Category Archives: Life

Talking about life

Election. Way back when.

Anybody can win unless there happens to be a second entry. – George Ade

Sophomore year of high school I ran for class president, unopposed. I won. Even though I didn’t have competition, it was a self esteem booster. Sometime during the year there was a hallway decorating contest. One of my presidential duties was to coordinate the decorationg of the sophomore hall. During this week long event I had a confrontation with a not so nice girl about crepe paper. In this particular exchanging of words, SHE informed me that I would have never gotten the position if ANYONE had run against me. According to HER, people didn’t like me (which was a complete shock to me). So I ran to the bathroom crying, with my good friend Linh chasing behind me.

Since then, I have always wondered if I would have won had SHE ran against me. This was Mississippi, would they have been loyal to the new girl? Or would the sophomore class have chosen the girl they’d known since preschool, who happened to be mean? What would have been? At least SHE couldn’t put Pres on her college applications. Next to the “leadership” box, there wasn’t a “number of opponents” box. Not sure where SHE is now, but I hope she became nicer.

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Lessons.

Tonight I had dinner with a friend I hadn’t seen since last Spring. It was good to see an old familiar face, but also interesting to see how much had changed since graduation. We worked together at Transportation at A&M. Which translates to me spending around 10 hours a week talking to this girl between “work.” The year we graduated Emily went on several interviews a week. She was honing her skills, but also trying to learn what she wanted. I was so intimidated by all of her interview stories and how much she seemed to be learning. It seemed that there was no way she wouldn’t get a good job. Emily’s out of college job offer wound up being considerably more than mine. But she chose the job that offered her the most money. She spent the next year hating her job, her coworkers, and the expectations of her work. I had known she disliked the job, but I was not aware of the extent.

Emily realized at about the one year mark that she had had enough, and she put her two weeks in, without having another job. She had saved and prepared for possibly leaving, so she was ready to fully dive into the job search. It took her a month, but Emily found a position that she is loving. She is now making what I was offered starting out, and she is much happier. Emily made it clear that she thought the money did not make a difference. If I’m not enjoying my work at any salary, it isn’t the right fit.

I was really impressed with her logic and her approach. I have spent the past year and a half questioning what I should be doing with myself. I’ve wondered if this is right for me. I’ve had bad days and okay days, but I don’t ever think I’ve ever had days in a row where I love what I do. Emily realized the path she chose wasn’t right, and is making headway in correcting it. She’s taking the GMAT coming up, and will start applying for graduate schools. I suppose I admire clear cut decision making because I can’t seem to do it. I’ve lived without furniture for a year and a half because I can’t commit to the purchase.

Seeing an old friend makes me continue to evaluate my own place and current situation. I hope it can inspire me to make some life choices. Maybe I will take her on as a life coach, people in reality shows seem to have them. It could work for me.

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Furniture quest.

Yesterday and today, I did a whole lot of nothing. Today I started on a furniture quest, because I still don’t own furniture (besides a bed and some bookshelves). I went down Westheimer to look in some antique shops I’ve always wanted to go in. All that I succeeded in was wanting expensive unique things that I would never be able to match. The gift of interior decorating was never bestowed on me. Maybe it would have been easier to make a decision on something if I’d had someone with me to bounce ideas off of. As I continued down Westheimer, stopping periodically, I went in Crate & Barrel. Their things were gorgeous, and came in pre-matched in “sets”- to bad these whole sets of things cost lots of dollars. Now all I can think about is possible furniture combinations and what their costs will be to me.

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