Finding my ice cream

I made that phrase up a couple of years ago to describe the journey recent graduates go through to find their niche. It’s the journey to find out what you really want to do with your degree after you graduate, if you haven’t already got that figured out. Ice cream sounds good right now. No! Focus.

Okay, so finding my ice cream has been difficult so far. I didn’t start seriously looking for jobs around my degree until July of this year. I moved up to Washington with my older brother and his family (it was his idea!) to see what I could get out of Washington. All the advertising agencies are in the Seattle area, so that’s where I began my search. My sister-in-law told me that I should try and find Administrative Assistant positions at advertising agencies I see myself working at or would want to work at. So I thought, hey, that’s a great idea! Since Administrative Assistant experience is what I have most of on my resume, then that is where I’ll start. I found a lot of nothing. Nobody seemed to get back to me or wasn’t hiring. So what do you do? I thought going to the state you want to work in and looking for jobs while there would be effective. It was effective for awhile because I landed an internship at an entertainment magazine in Seattle, but I ended things prematurely due to lack of relevance. I also landed an internship at a radio representation firm in Bellevue, which has turned out to be somewhat of a learning experience. Both opportunities I landed not by applying online but via networking—using other people’s contacts.

Now, since I’m moving back to Oregon in less than two weeks, I have to get a full-time/part-time job. Preferably I’d like a full-time job and a stable M-F 9-5 type schedule. That makes things easier since I lack my own transportation presently. It’s all good though. Cars go on sale all the time. I’ll get my chance. I just have to adjust my plan again. Having a plan going into this journey helps a little bit, but I seem to always go off the plan’s path. I’m leaving Washington because nothing has come up that will cause me to stay and living with my brother has been interesting to say the least. I think about Texas a lot lately. Just to go visit for a week as a sort of a mini-vacation is about $2500-$3000, which includes board, food, plane ticket, transportation while I’m there and extra spending money. It a’int cheap. I’d rather save that much for a car and then drive to Texas or something.

I will find my ice cream. I just need to figure out which flavor I want, where I want to eat it and how long I’m willing to eat it. That sounded weird. I know what I’m talking about. I have to stop thinking this journey is hard and tiresome and no fun at all, which is partly true. I have to see this as an opportunity to get out there and see what I can get of life. It’s going to happen. I just have to wait and see what’s going to happen next.

Advertising, College life, Finding my ice cream, Thoughts on Stuff

blogging, College life, Finding my ice cream, getting a job after graduating from college, Thinking about my thoughts

November 7, 2011

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Not so serious, I guess

I tried to be serious about this whole blog thing, but it just a’int workin’ out so far. I’m still on the hunt for jobbies in Jobland with no avail so far.

I have landed a part-time internship at The Tacher Company in Bellevue, which has been somewhat of a good learning experience. I’ve been able to get a lot of leads on ad agencies across the U.S. that they represent. The only thing now is to land something at one of the agencies. I know you’re supposed to love what you do and do what you love, but what if you don’t know what you want to do? What if you haven’t stumbled into that thing you love yet because you don’t have enough “experience” to land it? There lies the problem, the chicken before the egg, the catch 22. Where do you start?

I was reading up on the success rate of landing a job via the Internet and it’s a hopeful 4% that land online jobs. Lovely. That’s exactly what I need to hear after doing nothing but applying for jobs online via Indeed and Craigslist. I need a new entry strategy. I need to figure out something that I can focus on specifically to narrow down my search because what I’ve been doing isn’t working. I made a list of things that interest me or have interested me while at the University of Oregon and here’s what I’ve come up with: Illustration, writing, account management, research, makeup, Spanish, communication, giving instruction, phone presence, media ethics, typing, music, radio, movies, sales, customer service, human resources, languages, giving opinions, proofreading, editing. My list mostly consists of having to do with writing, which is weird because I’ve never considered myself to be a great writer. People tell me I am, but I don’t get it. Maybe that’s where I need to start. That would mean that I have to come up with some mock writing samples to showcase my groovy skills.

I feel like becoming a writer is just as worse as trying to become an actor. Unless you know the right people then you’re just clicking your heels ’till you get home. I don’t exactly know what that analogy means. What else have I been doing? I’ve maintained a four-month relationship with Washington, and it seems I’m going to have to end things. Washington did bring an internship to the table. Also, I was pretty close to landing an internship in Seattle at Copacino and Fujikado…well, I thought I was pretty close. I could be a little off about that. No big deal though. I gotta find my ice cream.

It’ll be two years since I graduated March 20th, 2012. Time flies when you’re not having fun. Matthew Wilder had it right. A’int nuthin’ gonna break my stride. Nobody gonna slow me down…I got to keep on movin’. I know that, “it will come” as my sister says to me. This is what happens when you don’t prepare for life after college. And it has nothing to do with all this “the economy” business. That’s just an excuse to make yourself feel better because you haven’t landed anything. Other states are doing just fine with jobs. Look at Texas! They’re poopin’ jobs out left and right. They actually bounced back quickly after the so-called “recession.” Somebody’s makin’ money. Not everyone is without jobs. They’re out there, but it’s up to you how far you’re willing to dig.

How can you apply for more than 300 jobs online and not get even a hint of a call back? How? I just don’t know how it’s possible. Why do people even post jobs online and then take 20 years to contact people? I guess you could say that I’m a wee bit frustrated with this whole job finding business. I can’t give up. I gotta keep on with the force. Don’t stop. Don’t stop ’till you get enough. I’m randomly inserting lyrics from each song playing on I-tunes. Poor, Michael. That really is a shame. I can’t talk about that though. It makes me sad to think of a talent like that to die prematurely. Why do artists have to die so tragically? Is that part of the job? I want to love you. P.Y.T. You need some lovin’. T.L.C. And I’ll take you there. I guess I have nothing else to say now. Peace.

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November 6, 2011

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Jobbies

I’m currently in job land and seeking to harvest more jobbies. So here’s an update on the job search status. I completed one of my goals while I stay here in Washington, which I think I will be shortening to October 9th if I do not hear back from a real job that allows me to use my degree. I did get the job at Macy’s, but I didn’t get a chance to interview for the position I thought I was being interviewed for, which was the Beauty Department. I instead took a Flex Associate position that allows me to pick up any open shifts on the Macy’s Employee Web site. I thought this was pretty cool at first, but I was then told that I have to take weekend shifts because that’s when they have their sales. So I worked there from August 5th to August 17th. I got a nice chunk of change in between those 12 days, but I really didn’t like working there. I always felt like I didn’t know what I was doing, and I was expected to know what I was doing even though no one really trains you once you get out on the floor. So I filled out the little “I quit” paper and was done with Macy’s. I haven’t officially started my other job at Bed, Bath and Beyond, which sucks because I wanted to get rid of the Eddie Bauer job in the Bellevue mall and just have one job. So now I’m going to call Eddie Bauer today and tell them that Friday is my last day and that I have been offered another opportunity or something. So then there’s that. I hope she doesn’t say something like, “You have to give us two weeks notice” or something like that, which I don’t think she will because it’s a retail job, and people quit those kinds of jobs without notice all the time. So I figured I would be nice and just call in advance, work my scheduled shifts of today, Thursday and Friday and be done. But then I’ll still have to go to the mall to pick up my last checks. I want to go home at this point because Washington is not that great.

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August 23, 2011

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This is serious

Alrighty. I’m serious this time about sincerely making an effort to keep up this blog. This is final! This is how it’s going to go down. I’m going to write a daily entry about my progress getting a real job within the advertising industry. So far, I’ve applied to about 75-100 jobs within the last three weeks of moving here to Redmond, Washington and gotten responses from scams like Sound Marketing Group and Direct Marketing Solutions. These are more like door-to-door type “advertising” companies. I would end up selling phone book ads or cooking utensils or something. That’s not really my idea of something I would want to do for the rest of my life.

I did however get an interview with Macy’s Beauty Department tomorrow. I would consider myself pretty good at applying makeup on myself and others so that should be fun if I get that position. Right now, I just care about getting a part-time job or even full-time job where I can have some form of income come in and still look for jobs when I’m not at work. That’s all I want right now. I’ll keep applying for jobs everyday and sending my resume into the abyss of the Internet hoping it finds a prospective employer that doesn’t want me to sell kitchenware. My ideal job would be to work at a large advertising agency in the creative department. Ever since I saw the movie, “What Women Want” I wanted to get in the advertising industry. But little did I know that unless you volunteer and intern like a pyscho while you are still a student, you won’t get squat when it comes to job offers after you graduate unless you know someone directly at a company you want to work for. This is the problem.

In order for me to be guaranteed an advertising job, I would have had to start interning/volunteering while I was a freshman in college. But, no. They don’t tell you these things. Professors might mention that you should do an internship ocassionally, but they won’t tell you how or tell you how to build a “portfolio” and have something to show employers after you graduate. It’s not enough that you worked your butt off just to get your degree. You have to have “experience.” Well, I’m the person that graduated from college, is actively seeking a job everyday and is trying to get “experience.” How can I get “experience” and you won’t hire me? I’m not trying to sound negative, even though I sound like I am. I just want to use my degree.

I don’t want to be one of those people who got a degree in something, found out they hated it or couldn’t find a job in their degree and works somewhere that has nothing to do with their $30,000 piece of construction paper that says, “Congratulations on getting this piece of paper. Now go get a job and pay us back.” I actually hate blogging. And I don’t even know if journalists still blog these days or how important they are to employers when they see that you have one. While you are in college, there needs to be some sort of course that teaches you how to prepare for post-graduation life. A course that tells you what you need to have under your belt when you leave college. But, no. There’s only a Career Center available that you may or may not have time to walk into.

It’s been three weeks since I’ve been here, and I’m just now getting interviews for part-time jobs. I’m not going to cop out and say that it’s the “economy” and that there aren’t any jobs. Look, somebody is making money. People are still making money so that’s not an excuse as to why someone can’t find a job. I just feel so unprepared and wish that the stuff I’m finding out now was told to me as a freshman in college and not after I graduated. But I have to deal with the situation I’m in right now. All I can do is look up. All I can do is keep doing what I’m doing until something good comes along.

Bored

blogging, College life, getting a job after graduating from college

August 2, 2011

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Woah!!

I haven’t written on here in the last 618 days. HA! I need to do a better job at this whole writing game. I blame Dial-Up Internet connections for my laziness. It’s been about six months since I graduated from UO, which is way bizarro–Thank you Seinfeld. I just got a job proofreading for a self-employed graphic artist, and I’m pretty pumped. I’ve never been payed to proofread before. People always asked me to edit his or her essays in college, and I never wanted to but probably should have. I need to keep on looking for the Holy Grail advertising job though. My journey is not over but has just begun.

Okay, peace out for now.

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September 17, 2010

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It ain’t nuthin’ like Hip Hop music

I heard that song from a sample by Braille , but I don’t know where that sample comes from. I’ll probably do a little research to find out.

Hip Hop music, the good the bad.

That sounds like a title for a history of hip hop research paper. Hmmm. I slept for about an hour that one night I couldn’t sleep and started my first post. Bogus. I’m sweating a lot today. Maybe that’s too much information, but I don’t care. So, Hip Hop, let’s just say it’s the best. Well, it was anyway back in the day. Back in the day when groups like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five recorded their historic song, “The Message.” . They had something to say, something about the social problems they faced in their neighborhoods and elsewhere.

Don’t push me cuz I’m close to the edge. I’m tryin’ not to lose my head. Ahaha ha ha. It’s like a jungle sometimes. It makes me wonder why I keep from goin’ under.

Frickin’ poetry is what that stuff is right there!! They probably didn’t even realize how powerful that statment was or still is today and how it can be applied to any situation you’re going through in life. Crazy stuff. It’s timeless. Even the beat behind the words sounds like it could have been recorded today and still be popular and groovy to dance too, man. That’s what I miss about music. I miss the time when people produced things they loved that had meaning and were memorable. WHAT HAPPENED?! How did we get here? Where is music going?

I’ll tell ya where it’s going. It’s going to video games, commercials and being downloaded and used illegally on Youtube and Limewire. Pity. I feel like music today is shanty, it lacks creativity and all sounds the same. I lied. Some of the music today is good stuff, but the rest is just empty words, trash. Maybe someone agrees with me out there. I know somebody does. I have to go pee. But I leave you with Ice Cube’s sample of  “The Message.”

Peace out.

Thoughts on Music

January 9, 2009

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I Live Music

Turn me on and turn me up and turn me loose. I am alive and amplified. I am alive.

That is a bueno song by The Mooney Suzuki.

It’s 2:43am, and I can’t sleep. I can’t go back to bed so I decided to start a blog. I’m pretty new at this game but had an old one I never cared to keep up…I’m going to switch to Pandora for some tunes. I actually have been reluctant to get a blog for a LONG time. J. Moss is an artist who doesn’t get as much play as he should. The reason is probably because he’s a Christian R&B artist. Who do you think can make every fish in the sea? That’s from his song “Know Him.” I’m getting sidetracked. Okay, why did I start a blog titled “I Live Music”? I think everyone lives, loves music.

I personally come from a musical family. I can honestly say that my mom’s on Youtube. She was married to bassist Louis Johnson of the Brothers Johnson. She then married again to my present father. No, I am not the product of Louis Johnson. Not everyone knows who the Brothers Johnson are, but they were a band in the 70s. The song “Strawberry 23” was one of their most famous songs. My mom wasn’t apart of the band during that song’s time though. The rest of my siblings are all musically gifted and my sister Keiko Minyo has a new album called “You and Me” (http://keikominyo.com/). I’m soooo proud of all my siblings.

I live music. I don’t go a day without listening to it. I study it, analyze it. I’ve always thought of music minor or something. I took this redonkulously awesome jazz studies class. I don’t think I’ve ever paid that much attention to a class and remembered everything I learned. Me? I’m an advertising major and communications minor. I’m about two terms away from graduation day! Scary. I learned about so many important and influential artists to jazz such as “Jelly Roll” Morton (his nickname is a sexual reference), Louis Armstrong, Charlie Christian, Ella Fitzgerald, “Dizzy” Gillespie, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Sarah Vaughan, Nat “King” Cole, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Lil Hardin…I can keep going, but I won’t. (I’m listening to Kirk Franklin’s “Brighter Day”) I’m easily distracted by the way.

A lot of these musical geniuses thought intoxicants enhanced their creative “juices.” Charlie Parker, a legendary alto saxophonist died from a heroine addiction. His 34-year-old body appeared to be the body of a 50 or 60-year-old. BUT HE WAS A GENIUS! It’s sad how his life ended, but his contributions to the saxophone and jazz/bebop will never be forgotten.

If you don’t know what bebop is, it’s actually modern jazz that is harmonically, rhythmically and melodically complex. It sounds impossible to play and can sometimes make you want to scream. It’s not your average dance tune. Bebop commands your attention. Just listen. Thelonious Monk’s “Four in One” has to be my second favorite jazz song. I’d have to say that “Manteca” by John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie is my first favorite. Latin Jazz got started in the United States with the help of Gillespie and his cubano percussionist Luciano “Chano” Pozo. I LoVe it.

I think colleges need blog classes and how to use them in the professional realm. Professors are always talking about them too. I guess everybody’s using blogs these days. I’m not eager to trust blogs. I feel uneasy about blogs and Wikipedia. I think Wikipedia had a lovechild with Facebook and Myspace and created the blog. I could be wrong though. I think Michael Scott had it wrong when he said, “Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything so you know you’re getting the best possible information.” Yeah, right. There are some nuggets of truth to Wikipedia but also a lot of inaccurate information. It’s really funny though how some of my professors have said it’s okay to use Wikipedia. Wikipedia used to be the first thing they told you not to use on research papers. Crazy world, cockeyed. (Now playing: Mary Mary “The Real Party”). I don’t know why I keep going off about Wikipedia so maybe I’ll stop. We’ll say goodbye with a little Phil Collins “Sussudio.”

15458862, Advertising, College life, Food, Jazz Music, Uncategorized

Dizzy Gillespie, Latin Jazz, Louis Armstrong, Louis Johnson, Strawberry 23

January 8, 2009

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