Monday Impressions and a Rant

Happy Monday! I'm never exactly sure what day it is since I'm still out of work, but I'm pretty positive today is Monday. I've been in Spokane now for three weeks and two days, and I feel pretty comfortable here. I've been out and about in the city; I figured out the main roads and found the library, the newspaper office and of course the unemployment office. From what I've heard there are a lot of people out of work in Spokane...maybe that's why I can't get an interview.
I spoke to a local woman last week about jobs and she said that this town was pretty blue collar and she advised me that it's not always good to show off my college degree because it could come off like I think too highly of myself. That shocked me. Shouldn't I be proud of my education? Shouldn't my degree show my dedication, work ethic and ability to overcome obstacles? I certainly won't be taking my degree, or my GPA, off my resume, even though most of the jobs I'm applying for don't require a college education. Since when was education something to be embarrassed about?

Oops!

Sorry readers (a.k.a. Mom)! I haven't lived up to my promise of a post a day. I know it's no excuse, but I really have been busy. I'm really getting in gear with my job search, sending out lots of e-mails and resumes. Yesterday I went to the job services office in Spokane; it was busy. As I was waiting I noticed a man who was striking up a one-sided conversation with anyone who sat near him. Soon enough he was sitting next to me, asking me the age old question. "How tall are you?" I told him, and he proceeded with the usual basketball and modeling comments. He started telling me how he'd been waiting there for four hours to have a job interview, etc. etc. What struck me wasn't so much the generic tall girl comments, but just this guy's inability to have a conversation. I've encountered more than one person lately who will just talk and talk and you can't get a word in edge-wise. Are they aware that by smothering people with information they're being extremely rude and annoying? When the person you're talking to repeatedly says, "Weelll..." and takes a few steps away from you, it's a sign that they want out! I just wonder if this guy was socially inept or just really really lonely and talkative. Either way, my name was called and a career advisor saved me.
I should get back to my applications. I just wanted to post before I forgot.

Leave me a comment if you're reading! What do you want to hear about?

Cabin Fever

Well I changed the look of my blog today, what do you think? I wish I knew more about web design so I wouldn't have to rely on Blogger, not that I don't love you, Blogger! But I'd like to get a bit more creative. Anyway, I've got cabin fever. I spent all day in the apartment sending out resumes and reading local publications.
I sent out letters to a couple of editors in Spokane requesting meetings. There's a fine line between being assertive and sounding desperate. Hopefully I stayed on the assertive side. I think if I can get a meeting it'll be easier to get my foot in the door here. Once someone meets me they won't soon forget. "Oh, yeah. That tall girl!" Yeah, give her the job!
My fiance is at class tonight but hopefully he'll get me out of the house later. In this new city I still don't feel super comfortable walking around on my own. Well, until tomorrow...

New City...New Challenges

Well, here I sit in my new home, Spokane, WA. I moved here a little over a week ago, but it seems like longer. I graduated from college back in mid-December and had a few weeks to enjoy the holidays and spend time with my family in Wisconsin and Iowa before packing my life into my tiny car and driving halfway across the country, landing here in Spokane.
My fiance is going to graduate school here, at Eastern Washington Univ. for creative writing, fiction. So we're a couple of writers...I guess I'd better get used to living on a shoestring! I moved out here with no friends, no family and no job, and it was really scary at first. I've never lived outside of Wisconsin, and although I've traveled all over the U.S. it's always been on a trip with family or a group of friends. I wasn't sure how I would cope. I wondered also if my height would be a big deal all over again, with new people and new attention.
Scotty, my fiance, has quite a few friends from the masters program he's in, and I've met quite a few of them. Sure, there were passing comments about my height, but nothing rude or at all offensive. Scotty read one of his short stories for a group at a coffee house a few days ago, and there's a guy who does all the introductions. This guy called Scotty the night before to see if he could do an intro making fun of me being taller than him (he was going to Photoshop Scotty's head on Yao Ming's body) and he talked to me to ask if it was okay. I didn't really care, but I gave him a hard time about it because I wanted to see how he would react. So at the reading he didn't do the height thing at all; he said I'd intimidated him on the phone and he felt wierd.
This shows me two things: One, people here seem to be much more courteous than Midwesterners about physical differences (so far) and Two, I can still use my height to intimidate large men. Score!
On a more serious note, I'm struggling finding a job. I've been applying all over the place, and haven't heard a thing back from anyone. At first I was really questioning my skills and my marketability. I should have been a nurse, I thought, or a finance major or something that would get me a reliable job! But I know I wouldn't be happy doing that stuff. I could never stick needles in people and I suck at math. It seems there's always something that threatens my confidence. But when I look at it, I know I have skills. I'm tall, I have blue eyes, and just as much as I know those things about myself I also know that I'm a writer, and here I am, in a new city without a network and only my resume and portfolio to convince people I'm right for the job. But at least I have my skills. And I'm going to try to post on here once a day to keep those skills fresh. Coming up will be my reflections on the city, my neighborhood, and differences between WA and WI (It's more than just a letter!).
Anyway, this post is getting long, but there's a lot that's changed recently. Hopefully some of you, besides my mom, Scotty and Gram (Hi guys!) will be reading. Does anyone have insight to add about social difference between the Midwest and the coasts? Get posting!