Today is the first day of the semester. It's going to be even busier than usual now that I have an internship. They wanted me to work at least 20 hours a week, but that isn't feasible with my schedule. I managed to whittle them down to 15 hours, plus I'll have 13 hours of work, 4 classes, homework, studying, and being part of two different campus organizations. Most nights I'll be home by 6:00 PM which hasn't always been the case in past semesters, but I still feel like I won't really have a life.
I'll be around as often as I can, posting and visiting everyone, but I don't know how often that will be. This is the start of my last year of school and every year just seems to be more and more crazy busy. I just keep telling myself to hang on for one more year and then it'll be easier.
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1. Have you ever broken something on purpose?
Yes! When I was in 5th or 6th grade, I got a new pair of glasses. I didn't necessarily think they were the greatest ever, but I didn't really think they were all that bad either. One day at school, a kid made fun of them and told me they were the ugliest pair of glasses he'd ever seen. After that, I hated them!
One day I was riding my bike and decided to take my glasses off, throw them on the ground, and run over them with the bike. I lied to my mom and said that some girl that who lived around the corner from me and who was often mean to me was the one who broke them. I'm pretty sure that my mom knew I was lying. She told me that I needed to go to the girl's house, tell her parents what happened, and ask them to pay for a new pair of glasses. She wouldn't come with me, and I cried before finally telling her the truth.
2. What are you afraid of? Why?
I'm scared of a lot of things - the dark, deep bodies of water, spiders, snakes...
The biggest thing I'm afraid of is what will happen after graduation. I hope that I'll be able to find a really great job, but there's no guarantee, even with a college education. Several of the friends I've gone to school with and who have graduated already are now working jobs that have nothing to do with their degrees, and I hope that's not the case with me.
3. What's one of the most difficult decisions you've ever had to make?
I finally found a job that I absolutely LOVED! It paid well, had great hours, most of my coworkers were really friendly, and it was challenging enough to keep my interest. About 6 months after I was hired, my manager quit and the manager from a different department took over. Before the new manager started, we all gossiped about how we hoped and prayed he wouldn't be our new manager. He was rather unpleasant and intimidating.
Unfortunately, that manager did take over our department and brought part of his old department with him. Right from the start, he let us know who was in charge. I felt like he was searching for any reason to get rid of me. I saw a ton of people who had been with the company a lot longer than me either be fired or move to a different department or quit the company altogether just to get away from him. One day in a one-on-one meeting, he was going on and on about how he was unhappy with my work. I made the mistake of telling him that I just didn't care anymore. I'd just had it! I told him that no matter how hard I tried, it didn't seem to make a difference because it was never good enough. This was my downfall. From that point forward, he rode me even harder, and even the slightest mistake was made to seem huge.
I tried looking for other jobs, but didn't seem to be getting anywhere. My work began to suffer because I couldn't sleep at night. I was constantly wracked with anxiety. My boss called me for yet another meeting to yell at me, and I decided that was it! I packed up my stuff, walked out, and never came back. I knew that I could either walk away or be fired, and felt it was better to go out on my own terms.
I asked my manager in that last meeting why they didn't just fire me. I was told that they don't like to fire people. Such a lie, because they'd fired a TON of people before me!!!
It wasn't difficult to make the decision, but the aftereffects were very difficult. Employers questioned me repeatedly about why I would leave a job before finding another. It took me 8 long months to find another job, which ended up being even worse.
4. Show and Tell. What comes to mind first when you see this picture? Or tell a story if it reminds you of one.
That's one very old truck! It kind of reminds me of my father, who used to tell me that Ford vehicles were no good. I don't really know what he ever had against Ford, but he really didn't like them.
