Reach For The Skies

Ah, gentle readers, your MatchGirl is remiss.  It’s been days upon days since she’s last shared any of her life in this little tome.  To be fair, she has been busy.  There is work. There is the planning of the next Work It Brooklyn. And there is play, catching up with friends, old and new, whose lives are taking them on adventures and to places that your MatchGirl can only imagine.

That said, I am drafting this post en route (and, but en route, I mean literally from the plane) to Bogota, Colombia, where I am headed for four days of work and play combined.

My new job (I say new, though I have been here since April), has a big office and a ton of staff in Bogota, the hometown of one of our founders, and your MatchGirl, a coworker and a lucky prize winner are all going to Bogota for the first time – to meet the staff of the office, to immerse ourselves in company culture, to take pictures, to eat great food and to find out what it is that makes our partnership such a special one.

While I’m in Bogota, I will be Tweeting and blogging for work, as well as posting my personal thoughts, images and videos on my own Twitter feed and Facebook page (sorry, no link to that – you know where it is if you’re my IRL friend!).

This is a journey that I could not have imagined a year ago.  Heck.  This, dear ones, is a journey that I could not have imagined six months ago.

I know that many of you are still unemployed and underemployed, just looking for something – that right fit.  That job that you not only don’t mind getting up for in the morning, but that more times than not, you want to get up for.  I know that you cannot imagine that six months from now – four months from now – even next week – you could have that job in your hands.

I want to remind you of the possibilities.

So many people that your MatchGirl has been fortunate enough to meet, in real life and simply via the web/blogosphere since I started jotting my thoughts down in this space, have found themselves employed.  And well employed.  So many people that put their heads down and just kept working on what they love have found themselves doing just that.  Have made opportunities where they never imagined opportunities could be.  Have been discovered for doing thing that were, to them, simply works of passion.

So, while many of you struggle still, please, do not abandon hope.

There’s no advice in this post, dear readers, just a glimmer that better days are on the horizon.  Whether it’s according to plan or something entirely unexpected.

Best of luck to you, gentle ones.  I can’t wait to hear the adventures that you find.

Take This Job And Shove It?

Most of you, gentle readers, are unemployed or underemployed.  You started reading this little blog because your MatchGirl was writing about the same (or similar) experiences you were having and the same (or similar) things you were thinking.  And, while I may no longer be unemployed, I am still keeping an eye out for news that effects the unemployed and underemployed amongst us.

When I see a news story about a man like Steven Slater quitting his Jet Blue gig by sliding down the emergency slide, beer in hand, or when I see a hoax like "Whiteboard Girl" - it gives me pause. Both of these are amazing.  I'm not going to lie.  I laughed when I read about both of them.

But they touch a finer point.

People are frustrated.  Working, though ultimately better than not working, the way the economy is right now, is hard.

Please don't take my point the wrong way.  I am so happy to have a job.  And I am lucky to have a job where the people are cool, I am learning a lot, and my boss seems to notice when I am working hard.  I am one of the fortunate ones.  So many people out there - people who were unemployed for a long time and people who are terrified of losing their jobs (for whatever reason) - feel like they cannot speak up.  And they are treated like crap.

The fact of the matter is that a lot of employers are taking full advantage of the fact that the economy is staying in the toilet - and it doesn't look like it's going to get better any time soon.

So, while you may be among the un and underemployed, dear readers, I know you still have that fantasy about saying "take this job and shove it" to your tyrannical boss.  If you could pull a Steven Slater or a "Whiteboard Girl" to quit your job - what would you do?

Leave your comments below!

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

Patience is a virtue.

-Piers Plowman

Good things come to those who wait.

-Proverbs

Things will be just fine

You and I'll just use a little patience.

-Axl Rose

You take it on faith, you take it to heart

The waiting is the hardest part.

-Tom Petty

Patience is the art of hoping.

-Vauvenargues, Marquis de quotes

Ah, gentle readers, your MatchGirl keeps hearing about the virtue of patience.  And, while she understands that one can't force some subjects and while she understands that one can't push others and while she understands that sometimes there is simply a time-line beyond one's control - she still hates waiting.

Relying on others to come to a decision is one of the most frustrating things in the world.  Because, no matter how hard you've worked towards something or how much you've given of yourself or how much you've put yourself out there - the waiting is the hardest part.

(I've written about it here before)

In dating, it's the waiting for the call.  It's the waiting for the first kiss.  It's the waiting, when (or once) you know what you want from someone - the them to come to the same (you hope) or another (disappointing, yet often inevitable) conclusion.

In the job hunt, it comes after you've sent out hundreds of resumes and are not hearing anything back.  It comes after that first interview, when you are just hoping that they'll call you back.  It comes later you've learned, through your well networked grapevine, that they've checked your references and  you just sit hitting "refresh" on your e-mail browser for hours - no, days - on end.  Waiting for any word.  For any answer.

Recently, for millions of unemployed, it's been in waiting for Congress to come back from yet another vacation (read: campaign trip back home) and vote on a bill that affects your every day life - your ability to pay your rent or keep your electricity on or feed your kids.

It's hard to be patient, dear ones.  It's hard to be patient because, many times, that patience means that you have little or no control over the outcome for which you are waiting.

Milestones

As I've noted many times, your MatchGirl is fast approaching her 35th birthday (it's in November & presents are welcome).  And, as regular readers will know, this looming event gives me pause.

It's a milestone birthday that has me considering where I am going and what I am doing  - in every aspect of my life.

I recently read a blog post listing eleven famous people who were not doing the jobs that they are famous for when they were 30 years old.  And gentle readers, I'm not going to lie, that list made me feel a bit better about where my life is going and the direction I am taking it in.  I've written before about how Julia Child found her passion - her soul mate, her love of French culture, her fervor for French cooking - when she was just a bit older than your MatchGirl is now.

This I find inspiring.

Because even though I have friends who are just past 30 and have jobs - no, careers - that are not only impressive, but that they enjoy.  I'm not jealous.  How could I be?  They have careers that they have been focused on for their entire adult lives.  Maybe before they were even adults.  I don't have that.  The answer to "What do you want to be when you grow up?" was never so simple or so focused for me.  Of course, I have friends who fell into amazing jobs or amazing careers, not to say they don't work hard, because they do, they are simply in jobs they didn't dream about as kids.

And that's OK.  We all have different paths.  We all come upon where we're supposed to be at different times and in different ways. 

And, with the specter of that milestone birthday only a few months in the distance - I feel like I might be on the right path.

Taking Care

Sometimes, gentle readers, the little things in life are the sweetest.

This weekend, while out of town, your MatchGirl found herself violently ill. Let's just say that heat plus dehydration plus vodka was not the most wonderful combination. Fortunately, I was staying with a dear dear friend who comforted me and took care of me and assured me that his Saturday was not ruined by the fact that I spent most of it alternately running to the bathroom or curled up in fetal position on his bed.

And, though the weekend did not go exactly according to schedule, this bit of caring, of condolence and, of affection, really made it a beautiful weekend after all.

Easy Come, Easy Go

Money makes the world go around
…the world go around
…the world go around.
Money makes the world go around
Of that we both are sure…
*pffft* on being poor!

Ah, gentle readers, your MatchGirl has been thinking a lot about money of late.

It's a bit odd, perhaps, to be employed, yet seemingly more stressed about the balance of my bank account than when I was unemployed, living on the dole and just trying to get by. But with a job come expenses. Things we don't think about when we're spending a lot of time at home, rarely leaving the house.

Your MatchGirl, dear ones, just spent a bit of time balancing her checkbook.   And, though I have no credit cards, it's amazing how money can just get away from you when you are not really paying attention.  Or when you have added expenses that you are not accounting for when planning your monthly budget.

And, you all plan your monthly budget, don't you?

Your MatchGirl uses Mint to manage her finances.  You can add all your bank accounts, your student loans, your credit cards and all your income and really see where your spending is going.  You can download a mobile app for your iPhone or Android phone to give you mobile updates.  While you have to put in some work, I think it's a great way to figure out where my money is going and where I can cut back a little.

Because, with a job, my monthly subway fare went up to an $89 unlimited card, as opposed to the $20 card I would buy every few weeks.  My food spending went up - lunches, coffee, bagels and various dinners out - because I have less time and, honestly, have just been sort of lazy on these long summer days.  And, not gonna lie, I've bought myself a few things - some necessities, some irresistible.  But, the time has come to reign in that spending.

Money, after all, dear ones, as we all know, is not so easy come these days. 
Yet still far too easy to let go.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

A few days ago, a friend posted this quote on his Twitter feed:

The Dunning-Kruger effect: people who don't know much tend not to recognize their ignorance, & so fail to seek better information.

And from the blog of The Science Show:

The dumb get confident, while the intelligent get doubtful. That's the conclusion that David Dunning and Justin Kruger came to when studying people's perceptions of their own talents. What has now become known as the Dunning-Kruger effect helps describe why lay people often act as experts and inept pollies get our votes.

This is exactly why the Tea Party movement is gaining so much traction in America.  And why we spent so many years with a President who people wanted to drink a beer with instead of one with a proven record.

If this blog starts taking a more political slant in the coming months, it's because this is a midterm election year.  And one of the biggest things that will be effected by this election is the economy - and therefore unemployment, joblessness and unemployment benefits.  People tend to think that the only elections that really matter - that they really can get behind are those big every four year Presidential ones.  But don't forget - the people who have been holding up unemployment benefit extensions are the men and women who are elected every six years...

Just sayin'...