roller skates and ping pong

so on wednesday i had my second interview which was basically a day of job shadowing to see if we were able to keep up and handle the job. i went around with a girl named ashley and we went out with a guy named bj and another guy named dustin who was also applying four a job. another guy, i think his name was spencer, went out with a guy named mike and another guy whose name was either ryan or brian. ashley, bj, and mike were all in a meeting with the director of the des moines office when we got there[i was first:)] mike came out to give us a brief update of what was going on and i won on having the best handshake(props to my pops who has a good handshake, i learned it from him. i must admit i really hate flimsy handshakes) so then we left in our groups. we spent the day going to different towns trying to sell different products to people at different businesses. this was quite an experience. they would call introducing a product to someone "pitching" so ashley and bj were discussing which one of us(me and dustin) were going to be the first ones to "pitch" a product to someone so the next place we went i "pitched" a product to a guy and he said no but he didn't interrupt me and tell me to leave. i guess dustin never "pitched" to anyone from what it sounded like and i didn't see him again once we got back so i don't know if bj decided he didn't want to suggest he get hired or what because basically the people we went out with would say yeah you should hire this person or not. so we get back and we had a little quiz question thingy to fill out and i was the only one of the three of us that went out that was sitting in the office. so the four sales people and the director lady were meeting talking about the day and what not and the sales people kept coming in and out and then finally i went in with the director and ashley and we started talking about the day and then the director said she was offering me a job and that i started the next day(thursday) when i asked if i could have time to thing about it she said maybe i didn't want it if i had to thing about it but left it up to ashley with whether or not i could have time to decide. so she said i could and i need to call her tomorrow with my decision. the job would be starting out in sales and then i could move into any division i wanted to and would be a manager and from what they said could make more money in a year then i ever dreamed of. so wednesday night i was stressed out and freaking out about whether or not i should accept this job offer. this was the first interview i've had and i really would like to have a job. it also looked like it would be a really interesting job and the people seemed really nice and i would love to be able to pay my loans back as quick as possible. part of me really wanted to say yes out of a genuine interest. they also talked about a lot of people not being able to handle the job and i can be a very prideful/stubborn/competitive person so my flesh really just wanted to prove that i could handle it because i really think i could(they specifically said that not a lot of girls could handle it which made me want to prove that i could even more. i'm really not some crazy feminist i promise. but i really don't like to be thought of as a "stereotypical" girl(not that that is necessarily bad) i'm just definitely not it.) so after a lot of freaking out, thought/consideration, prayer, talking to people, and walking around in circles getting dizzy; i decided to say no. it just doesn't seem to be the direction that God wants me to go with my life so i am still unemployed but this time it is by choice not the lack of opportunity. that was a lot of rambling and i hope it makes sense if not feel free to ask me to clarify.

yippie!!

so i had a job interview this morning at 10:15 and by 10:30 i was done with my interview and had a second interview/job shadowing set up for tomorrow. so by tomorrow night i could be employed!! :)

hello again

so i am not a talkative person by nature. it's not that i never have anything to say i just don't talk a lot for a wide variety of reasons. something i've always struggled with is if you are concerned about something in particular about someone what is ok to talk about and who is it ok to talk to. i've always worried that i would be gossiping/ making someone think badly about someone else if i shared what was on my mind. sometimes i feel like some of the things we really need to be talking about never get said because someone involved wouldn't want it to be talked about. when should we be quiet and respectful of their feelings and when should we speak out to try and help them even if they don't like it to start with? how do you know if you are just trying to fix things on your own or if you really need to get outside help? this might not make any sense to anyone else besides me but i really just needed to get it out of my head.

Seeking God's will in the Haze of life...

Since graduation, I have been on a long tiresome road to determine how to spend the rest of my years.

At first my goal was simply to find a job in my field...and God provided. I got a job at Championship Productions in Ames (yeah, no commute!) working on a contract basis and getting paid per project. When I started there I was on a three-month contract, and when the contract was drawing to a close and my boss hadn't spoken to me about an extension on that contract, I assumed I needed to find a job...FAST!

After a lot of "suggestion" by my roommate, Holly Boston, I applied for a Barista position at Stomping Grounds. I was excited to learn more about coffee and espresso and how to make it well. Much to my surprise I was hired within four days of applying. Soon after landing a job at good ol'e SG, my boss at Championship Productions offered me the opportunity to stay on. Now I had a second job, and wouldn't have to worry about making rent or finding freelance jobs.

It wasn't long before this got daunting. I dreaded getting up in the morning to work on boring Sports Training Videos, and couldn't wait to leave and make coffee and lattes at Stomping Grounds. I wasn't sure I wanted to give up the video world completely, but I knew I wanted out of the video world I was in. So I turned in my notice at Championship and was excited to get into the freelance world (secretly hoping it wouldn't interfere with my coffee making endeavors).

It has taken me a long time to get things wrapped up at Championship Productions, and along the way my roommate, Katie Allen, brought my attention to a job opening in Des Moines at Fox channel 17. I applied (what they hey, it's good experience), thinking I was under qualified and uninterested, only to be called for a phone interview less than a week later.

Before long I was offered a job that seemed a little boring and monotonous, and a little skimpy on the pay. I wrestled with weather or not to take the job for a while and eventually declined the position.

I figured the video world was over for me. I would work in freelance and see where that went, but Stomping Grounds would probably be my primary source of income...hey, maybe I'd even become a manager eventually - or move on to open my own coffee shop? Then I received a surprising call from the general manager of Fox 17. He asked if I had turned down the position because of the job or because of the money. He said he may be able to work out a job for me, but it would pay about the same amount. I told him from what it sounded like I would probably be interested in the job. So I waited a week to hear from the one doing the hiring. When I finally did hear from her I had an on-the-fly phone interview with her (which, I think, went terribly), after which I was told I'd hear back from them in about 2 weeks. And so I did. I was offered a job, and feeling like they had created a job just for me, I felt like I couldn't refuse. So I will be working in Des Moines eight hours a day, five days a week starting on June 26th. But I couldn't handle the thought of giving up my dream of owning a coffee shop someday (or the possibility of never being able to master my latte art), so I begged my boss at Stomping Grounds to let me work some evenings and weekends.

Holly and I decided that I will be working in the video industry to save money for my coffee shop. I love it, and I think I just might want to spend the rest of my life doing it! And if I hate this video job...Jon, will you PLEASE take me back as a manager?