Working in the real world is harder than I ever thought. I remember older friends telling me that they would come home exhausted and barely have the energy to pull together a dinner sandwich. But I blew them off and just assumed that for some reason their jobs involved intensive physical labor that made them so tired. And since I was never on the construction job track I figured that I would end my days full of energy and zest.

Turns out I was wrong. I’m so dead by the end of the day that I can barely keep my eyes open when I crawl into bed at sunset. Truth be told, I cannot figure out why. I possibly have the least physically demanding job in the entire world. As a freelance blogger I spend half my days in bed on the computer and half my days on a couch on the computer. Sure my fingers are getting a work-out (ever seen a thumb with biceps?) but the rest of me might as well be sold off for spare parts. If anyone knows how much legs (partially shaved) are going for these days, please leave me a message below.

And it’s not only the exhaustion that’s taking a toll on me. It’s also being responsible for the work that I do everyday. In the past I’ve had part time jobs doing things like working at an ice cream store. But if I didn’t bring my A-game to work it wasn’t that big of a deal. All it meant was that some kid had an allergic reaction because I wasn’t paying attention when his mother asked if nuttybutter-walnut ice cream had nuts in it. Same with internships. I could make a million mistakes and then shrug my shoulders and be like “sorry, I’m just an intern, I didn’t know that pressing backspace would delete a year’s worth of work.” Read More »

I came into college with a well thought-out plan of what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to go to film school, live in Los Angeles, be a writer for television and maybe one day direct movies.

I never figured a boyfriend into my whole equation.

So now that I have one it feels like I have to somehow stick to my plan and ambitions while figuring in someone else’s. It’s MUCH harder than it sounds.

I’m from a medium sized city that was boring as hell growing up. I couldn’t wait to go to a big college in a big city to get away. I like being busy, I like having a lot of people to befriend, and I love being so close to Austin’s famous sixth street and live bands. I’ve always been a city girl and I want to stay a city girl. Matt, on the other hand, is a homebody. He’s from a small city and would much rather go back to live there (or somewhere like it) after college. He hates big cities because the driving is too dangerous, crime is high, and he is very content staying at home every night. Even though we’re in the same major, he wants to work at small town TV stations while I want to work in Hollywood.

Big difference in opinions…so what do we do about it? Read More »

Remember Natalie Dylan, the girl who wanted to auction off her virginity? She had a degree in Women’s Studies and herself a feminist. Kind of contradictory, huh?

Although her case is extreme, I come to find that I also have some contradicting views on feminism. I tend to be pretty adamant about being a strong independent woman, but sometimes I just wanna feel like that innocent damsel in distress. And although it’s comforting to slip into many traditional female roles, I could never abandon the ideals of the 21st century feminist.

Here are some of the contradictions that make me happy to call myself a “semi-femi”:

- I consider myself a feminist, but I don’t hate men and I shave my armpits on the regular.

- I enjoy proving I can do anything without my man’s help, but I do like it when he opens doors for me.

- I plan on taking my husband’s last name when I get married, but I hate it when a couple is labeled Mr. and Mrs. “Husband’s-First-and-Last-Name.” I’m not property!

- I‘m sick of movies and magazines that portray women as nothing more than sex objects, but I could stare at Megan Fox all day long. Read More »

I’ve learned a lot about myself in these months since I’ve graduated. Most importantly I’ve learned that I have severe and occasionally life-threatening problem with jealously. I like my friends, some more than others, and I want them to do well. However I don’t want them to do well until I’m doing well. That’s fair, right?

It takes enormous amounts of effort for me to congratulate a friend upon hearing they got a job. Literally, I have to type one letter at a time while I suffer from a self-induced panic attack. I practically have to have Xanax on hand 24/7 in case I get one of those excited voice mails (I no longer answer the phone, too risky having to fake enthusiasm) telling me that someone got offered a job. Read More »

I’ve been asking a lot of questions lately. Mostly to myself, but I have a quirky tendency to mumble aloud so sometimes I get answers from people assuming that I was trying to have a conversation with them. But I appreciate their responses; I’ll take anything I can get these days, with the exception of Yahoo answers. The longer I go without finding a job, the more I question every decision I’ve made since kindergarten….including that one-piece stir-up jumpsuit my mother insisted I wear.

What if I had gone to another college? What if I had majored in psychology? What if I’m one of those people who don’t know they’re pregnant until they go into labor at nine months and discover their baby has 13 fingers and tentacles because their mother took a shot every time she asked herself what if?

What if I had taken a different internship last summer, seduced the boss, and then been able to blackmail him into getting me a job. What if the love of my life lives in the past and we spend the rest of our lives communicating only through a mailbox at a lake house (do they have to play that movie every single weekend??). What if I end up getting hired at my dream job and realize that I hate it? Read More »

It’s summer (if you haven’t noticed) and therefore my time is divided between sweating, drinking whatever is cold, squeezing into shorts, sweating, sleeping through the hottest part of the day, and watching late-night TV until my apartment cools down enough for me to fall sleep.

Late-night TV is an interesting beast, forever surprising you with its ability to throw random shows together in the hope that you’re so tired/drunk/spaced out that you won’t notice what’s going on.  I usually don’t notice, but lately I’ve been awake and sober, so I’m beginning to catch some things.  Like, American Idol is a horrible show full of annoying people, yet I can’t help but watch hours upon hours of reruns.

During one of my sweaty midnight marathons (not the good kind, trust me), I happened to see one of the more recent episodes of American Idol.  You know…the one with the bikini girl.  If I despised the American Idol judges before, you can bet that Kara DioGuardi’s actions didn’t make my feelings any fonder.  What was she thinking??  I mean, the only one to rival her in craziness is Paula Abdul.  The real question is, which one is more pathetic?  Well, let’s find out, shall we? Read More »

It’s never too late to say sorry, according to Chris Brown that is. Five months later after the “incident” between he and Rihanna he has finally made a public announcement apologizing for “what occurred.”

Maybe Chris Brown’s apology doesn’t sound in the least bit convincing because he doesn’t even have the courage (sorry Chris) to say for what he is in fact “truly truly sorry.” He never actually mentions beating Rihanna, and the word “assault” doesn’t come close from escaping his mouth. Instead, he completely avoids addressing the crime he committed covering it up with a bunch of lame “sorry”s. Lame.

How sincere is an apology when you cant even say what you did? Read More »

We have a lot of freedom here in the wonderful U.S.A. Freedom that people around the world would die for. Freedom that people around the world do die for. But do we appreciate that freedom? Not as much as we should. In fact, being that we’ve been raised to be independent and fearless females, there are a lot of freedoms we have that we don’t recognize often enough.

Tomorrow we celebrate Independence Day and in honor of that, I’m going to enjoy my freedom from my diet and eat 2 hot dogs I asked the ladies of CollegeCandy what freedom they appreciate most in their lives. Me? I love the chance to share my opinions with the world. And to eat ice cream for breakfast now that my parents aren’t watching me.

What about you? Read More »

Aw, so cute! Thank god she belongs to someone else!

I have this problem and it seems as though other girls I know simply don’t have it.

The problem: I don’t want a baby.

Earlier this morning, I watched a two-year-old (with an English accent!) walking around and laughing, and he was hilariously cute. I smiled. I said things like, “Aww…he’s so smart!” And I truly meant the things I said. I truly thought he was adorable. But seeing a kid and thinking that kid is adorable doesn’t make me want one.

I love being an aunt. My niece and nephew are absolutely amazing and I, like many proud aunts and uncles, think they’re flawless godsends. There’s nothing they can do to make me love them any less than I already do.

But I just don’t want any babies of my own. Read More »

Last spring, I was gearing up to graduate and was waiting for the job offers to come rolling in. Instead, the only opportunity that came my way was a summer internship. At the time, I was making plenty of money waiting tables, but I knew that the added experience of an internship would add to my credentials– even if it meant taking a pay cut. So I moved to upstate New York to a place that was a five-hour drive from everyone I would care to visit.

When I first got there, I quickly realized that this job sucked. My boss, the woman who had hired me, misinformed me when I had inquired about the hours, the workload, and the learning potential of the position during my interview. However, by the end of August, when it was time to pack up and move on, I realized I had just had one of the best summers of my life.

Before I go into the ways that you, too, can make the most of your summer internship, let me explain why mine was so terrible. I had been hired by a nonprofit regional theater company as an administrative intern for their summer season. As an English major who was trying to break into theater, that sounded right up my alley when my boss had described my duties. However, when I arrived, I quickly learned that the majority of my time would be spent serving as assistant house manager — ripping tickets and listening to patrons bitch for 8 shows a week. Read More »