The World is my Classroom

I know. I haven’t posted a new entry in months. True, no one was really looking out for my next post, if aware at all that previous posts existed. Yes, my next life lesson is about vile, disgusting rodents. This post will be short and sweet. And by sweet I mean vomit-inducing. 

RATS. Not something I think about too often, until very recently. It’s kind of gross that they scurry around city streets, they love trash, whatever. NO. NOT WHATEVER. They no longer just scurry. They hunt. For humans.

Exhibit A: Someone I know was walking down the street to her apartment. Upon seeing a rat “scurry” by her, she said something to the likes of “ew” under her breath before it was out of sight, out of mind. But not for long. The creature sprung from the shadows with murderous rage and sank its teeth into my friend’s sandled foot, injecting her with pure hatred, evil, and possibly rabies. I repeat. A rat savagely BIT an innocent bypasser. 

 Exhibit B: A similar yet less tragic account. Another friend, again just walking down the street, observed one of the long-tailed beasts run right on top of her (shoe-protected) feet. Yep. Ran right on them. They have no fear. 

Exhibit C: Another friend was practicing the most innocent of activities: sleep. He is awaken from his slumber when he feels something unusual in his covers. To his utter disgust: A RAT IS IN HIS BED. Disturbing the most private -and seemingly safest -spot in the house. RAT. IN. BED. PLOTTING. HOMICIDE. 

It’s a ratpocalypse, folks. I suggest you prepare accordingly. 

*Note: These stories are all true. Each human has survived with minimal injury and zero rabies. 

PS: Don’t let rats like this fool you. It’s just a tactic used to lure you into their rat dens and then eat you (and the mini-bear). 

Maybe I’ve been watching too much How I Met Your Mother and Barney Stinson’s unrelenting egotistical ways are rubbing off on me. Doesn’t he have his own blog, titled something along the lines of this post’s title?? 

1. There’s no such thing as too much How I Met Your Mother (I’ve recently become obsessed; halfway through season 5!)

2. I titled this post “I’M AWESOME” to make a point, not to actually blabber on about why I am so great. The point? Oh, right. Getting to that.

Have you ever tried the whole looking-in-the-mirror-and-giving-yourself-a-lame-compliment thing? Well, I tried it recently. It was very strange, and - though no one else was home - I felt self-conscious at first. Then I began to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. Then I became quite flattered. Then I suddenly had the confidence of an Olympic skiier on the bunny slopes. Okay, maybe it didn’t work QUITE like that. BUT - my point, here it comes! Hooray! - it did maybe give me a little silly boost of self-confidence, something that I possess rather inconsistently. And confidence is oh. So. Important. 

Walking down the street one night with friends, I overheard a random dude say this to the random chick he was with: “Every morning, I wake up and look in the mirror and say, ‘You’re a f*cking hottie. You’re gonna have a GREAT day.”  (Excuse my bleeped out French.) While this provided my friends and I with several minutes of breathless laughter and a new lifelong favorite quote, I gotta give props to the guy for having that much confidence. Hell, I’m a little jealous of his self-assuredness. Even more props have to be given to Jessica, the adorable little blonde who has more confidence than most adults and is about 6 times younger. 

So, this lesson that I’ve gathered from my daily post-grad observations is that having the confidence to say, “I’m awesome,” to truly believe in yourself (or, at the very least, to feign confidence that appears to be genuine which in turn makes you actually confident) is essential in getting what you want and in overall happiness. Confidence can land you that job. Confidence can score you that date. Confidence can scare away insecurity, inhibitions, and self-doubt. It’s a powerful, multi-talented feature with the power to do anything. 

If you haven’t yet done the compliment-yourself-in-the-mirror thing, I highly suggest it. Pull a Jessica, and tell yourself that you can “do anything, better than anyone!” Because you, my friend, are. AWESOME. 

I hate to do this in my very first entry, but I’ve already told a boldface lie.  Because the job hunt is, actually, extremely scary.  The prospect of not knowing where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing in the next few months is terrifying.  Horrific. Ghastly. If I dressed up as Job Hunt for Halloween I’d have all the college kids screaming for their mommies.

Okay, so this is how I felt when I first embarked on the job hunt. Trembling with fear, really unsure how to go about it.  But once I got into the swing of things, I realized –gasp –this can be sort of fun. Once I was finding positions that really interested me, I became excited about sending in my cover letter and resume. I wanted to sit at my computer for hours, tailoring a cover letter to a specific position and creating my own website (which I should have done way earlier –more on that soon.) The idea of doing something I enjoy for a new and interesting company is becoming more and more appealing. Especially since that means the end of homework, classwork, and group projects as I know it (cue “Hallelujah”).

While exciting at times, there are a few things I wish I had taken care of before sending out applications:

1.     Creating my own website. I’ve spent the majority of the past 4 or 5 days on wix.com creating my website, something I definitely should have done months before. Once complete, it’ll be a one-stop-shop for all things Kelly Rice, as opposed to sending potential employers to 235 different sites to get a sense of who I am. The real challenge will be finding a domain name… 
 

2.     Designing my resume. My resume was up-to-date as far as content goes, but at first glance it was pretty boring, especially for someone looking to work in creative advertising. So, I added some splashes of color… more splashes of color…some interesting design elements… way too many design elements. I designed it and redesigned it, asked for feedback and redesigned it again. The process took much longer than anticipated. In the end, I’m satisfied with its new design; simple, easy to read, with just a hint of color and personality. Much better than one of my first attempts, the over-designed “rainy day” themed resume, complete with clouds, raindrops, and floral fonts …  
 

3.      Writing a blog. This first post is long overdue. I really enjoy writing, I just didn’t know what to write about that others might bother to read or, better yet, find interesting. I brainstormed different blog theme ideas so as not to be an unfocused “everything” blog. But then I realized –wait, I’m no expert in anything in particular. I love music, writing, art, advertising and marketing, but I don’t think I qualify as an expert in any of these fields. So, I concluded, I would just start writing about what I know, and furthermore, what I’m learning. And voila. My blog theme was born.  

If I could turn back time and spruce up these things before the job search began, I probably would. But, as they say, better late than never. Let’s just hope this new bit of knowledge – job hunting can be fun! –proves to be true throughout this process and pays off in the form of an awesome new job.