It's the end of January already!?

Photo by joelanman

The calendar is wrong.

Those days actually represent next year's calendar, but who really cares?

Ever had a week where it started off slowly, but by the time you finally looked up it was already the weekend?

That was last week.

Here are the highlights of last week:

Monday - Woke up to find an e-mail response from the global agency internship position I applied for last week. Then received not only a voicemail, but also an e-mail from the mobile applications company saying they would like to hire me for a contract job. My mind was spinning. Ended the day with a phone interview and a scheduled in-person interview for Wednesday with the global agency. And, I called the other company and told them I would come in and work for them for a bit.

Tuesday - Went to my morning shift at American Eagle, then drove to the mobile applications company in Laguna Hills for my first day. Spoke to the hiring/office manager and signed my contract. Immediately started working on the project. Ended the day with a lot of ideas and some excitement.

Wednesday - Went to my interview in LA at the global agency where I met with four (count that FOUR) executives. Could've been five, but he was out of the office that morning. It was quite interesting. Let's just say it's definitely a different atmosphere from what I'm used to in my previous internships. Ended the day finding out they decided to forgo the writing test and offer me the position. Can we say BOOYAH!?

Yes, that was my reaction.

Needless to say, I was very excited and, at the same time, worried about the contract job.

Thursday - Woke up feeling a bit nauseous, but decided to go to the contract job to continue working on projects. Ended the day at American Eagle.

Friday - Contract job again and then American Eagle. Was planning on asking the contract job if it was all right to telecommute for the project. Unfortunately, I forgot.

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So, my week was full of work, work, work!!! What can I say I like working A LOT. I'm hoping the contract job will continue because I like the projects I'm working on, and if for some reason it doesn't work out? Well, it doesn't work out. Just wasn't in the cards then.

I'm hoping the agency internship will lead into something spectacular and PERMANENT.

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BTW, engaged friend is putting the wedding planning on hold. Too much on her plate right now.

Oh, well.

it's all about the timing




Photo by technabob

That's right.

I have decisions I need to make about the opportunities being presented to me at the moment.

I'm taking a chance on what I'm doing right now.

Last year, I told myself that I was going to find my full-time job in 2011.

It's been 26 days since New Year's Day and I am now the new intern for a global agency in Los Angeles.

I'm taking a chance by accepting this position instead of pursuing my goal of finding a job, but you know what?

I'm okay with this.

There is an opportunity here waiting to be revealed to me.

I just need to be patient.



there's a storm in my brain

I gave in.

I took a chance and ended up going to the other company near my house to check out what was in store for me if I ended up working on the four-week project they hired me for.

And I must admit: I had a good time.

I can't tell you all the details, but it involved documents, a meeting and a lot of research on the computer.


Photo by keyalliancestaffing



I loved that I was able to jump into the project right away.

Don't get me wrong; I still have my interview with the agency tomorrow.

Funny how I ended last week with no jobs, started this week with two potential jobs, and now let's see if I end this week with one job ...

or two.

It must be Monday ...

A typical morning involves rolling over to my right side, eyes half-opened reaching for my phone. As soon as the phone is in my hands, I immediately check my e-mails and any Facebook notifications I received throughout the night.

This morning started out a little...different.

After checking my e-mails, which consisted of the typical group e-mails from various LinkedIn groups and today's Groupon special, I was half a second away from deleting my first e-mail when I received THE E-MAIL.

Photo by thisisindexed

I received a reply from the Intern Coordinator from an agency I applied for last Friday. To sum it up, he said that he reviewed my resume and felt I would be a good candidate for the internship.

Right on.

After back-to-back e-mails, it seems the agency will be opening an Orange County office soon and are seeking a location at the moment. He asked if I would be willing to work out of that office.

Um, YES?!

This is my big chance. If I can land this internship and do a great job, who knows? I could get hired on and work in the Orange County office! *fingers crossed*

I have a phone interview in about three minutes, but I already scheduled an in-person interview with him next Monday!

Exciting stuff.

Here's the not-so-bad-but-not-so-good part of the situation: I was offered a contract job with the company I interviewed with two weeks ago. Apparently, they want to hire me for a four-week contract job helping them build a media kit to distribute their new mobile applications.

At first, I was excited until I spoke to the office manager/hiring manager about the original position I interviewed for (part-time PR/Marketing Assistant) which she proceeded to tell me that the head of the company did not discuss that with her.

So, everything is kind of in the dark with that one. Needless to say, I was still somewhat excited.

So, I have a dilmemna.

Who do I choose?

I asked a couple friends (three involved in PR and one who I just wanted to ask in general) and honestly? Two voted for the agency and the other two voted to check out both offers.

We'll see how it goes.

What a nifty idea!

A CUP OF JO's latest entry featured icebreakertags, where event organizers can choose a quirky question for their guests to answer and essentially use their answers as conversation startes! Thus, BREAKING THE ICE.

I know .... capital letters. Yould think I was yelling at you or something.

I wish I used something like this when I was in PRSSA.

Photo by creativemornings

Goal #1

I will attend this university to obtain my MA in Brand Development within the next five years.

That means I want to be in London before the five-year mark arrives (2016).

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Exactly.

Last night I went to Dave & Buster's with a friend from American Eagle. Joining us was the guy she was dating and his friend.

His friend has been asking about me since he saw me in some photos from Vegas on Facebook.

He's been asking about me since NOVEMBER.

>_<

Needless to say, he had his chance last night to talk me up and impress me.

You know what I got instead?

My friend: So, you like hockey? *nods her head really hard to make sure he says yes*

Him: Um .... yeah. I like THE KINGS.

........

Needless to say AGAIN, that conversation didn't go over so well.

Despite her many attempts to make him say that he likes the Anaheim Ducks too, I already knew the night was going to be awkward.

Because seriously?

You CAN'T like the Ducks AND the Kings.

Blasphemous.



Photo by DucksDailyBlog.com







young & restless

I feel like I'm missing something.

I feel like I'm something in my life.

I thought post-college life would be an easy transition from the hectic, busy schedule that I endured for the past three years, but no.

I miss it.

I miss the stress that went along with my busy schedule (is that bad?). But most of all, I miss being a part of something.

I had a conversation with my graphic artist friend about this and well, to sum it up, she said I must miss the "college life."

Do I?

Personally, I just miss being a part of PRSSA and all the events and internships I was involved in. Now that I've been a college grad for almost eight months and completed my AMAZING full-time internship at Formula, I'm back to working at American Eagle and job searching again.

Aside from the job searching, I'm looking into volunteer work. My first job was working as the weekend activities assistant at a convalescent home with my mom. Working with older patients gave me a sense of freedom and a great way to leanr about their lives and history. One patient was a little girl during WWII and was placed in a Japanese Internment Camp with her parents. Another patient actually worked at that same hospital almost 60 years ago. They both passed away already, but I hope to one day tell my grandkids about the cool people I've met, especially those two patients. RIP.

Anyways, I'm thinking of going back to Special Olympics Orange County and asking if they need PR volunteers. Volunteers instead of interns - mainly because I know I won't be able to committ a lot of days with them if it's more than two days. Also, it would be nice to see the staff again, especially the regional director.

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One nifty thing I'm doing right now is helping my graphic artist friend plan her wedding.

Yep. Me. Helping. PLAN A WEDDING.

Aye.

I dubbed myself part of the "wedding planning committee," to which my brother asked if there was anyone else in it besides me.

.....

Yeah, he laughed in my face.

Even my graphic artist friend, whom I'm dubbing "Engaged Friend" now (for relevant wedding posts), said,"JOCELLE. We are JUST TWO GIRLS."

I LOL'd at that statement.

So, after she comes back from her business trip next weekend, we're going to sit down and figure what the heck she wants to do. They haven't confirmed a date, but she figured if we planned the other details then everything should fall into place.

We hope.

Cheers!

Close Call

Last week, I started having pain in the middle of my back. At that time, I thought it was a huge bug bite and eventually it would go away.

Turns out it wasn't an innocent bug bite like I hoped.

Apparently I developed an infection in my back that if left untreated can lead to surgical removal. Thankfully, I caught it early enough to where all I need to do is take antibiotics for the next couple of weeks for the infection to go away (hopefully). As I'm writing this, I can feel the infection "pinching" my back and as I gently touch it, I feel the swelling. Its like I got bitten by the biggest bug in the world.

To leave this entry on a positive note ...

Last week, I went to four job interviews and received a glowing recommendation letter from one of the account executives from my former internship.

Cross your fingers for some good news this week.

"Every time, Jocelle. Every. Time. Lol!"

My graphic artist friend decided to send me a drawing she made this morning.



I'm the daydreamer on the left and she's the embarrassed friend on the right.

My goodness, she WOULD.

a picture is worth a thousand words.

Went to Harrah's this weekend to celebrate my cousin's 23rd birthday.

I didn't take many photos. So here's one that pretty much summed up the night.

Happy birthday, Kat! :)

2.5

It's the seventh day of the new year and I just landed 2.5 interviews for next week. The ".5" means I need to confirm an interview for next week. Aside from that, I have interviews next week! Woohoo! Thankfully, I'll land one of them.

A couple hours ago, I was anticipatingly waiting for an e-mail from an agency out-of-state for a 2-part writing test. Part one was editing a press release using AP Style and part two was drafting a press release announcing the re-branding of a restaurant. Part one was easy, but I do wish I had the AP Stylebook 2010 edition. Yes, that's the nerd talking. :) But drafting the press release was a bit difficult. I guess trying to edit the other press release and then having to draft a separate takes a toll on your brain. But its good practice when I do start my full-time job.

So here are the three interview I have next week:

Monday - Interview with a real estate company for a social coordinator / social media coordinator position
Tuesday - Interview with an agency for media relations specialist position
Thursday - Interview with a clothing company for a pr assistant position

Let's hope I land something!

Also, the real estate company wanted me to brainstorm ideas for Monday for the social coordinator part of the job - not too hard, but me going to San Diego for my cousin's birthday might be a little distracting. I'm sure I can get my cousins' input to get me started. :)

Well, that's it for now. I'm probably not going to add the "Dear Journal" greeting anymore. I don't know. Doesn't sound right to me and I've never done it with my previous blogs before, so why start now? Let's stay consistent. Ha ha.

Peace out. ^_^

2011

Dear Journal,

Today is the second day of the new year. I am sitting here in my brother's room using his new laptop while he is killing zombies in Red Dead Redemption.

I haven't written in this blog since August.

The last entry described my internship at Special Olympics Orange County in Santa Ana. Since that last entry, I resigned from my internship (it lasted only a month) and accepted a full-time internship at Forumla PR in El Segundo. My reason for quitting was simply because I've always wanted to work at Formula and I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Did I mention it was paid too?

I spent September through December pitching, writing, researching, shipping, talking, laughing, and crying. One word to describe my internship: amazing. I can't help, but think what I could've done more of or less of. Or, maybe what I could have done better that would quite possibly change their mind and hire me on full-time. But they have their reasons and well, they already hired on one of the interns already. No room until they get more clients and somehow (in a perfect world) call me uo and say, "Stop interviewing. You're working for us now." I'm crossing my fingers on that dream.

For now, I am working part-time with open availability at American Eagle while applying and interviewing. It's a waiting game. So far, I will following up with a couple people this week to see where my application lies in their mind. Also, I have a phone interview with an agency out-of-state, which I'm very excited about. So, cross your fingers for that possibility.

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Last night I finished the first season of How I met Your Mother and I realized something. If I had to choose a TV character that I can relate to the most, I would have to choose Robin. We both have an ambition to succeed in our specific industry (Robin - journalism, me - public relations), we're both not ready to settle down and looking for "casual" (it's however you want to interpret) and we both want to travel and see the world. The only difference is is that she's 27, living in her own apartment in NYC and she's Canadian. Me? I'm only 24, living at home and I'm American. Eh. Close enough.

Before watching HIMYM, the closest TV character that friends compared me to was Samantha from Sex and the City. Mainly because she was single, fabulous and works in PR. Yeah .... that's pretty much it. But she lives in NYC, so I'm thinking maybe NYC is my dream destination subconciously. Who knows?

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Here's my last topic that I've brought up many times in this blog.

TOPIC: My "committment" to writing in this blog frequently.

I know that I can't committ to it. My laptop is somewhat broken at the moment. And I know that I don't have to write in this blog if I don't have to. I think I want to write in this blog because I want to make sure I'm always writing. My skills have been lacking lately and I think it's preventing me from getting a job, or least preventing people from giving me writing assignments. But, I'm not a bad writer. I just think I need to improve my writing skills.

Depending on what happens this month, I plan on enrolling in a certificate program at CSULB for Professional Meeting and Events Planning. I figured it would be beneficial for me and something to add to me resume.

Well, I must go. My brother is threatening to delete my information if I don't get of it here.

Tah tah for now.

Peace out,
Jocelle