I've Found The Cure To Growing Older

Since I have been back from DC, I have had 7 job interviews that produced 3 job offers. Two of them were from PR firms in Orlando, and one was for a banking consulting firm in Casselberry. They were all good jobs that payed well and offered 401Ks, pensions, and healthcare/dental benefits. But, I couldn't bring myself to accept any of them. The reason is because I have never been a person who just settles. If I am going to do something it has to be something I really want to do and feel strongly about.

I don't care about making lots of money, and I am certainly not going to do something just because I can. I have to actually want to do the job, I need to feel like I am making a positive impact on my work environment and society, and I have to actually look forward to getting work each day. I want a job that I wake up each morning and get excited because I get to go to work. I know that job is out there for me, and I am determined to find it. My parents have been super supportive of me while I try and figure out the next career move in my life, and it has kept me encouraged.

I submitted a resume, cover letter, and an application to work as a patient representative and advocate in Ocala. I also applied to be a court liaison for a nonprofit that works with children in foster care who need to be adopted. I have an interview for the former on December 2nd. I'll let you know how it goes of course.

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Sincerely,

Countin' Them Down!

Top 5 Things I Am Most Thankful For This Year

1.) My God
2.) My Family
3.) My friends
4.) All the wonderful opportunities that God has blessed me with this past year
5.) My health


(Now, leave me a comment and tell me what are your five things that you are most thankful for)


Sincerely,

The Perfect Thanksgiving Poem

(This poem very eloquently describes what Thanksgiving is all about. It shows us that even though we may not have our perfect life, no one ever does, that we still have a ton of stuff in our life to be grateful for)

More Than A Day

As Thanksgiving Day rolls around,
It brings up some facts, quite profound.
We may think that we're poor,
Feel like bums, insecure,
But in truth, our riches astound.

We have friends and family we love;
We have guidance from heaven above.
We have so much more
Than they sell in a store,
We're wealthy, when push comes to shove.

So add up your blessings, I say;
Make Thanksgiving last more than a day.
Enjoy what you've got;
Realize it's a lot,
And you'll make all your cares go away.

-By Karl Fuchs

Sincerely,

Make Light of It

The American Music Awards were at best, okay. The only parts I was really psyched about and pleased with were Janet Jackson's medley as the opening act, Lady Gaga's performance, Michael Jackson's four wins (Jackson won favorite male artist in the pop/rock and soul/R&B categories. His greatest-hits album, "Number Ones," also won favorite album in both categories, bringing his career AMA total to 25, making him the most honored artist in AMA history.), and J.Lo's fall. lol.

Janet Jackson's 2009 AMA Performance



Jennifer Lopez's fall at the 2009 AMA Awards


Lady Gaga's 2009 AMA Performance


Ciao!

Every Dog Has Its Holiday

What my little Chihuahua doggie is getting for Christmas: http://tiny.cc/wcs7e These lil fun and funky $5 t-shirts are the perfect recession buster gifts for your Fido too;)

Ciao!

2AM Thoughts

Don't ask me why I am still awake. I am so tired my eyes hurt, but I just can't seem to quiet my mind. Anyways, I have been thinking that maybe I should get a masters in Business. That plus my degree in politics would make me EXTREMELY marketable. I am really good with interacting with people and speaking with them face to face. I really enjoyed that aspect of my old job.

Now doing a complete 360 on topic, let me just say that I so love the holiday season. I love decorating, eggnog, and festive music and celebrations. But, you know something that really annoys me about the holiday season, all the extra junk mail in my mailbox. Around this time my mailbox always gets bombarded with catalogs and magazines and advertisements from almost every store on the planet. It is so annoying.

I checked the mail yesterday and as soon as I opened it 5 catalogs from Gap, some shoe store I had never even heard of, Fossil, H&M, and Kmart fell out. I only get all that shit this time of year. I am not one of those people who goes crazy and buys tons of stuff I don't need from tons of stores just because it's the holidays. Imagine how much better people's finances would be at the beginning of the new year if they just shopped normally around Christmas.

Black Friday shows just how much we Americans love to overdo it. Instead of people remembering the real reasons for the season (i.e. Jesus, family time, togetherness, charity, etc.), they focus on material stuff that doesn't last or matter. The holidays are so commercial now it's sickening. Well, I guess that's capitalism for you.

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Merry-Go-Round

Well, now that I am back in Florida, I guess it's time for me to get going on what career I want to dedicate my life to. My internship helped me to figure out what it is that I DON'T want to do with my life (work on behalf of big business and banks), now I need to know what field I do like enough to work in. I swear, my life feels so damn random sometimes. I never know what I am going to do next anymore. I have gone from that careful and strategic life planner to a person who just kinda follows whatever looks like a good option at the moment. I must admit, as scary as it can be sometimes, it is less stressful then having to try to hatch a foolproof plan right off the bat and then have A,B,C,D backup plans in case the first one doesn't go as planned. For the first time in my life I am actually enjoying LIVING my life as opposed to just always planning life. However, I am starting to wonder how long it will take me to figure out the path I am going to take career wise. But who says you have to have just one career? Maybe I'll do many different things and then gradually come around to what it is I am supposed to be doing with my life and be so passionate about. Either way, I know I will eventually get to where I need to be with God's help.

That's all for now,

Ciao!

How Far We Sunk

Tonight at 9:11pm, the state of Virginia killed DC Sniper John Allen Muhammad by lethal injection. The death penalty is wrong no matter how you look at it. Killing to show that killing is wrong is pointless. Killing the inmate doesn't bring back the people they killed, nor does it fix the families who were torn apart by their actions. We are no better than the murderers if we commit the same offense. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. Also, from an economical standpoint it cost more to kill (i.e. the mandatory number of appeals each prisoner is entitled to and the amout of stay pleas) an inmate than to keep them imprisoned for the rest of their life. That's a fact. If you think religion justfies this then I guess we should just stone unwed mothers and adulterers to death too. Go do some research, adding the link to the numerous sites would be too easy for you.

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Good vs. Evil?

In light of recent violent incidents on the news and other confusing issues related to values in my own life, I have been wondering lately, are there really good and bad people in the world? Or are there just people who get into situations and handle them either poorly or correctly? That last suggestion has been making more and more sense to me these last couple of months. To be honest, when the idea of there not being bad people or good people just people in situations was first suggested to me by a former colleague of mine, I thought it was complete rubbish.

But the more I have been thinking about it lately, maybe there is some validity to it. Maybe that is why the friends and family of people who commit heinous crimes can say that the person is usually kind, sweet, nice, a good person, etc. Maybe the friends and family weren't there to observe the person while they were going through a rough time or a bad situation.

For example, let's look at the accused Ft. Hood gunman, Major Nidal Hasan, by all accounts from his family and close friends he was a stand up guy who was usually mild-mannered and polite. So what could make him do something so terribly out of his character as to kill 13 fellow soldiers? There have been numerous reports that said that Hasan was being...harassed if you will, because of his religion or views on Islam. Maybe his family and friends didn't see the toll that this situation was putting on Hasan? Maybe the situation pushed him too far? Maybe he was a good guy in a bad situation who lacked the proper social skills to cope with conflict?

In NO WAY am I taking up for what he did. It was a very disgraceful, hateful, hurtful, terrible, and destructive act. I have family serving in the armed forces so I was shocked and emotional hurt by the Ft. Hood incident. I am just someone who thinks a lot and tries to look at all angles and sides of an issue before I make my final judgement. It just seems that if people were either good or bad by design then we should be able to spot the bad apples sooner (i.e. before they commit a mass killing) since they would have always been doing bad deeds.

Let's look at a more mild scenario, a loyal wife and friend who happens to cheat on her husband. She's been emotionally and physically loyal to him for say 10 years, but then he gets a new job that requires him to travel and not be home as often. The wife gets lonely feeling more emotionally and physically distant from her husband, and looks for some extra companionship. You can't argue she was always a slut because she has obviously been loyal to him for 10 years. Is the situation to blame here? Maybe she wouldn't have had an affair if her husband hadn't gotten the new job that keeps him away a lot? Someone certainly could make that argument.

I mean, it's no secret that things that happen to us in our life sometimes change who we are and how we react to the world around us. A woman who repeatedly gets cheated on by men she dates might learn to not trust men, and therefore become a person who is more doubtful of others and their intentions. A person who was once optimistic about the world and life might have a change of heart after a very bad or traumatic event takes place in their life. They could become a very cynical individual. I know I have had situations and experiences change me, and I have seen it happen to others countless times. But could a situation really change someone enough to where it could make them kill? And if so, are we all just a negative interaction or bad circumstance away from becoming someone we would never want to be?

I am still not 100% sure of this theory about situations determining a person's behavior rather than vice versa. But it is definitely worth thinking about so I am putting it out here to you all.

Make Or Break Me

How much would you sacrifice for success? To reach the top? To earn respect and the admiration of others? Would you sacrifice material possessions? Would you do things that you felt were less than upright? Would you sacrifice your dignity or pride for an opportunity? These questions are issues that most of the adult population has had to face at least once in their lives. I know I have. Many people in the professional world come face to face with these issues everyday.

And if you haven't had to grapple with these questions yet, you will. And when it comes time to make the decision, I hope that for at least the sake of your sanity, you choose to do what you have always known to be right. As human beings we seem to have a tendency to always want to believe that once we make it to the big league and land that perfect job we will be happy and life will be perfect. Unfortunately, that is so not the case.

I guess the point I am trying to make here is that I have found out the hard way that no amount of success or "great opportunity" is worth my happiness, emotional, mental, or physical health, or my values. I have learned that any gains from compromising are usually not permanent, and if they are, then the scars that you will have to show for it probably won't be worth it in the end. Is all I know for sure is that I am back home in Florida (where I have always belonged), hanging with my family and true friends, minus roommates, blogging on my own terms, free to share my political views, without a business Blackberry, pretty much stress free, and going to the beach often; and I couldn't be happier.