Employed at last

The title of this blog speaks for itself. Yes, I am now employed. I got offered a full-time position as a research editor at a magazine company in New York today. Two months of interning there, and I guess I proved myself. Before that, two months of interning at a different magazine's web site. Before that, six months of interning at a major magazine in the South. Prior to that, two months of interning at a small magazine in the South. And before that, two months of interning at another major national magazine in the South. What is that? Like 14 months? Over a year of being an intern. Plus however many hours I put in at The Daily Mississippian. Good lawd. I think it's safe to say I earned it.

New York. Real life. Being a grownup. Money. Benefits. Being an independent woman for the first time in my life. I mean, LBO; I have always been a feminist and lived a pretend-independent life for years. And as far as my mindset goes, I have always been independent, but to be completely financially independent as a 23-year-old female in New York - that's what I've worked toward for the past, I dunno, 19 years. Yeah, I started doing math workbooks for fun when I was like 4, so suck it.

Fuck yes. In other life news, I got back together with A. I know, whatever. I realized I can't live without him, and once you realize that about someone, you may as well stop fighting it, because it's not gonna change anytime soon. Better to embrace it with open arms. Or, as I did, get on a bus to DC late on a Saturday night after happy hour and profess your love. Better to do these sorts of things in person.

I start my new job Monday. Until then, I am, as always,

Majorly yours.

Money, home, and some other things

Y'all. I am sorry. Srsly. I remember back in the day when I used to update this blog like every two days or so. It's now been 10 days since my last update. Wtf! I have a couple good excuses, but for the most part I'm just lazy, LBO.

Excuse #1: I started another part-time unpaid internship, my second. I'm blogging in a semi-official capacity now, which is exciting. Please check it out and holla at me. My avatar is, as you may have guessed, Ms. Meg. I have lots of ideas for what I want to do for the site, but I'm not sure I will get to implement them because...

Excuse #2: As some of you saw on fb, I got offered a paying gig with a magazine company. It's still just an internship, and it's only hourly with no benefits BUT it's still money, and it's editorial work. I will be broke as a joke for a while, and my parents will probably still be helping me out a bit, but at least I'm not selling my soul. I will hopefully keep blogging for my second internship in the evenings and on the weekends, but we'll see how that works out.

Excuse #3: I had what can only be called a mini-breakdown this past Sunday night. A spent the weekend with me in NYC, and we had a good time for the most part, and then Sunday night after he left I couldn't sleep, I was hot and couldn't cool off, and I just tossed and turned all night, and every now and then I would randomly break into tears. WTF. I was honestly just feeling depressed because of my joblessness, the long-distance thing with A, strained friendships, and missing my family and home.

I realized I was starting to question all my fundamental beliefs: what had I done so wrong to be so lonely in this big city--to be unemployed--to be longing for something, anything permanent to hold onto? I thought, maybe the universe isn't balanced after all. I have always believed that the universe gives you exactly what you need and leads you down the right path, even if it's not obvious to you that this is happening; but in my sadness over all this ish, I started to doubt it.

The next day I got the e-mail offering me the job. OK, universe. I get it. I'm back. Sorry I was being such a little bitch.

In other news, I might go home for several days/nights next week. I'm really excited. I miss my parents and I miss the South and I miss my cat tha Queen B and I miss cheese dip.

Until next time.

So sorry

I just realized it's been nearly a week since I posted. This is criminal. But I have a good reason! I came to DC for a 3-day weekend and it turned into a 5-day one when it started snowing/sleeting on Sunday night and all the buses out of the district were cancelled. Mmmmmboo. It's Tuesday now and I'm sitting in A's apartment getting ready to go.

I had a bunch of stress dreams this morning about getting a job and my iPhone breaking and all this other random ish. Ugh. I didn't tell y'all but a few weeks ago I interviewed for a paid full-time internship with another national magazine's web site; I didn't hear back until last Thursday. They told me I was their top candidate, but they had some management shifts and decided to put the internship on hold until at least April, if they decide to hire anyone at all. Of course I was disappointed, because it seemed like it would actually be a great internship for me. But now I got another unpaid internship, which I start tomorrow. So I'll basically be working full-time for free. Is that even legal? Who knows. I just need to get as much experience as I can before someone will hire me for realz.

PS, things are great with A right now. I don't know what the future holds but I don't feel bad for wanting to do what makes me happy. And he makes me happy. So that's what I want to do. Twss?

Until next time.

Pastadentally yours

Sorry I've been so sucky at posting lately. This week has actually been crazy busy. Monday and Tuesday were each an odd combination of slow and ridiculously busy. We had our longest editorial meeting since I've been there yesterday--over an hour. Ah! Then I rushed out the door to take an advanced beginner jazz class at Broadway Dance Center. Yes, it was a lot a lot of fun. But those classes are really expensive, so I'm going to have to limit how many I take. Maybe one every few weeks or so.

Anyway, then I got up pretty early this morning to meet with a health insurance rep to discuss my options. I'm currently uninsured and have been since I moved up here. My parents are both pretty passionate about making sure I have some sort of coverage until I get a job with benefits, so they've been wanting me to look at my options. So I talked with this guy for almost two hours and learned a lot about health insurance; it was actually really informative, despite the fact that he was trying to sell me something. Now I know more about HMOs and POSes than I ever wanted to know. No, not that kind of POS. Lolz.

Then I got home and took a nap, and while I was asleep for about an hour I got three work e-mails, including one that said I have three stories due in the next two weeks. Umm what! Ah! So then I spent the afternoon setting up interviews and stuff. Sigh. I love journalism. I really, really do. I love reporting and finding out information and writing. I just love it. When I have moments like that, where I remember why I'm up here trying to pursue this career, it makes all the hard stuff worth it.

Now to the main point of this post. I made pasta for dinner tonight, and it was UHMAZING. I was sauteeing veggies in a pink sauce and I accidentally dumped a lot of black pepper in. At first I was like, well shit I ruined my sauce, but then I just stirred it around and hoped for the best. This was the result.

Iz delicious. Eat me. twss

Recipe for deliciousness:
Whole wheat pasta
Red sauce
Alfredo sauce
Lots of black pepper
Some crushed red pepper (I did five shakes)
Sauteed veggies (I used red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, and onion)

It basically ended up being a Cajun pasta. I think it would also be amazing with some kind of sausage or ground meat in it. It's quite spicy, so if you don't like that kinda stuff, then pass. But OMG so. good. nomnomnomnom

Sigh. Full belly.
Until next time.

If you can't beat 'em

I've had a change of heart over the past couple of weeks. At the beginning of last week, I was desperate, depressed, and pretty much ready to hang my hat on this whole "moving to New York and getting a job" thing. I really thought there must be something wrong with me, or with the way I'm doing things up here, that's preventing me from getting a job. Then I had din with Z last week and he said something that kind of changed my brain around. He said, "We're in a recession. This time doesn't count. You have to put your dreams on pause."

I hadn't thought about it that way at all, but it's pretty much true. I can't really land my dream job if no one is hiring. It's gotten to the point now where literally every single entry-level journalism position I see on Mediabistro or Ed2010 is freelance, part-time only, or, yes, UNPAID. So I decided that the only thing I can do to battle the monster of a shitty economy is to no longer try to battle it. I'm just going to ride it out. My parents said they would support me for six months. I've been up here nearly two months now, and I've had seven interviews, none of which were for a full-time, salaried position (except for the phone interview I did in December before I got up here), and one of which resulted in an internship. I think I'm not doing too bad.

I say all this because I interviewed at a blogging site today to be an unpaid intern there. I would basically get to blog as much as I wanted about whatever I wanted, and I would get to come into the office for meetings, workshops, etc., I think it would be a great way to get experience, especially since I'm starting to think this whole blog/Web thing is where I want to focus my career, and if no one is going to hire me full-time for another few months (perish the thought), I may as well do something in the meantime.

In other news, I have a cold, and a while ago I took a nap and woke up with half of my nose completely stopped up. BOO.

Until next time.

The chair as a symbol, part 2

Ladies and gentlemen, I have a chair.

Well, I mean, I made a down payment of $17 on a $60 chair. I talked him down from $100! Here is the chair, in all its unimpressive glory, turned on its side and wrapped in plastic.

Plz to take me home and unwrap me? Twhs

Last night was a really hard night for me. I went to bed after midnight, then woke up again at around 1:30, then again around 3:30, then 4:30, and I didn't go back to sleep again. I just decided to get up around 7:20, instead of my normal rising time of about 8:10. I was having a bunch of stress dreams about the job hunt and continually being rejected. I went to work exhausted, then there was no cream for the office coffee. Sad day.

Then toward the end of the day, after I wrote a story and went to an edit meeting, both with about the same lackadaisical (OMGz that word is so hard to spell) attitude, I decided to change my mind and be positive. In the edit meeting one of my bosses was like, 'So, Meghan, do you have anything? Anything to add?' I was embarrassed to say no, except some viral videos I had found and was going to send to her as ideas for the site.

Since I started the internship, I've had the wrong attitude. Oh, it's only part-time. Oh, it doesn't pay, so why should I make an effort? The answer is I should make an effort because: what else have I got to do? Yes, I'm unemployed. But half-assing my internship certainly isn't going to change that. So this afternoon I had a change of mind and decided to give it my all, despite the lack of pay. I typed up the notes I had taken at the edit meeting and sent them to the editors, without having to be asked. It's a small thing but it seemed like they appreciated it.

So the picture above is just the chairy on top of my ice cream sunday. OMGGGG I'm too good. Or bad. You decide.

I still have to schedule movers some time this week, and get the thing from E 10th to E 118th st, but I have high hopes. I will certainly upload after pics, and I fully expect them to be more impressive than the before pic above.

Until next time.

A sign of the times, my friends

I just spent 30 to 45 minutes filling out an online application for a job. To be a front desk associate. At a gym.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. I am now resorting to shitty hourly jobs in hopes that I will soon be able to pay my own billz, instead of relying on my parents forever and ever. In truth, I picked the gym on purpose because I'm hoping to get a discounted membership out of it, at the very least. When I started my internship last Friday, I got a free week-long pass to the gym, so I went to yoga and abs yesterday, then Pilates earlier tonight. And I feel so much better. I mean, I always knew that physical fitness is a huge part of my happiness/mental competence level, but now that I'm in the city, I'm realizing it even more.

In other news, I'm really liking the internship. It's so different from working at a monthly magazine, where everything is pretty slow and quiet most of the time. Since this is a web site with a total of like four editorial staffers (including two interns) who post five stories per day, things are always bustling. Deadlines always need to be met, stories always need to be written, and blogs always need to be posted. That sentence was very poorly constructed, but you get the jist. It's fast-paced, and I love it. Plus I pitched a blog yesterday and the editors liked it and I created it today. So that made me feel good.

Still job searching though. In the meantime (hopefully if even they will hire me) I'll see you at the gym. Would you like a towel? Lolz.

Until next time.
Majorly yours.

Brrrrrrrrz

It's cold. Since I moved up here, it's been pretty temperate. I mean, there have been a couple days where I was like OMFG it's srsly cold and snowing or something, but overall, it's been more than tolerable. Yesterday was so nice that my landlord decided to turn the heat off for the day. Today, I assume, he will not be.


That's right, it "feels like 4 degrees F" outside. I have my window open because my radiator (which is controlled from my landlord's office downstairs) is cray cray and really hot, so typically I need some fresh chilly NYC air because I can't stand to sleep while I'm hot. Well I woke up this morning, about 30 minutes ago, and was like brrrrrrrrrchhchchchrrrzzz it's cold in here. I'm too lazy to even close my window. I just put a sweatshirt on and am bundled under my covers. Fail.

On the job front: I heard back from the mag I did the edit test for. They decided to go with someone more experienced. Sad face. BUT I am staying positive, because I fully acknowledge that that job was pretty much my dream job, and that I probably will have to work up to it. To get it right out of the gate would have been too easy. I need to start smaller.

I have had several interviews since I got to NYC: one to be a style intern at a major women's mag (but it only pays $7/hr and it's a closet internship, not an edit one, boo), another to intern at a woman's mag web site (this one is unpaid but it's only a couple days a week, and I would pretty much get to set my schedule, while getting web and blog clips, which is good), an HR interview, and one later today for a part-time temp position writing newsletters for a large media company. The last one is more a PR position, but it would be a foot in the door, it pays really well, and I could spend my extra time applying and interviewing elsewhere.

Whew. I've basically been running around town interviewing and trying to become familiar with my neighborhood for the past few days. It's pretty tiring. In case you haven't seen, I uploaded photos of my apt to facebook, so check 'em out!

Other big plans: Going to DC this weekend to see A and to go to the inauguration. I can't believe I will be there to witness the most historical event probably in my lifetime (aside from Obama actually winning the election).

Majorly yours.

I can't believe I live in New York

I've been in New York for 10 days now. A week plus three. In those 10 days I have: visited the MOMA, gone to the Met, rode the Staten Island ferry (which is free, BTdubs), had an HR interview at a huge mag company, interviewed for a style internship at a huge mag, and gotten an apartment.

What? Oh yeah, I got an apartment. It happened really fast. I found this posting on Craigslist for a "huge room with two windows" in East Harlem, and I responded on a whim. Craigslist is so shady and you never know what to expect, so I tend to think of replying to any post as replying on a whim, but whatevz. The girl e-mailed me back the next day explaining that she was moving out and needed someone to move in her room ASAP, so I went uptown with Z and C to check it out. I walked in the room and immediately knew I wanted to live there. The room is, indeed, HUGE, and the girl is also selling me her king size bed for $150. Basically, uhmazing. And the rent is $790 plus utilities. I'll be living with two other girls (the living room space is converted to a bedroom), but for the price I can deal with that. The neighborhood is cute--despite what you may have heard about Harlem--and it's a brownstone walk-up.

Mah front door and one of the windows of my room.

I love the outside of the apt, I love the room, it has a really nice kitchen, and there's a pretty good-sized bathroom for NYC. And it's in Manhattan, so the commute is not too bad. Yeah, it's way uptown, but it's only three bus stops (about ten minutes) up from where Z lives, which will be super nice for going out and hanging out and stuff.

I've been walking around the city a lot, and sometimes I look up and feel the cold wind on my face and see the glow of the city reflecting off the sky at night and I really can't believe I live here. I don't understand when people say they don't like New York, or even when people don't choose the place they start their lives based on how that place affects them. I can't imagine starting my life somewhere I don't absolutely love, or anywhere but New York actually. Everything cheesy New York lovers say about the city is absolutely true for me. It makes my heart beat faster and sometimes I feel like crying because it makes me so happy to be here. I first came to the city when I was 18, and as soon as I stepped off the bus I knew I was meant to be here. And here I am, starting my life and making and watching my dreams come true. How many people can say they have done the same? I really am just so thankful that I have people in my life who love me enough to help me and support me in this.

I love life.
Majorly yours.

A sigh and a quick NYC update

I heard back today from the NYC mag that contacted me a couple weeks ago to do a follow-up interview for an internship. The assistant editor let me know that they decided to go with someone else. I am disappointed, but she did say that she would love to meet up with me when I get to the city, just to chat about things. And it is really promising that I got an interview while outside of New York - it's rare, because with so many talented people wanting internships in the city, why would they look elsewhere? They must have liked my resume and clips enough to ask me to answer some questions from way down here in Bham, so that is good I think.

Aaand I just spilled Diet Coke all over my desk. Fail.

In good news, I got an iPhone last night as sort of an early Xmas present slash replacement for my (RIP) blackberry. Mah blog namez is predictive.

Majorly yours.

Checkity check check

Checking things off a list of things to do is like the most satisfying thing ever. This morning after the gym and on my way to work I dropped my dress off at the dry cleaners. I guess when I don't have a physical list to check off, I feel compelled to say it out loud so I feel like I accomplished something, because as I drove away I said, "Check!" out loud to myself while listening to NPR. It's the little things, really.

Also it's been a productive Getting Ready for New York (GRNY) day. I have e-mailed and talked on the phone with several people up there, and I got a response to an internship application! I am very excited about this. I have to answer some questions for them and send them responses by tomorrow. They are making final decisions by the end of the week. Without an in-person interview, I'm not getting my hopes up too much. But fingers crossed, nonetheless.

Also, for all you Southern readers who also dream of NYC, there is a large community of Southerners from SEC schools who regularly meet for happy hours, etc. in the city. Here is the link with contact info for the Ole Miss group in NYC. For other schools, just Google "greater New York (insert school here) alumni association" or something like that. I am really excited about this because I am cheesy and can't wait to watch Ole Miss football in a Manhattan bar filled with other Ole Miss fans. Oh, and $4 well dranks don't hurt either, nomesayin?

Majorly yours.