The Best Job In The World

Welp, I got really bored last night after taking a 3.5 hour nap (thank you, Benadryl) and decided to put something together quick for this "Best Job In The World" application (http://www.islandreefjob.com/).

After watching a bunch of other people's apps, I think mine is competitive enough. I mean, it is going up against the "Uhhhh yeahhh, so um pick me because uhh I'm awesome"'s and "I've always wanted to go 'Down Undah' matey!! PICK ME PICK ME!"'s. Oh, and then there was the classic one of the couple that come as a "package" and just made out and talked about love the whole time...????. I basically just got down to it and didn't fake that I actually knew something about the Great Barrier Reef, however, I did touch upon different skills and things I like to do that were mentioned in the job description, so hopefully I get put in the potential pile when they see mine. The only other differences between my application and thousands of others are pretty much a) I am not from Colorado and b) I am not Canadian. Maybe that will be appealing, ha. I did write "M.B.S." instead of "M.B.A." and only realized that after I submitted the video (daaang, homie!), but hopefully that's not a big deal.

Now, chances of me actually getting picked are most definitely ridiculously slim, but whatevs, I had fun making this little movie and it kept me from just eating a whole bag of chips in my bed while watching the Travel Channel.

January 20th - Monumental Events

Well, today marks two things: the 24th year I have been alive and the inauguration of President Barack Obama, the first African-American Commander In Chief of the United States of America. Crazy, right? Change has come to America and also to yours truly.

So, I've been going through this quarter life crisis a year early, contemplating my career and trying to figure out what I really want to do with my life. Today I was sitting in a program management review and had a revelation. In this room were finance people like myself, logistics, contracts, engineers, program managers, a vice president, and schedulers. Everyone knew it was my birthday and before the meeting started, one of my colleagues asked how old I was turning, so in front of everyone I said "24". Everyone smiled and joked that I was the youngest person in here by probably twice that amount.

That is when it hit me; I am way too cocky and impatient. I was sitting there in a room full of years of experience in international business and a wealth of knowledge that expands far beyond anything I can probably fathom at this point in my career. I get so wrapped up in money, day to day corporate america bullshit, and spend way too much time thinking about what I don't have and what I want instead of what I'm actually doing and have. Earth to Lisa..YOU ARE VERY LUCKY! I need more time under my belt, I need to focus more about being better at my job than I already am, and I need to be open minded to the fact that yes, my job sucks right now, but that is because I'm still somewhat fresh out of school and I still don't know anything. No one really owes me anything here yet because I'm still learning. I am a preschooler in the University of Global Defense.

• So the question is this...am I to just take the monotonous, number crunching, dry, and BORING as hell work that I do, week after week, and just feel lucky that I'm even employed? Just suck it up and go through the same old motions that I go through every week because "someday" it will pay off? Stop being so impatient and take things as they come..whenever that may be?
  
  OR
  
• Do I say, F this. This job sucks and it has sucked since I've started. I'm not seeing that light at the end of the tunnel. Should I say, I went to school for four years, am getting my MBA and I deserve to make more money and people need to start realizing the value I've added so far? Should I waste 45 hours a week burning my brain cells on spreadsheets all day long OR should I really be putting them towards something FUN and that I actually enjoy doing and can actually feel valued and like I'm making some kind of difference in this world, rather than feeling like if I left no one would care

Part of me thinks the first stance is definitely the right and moral option. It is conservative, safe and resembles a "let it happen" person. The problem is that in my opinion, let it happeners are pussies. I am a "make it happen" person and I choose to say F you, Northrop Grumman and your weapons of mass destruction!!!! I want to work with people and change their lives! Not destroy them indirectly through Microsoft Excel!!!! I want to make even the slightest difference in anything, whether it be teaching some kids how to multiply in a Baltimore County school, protecting the Great Barrier reef in Australia, going away to the Peace Corps for two years and stimulating microfinance in Central America, or just taking pictures that inspire people or inspire their own creative thinking.

My last observation is this: Thank God for my sporadic and random train of thought and ability to reflect on horrible ideas like "being conservative". I would never make it out alive if I actually followed through with ridiculous ideas like that. Thank you God, or whoever, for giving me the gift of intelligent rationality.

Solution to my problem: Keep applying to random jobs that do not involve anything close to what I am doing now, and that only involve making an immediate difference in anything at all.

My latest attempts: Secondary math teacher in Baltimore County and http://www.islandreefjob.com/ (as improbable as it is...at least I'm dreaming).

I guess what is driving me to think about this problem so much is that I see people every day tat work who I don't want to become. My biggest fear of sticking in a job like this one is losing that ability of free thinking and just dissolving into the background drone of these awful fluorescent lights in these stupid, fuzzy cubicles. I don't want to be like that guy I see takling to himself at the copy machine, with a strange deer in headlights look, and who has the capability to multiply and divide ridiculously large numbers to the exact decimal point within seconds time and who has lost all characteristics of actually being a human being with social tendencies. I do not want to lose the ambition to be who I am and I want to stay young at heart by not succumbing to the pressures of bottom lines and Corporatocracy.

I won't give up. What is that popular saying? Good things come to those who wait? F those guys, I'm going after it.

Hello 2009 - Random thoughts

Is ambition a good or bad thing? Most would say good. But what if you are one of those people that are so ambitious, go-go-go, and commitment obsessed they somehow turn all of these great ambitious things into stressful need-to-do's that ultimately lose the characteristics that attracted this person to them in the first place?! All of these wonderful things suddenly become a headache and infects all of the other ideas and to-do's.

In my case, at least for the past few months to a year, I have set my mind to doing about 8,349,940,983 different things, all of which take place all over the world and most of which will cost a lot of money (that I definitely do not have) or to get rid of all of my debt (which is borderline impossible). My problem is, when I say I am going to do something I usually follow through 99.9% of the time. This should be a good thing, however, I have got to the point where it is not. What I have learned though, over the last few months is that life is not a to-do, not a list, and not on my google or outlook calendar. Life is meant to be just that; lived; not considered something that needs to be done right now, this very second, and something that can't wait until tomorrow.

My life post college has helped me realize a lot about myself and I have recently become very comfortable with who I am. I've learned to slow down. I've learned to think things through. I've learned patience and rationality. I've learned to reflect and to absorb. I have always been a good listener, but I've learned to reciprocate and reinforce. I feel this is a more recent development (within the last year), and what I think sparked it is by doing things that actually bring me happiness and resolve--things that dont have requirements, T&Cs, deadlines, or bottom lines.

Starting this year, there is a lot that I am eager to start achieving and exploring. It's time for some genuine personal reform.


There are many things that I want to do, improve on, and figure out. I want to take photography more seriously, I am questioning school, I am questioning my career, I'm contemplating life on the west coast, I'm getting back to blogging, exploring yoga and meditation, taking one thing at a time, forgetting what it means to rush, understanding relationships, understanding people, ignoring and avoiding superficialness, surrounding myself with people whose company I truly enjoy, accepting that people grow apart and that is OK, etc.


Happiness is meant to be a euphoric feeling-have I truly felt it? What I believe is that one can't be ultimately happy until you level with yourself on your own being. In that case, I'm a pretty happy chick.


Now, I am not trying to give a false sense of who I am. I am not some zen hippie that has finished a journey of soul searching and found the meaning of Life. I am only 24 years old and probably have zero idea of what lies ahead of me or what path I will take. I believe people never stop soul searching. I am still the random, scattered, overly ambicious, and loving and dorky person you all know. I'm exactly the same, I just learned to be less serious and more open minded and observant. This, in turn, helped me learn how to reflect and that, so far, has been a very healthy exercise.

Writing all of this stuff down makes me feel somewhat complete and satisfied. I like this.