Friday, June 12, 2009

Updates from the week ---

This week is a pivotal point in my life - I can officially say that everything that happened "wedding-wise" was "last year", not "last summer" or "this past June"... I can finally begin to put all of this behind me. Of course, I still have about 2 weeks until my "universary", but knowing that I have made it to this point is a wonderful feeling. I've spent a lot of time this week thinking about my life and where I'm headed (verses where I would have been had I actually gotten married - ew) and I'm starting to feel more confident about my life. I guess I really had to go through these things to realize what I'm capable of doing.

Of course, my life is not perfect (not by any means!) and there are many things that I need to do and change before I can really feel like I'm living the life I'm supposed to be living. But, I'm on my way - I'm getting there.

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I went to The Belmont last weekend with my roommate's family and some friends. What an amazing event! I've done so many things living in this city that I would have never been able to experience anywhere else - so unbelievable. I did bet on some horses, but I didn't win any money.. : ( It's alright, though, it was worth the money spent for the excitement.

We had an amazing view - a spot right at the fence - to watch the races... awesome.


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On Tuesday, Elon sponsored an event at the Volstead (midtown east) to kick-off their Elon In New York City event. It is a program where current Elon students get internships in the city and are provided with housing and some food (I think). It's essentially a way for students to get those coveted internships and to make it easier for them to live in the city. (Man, it would have been nice if they had that when I was there). Anyway, the event was for students to really see what "networking" is like.

Normally at these events, I am the network-ee. I'm the one harassing people trying to figure out who they work for, who they know, who knows them, and essentially, if they would recommend me for a job. But, this time, I was on the other side. Suddenly, these people wanted to talk to me! They wanted to know what my internships were, what I had on my resume, and how I got my job. It was so ironic, these students, who are just like I was - excited, optimistic, vivid - couldn't wait to get out in the "Real World". I hate to say that I was a little bit of a thunderstorm on their parade, but I wanted to be honest with them. After all, I think I would have had a better view of what life would be like if people had been completely honest with me during my job hunt. It's not easy. It's hard. It's hard moving to a new city, it's hard finding a job right out of college... and at this point, you almost HAVE to know someone that has an "in" in order to get a job. Applying for jobs online is essentially useless. And, from talking to them, I realized how much I need to be taking my own advice. I should be networking like crazy, talking to everyone I possibly can - and making sure I'm putting myself out there for people to see - employers aren't going to find me!

So, I'm going to put up an updated portfolio website. I think I'm actually going to pay for the domain space and make it as professional as possible. And, if it gets me a job, it'll be worth every penny. I'll keep you posted though.

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In keeping with tradition, June 10th sucked this year as well. It seems that 6/10 is my family's day to receive bad news. Last year, it was the news that my fiance had cancelled our wedding and this year, we learned that my father's cancer is more progressed than they thought. He'll have to begin treatment sooner than we expected (like, within a few weeks/months maybe). It sucks, really, that we got such a good report from the doctors about him being in Stage 0 and the possibility of never needing treatment because his cancer was "dormant". Now, test results have come in from RTP showing that the cancer has mutated some of the blood cells. ::sigh:: This isn't going to be easy.

After having a bone marrow scan, doctors will determine how much/how long/how strong of chemotherapy he would need to get the cancer into a remission. I'll let you know when we know more...

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Well, it's almost quittin' time and there hasn't been much to do today.. so I'm pretty certain I'm going to be kicked out in about 10 minutes. At least it's Friday! More later, dear readers.

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