Week 1

Week one has come to a close. I made it through without napping. I've truly amazed myself. The job involves copy editing and some data entry tasks. Next week I'll start writing stories for another one of their publications that deals with the retail music industry. So I'm looking forward to writing again. One of the major benefits of working at Down Beat is the vast library of CDs. I've started to stretch-out my ears with the help of the editor to try new artists and explore the wonder that is jazz. The top of the stack for last week were:


There were some others that were good but I can't recall the specs. There were some vocalists. A little Freddy Cole which I found a little slow. I sampled a McCoy Tyner album as well. I listened to the debut CD for Hope Watts (I looked for info, but I must have here name wrong) which is a little edgier than what I usually listen to. I also checked out the batch of CDs being reviewed for the next issue.

One week down a few more to go. The people are nice and include me in their daily run to Starbucks. I go along for the exercise.

One downer is that they use macs. I'm not totally opposed to macs; I had to use them for film editing. I am anti-dirty macs without cd drives and no form of Office loaded.

Yesterday I went to ND with my uncle and his family. Miserable ending but great seats and a great game. I've seen some great games with unfortunate endings. Luckily the Tribune was merciful in their report about the game. They only had a few pictures and didn't dwell on ND's collapse.

At last!

At last
my job has come along
my beggarly days over
and life is like a song

Ooh At last

That's not exactly how Etta James sang it, but I think that was what she meant.

I have found a job at long last. It only took four months and two weeks. After being told I'm monotone, not lively and discriminated against for my cursed Y chromosome I have found a job I want. I will be working for Down Beat magazine as an editorial intern. Now you may be saying, that's not a real job, it's an internship. And you would almost be correct. It's a start and a chance to prove myself. The internship provides invaluable experience in writing and editing while working in a musical environment. Plus it's paid. So I can start spending money again.

I would like to thank (as if I've won an award) all of the alumni who have helped guide me. I think a helpful factor in securing this internship is that one of the editors is an NU alumnus. Go 'Cats! I also have to give some gratitude to my friends and family for putting up with me on this manic roller coaster of emotion. At least for the next three months that ride is closed.

One thing that I firmly believe sealed the deal was pouring on the prayers. None of the job hunting articles I read said anything about praying. I was pushed to the end of my sanity. I'm not one to quote from the Good Book on tape, but this is appropriate:

"So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."

Last week we ran out of mustard.

So, this weekend I'm going to dust-off the party hats, pop open a bottle of the good stuff (sparkling grape juice) and toast to the road ahead. I'd say it's been fun, but it hasn't. Looking for a job is one of the most painful, futile, arduous exercises in this world (Though I do hear that childbirth and kidney stones are quite painful).

I will continue to post about my new intern experiences, quirky ideas that keep me awake at night and I hope you'll continue to read along for Stories from the Job Front.

The depths of depression

The other night my phone rang. Surprisingly it wasn't a debt collector for Susanne Lawson (if Susanne is reading this: please stop giving out my phone number) or some unknown number. It was someone I knew. The sad part is the first thought I had was that my friend must have misdialed.

I do think things are swinging upward. I am going to call a production company again Monday to see about jobs. Then Wednesday I am meeting with an alumnus to get some guidance. I fully anticipate having a job by the end of the week.

The key I've found in follow-up emails to employers is extreme brevity. Instead of a long winded email, I send a 2-3 sentence email stating I wanted to follow-up to schedule an interview.

I've also started studying for the GRE in earnest. I requested info from some New York artsy schools and some schools in Cali for their photography or journalism programs.

New Ad Campaign

In case you didn't hear it, a 6-year-old had such a strong hankering for Applebees that he "borrowed" and crashed his grandmother's car en route to the restaurant.

Watch this for the gripping video:
http://www.wbaltv.com/video/14305224/index.html

If I had the video resources I'd make Applebee's a new ad campaign featuring the young patron. After showing a little kid herding his diaper-wearing buddies into his gram's sedan they head out to Applebee's. On the trip he crashes the car a few times and we see the scraped up car in the lot and the kids teetering toward the doors.


Narrator voice over: "Yeah, we're that good."

Freegan Eh

From the Oct. 1 Newsweek:

Before June of this year, I thought only the sad and desperate ate garbage. Then I discovered the freegans. For those new to the term (free + vegan), a freegan is a person who has decided to boycott capitalist society by severely curtailing consumption of resources through reusing, recycling and Dumpster diving. Taking the expression "Waste not, want not" to its extreme conclusion, freegans try not to purchase anything up to and including food. Instead, they rely on bartering and what the rest of us leave for the garbageman.

Just a quick note here: the correct term is "homeless."

I shouldn't joke. I'm on the fast-track to being a freegan Dumpster diver.