Two companies, two calls

Last night I couldn't sleep because a massive headache overwhelmed my poor little head. So I took some medication and settled in for what turned out to be a pretty nice night of sleep. This morning I awoke to the buzzing sound of my phone on vibrate. I didn't know what time it was but I did know I was expecting to hear from this company about the times of my interview Wednesday. So I stumbled out of bed, of course taking a brief moment to think, "Yay, my headache is gone and I actually feel pretty good now," looked at my phone to confirm that it was this company, tested my morning voice saying, "Hello, yes this is she," in my most controlled and professional NOT-just rolled out of bed way, and then answered. In that short conversation I received my itinerary for Wednesday:

9:30: Meeting with the Creative Director and the Senior Director of Communications & Marketing
10:00: Meeting with the entire communications team (I'd say this is about 10-12 people)
10:30: Meeting with the VP of External Affairs
11:00: Meeting with the President and CEO of the company

I quickly wrote down the information, all the while still a little disoriented-afterall, I couldn't even see yet. She offered to also send me the information in an email; I quickly accepted. So the next step down THAT roads begins tomorrow morning-EARLY tomorrow morning considering the last time I needed to get there at 11, well after the morning traffic fades, it still took me an hour and a half. So I'll probably at least leave a couple hours early...maybe more. AH!!

Anyways, after hanging up, checking my email, and updating my sister via Gmail chat my phone buzzes again. Maybe that's the same company calling back again? I check my phone and no, it's not. Instead, it's the company from Utah calling. He wants my reference information. He also asks if I'm still interested and, since I'm now in Virginia, if it would be a problem going back. I tell him that I am interviewing with other companies, but if that works out with the Lindon organization, there would not be a problem. I say, I've been interested in this particular company for a while but it has just been the timing that has not worked out. Anyways, I agree to send my references and we hang up. I kinda think it's interesting that he asked for references because, 1) the last time we talked he wasn't even sure if there was a position so obviously, 2) they haven't told me too much about it and 3) I haven't even interviewed.

All said, I have an exciting couple of days ahead and hope the timing works out so that I am able to make the best decisions.

Searching the crowd

It's really been interesting being home because honestly this is the longest I have been here since I graduated from high school. The weirdest thing about it is that I'm here physically in the place where I was 4 years ago but everything is so so different. It's kinda crazy actually and I really do constantly think about the "way things used to be". I was thinking about this today in terms of people and I'll see if today's experience can be adequately explained. 

Today I had a little bit of a reunion with a friend we shall deem Guy #1. Now this friend and I go a a ways back and we are "good" friends but in my mind I don't really think of him as a good, great friend whom I'm really close to. When I saw him today, I was really excited and it was fun to catch up a bit. We were in a couple social situations together and kinda stuck together through them, you know, as though we really were the best of friends throughout most of what was going on. There were a couple moments today where we were in what I will lightly refer to as crowds where I had to look for him over the heads of several others and found the Yay factor when I finally spotted him. These moments slightly humorously, at least for me, reminded me of a situation years ago where the same thing happened at one of the ever so popular stake dances while I was in high school. It was a slow dance, maybe the last one of the evening or something,  and I was scanning the crowd. But instead of looking for Guy #1, I was actually avoiding him. I had heard that he wanted to dance with me for this dance but I, somewhat secretly, wanted to dance with Guy #2. So as I casually scanned the crowd and caught a glimpse of Guy #1, I turned in the other direction in hopes of letting Guy #2 find me first. The stark contrast to what was happening today, as compared to what happened who knows how many years ago, made me think a little further into the situation. 

Today, I personally could never see myself being interested in this Guy #1 but I do think that at some point during our knowing one another some sort of interest was there....yes, I do think we held hands at some point, of course, in the casual hmm I don't know what I think, high school kind of way. I think I would also be accurate to say that this same Guy #1 would probably not be interested in me at this point either. But thinking back to when we first met I do know that that interest was there for a while. And what brings about the change? 

Now bringing Guy #2 into the picture...Guy #2 I would honestly say ended up being quite the better friend of mine. Quite. But when I first met him, I don't think there was anything at all. In fact, I had met him but don't think I really knew who he was for some time after the initial introductions. During this time, I was still good friends with Guy #1. But somehow that changed. As today reflects, Guy #1 melted back to become an old, good friend whom I see now and then. However, Guy #2 became more and more a part of my life and probably become my best friend at the time. 

I'm trying to figure out where this is going, and I think the point is illustrating the circle around which these things have come. Today, and truly to my personal remorse, I have pretty much lost that friendship with Guy #2. As much as I want to restore it, I just don't know if it's even possible or if there is any point to try.... He is the one I would probably choose to be spending time with and talking to. Guy #2 was the one I was searching for at that dance, but today I ended up with the one I was avoiding ;) Somehow Guy #1 who started out as the better friend, became the good friend, the good old friend, and now today, the guy I was looking for in the crowd. And Guy #2 who started out as probably more of an acquaintance (oh course, this is all based on my memory which has been known to not quite correctly recall these details), became the guy I was looking for in the crowd, eventually the better, even best friend, and has now faded.... 

The most interesting thing is that I hold very different opinions of each guy..even though they have at some point held similar roles to me.  These opinions obviously are the result of spending lots of time with each of these people; they likely reflect memories I've had with them, as well as my most honest feelings towards them. And while each guy's path was in no way identical, today I found it interesting to think about their roles in my life....all based on the experience of searching them out in a crowd. 

The New Look

Those of you who have visited my blog for a while have probably notice that there have frequently been changes to the look...I just couldn't find or create something that I really liked and that I thought fit me. Well, here is the latest and I actually like it better than the past ones and looooove the three columns. :) So hopefully I'll be sticking with this for a while....we shall see I suppose. I lost a couple things...like my links to other blogs...so if you have something like that that you notice I didn't put back up, just let me know. Overall, I just wanted to add more to my blog and maybe show more about who I am. And that's kinda what I've been trying to do and I hope that everything works and such. Tada!

the blur to the pause

As I review the blur of the past four years in my mind, one thing I always remember is wishing for that little bit of time where I could just relax, not have any school work or job to worry about, and well, to actually be able to sleep. The past three weeks have given me my fill of that and the no-worry environment with absolutely nothing to do has actually proved to be pretty daunting. Luckily when I first got out here, I immediately had a interview lined up with an awesome company so I was able to busy myself preparing for that. I thought it went well and became even more excited about the possibility but had to wait for a response from my interviewers. Unfortunately for my sanity, confidence, and even overall happiness given this was the only thing I've been really excited about, day after day passed without my hearing any sort of enthusiastic words begging me to come back to their campus to continue on the path to claim the position. All communication up to this point was via email so my somewhat desperate self awoke every morning to check my inbox searching for any word. Nothing came. (This is where the daunting aspect really begin to play part.) I don't have much else to distract myself with. A few freelance assignments that come and go as I give the minimum thought to the work that has become somewhat routine. A daily run featuring music from my brand new ipod. ( Yep, I finally have an ipod.) A couple frantic searches a day for anything edible in the kitchen and pantry. And books, movies, magazines to read, watch, and distract myself from really doing things others might deem in a category that allows me to be 'productive.' With so much free time on my hands, I also found a lot of time to stay logged into my email account hoping for my amount of new messages to climb one or two up the chart. Motivated to at least distract myself a little bit, I applied for a few jobs here and there but nothing sparked my interest (yet) like this first position had. I wasn't quite motivated to really go all out and have likely still be secretly hoping that maybe just maybe this company was taking their time and that a near two weeks after my interview didn't mean they weren't interested. I mean, I did everything right. I was well qualified for the position, dressed right, arrived on time, well, actually early, was talkative and willing to ask questions as well as provide my extraordinary responses to their interview questions...if I do say so myself. ;) We even talked about my dancing experience, recent movies I've enjoyed, and, of course, (I mean who could forget) my early excursions in the music world resulting in the ever so popular Summer Songs cds. Everything was there. The interviewees were young women professionals and I felt I could fit right in...But did they agree? The days passed as I somewhat reluctantly took in the long-awaited freedom of time and solitude that I now wished to exchange for a busier schedule. I have to recognize that a couple times in the last several months had led me to ponder on the fact that I don't know if I've ever had one of those experiences where I really wanted things to go one way and was ready to move forward in that direction but then, fate clearly creates a message that that's not the way to go. I don't recall that ever happening to me...and I maybe blogged about this a while ago? maybe? But I think that this possibly could have been that experience for me. Here was what I thought was a perfect opportunity, a perfect job, the perfect location, the perfect situation...but maybe that's not all meant to be. Maybe I wasn't even supposed to live out here. My phone rang a morning this past week with a new 801 number. I answered and was soon discussing my availability with a designer from a company in Lindon, Utah (probably also mentioned in an earlier post) that I would definitely be interested in working for. I told them that I was now in Virginia and would definitely still be interested if they decided to hire and selected me from the two resumes they were considering at the time. How crazy would that be? I fly out to VA, pack up all my stuff, have tons out here now only to move exactly right back where I came from. I think that's the only downside to this company. But the point is, I started to realize that my plans might not be what was gonna happen.

Friday afternoon a chat with my sister peered into the outlook of my future steps with this company in VA I want to hear from. I reported that I had heard nothing and wondered if it would be too much to call THEM asking for a decision or status or some information about anything! Nothing was decided but I hung up the phone only to have to answer a call less than two minutes later...from who?? That's right, this big VA company I have practically been dying to hear from. Good news....or bad news? I try to keep an open mind but I was excited to be invited for another day of interviews next Wednesday when I will meet with the president of the company as well as a couple other directors and who knows who else. They told me they would be lining up the appointments with the employees to meet me that day and would let me know the actual times later but wanted to see if my schedule was open or available. (Uh yea, that might be an understatement) So I am happy to report that I have another shot...well not really another shot but that my first one was successful and I just have to keep doing what I can to continue being so. 

And I hope that this position will work out for me. I really really really REALLY do. I don't necessarily think I need those experiences where everything changes but this is an example of things maybe not working out in the exact way I would wish...timing wise. I hate waiting for things and this just may be an exercise to help me develop patience. Yes patience as I have waited, waited, waited, waited, and will likely continue to wait after this upcoming day of interviews. We shall see what happens. This time has also allowed me to develop a couple of other opportunities or maybe just given me time to accept that maybe this won't work out. Again....we shall see. And I will update. 

The Start of SS 2008

I started looking at some new bands to include in the fifth annual Summer Songs cds. I found this one band that I think its pretty good...and come to find out they were just in Salt Lake at the beginning of April. So no, I didn't go. And no, I still have not been to a concert. :(

They are called Making April (Of course, I first went to their page because I liked the name...I mean, I do really like April)

Check them out on their myspace page.

an update from VA

Alrighty, so I have been out here for officially a week and a half. Kinda crazy because it kinda seems like I've been here forever. I love driving in Virginia on all the crazy curvy roads and of course with manual cars, especially our favorite ghetto green truck. I don't do much on a daily basis. I usually stay up really really late working on stuff for Julie and then sleep in and spend the day around the house by myself until Mckay gets home around 2. And then of course I force him to play with me.

I've had one interview for this really really really really REALLY awesome job that I kinda think may be perfect for me. As I learn more about the position and the company and the people and the benefits I just become more attached and excited. However...I don't want to go into it too much just in case I jinx it. If they liked me there will be at least two more interview things. We shall see!!!! I am supposed to be applying for more other jobs and such but I haven't brought myself around to do it. Maybe that will be tomorrow's task. The one downside of this awesome position is that it's not accessible by public transportation so 1) I'd have to buy a car and 2) I wouldn't get to live as close to the city as I'd like. (It would still be really close but probably not in IN the city.)

The apartment search shows a lot of potential. But I'm kinda hesitant to move forward until I have the job I want. So I'm staying here in Manassas for a little longer.

I spent a lot of last week finding the perfect interview outfit (ya know deciding between a couple suits, nice jackets, finding the cute professional shoes :)) And then I spent a couple days updating my design portfolio as well as my writing portfolio with some of the things from my church internship. I need to put these updates on my site as well......maybe I should do that soon. Anyways...I'm still in transition...waiting out things and everything falls in place (hopefully!)

my "prissy" look

Walking through the aisle at Walmart today, a lady called after me to ask my opinion about whether the color of these shorts and a tank top her daughter or friend was holding looked good together....I don't think I would have said no no matter what but I was like, "oh yea I think that looks fine." She turned to the other girl said something to the extent of "see I proved it" and turned back to me and proceeded to tell me she thought she needed someone, "and don't take this the wrong way, but 'prissy'" to give her opinion.

Haha I laughed about it afterwards cuz I started thinking...well it's a good thing she didn't she me yesterday...or actually often when I don't bother getting ready and kinda look like crap most of the time...anyways, she thought I was prissy. fun.