hired! even though i almost had a heart attack

So remember that last post I made about all the rejections I’ve gotten in the past couple weeks?

Turns out that the gig I was supposed to hear about on Friday called me back today….and I got it! I will be an AmeriCorps VISTA member at Our Piece of the Pie in Hartford, CT. OPP’s mission is to help urban youth develop into successful adults, whether it be by helping them graduate high school, go to college, or get a job. I’m most likely going to be working on a project in the Quality Assurance department, which might involve social media.  I accepted the position right away. After reading about OPP and looking at all the other VISTA positions I applied to, this one seems to be the best fit. I love the organization’s mission, the fact that it is in Connecticut, and the people who interviewed me seemed to be really great.  I really really REALLY wanted to be a part of OPP when I first visited the website, and now I’m so happy to be a part of it!

Of course, I was so nervous when I got the call. I’m pretty sure I bombed the interview (note to self: always use a land line during a phone interview.  Cell phone + room in the basement=fail fyi), but I’m so happy nonetheless. I found out while I was at work, immediately took my lunch break and walked to Stop and Shop, practically danced around the aisles, and almost hugged the other intern (keyword: almost. Sorry bro).

So I’ll be headed down to Philly on August 8th for pre-service Orientation, and start work at OPP on August 12th. This is so surreal!

I’m sad to leave HPO, they’ve been so great to me this past year. But I am so happy to join OPP. And potentially blog about being a VISTA. Yay for having something to write about!

Aside: I made dinner for the sibz tonight: this variation on a Chipotle burrito bowl. Oh. my. god. So delish. I’m pumped there were leftovers for lunch tomorrow! And kind of related but not really: there’s a glorious Chipotle in West Hartford!  So I guess it’s West Hartford: Hartford :: Shrewsbury:Worcester…at least regarding my favorite burrito establishment.

And finally, I found out today that my favorite public safety officer, Gramps, passed away this past weekend. Gramps was the best pub safe officer ever: every football game he would tell the members of the band (including moi) to play as loudly as possible from Fitton Field so that he could hear it up at the Hart….even though we were a 30 piece band with 3 trumpets at most. He was truly a great man, and brought so much to campus.  RIP GRAMPS.

a not so majestic return to reality

So when I started this blog last summer, I intended to write down everything about my senior year of college.  Obviously, that has not happened. Papers, friends, games, and parties all got in the way of this blog  this past year.  Even though I didn’t necessarily write it all down, I got to enjoy some of the best times of my life with some of the people I love most in this world.  I hit my stride academically.

And then I graduated.

and yes...they really did release balloons

Right now I’m sort of in a state of flux.  Not much about me has changed: I still love reading, I still love the Mets no matter how much they disappoint me, and I still love honing my Facebook stalking skills. At the same time, once I graduated, I lost the only thing I was ever really good at and ever really loved doing: school.  Post grad life (all three weeks of my life) have been very confusing for me. So far I have been rejected for no less than 4 jobs (after spending precious time and gas money to get myself to interviews and the like), mostly because of my lack of self-confidence on the phone.   I know I shouldn’t take all this personally–but I just get so excited about these potential jobs (at agencies that actually do GOOD for other human beings) that I can’t help but be deeply disappointed. Especially when the employer can’t even be bothered to send me a spell-checked rejection email.

I do know that I’m lucky enough to have a job. Well, at least until December. I’m back at my summer internship from last summer, with a 2 dollar raise (yeah, you’re jealous). My bosses said I am welcome to stay during the Medicare annual enrollment period, which I will probably end up having to do.  I love the people I work with, and I get to actually do a lot of fulfilling, useful work. I just can’t get the student loans and the need to sort of move on with my life and prove that everything that I accomplished during college was worth it.  Sometimes I almost wish that I was (f)unemployed.

So I’m not going to promise that I’ll be posting every day…but I am going to make the effort to actually keep up with this blog this time.  My WordPress theme is too pretty to go to waste.