I considered every thing possible to scrape by in a bad economy in a career field that many say is “dying.” There are lessons to be learned from each and every blog post I wrote.

Most notably, though, every job I’ve been hired for in the past few months has been because of the people I know – the people who referred me (Noe, Amber, and the Hartmans). I wouldn’t have known about these jobs, had interviews with these companies or had an opportunity to prove my skills without the people who helped me.

Seriously, thank you.

It comes as no surprise

My last day at Advanced Protection Technologies is Monday. I finally got up the courage to email my boss and ask him if I had a future at APT. He basically told me that they didn’t have any room. I already knew that, though, if you’ve read any of my previous posts. There are simply no open positions within the company and I’ve completed the task they hired me to do.

He basically said that I did great work and that he and my other boss were hoping something would open up within 89 days. He said that many of their high-turnover jobs had no turnover lately (of course). He said that they would keep an eye out for me and provide references and that I would be at the top of the list when a new job came open. He and my friend both stressed that they tried very hard to fit me in.

Somehow, I’m not as upset as I thought I would be. I consider myself lucky. I’m just glad I had a decent job, with good pay and great coworkers for three months. I’m glad I could pay my own bills and put gas in my own car for a few months. I’m thankful that I’m not still hosting at the Columbia for minimum wage, scheduled for only 20 hours a week and all 20 on the weekend.

Nope, I’ll just freelance. Freelance and hope I find a position somewhere soon. It may not be good money, but then again, neither was Columbia and it is far more enjoyable.

This infuriates me

Here is another wonderful piece by Lane DeGregory: http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article1015963.ece

I used to be one of those people who said, “It’s not that easy to get a job without an address or a vehicle. It’s humiliating. I’d want beer too.” But the more I read this story, the fact that many of these panhandlers aren’t homeless or starving, the fact that they make more money than I’ve ever made annually upsets me.

The fact that in a week I could be jobless again, scraping for money, while these people bask in the sunshine or wait their turn sleeping in the shade while I work makes me angry. Okay, their life isn’t glamorous, but I work hard for my money and they just hold up a sign.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think poverty is okay. But the people who suffer are the people who work. The people just above the poverty line living paycheck to paycheck, trying to feed entire families on single-income salaries and food stamps, waiting in 3-hour lines at the social services office to renew WIC or Welfare when they already worked an 8-hour day, cooked for the kids, and cleaned their houses. The people who suffer are the people who don’t have working cars and take the bus two hours to work when it’s only a half-hour drive. The people who  can’t afford a car payment or car insurance, a working phone, health insurance or a square meal – those are the people that break my heart.

As for panhandlers, I’m going to go stand next to them with my sign: I have a Bachelor’s degree and lots of experience. The economy tanked and the people standing next to me make $30,000-$40,000 a year because they don’t take a shower. Can I have a dollar, too?

Yes, I know I shouldn’t post this. I’m a journalist. I shouldn’t be biased. But this is my blog, and I’m biased. I believe journalism needs a little honesty anyway. None of us can achieve the big “O” (objectivity.) All we can do is report objectively.

Besides, every story is an individual case. I know that.

Freelancing for peanuts

I didn’t take the job at Three Stars, in case you haven’t read the previous post.  Thanks to the Hartmans (particularly Dan Hartman), I have an interview on Tuesday with Agility to do some freelancing. I’ve also decided to rejoin Creative Loafing as a freelance blogger.

It all started because if I want to get paid for my article/blog about Three Stars, I have to be in CL’s system. If I’m going to do that, I may as well continue writing for them. Also, Jessica told me to forward my resume to her father because he mentioned that he might know of an open position. I got a call from Agility on the same day. Most importantly, there is still no word about my future status at Advanced Protection Technologies.

That said, today I was searching JournalismJobs.com for, well, jobs, when I saw an ad for Demand Studios. I remembered the name from the last time I applied and was approved to work for them. I say “approved” because you don’t get “hired” at Demand Studios. It’s a freelance organization. They approve you to write or edit and you choose articles from their website. When you write for Demand Studios, you choose an article, submit it, someone edits it and either sends it back to you for more editing or approves it for publication.

When I applied last time, they emailed me a copy writing test and told me that I would get paid $3.50 for each article I edited. They claimed that their editors made between $20-23 an hour. I replied saying that I didn’t think that was a fair pay scale. The next email they sent me said that I passed the copy test (that I didn’t take) and was approved as an editor. That sent up a red flag and I wrote them off as a scam.

I mean, I’ve applied for a lot of jobs and I don’t necessarily remember where I found each of them - which brings me to my point. I would consider JournalismJobs.com a reputable site. I’m not saying that every job they post is great. They don’t all have fair pay scales or benefits – that’s up to the company – but they are all legitimate jobs. So I did a little research and found out that, supposedly, Demand Studios underwent a bit of remodeling right about the time I applied. Articles sat waiting for approval, payments to contributors ran late, you get the idea. 

So I decided to reapply only to find that I was still in the system. I chose two articles that pay a flat rate of $5. Yep, $5. They are simple articles like “Rules at Disney World” (in less than400 words) and the more you write, the more topics you are allowed to take on at a time, depending on how well you did on your previous pieces. I don’t know what happened to the articles I should be allowed to edit. Perhaps I lost that ability. But I got to thinking that editing these could be equally simple – worth more than $3.50, but simple nonetheless.

When I researched the information about Demand Studios, I also ran across a few other freelance sites that pay – some are flat rate, some are based on hits. So I’ve joined a few others – Ehow WCP, Helium and Textbroker.  I also applied to Suite101 (if you’re a writer and it’s on your profile, you’ve probably seen the ads on Facebook.)  

Realistically, I probably won’t get paid much more at Creative Loafing anyway. But I’m excited about the interview I have with Agility.

I mean, if I don’t go full-time at APT, then at least I can make a little money at these websites. If I do get hired, then I could write articles on the side to generate beer money. I’m certainly pursuing the opportunity at Agility, either way.

I hope I’ll be successful. I’ll let you know in about a month which sites I think are time-worthy.

It’s a sad day

Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson. There, that should get me a few more blog hits.

It’s a pretty rough day when someone I respect and admire tells me that my career, in fact, is dying. It’s depressing when my mentor tells me not to bother doing an investigative piece because no one is going to pay me for my time. It’s pathetic when journalists are reduced to sales people, choosing to copy and paste a fluff piece about the latest celebrity incident rather than doing any real journalism. (By the way, I don’t blame you. I understand that you have to get paid.)

We really are Amusing Ourselves to Death:

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions”. In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

I still get to do the blog for their website, but it will never be  a “front-page” investigative story. It’ll just be another sob story about the job market. Oh, and by the way, Three Stars offered me the copywriter/editor position. I just can’t take the blood money. I won’t.

I guess I’ll just have to freelance for peanuts until I can train for another career…

Oh, and I almost forgot, Michael Jackson.

Three Stars Media

I just wanted to apologize to anyone who’s looking for my blog post “Kicking job-seekers while they’re down,” published Tuesday July 7. I’ve changed the status of that blog to private as I’ve decided to pursue that topic for an article. Later on, if and when my article is published, I’ll make that blog public again – to share my own experience. But for now, I need to put that aside and focus on my research, as my experience was very limited. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Deadline approaching

I have two weeks until I’ve completed my 89 days with Advanced Protection Technologies. I’m so thankful I got this temporarty position. In fact, I’d love to stay, but I don’t think they have anywhere to put me. So once again, I’ve made applying for full-time jobs my full-time job. Not that I ever stopped looking, but I’m putting my nose to the grindstone.

Ever run across that job you know you’d be perfect for? The one that would utilize your skills, but challenge you? The one that you’re qualified for, but you know it’s competitive? The one that pays what you feel you deserve? More importantly, the one that would pay the bills? The one where the circulation is just small enough in a city small enough that you might be able to pull it for your first job? The one that isn’t a million miles away from home, but far enough away to grow and become more independent? The one that isn’t too far from the beaches? The one that has affordable apartments close by? The job that you want so badly that it hurts – that it’s all you can think about?

Well, that job was posted yesterday. And I rewrote my cover letter, made sure resume was still perfect and did all but beg to be considered. And I’m certainly going to write a follow-up letter in a week, just to make sure that they have my resume and I’m on the top of that pile.

I want it. Badly.

On a lighter note

A few times in the past week, when I’ve seen or heard from people after a long time, they told me that they follow my blog regularly. I have to admit that I was shocked and very flattered and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for their support and interest – even the silent listeners. It means a lot to me. It keeps me going.

Another interview

I received an email yesterday from Three Stars, a web development and marketing company in Orlando, requesting that I apply for a copywriter/editor position on their website. After I applied, I set up an interview for next Tuesday at 2 p.m.

I am a bit skeptical and most of my research has reinforced my gut reaction, but I have to admit I’m curious.

I’ve decided I won’t write anymore about it until Tuesday because at this point I can only speculate. Besides, 1 of 2 things could happen – I interview for what intially appears to be a kick ass job or I find out it’s a scam. In either case, it will be an interesting blog on Tuesday.

Stay tuned.

You have to laugh at yourself

It’s a shame to say that I feel these comics are pretty accurate, but I’m allowed to post these because A) they are funny and B) I’m one of the people out there trying to change this.

My first interview for a real journalism job

I’ve probably applied for 300+ journalism jobs that I felt I was qualified for. This was the first time I had a request for an interview.

But I didn’t get the job at ABC Action News.

I thought the interview went well. I felt like I was confident and personable, but I had a lot of competition. I know the economy has made a small market even more cutthroat. I know I should consider myself lucky that I even got an interview. I tried really hard not to get my hopes up, but it’s hard not to.

Today, around 3 p.m., my heart sank.

I just knew that if I was going to be hired, I would have received the email earlier today and I wasn’t surprised when Google Talk popped up to say, ”We found someone else.” I tried really hard not to make a scene at APT, so I sat in the restroom for about ten minutes while I cried.

All I can do is keep trying.

Just breathe

I have an interview with ABC Action News on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m!!!

Wish me luck and please keep me in your thoughts and prayers!

I’ve never won anything like this in my life

So, this isn’t directly related to journalism or even New York City, but I thought you would find it interesting.

I won a trip to Marlboro Ranch this summer! (And it’s legit.)

What it amounts to is: Matt and I are spending 4 days and 3 nights at the Marlboro “Crazy Mountain” Ranch in Montana. The trip includes round-trip airfare, lodging, food, drinks – including alcohol, and activities. We’re not even allowed to tip! I get my activity sheet sometime next month, but from all the blogs I’ve read, it looks like we have lots of choices. I’ve read about white-water rafting, horseback riding, mountain climbing, rifle-shooting, fly-fishing… you get the idea.

Some of you may have noticed from my Facebook statuses that I have known about the trip for about a month, but we weren’t officially qualified until we received and returned our paperwork on time (within a week of the shipping date) and Marlboro checked us out. Well, Matt and I both qualified and we’re going August 3-6!

I haven’t really spoken about it because I’ve been very unlucky lately when I get excited and blog about things! (See blog about: Admiral Farragut, Harris Media Internship, and IKEA.) Also, according to the paperwork, we’re not really supposed to talk about it anyway. Trust me, there are plenty of detail by detail blogs out there, but I’m not risking my own free trip!

Anyway, I found this blog first and it got me so excited:  http://www.tolga.us/marlboro/

I promise to tell you all about the great time I had when I get back though! I’ll have lots of pictures and I’m sure I’ll have a lot of brusies to match!

A Dead Art? Or a Changing Industry?

I gotta tell ya, I do all this research and I work out these big plans in my head and I try to set them in stone. But the truth is, I’m about as confident in my decisions as a grade-schooler who just spelled “floccinaucinihilipilification” to win the spelling bee.

What it comes down to is: I’m scared. I can hide behind all this can-do attitude all I want, but I’m petrified. I keep trying to create a backup plan. I feel like journalism is a lost art – lost among the amateur bloggers (guilty!), buried underneath thousands of tweets, scrolling on the bottom of the television while some anchorwoman blabs on about the latest fight between Celebrity X and his baby mama.

I keep relating it to music. There are just too many who love it and want to create it for there to be enough jobs. There are too few consumers and far less that are willing to pay for it. Consumers complain about the quality of those who are willing to work for free. Lost are the days of musicians that actually knew music theory or put it to practice. Gone are the true singers and dancers. You have to be the cream of the scum to make it in the music business.

But the good stuff still has to be out there. How else could they publish “Best Newspaper Writing” and award Pulitzer prizes? So what it isn’t in a newspaper? Maybe it’s six clicks deep online. But it’s there. And I still believe in it. Just like there are still good songs to listen to – with complex rhythms and countermelodies, there are still great pieces of journalism. Just look at the news sources on Digg. We may flock to the social media but we still trust the trained professionals.

I’ve been discouraged. All this blah-blah about technical writing and law school boils down to one thing: I am just looking to survive long enough until I can do what I really want to – what I was really meant to do.

It doesn’t help that I don’t feel like I have the support I used to. My dad has always said he thought college was a sham – especially the part about internships. It used to drive him crazy that I had to work for free to gain experience and that I was so willing to. He thinks I’m stupid for going back to school. He says it was a waste of money the first time and he thinks I’m stupid for doing it again.

But he came from a different era where people gave you the opportunities to learn and develop your skills instead of requiring them when you’re hired. He came from a time when many career fields were just being realized. He was part of the computer boom – the first team of people to work on networks around the county. They learned from the ground up. They created the rules. But he wouldn’t get hired for his job now if he didn’t have the degree. Matt wouldn’t have had a chance at Connectwise without his degree.

Dad’s right about one thing, though, it’s not the degree you get, but what you do with it – to an extent. In a better economy, my journalism degree would qualify me for a slew of writing jobs that I don’t even have a shot at right now. I shouldn’t need a certificate in technical writing to get a backup job. I shouldn’t have to get a backup job except for this economy, anyway!

But I feared it was my writing or my lack of experience, especially with InDesign. We are, after all, moving to a multimedia platform. I also fear that my analogy about being a musician could still be correct. But I’ve never been a professional journalist. I’ve only been a student or an intern. And I’ve never job-hunted in anything but this economy.

So, I emailed Wayne Garcia, political editor of Creative Loafing, and a couple of my professors to see what they thought.

Wayne, of course, answered me first. His advice was consistent with what many people say: The economy is bad, “going back to school is always a good idea,” and that I should stick with what I want to do.

He got me thinking. If I really want to be a journalist, if that’s what I think I’m good at and meant for, I should stop being such a chicken shit. All this Plan B-ing has done is distracted me from my goal.

The other day, I met this guy from New York City at a friend’s barbecue. He’s in the Coast Guard and is stationed right next to USF St. Petersburg. I told him I graduated from there and he asked me with which degree and what I was doing now. I replied with my hopeless response that I had a mass communications degree but no job in this economy. I went on to tell him all about my most recent scheme to get a tech writing certificate from UCF then, maybe, go back to USF for my Master’s in multimedia journalism.

You know what he said to me?

“Journalism isn’t dying. It’s changing.”

I nearly died. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard someone that wasn’t a student, professor, or journalist say that! I just stopped mid-sentence and pointed at him and said, “YES!”

So maybe it’s stupid. Maybe I’m crazy. But I don’t want to distract from my true goal. If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll decide what to do about it. Then I’ll pursue my certificate in tech writing (or hopefully not even have to.) But I have to try. Besides, multimedia journalism is so exciting!

After a bit of research

Sparing you all the details, here’s what I’ve decided:

• Apply to UCF to pursue a certificate in technical writing (online) by July. Split the required 15 credit hours between 2 semesters.
• Ride it out at APT long enough, whether it’s updating the database or assisting the marketing department,  so that I can be their tech/marketing writer.
• Take the GRE this summer, apply to USF to pursue a Master’s degree in multimedia journalism. Start in Fall of 2010.

Other miscellaneous details/possibilities:

• Stay at APT while pursuing my Master’s degree
• If not, find another tech writing job
• Write for the Oracle, hopefully as staff writer if time/workload allows
• Become EA at the Times if time/workload allows
• Contribute articles to the Times
• Go to every single football game
• Any combination of these