I Talk About Twitter Way Too Much in This Entry

After finishing my first round at NASA, I tweeted (yes, I have a twitter too. I am such a douche and a slave to pop culture, I know. Thank God I don't have cable or I'd be a lost cause) something like "DOOOOONE!! I feel so freeeeee!" One of my good friends, who had also just finished working a similarly pointless and boring summer gig texted me to congratulate me and follow up on the tweet. For those of you unfamiliar with twitter, this is rather common. Unlike facebook which has the ability to air every conversation so that anyone who wants to can read it,  twitter forces its users into some kind of non-displayed personal contact. Which is why for people who think that twitter is too 'self absorbed,' I say they should try it first. I actually far prefer it to facebook. I originally got it so that I could get news updates to my phone, and got caught up in it pretty quickly.

WOW sorry for the ridiculous digression, allow me to continue with my tale. My friend asked what I was going to do with my two weeks of freedom and I told him I would do nothing and love every minute of it. He asked me why not up the ante a little and do nothing with him at Myrtle Beach for a week. (Found out later that he had originally invited a supa hot babe that he was hoping to nail, but she had to back out at the last minute so I was the second best choice :) ). Obviously, I had this new job, had a few dwindling weeks to enjoy the remainder of my adolescense, I was in like sin and jumped at the chance. Went to Myrtle Beach, was living it up, and on my fourth day catchin rays at the beach, I get the call from my 'new boss.' "I'm so sorry. Funding fell through. I really like you, was really counting on this working out. We really need someone just like you to fill this role but unfortunately it will just not work out."






It took a minute for it to sink in. Juuuust great. The whole summer had been a waste, I might as well have done Camp. But there was nothing I could do about it then. And one thing you will quickly realize about me is that I just don't care about most things. Well, that's not true. I do care. A lot. I just don't get real worked up about them, especially when I'm a) at Myrtle Beach with b) No Internet and c) Nothing I can do about it anyway. So, besides getting a lot more drunk that night than I usually would have (which is saying something) I didn't really let it affect my mood too much. Until the ride home when I realized that I had to tell my parents. Last time I'd talked to my parents, I'd been telling them about this awesome new job I got and how excited I was about it. They were home right now waiting for me to get there and fill them in on all the exciting details. So naturally, I did what any mature adult would do: I went over to my friend's house and hung out there until I knew my parents would be asleep. I'd break it to them tomorrow.

The Back Story

The summer after graduation started off really great. For a few months leading up to it, I was buggin out because despite applying to >200 jobs, NOTHING was coming through for me. So I had lined up a job working at the Camp I'd been employed at the previous summer. However, my family had different ideas. Don't do something you'll like, do something that will look good on your resume. So my amazing brother worked his magic and landed me a job at NASA. Now, for those of you who have never had the 'privilege' of working for NASA before, let me just tell you that it leads to a lot of impressed comments and raised eyebrows. Wow, you work at NASA? Are you an astronaut? Or, Ooooo NASA?? What was your major?

People who really know me quickly caught on to what a JOKE that all was, because I often discussed the endless days of doing absolutely nothing that my job at NASA embodied. I mean, let me tell you, I became an EXPERT on free online games (check out Digitz for a real treat). And those who hung out with me on the reg definitely realized it because of the late, late, late nights (I'm a night owl, no doubt about it) and copious, copious, copious amounts of alcohol I'd consume during them. Toward the end of every night, I'd drunkenly get a countdown going. "Guys, seriously, I can't drink that. I have to go to work in 4 hours." "Guys... stop. No beer bongs. I have work in three hours." Take it from one who knows, the only thing worse than hours of counting down the minutes til you can leave is doing it with a rip roaring hang over.

But still, in the back of many minds, I think a pervasive idea was, "She works at NASA, she has to have some semblance of her shit together." Ohhhh how quickly things change. Three months later, horrible economy + space exploration + brand new employee = hello layoff!! Sure, they tried to work something out for me. They got my hopes up so damn high that I told many of my friends that I'd landed a new gig, no harm no foul. I was introduced to my 'new boss,' who showed me around my 'new office,' introduced me to all my 'new co-workers.' She gave me the insurance packets and told me to pick one. She told me who I'd report to on certain issues and who I couldn't talk to about other things. She literally said to me, "WORST CASE SCENARIO, we won't be able to offer you quite as much as you'd be making if this other company had hired you, but it's unlikely." Just take two weeks off and come in on Monday to sign the contract while we get the paper work moving through.

Well, apparently someone needs to explain to this lady that to most people, getting less money than requested is NOT a worse case than not getting a job at all.

The Situation

I always judge shows like the Real World and Jersey Shore very harshly as making a mockery of American culture/being stupid/making me want to gouge my eyes out. But last night I watched the Jersey Shore for the first time and have to admit, I was highly amused. Afterward, we were talking about it (ok, recapping it minute by minute) and I said, "It's just so ridiculous, their entire lives are charades. We're just sitting here mocking their very existences." This morning, I was thinking about that and realized that Oh my gosh, I'm in no position to judge the people from JERSEY SHORE. New low.

And so, while I anxiously redouble my already in overdrive job search efforts, I am also going to write about the journey to hopefully show some kind of happy ending/forward motion in my life instead of just being an obnoxious, lush, waste of life who lives at my parents house for the next couple of years. But time will tell. And so will this blog.

Ugh, I'm a blogger now? Can I sink any lower?

I have more written, but want to publish it gradually so that this doesn't become one of those things with an enormous first entry and then just a few lines here and there afterward. Check back again soon for the next entry.