Diary of an Unemployed MBA

The End and The Beginning

2011-08-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, a fellow Trojan alum contacted me on Twitter saying he had found my blog and that he found it both "sad and interesting." Which made me kinda worried. Does that mean he thinks that I'm a sad/pathetic loser!? I didn't realize that my blog was so depressing - because it was never meant to be. Before direct messaging him back, I was hoping that the topic of unemployment is inherently a downer, and that it wasn't my writing or my bitching and moaning about my life that was painting a sad picture of myself! Anyway, we twittered back and forth a bit and it turns out that he was in a similar sort of situation as me, and I concluded that he didn't think I was a loser! Phew!

After that interaction, I logged into my blog and saw that my last post was from June 10, 2010! That was a year and 2 months ago! So much has happened since then that I feel obliged to post an update to let my 3 readers know what I've been up to the last 14 months!

First, regarding the job situation. I actually found a contract position in brand management at a video game company in San Francisco from August - November 2011. The product I worked on was amazing and it's in stores now and I couldn't have had a better experience. Even with the 3 hour daily commute, I had a blast working there and feel like I learned a lot and made new friends and enriched my life. I've never said that before about a job. I'm shocked I'm even saying it now, but it's the truth! The best part of the gig? There was a gourmet fried chicken stand a block away...I had a frequent eater stamp card and earned two free meals. Amazeballs!

My contract ended at the end of November last year and the timing could not have been more perfect, because I had a baby at the beginning of January! This probably explains why I frequented the fried chicken place so often! So I was hugely pregnant and commuting to the city on the train and even did a face plant on the train at 7 months pregnant and I still have nothing bad to say about the whole experience. I'm shocking myself right now because I can always find something to complain about, but there is nothing. Seriously!

Before I had my baby, I had NO idea how I was going to feel about him and my life in general. I remember a coworker asking me what my plans were after the baby came, and I actually said, "Well, I'll probably take a month off and then I'll be back on the job market and returning to work ASAP." My coworker who is French gave me the dirtiest look, literally looked down at me and said, "In France that would be looked down upon." Well, Pierre, it has been over 7 months and I'm still staying at home and taking care of my baby. And I LOVE him! And it pains me to be away from him for more than 3 hours! Once again, I'm shocking myself by sharing this information, but I just can't help it.

Even though I love my baby, staying at home is probably the hardest job I've ever had. If you're interested, I'm starting a new blog and you can follow me there at www.momstreetjournals.wordpress.com. I haven't started it yet, but I'm hoping to share some stories, thoughts, insecurities, accomplishments, joys and perils about my new journey in mommyhood.

Thanks for reading!

Discouraging Job Ads

2010-06-10T14:53:00.000-07:00

Hm...saw an interesting article on the Huffington Post the other day...how discouraging is this? Apparently, a lot of new job postings come with the caveat of "The Unemployed Will Not Be Considered." How is this productive and how is this helping our economy??

Caking Out

2010-06-08T08:14:00.000-07:00

In my last post I mentioned that I'd been taking some cake decorating classes at Michael's. Well, one of the reasons that I enrolled in these classes was because I had recently purchased Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, and tried a bunch of her recipes and they were all amazing and I somehow got the notion that I was going to become the Asian Martha Stewart! However, even though the handbook has all these delicious recipes, it didn't really have any good decorating tips, so all my cupcakes, banana bread, cakes, etc were tasty but plain looking. Anyway, last week I finished my 8 week class. I spent $44 for classes, $200 on equipment, bought 16 bars of Crisco and 16 pounds of powdered sugar for frosting, and baked a few cakes...and voila...my end result...2 real cakes and a bunch of shit I don't really need. Check it out:

My tool box

Frosting for flowers

"Colorflow" pieces

"Royal Icing" Flowers

Basketweave Easter type cake

English rose cake aka "Old Lady Cake"

Anyway, now that i've done this, I cannot even smell frosting/icing without wanting to yack....so needless to say it'll be a while before I make a cake again!

Where Has the Time Gone?

2010-04-29T14:56:00.000-07:00

Me and a sea turtle in Kona, Hawaii.

Wow, I can't believe it's been 40 days since my last post! I think this may have been the longest break that I've taken since I started blogging consistently. What can I say? I guess I'm trying to live by one of Einstein's famous quotes - "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." I guess I needed some time off from stressing out over the whole job search thing...I mean, hey, even a slacker needs a vacation sometime! :)

So, what have I been doing the last month or so? Well, the husband and I went on a week long vacation to Hawaii, I went to Palm Springs for a girl's getaway with some of my best friends and stumbled upon Dinah Shore Weekend, I began an 8-week cake decorating course at Michael's to indulge my creative side and sweet tooth, and I joined Club One - a trendy gym - because I've been eating too much cake...and I can't help it...I'm from L.A.

Oh and a few people have been asking me how my job search has been going recently. To answer that question, in the last 40 days on the job search front, I've had two phone interviews and one in person interview - all of which shockingly did not leave me feeling like an inept imbecile. I haven't heard back from these interviews though, so maybe they didn't share the same the feelings as me...who knows!?

What I do know is that I need to do something a little different. Like Einstein said, it's insanity to continue to do the same thing over and over again, so I'm now open to different career options. Any suggestions?

Bay Area Interview Questions

2010-03-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

Today, I had an interview...during the 2 1/2 hours that I was being interviewed, I got the typical questions:

- "Tell me about yourself"
- "Tell me about a time when you failed"
- "What are your strengths?"

etc.

The main question that jumped out at me though was: "What does HTML code look like?" What?! I've never been asked this question before so I did the best I could to warble my way out of the question. If you catch me on a good day, I'm a pretty good bull-shitter, but I'm pretty sure that I bombed this one today...!

When I got home, I told my husband the question and asked what he thought. His answer? Some long winded simile to The Matrix: "Like when Neo gained his powers in The Matrix and saw his world as computer codes." I love Keanu Reeves, but this is one movie of his that I've never seen...too bad because I think that answer was probably a lot more intelligent than mine!

So...Is this a Bay Area thing? I've never been asked this before!

Was it Worth it?

2010-03-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

A year and a half ago, I attended a wedding of a dear friend and randomly had a conversation with an older man who was pretty successful in his career and on the verge of retirement. To the best of my memory (and actually there were others there who can attest to the fact that this is actually accurate) the conversation went a little something like this:

Man: So what do you do?
Me: I just finished my MBA and am a marketer at a small company.
Man: Oh congratulations! Where did you get your MBA?
Me: USC.
Man: Really! Now tell me, what rank is USC business school these days? I mean, is it even worth it to go and spend money for a school that's not even in the Top Tier?
Me: (Literally LOL.) Well, USC is ranked about 21 these days, but I don't think ranking is the most important thing when you're choosing a school! And besides, people go to business school for different reasons. I was an English major in undergrad so I thought it would be a good idea for me to broaden my horizons and learn more about business!
Man: Psssshhh...English. Now that's a useless major!
Me: (Literally LOL...again.) Well, it's not so bad. It helps people with their communications and writing skills!
Man: Oh, I suppose. What did you study as an English major? I assume you read the Classics like The Iliad and The Aeneid?
Me: PUH-leeez! I translated those from Latin to English in high school! No, as an English major, you study the English writers such as Chaucer, Milton, and Shakespeare! But I focused a lot on women Romantic writers because I liked that the most. Oh, hey! My drink is empty! Please excuse me!

Fast forward to 2010...this weekend, I attended an online marketing lecture, given by Lorrie Thomas (if you Google her, she's the Marketing Therapist - not the accused murderer) at UC Berkeley extension, as part of my ongoing efforts to expand my horizons. Before the class we went around the room and gave brief introductions of ourselves and it turns out about 30% of the class was unemployed - I suppose a sad sign of the times. During a break, I was chatting with a few people and the conversation went something like this:

Girl #1: So you went to business school? Where did you go?
Me: USC.
Girl #2: So how's that working out for you?
Me: Ha! Apparently not that well, since I'm sitting here right now!

Anyway, since then, I've been thinking about the fact that I did indeed go to business school and really have nothing but my diploma to show for it! I took out a shitload of loans (thank goodness it was only 2 years, not 4 like medical school) and I haven't recovered even half of it! Not to mention my forgone salary from my old job and all the on-the-go job experience I would have accumulated!! I'm no financial analyst, but it doesn't take a genius to put these facts and my blog together to realize that I'm not optimizing my ROI for this particular investment!

However, when it's all said and done, right now I'm still glad I went. It was a great experience to get out of the industry I was in, work on a diverse set of projects, and in general learn more about leadership from smart people with different professional backgrounds than myself. Although I do have to say, when my little bitch of a friend, Sallie Mae, comes calling once a month, I do get pretty annoyed...but to answer some questions..."Was it worth it and is it working out for me" to have gone to business school? It's debatable...but as my career is a marathon and not a sprint, ask me again in another 10 years. :)

I Feel Like an Oscar Winner

2010-03-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I had a conversation with an ex-colleague of mine that made me feel like Gwyneth Paltrow! No, we did not talk about how thin and gorgeous I was, we didn't talk about couture clothing, and we didn't talk about how I won an Oscar when I was going out with Ben Affleck.

Instead, my ex-colleague told me about some work related events that happened at the video game company that I worked at! Apparently, the guy who I hated and basically quit because of (see a few posts ago) is still a total douche lord and still hated by most of his team AND 5 different people went to HR to file complaints about him on ONE day! Now, I know this has absolutely NOTHING to do with me since I don't work there anymore, but I just felt so glad! Seriously, once in a while I have doubts about having quit this job without anything lined up but this made me think that if I was still there I'd be completely miserable and this totally reinforced my decision and made me feel so glad!

This is TOTALLY how Gwyneth Paltrow must have felt when Winona Ryder got caught shoplifting at Sak's! Remember back in the day when the two were best friends?? And then something happened and they weren't? Well, Gwyneth blogged about how happy she felt when Winona got caught shoplifting and how it felt "good to hear something bad about someone you don't like!" It's so true...who knew Gwyneth was so intuitive!?

And You Thought It Was Over...

2010-02-22T16:14:00.000-08:00

My Farm during the holidays.

A few people here and there and on Facebook have asked me what ever happened with my Farmville farm. I guess not everyone defriended me when I went through my phase of posting a new picture of my farm every day! Some even found it amusing! (Well, to my face anyway!)

Long story short, my farm became really high maintenence and I started spending over an hour a day on it! This became a huge problem over the holidays where my farm got so crowded and messy that I couldn't even deal with it anymore! Anyway, I think for a while I was just over it and I started forgetting about my crops, and a lot of them kept dying and then for a few weeks I deleted all of my crops completely.

Well, this past week, I decided to get in the saddle and start farming again. Mainly because there are so many new and exciting additions to the world of Farmville and the only way to get them is to either spend money on my PayPal account (are you kidding, I'm unemployed!) or to farm and "make money" to buy the new things! Ok, I'm probably going to have to get with it and stop letting my plants die, but in the meantime, check it out!

New horse stable.

My new villa.

My rides area.

Lotus flowers and sugarcane. LOL.

Dead poinsettias.

Dead sugarcane.

I LOVE JK Rowling

2010-02-16T16:25:00.000-08:00

Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a total nerd who loves JK Rowling and Harry Potter. I think she's brilliant and I love her Harry Potter books which on the outside seem like children's books, but then have very adult themes. I've read each one at least 5-7 times and I think she is the only celebrity that I'd stand in line to see or stand in line for tickets to see. Well, maybe Christian Bale too, but I think that's a whole different story.

I just saw this video of her doing a commencement speech at Harvard last year, and wanted to share. My favorite part is where she says, "Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two." Because recently, I think I have been confusing the two and I totally used to make fun of the people who did and now I'm one of them! I guess it's something that I'm going to have to work on. Anyway, I just think that this is a pretty inspirational speech and if you have the time, you should check it out. And I realize that most people do not have 21 minutes to spare to watch the whole video, so you can also just read it here. That's just how cool I think she is!

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

GPA...um, Whatever!

2010-02-09T10:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a good friend of mine who connected me with her friend, I received an email this week from a recruiter at a company that I had been keen on getting into. I was super excited when the recruiter contacted me via email...until I read what she wanted...my GPA from both undergrad and grad school. Yikes! Let's just put it this way...after years of being a studious student, I stopped caring about grades the moment I got accepted into college. Seriously. I got a C in cheerleading my senior year of high school. Oops!

But the more I think about it, the more I wonder. Does school GPA really matter in the real world? I mean, I'm sure it matters to subjects like rocket science or brain surgery. But to the sales and marketing jobs to which I'm applying now? Really!? I've never had anyone else ask me for my GPA for a job before, so I started to sweat. These days in times of stress, I look to the internet, so I did some research online to see what people have to say about this matter and I came across a quote from a fellow blogger: "Great sales people tend to be great socializers, which likely means the keg trumped the library when it came to late night pursuits." Sweet. I'm totally going to start using this as my excuse as to why my GPA hasn't been in the top 25% of the class since high school! I wasn't focused on my GPA because I was concentrating on my real life skills! So there!

Anyway, in case you're wondering, I did send over my GPAs to the recruiter and I'm still blogging about it so obviously it wasn't a positive answer! Oh well...on to my next pursuit!

What's My Story?

2010-02-04T08:54:00.001-08:00

I've had about a week and a half of unemployment this time around and so far, it's been pretty good. The last job at the video game company where I was getting home at late everyday really made me not do anything at home! I forgot how nice it is to be at home on a weeknight and have dinner with my husband! Anyway, I was really excited this week because it was my aunt's birthday and my cousin invited me to dinner on a Tuesday night. If I was at that job, I most likely would not have been able to make it to dinner and I definitely would not have been able to make these DELICIOUS cupcakes that I found online! Mmmmmmmm...buttermilk cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting...Thanks Pat and Gina Neely! Tasty!

Anyway, back to the topic at hand..."What's My Story?" I had a phone interview yesterday morning and leading up to the interview, I was stressing about what my story was. I was wondering if the recruiter was going to ask me why I was only at the last gig for 2 months before I quit and I was trying to think of how I was going to spin it besides just saying that I worked for a Douche Lord. Should I say that it was just a contract position? Should I say that the work/life balance wasn't there? Should I just say it wasn't a good fit?

Well, it turns out I didn't have to say anything at all. I said that I was there for 2 months and was now looking for new opps and she didn't question me at all! I wonder if this is because there are such high turnover rates at companies these days and it's not uncommon to leave anymore? Is this because of Gen Y!?!? In any case, I'll take it! I still have my version of the story to share, and I probably will have to refine it a little more, but I definitely don't think this aspect of my job search is going to hold me back. My technical skills on the other hand...hm...well, we'll just leave it at that for now.

Return of the Blogi!

2010-01-26T18:31:00.000-08:00

Today I'm posting a new blog without changing the name of my blog...so really it can only mean one thing...I'm once again unemployed! WTF, you ask? Well, long story short....

I started a new job on November 16 at an online video game company. The company has been around for 5 years and is actually owned by a publicly traded company in Japan with 500 employees worldwide. I was really excited to start because it has offices all around the world - Japan, U.S., Ireland, Brazil - not to mention development partners in Korea and Russia. Anyway, I could probably ramble on and on about the specifics of what I was hired to do and what I did, but seriously, you can go to http://www.craigslist.org/ to find out what a marketing position entails.

Just shy of my 90 day trial period, I'm sitting on my couch blogging about unemployment again because the company just wasn't a good fit for me and I quit...Hm...perhaps I should beat around the bush a little here and say some politically correct things, but that's just not my style. The reason I left is because I just did not like my manager. I'm sure that if I listed his personality traits and gave examples of his lack of managerial skills as reasons why I didn't like him, I would sound completely immature and petty, so I won't list them. Instead, I'll just give you some quotes of what he said during my 70-something days there and you can decide. Here are my top 3 favorite quotes from this guy:

1. To me: "Just to let you know, I filed a formal complaint against ____ on your behalf."

2. To a coworker: "People are asking me why I would hire an Indian person."

3. To no one in particular but I heard it because I sat next to him: "They need to deport all the homeless people in Berkeley back to Mexico."

Bonus quote about a coworker: "You know her situation....she's pregnant....who knows if she'll be emotionally stable to handle work."

To be fair, he was a smart guy and I think that if I knew him outside of this situation...well, I probably wouldn't have been friends with him, but I definitely would have been nice to him! In retrospect, I wish I had started a blog while I was working there so that I could have documented something everyday. It would actually have been a great Twitter account, similar to @shitmydadsays and I could have just tweeted nothing but quotes. LOL. (If you've never heard of @shitmydadsays, I highly recommend it. It makes me laugh.) Anyway, I guess I could have worked there a while longer and looked for a job at the same time, but spending 12 hours a day at an office makes it a little difficult to job search and being there just wasn't me being true to myself and I'm too old for bullshit and fakeness, so I thought I would cut my losses sooner rather than later.

Let me just say though...this is the first time I've ever quit a job without anything else lined up, and it feels CRAZY!! On the one hand, I feel so HAPPY that I told HR the truth about why I left and I feel completely validated because the other girl in marketing quit on the same day as me and for the same reasons! But on the other hand, I'm a little worried because, well shit, I'm now unemployed!!!

I want to add too that my experience was not completely negative. I did realize that I missed work more than I thought and I did meet quite a few cool and smart people who taught me a lot and who I hope to keep in touch with. I also learned how to play World of Warcraft, something I never thought I would do! Plus a coworker introduced me to some interesting food which I had been dying to try ever since I saw both Andrew Zimmerman and Anthony Bourdain eat it on Travel Channel...balut!! It's fertilized duck egg and apparently a huge delicacy in Vietnam and The Philippines. I probably would never have bought it even if I saw it at the market, but she got it for me and I'm so excited about it that I need to share:

Anyway, I think I'm going to continue my blog while I look for work again...even if no one reads, it's fun for me!! Soooooo...here we go again....!

"Landing a job like getting into Harvard"

2009-11-09T17:02:00.000-08:00

I have some news...at the end of last week, I accepted a job offer and I start my new job marketing online video games a week from today! After 13 months of unemployment, 4 months of searching, 1 blog, a bunch of informational meetings and a few REALLY bad interviews, I finally landed a something...apparently, in this economy, this is not that easy, and a recent CNN article likens finding a job to getting into Harvard. So basically, my parents can finally be proud that their daughter was nerdy enough to be accepted to an Ivy League institution!

A few posts ago, I talked about my thought cycle of doubt, fear and worry. I'm still a little bit in that cycle, especially since I haven't started working and don't really know how it's going to turn out, but I'm hoping for the best and I'm actually pretty excited to start something new! Change is good, right?

So now what? I still want to continue my blog as it's been a fun outlet for me and really, how will my readers cope without my bi-weekly Farmville update?? But what shall I rename it? Some ideas I'm tossing around in my head:

- www.diaryofanmbabackontrack.blogspot.com
- www.backinthesaddleagain.blogspot.com
- www.omgiwishiwasaladywholunches.blogspot.com
- www.diaryofanlatransplantinsiliconvalley.blogspot.com
- www.imissla.blogspot.com
- www.withlovefromsunnyvale.blogspot.com
- www.iworkwithabunchofdudes.blogspot.com
- www.whatlifeislikeinmanjose.blogspot.com
- www.iworkandthereforeieatfrozendinners.blogspot.com
- www.notimeforthemall.blogspot.com

Hmmmm...I think this MAY require some more thought...

Broader Measure of U.S. Unemployment Stands at 17.5%

2009-11-07T10:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, I just plagiarized the title of this blog post from the title of a NY Times article . I just read the title, and couldn't believe it, so I read the article. I don't really have much to say about this, but thought it was interesting enough to share. Maybe I'm missing the big picture, but does 17.5% seem quite high? Is this why I always have someone to have lunch with?

Salary to Happiness Ratio

2009-11-04T16:55:00.000-08:00

Recently, I've been thinking about salary. Mostly because I've had a few interviews for start ups that offer no salary! But then I started thinking...since I started working full-time, my salary range has run the gamut. To be completely honest, it has run the range of $23K-$100K per year. Where was my happiest? Somewhere around $40K...I'm just wondering if that says something or not. My salary to happiness ratio makes me think twice about happiness and how it can't be measured by salary alone. Thoughts?

It also reminds me of an old song, Mo' Money, Mo' Problems...I actually had the YouTube link to the video posted but it has been taken down. Anyway, in the video, there's a certain super rich mogul type someone dressed in a red jumpsuit dancing around like a retard. So, when I start making $100M/year, I too will buy a red jumpsuit and dance around like a fool...but I'll actually post it on YouTube and let everyone use the video without regards to copyright infringement because by then, I am sure that my happiness factor will be off the charts and I will just STFU and enjoy myself! :)

Farmville is Seriously no Joke!!

2009-10-29T21:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! I have more pumpkins in front of my virtual house than I've EVER had in my entire lifetime!! Sweet!

This morning, a friend of mine sent me an article from Business Week discussing "social game" apps and how they are making a ton of money and basically changing the economy...guess what favorite app of mine was prominently featured??

You guessed it! Farmville!!! That's right folks, apparently I'm not the only one with a farming addiction! According to this article, 60 million people played this game last month and their virtual digital sweet potato seeds, which sell for $5 a packet, made $400K in just 3 days...DAMN! Obviously, people like me who are unemployed did not shell out such cash for these sweet potatoes, but damn! Imagine if the economy was good!

Anyway, here are some recent pictures of my favorite virtual world! They've added some fun stuff for Halloween and also a bunch of new flowers. I literally cannot stop laughing when I look at my lame ass pictures!

My Plant Monster that's caged up in my Gothic fence!

Red Tulips!!

Yellow Daffodils, Pink Roses.

Sunflowers....hey, if my husband doesn't send me flowers, at least I can plant virtual ones!

Random Cabbage and Ghost Chilies.

Do You Party?

2009-10-26T15:01:00.000-07:00

About 9 years ago, I was interviewing for a position in sales at a television network. One of the questions that the SVP of the group asked me was, "Can you handle your alcohol?" Apparently, there were a lot of client dinners and events and stuff associated with the job and the person in the role would have to be able to socialize with the best of them. At the time I was 22, so of course as soon as I heard this question, I was like, "Fuck yeah! OPEN BAR!"

Fast forward to 2009...I'm way older, I'm married, and I've outgrown drinking like a fish and puking my guts out on Friday nights/Saturday mornings...well, let's just say that I've only done that once in the last year, which is a huge improvement since my 20's...Anyway, last week I was asked at an interview, "Can you handle your alcohol?" What did I say? "Well, let's just say I could handle it a lot better before I was married!" Yikes! If I actually get an offer for this job, are they going to be cool with me drinking Diet Coke at parties? Am I going to have to order tequila shots and pretend to drink them by tossing them over my shoulder!?

Housewives....

2009-10-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends...and New Acquaintances,

Please do not use the term housewife to describe me. It's neither aspirational nor flattering. Thanks.

xoxo,

Chrrrrrs

I <3 Trojans

2009-10-14T09:23:00.001-07:00

I must say, I used to be a doubter of USC. You see, I went to UCLA for undergrad and I think I was just brainwashed into thinking that you can't spell SUCK without the letters USC. However, after going there for grad school, I finally realize that USC is actually pretty great and has helped me way more than UCLA ever will!

First, there's the alumni network. The nickname for this network is called the "Trojan Mafia." And it's SO true. Whatever company you're interested in, you can look it up on the Alumni network and find someone there who went to USC and is willing to have an informational interview with you. I thought it was crazy that in business school they told us that you could cold call the alums at these companies to ask them about their jobs etc. I totally thought that if someone did that to me, I'd hang up on them! But after meeting all these really helpful and nice alums who are always saying that they want to help you, I've drank the Kool-Aid and will totally help anyone who is a fellow Trojan and asking for help...and sign off on my emails with a "Fight On!"

Second, the USC Alumni network also has a lot of events. Since I've moved up North, I've been going to the monthly USC Alumni lunches to build up my network and meet new people...it's totally helped in that I've met a lot of helpful people who have set me up with meetings with a lot of different people who I would not have met otherwise. I've gotten a few leads for jobs too, but in the current job market, a few = a lot!

Most recently, I went to a "USC Pink Slip Mixer" up in the city. It's pretty obvious, but this event was basically a mixer put on by the career center at USC business school for alums who are looking for work. They had career coaches who would take a look at your resume and give you tips, and throughout the night, they also had two seminars as well. I went to one of the seminars...it was 45 minutes long and I don't remember what the seminar was called, but the point I took away from it was that you have to let go of doubt, fear and worry in order to find happiness in your career, no matter what point you were at. I thought about it and it's hard to imagine, but when you don't work for a while, but want to, you DO have a lot of doubt, fear and worry! For instance, I doubt that I can find a job, I fear that if I do find a job I'll hate it and I worry about this cycle incessantly! It's ironic but it's true! Anyway, the point is I finally realized this and I'm really going to be more conscious of this in the future and be more optimistic because in the end, because there were over 200 people who went to this event, I realized that there are a lot of people in my situation and the best we can all do is stay positive!

Well, now that I've finally realized what a valuable asset my Trojan network is, I'd like to take this moment to apologize to my friend Louisa. Louisa went to USC for undergrad and we backpacked in Europe together for a few weeks back in 1998. Everything was going great until on a train from Geneva to Milan, we got into a screaming match about USC vs. UCLA....FOOTBALL. We scared the shit out of an old couple who were like um, we like Ohio State and then quickly scrambled out of our train compartment. We spent a day together in Milan and a day together in Florence PISSED at each other but still hanging out and shopping and eating for 24/7 without speaking to each other. In retrospect, it's hilarious, because in over 20 years of knowing each other this was our ONLY fight...but I'd still like to apologize...you were right about the football, and I guess you were right about USC too...it's great!

Once Again, I Present to you, My Farmville Farm!!

2009-10-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

You have GOT to be kidding me. There are people online who are even crazier about Farmville than me!!! There's a whole blog dedicated to this game and all the features of it!! It's called Farmville Freak!! It's hilarious!! There are all sorts of photos that are crazier than mine and there are also videos of fans ranting about how much they love this game. About 2 months ago, I would have seriously doubted that anyone would ever read something like this, but these days, (obviously) I'm sold. Although, when I really think about it...if I like this game so much, does it make me a freak too?!?!

Anyway, for those of you interested...here are a few recent pictures of my farm!

My Cottage and all my Edward Scissorhands topiaries!!! Hmm...perhaps I should create a Johnny Depp avatar?

Corn

Watermelon

Elephants and a Pink Cow. Ok these last two are pretty unrealistic for a farm, but um, it's a virtual world, so I guess I can deal!

Crazy Things People Do For Attention!

2009-10-06T17:03:00.000-07:00

I came across this story today about a Taiwanese blogger who is going to Paris with the goal of kissing 100 strangers and taking a picture of each kiss. Am I a total square these days? My first thought was ew, gross, herpes! Really, what's wrong with going to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower? Or the Louvre?? Or just eating a dozen baguettes??

This and That

2009-09-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

A few people have asked me what happened with that last job interview that I had scheduled where the lady blew me off....well, my last appointment with her was on 9/14. I waited for her call that never came...so I decided that I would cut my losses and that this was the end of the road with this company. Then a full WEEK later, on 9/21, I received an email from her apologizing for not being able to make our call. It was just a little weird because the other 100 times that she flaked out on me, she had managed to do so about 5 minutes before we were scheduled to talk. So a whole WEEK later? I guess they were having some management issues over on her side - so much so that I emailed with her consistently every other day from 8/3 through 9/14 to set up a 30 minute phone conversation....only to be dismissed like Derek was dismissed by Nikki in Save the Last Dance or how Brenda was ditched by Dylan on the original 90210. Don't lie, I know you all know what I'm talking about!

Anyway, for those of you who were interested in that story, that's pretty much it!! Oh and for the record, the company sells a product that I know everyone who reads this has used because since I only have about 7 readers, I've been to most of your houses and have seen it there!! And so, my quest for the perfect job continues....

The Hills Are Alive....

2009-09-28T21:53:00.001-07:00

....with the Sound of Music!!

Once in a while, I feel really lucky. This weekend was one of them! My friend Amelia bought me a ticket to the sing-along of the classic music The Sound of Music at the Hollywood Bowl. And because I could, I drove down to LA specifically to go to this event. This is actually something that we've been going to for a few years and it sounds cheesy because it IS cheesy; but it's also SO much fun!

Every year, there's a pre-show consisting of a costume contest, a voice warm up where you sing the songs to the film and Leisel or Frederick or Gretel will be there to host. Then when you go to your seat, you are handed props for the film such as Edelweiss, poppers for when Maria and the Captain kiss, and an invitation to the "Captain's Ball" that you can wave around. Then when the lights dim and the movie starts, the entire audience sings along to one of the best movies ever made!! Of course, being able to bring your own food and wine inside the Hollywood Bowl helps makes this even more fun! Anyway, I'm just excited that I got to go back down to LA for this and I feel so lucky that I have such great friends to share this with!

My friend Amelia holding the invite for the "Captain's Ball," a popper for the kiss, and Edelweiss tucked behind her ear. Fun times!

Farmville for REAL!

2009-09-24T17:08:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was obsessed with a game on Facebook called Farmville. Well, not that it's a secret or anything, but I'm still obsessed! And just this week, two things made me realize that my obssession with my virtual farm has carried over into my real life. One was the San Mateo County Fair. I'd never been to a County Fair before, and I was shocked that they had all these animals there! It was so "Little House on the Prairie" country that I couldn't get enough! Weird! Second, for my first wedding anniversary, I suggested to my husband that we go up to Point Reyes, CA for the weekend to do "outdoorsy" activities. We stayed at a B&B up there and it was really nice....but this is when I seriously realized that my obsession maybe, just MAYBE has gone a little too far!! I didn't realize how far gone I was until I compared my real life pictures with my Farmville ones!!! Yikes!! Check it out:

My virtual barn.

The actual barn that we stayed in at the B&B in Point Reyes. It was called "The Nest."

The chickens on my farm. So nice and stationary.

The real chickens on the farm in Point Reyes. They run fast and eat outta your hands!

The pigs, sheep and cows on my virtual farm.

The pigs, sheep, and cows at the San Mateo County Fair. Ick.

All my pretty horses.

The horses we could see from our room in Point Reyes, CA

Virtual artichokes.

Real artichokes. Who knew they looked like this? They were taller than me!

My pumpkin patch.

The other pumpkin patch.

Anyway, after these two ventures out into the real world, I thought to myself: OMG! my virtual world is so much more appealing! It smells better, it's cleaner and it's just friggin cooler! Now that I've realized how far this obssession has gone, I'm going to limit it to online only!!

Stop Toying With Me!

2009-09-10T17:36:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, I came across a job posting online that I was really interested in. The company has a really cool product that I actually buy and can see myself marketing. I foraged my contact list on Linkedin and found a friend of mine who is friends with some higher up in this said company. I emailed this guy and he forwarded my info to the hiring manager, who in turn had her assistant call me right away to set up an interview.

That was exactly a month ago....Since then, I've had about 6 or 7 appointments to talk with the hiring manager over the phone about this position. Each time, she emails me about 10 minutes before our appointment and postpones. Today, I was finally supposed to talk to her at 5pm. At 5:15, I get an email saying that she is stuck in a meeting that she cannot get out of...AGAIN!!

Now if this was a dating situation, I would think that they are "just not that into me" and that I should move on or play hard to get. But really, I have nothing to lose by saying "sure I can do it later, whatever." But really! Is it THAT hard to get 30 minutes of phone time at work? I mean REALLY!

This reminds me of the company that I worked for after bschool....It was a start up that was super crazed and the higher ups could never keep their schedules. Meetings always started late if they happened at all and you just could not plan your day around anything! It was kind of a mess! The worst part of the start up was that you could bring your dog in to work, which made it even messier because on any given day there would be 4-5 dogs in the office and the whole place would smell like dog shit...but I digress...

I just hope that me taking a chance with this new company is worth it. And that if I do get called in for an actual face to face interview, the office isn't covered with dog shit...

Bay Area vs. LA

2009-09-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

So today I was talking to a friend of mine from b-school about my job search. We were talking about how saying you've done jack shit in terms of work for the last 12 months isn't too impressive, and then I told her that I've started a blog, and then she tells me, you should tell people that you're taking time off to write a screenplay! Now, in LA, I think I totally would, but up here in the Bay Area...the professional world is a bit different!! So far, here are some little things that I've noticed:

LA:

People are impressed with "Bullshit."
People are impressed if you say you've been in the "industry."
Many marketing job postings don't require technical skills. Or an engineering background.
If you say your main weakness is quantitative skills, it's AOK!
If you smile during an interview, that's a good thing.
If you wear a gray suit in summertime, that's also a good thing.
When you go in for an interview or a meeting, the receptionist is usually good looking.

Bay Area:

People see through the "Bullshit" faster.
Most marketing jobs require a technical background. Engineers are loved.
During interviews, they grill you on quantitative skills. Sometimes they ask you to describe Excel formulas over the phone.
If you wear a gray suit in the summertime, you will most definitely be stared down.
People have very international accents that I cannot place.
There is no guarantee that the receptionist will be attractive. Or not have a crazy eye.

Ok, you're probably reading this and thinking that I'm vapid and shallow, but no - I'm just kinda wishing I had a more developed skill set so that I can find a job faster, because people up here are really serious!

I think that this video kinda sums it up...and if it doesn't, you should still watch it because it's hilarious!

Hooray for Napa on a Weeknight!!!

2009-09-04T08:48:00.000-07:00

So another perk of not working is that my schedule has never been so flexible!! Yesterday, I met up with some friends for an early morning of yoga, then after lunch, I took a leisurely drive north to Napa to have dinner with a friend. Now normally, I would not drive 85 miles to meet someone for dinner, but it's a friend who I've known for a long time, who has lived in the Middle East for the last year or so, and who was in Sacramento for work. We looked at a map and Napa was pretty much the nicest place in between Sactown and Man Jose, so we went!

We had dinner at a nice restaurant called Angele. When we got there, we got a little bonus: Thursday is half price wine night!! We ordered a half bottle of wine (cuz we both had to drive hella far) for $60. But it was ok because it was 50% off!! Yay!

Seriously, the only thing that would have made the day better is if we had done yoga in the morning, outside, in a vineyard....with a bottle of half price wineeee.

My New Hobby: FarmVille!!

2009-09-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

Rice and Soy Beans.

Cotton. And some fruit trees in the background.

I had a job interview the other day and while I was driving there, I had a mini panic attack! I kept thinking that if I got a fulltime job, I wouldn't be able to play FarmVille on Facebook as much as I do and what if I started missing harvests?

Yes....recently a highlight of me not working is that I get to dick around online a lot!! I've been playing this game on FB and it's a virtual farm. I just like it because I can grow trees, and plants, and have animals, all the things I can't do in real life. The most addicting part is that it has a feature where you can take a picture of your avatar on the farm!! I've taken about 30 and I've been getting a lot of shit from my friends about it, but I don't care!! It's fun!!

Chili Peppers.

Yellow Bell Peppers, Pumpkins and Squash!!!

My Aloe. It was alive and then I didn't get to harvest it and it DIED!!

Pivot This!

2009-08-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

So I had a real job interview for a real company for the first time in almost a year. I think the last time I had one of these was last OCTOBER!! Geez....I was REALLY optimistic about finding a job after bschool...someone please remind me again why I went??

Anyway, the interview was over the phone and the process was pretty smooth for a phone interview, until about the point where they started asking me about Excel. Yikes! I haven't used it in a year! The woman kept pressing me about Pivot Tables! Do I understand it, do I know what it is, do I think that I can conjure one up. Well, of course I can, if I fiddle around with Excel! I mean, just cuz I'm unemployed doesn't mean I'm a moron and unemployable and completely Excel Elliterate! I mean, with stuff like that, can't you learn on the job anyway? Seriously, I don't understand why she kept pressing me over the phone to explain them to her. Maybe I'm just bitter that I didn't prepare well enough, but still....I'd like to ask her a few questions...and as a matter of fact, I did. I asked her a few questions about the company and the position, and she couldn't answer any of them!! Hello? HR?? Hello!??!!?

Well, I looked up some pivot tables online and instantaneously, it came back to me. And I realized that if that's the only thing she grilled me on then that means it's a huge part of the position and I'm not sure that would be a good fit for me anyway. That and the fact that this position doesn't have health benefits.

Can someone please just drop a fabulous job in my lap already??

Green is the Color of Monaaaay!

2009-08-18T22:32:00.000-07:00

I keep changing the template of my blog (as if it matters because I have not told a single person about my blog and I have no page views!) but I keep changing it anyway! Anyway, today I've decided to go with green and I think I'm keeping it this way cuz green is the color of monaaay and since I'm in search of a job I think this will be the best blog "feng shui" for me.

Since we've moved up to the Bay Area, a good friend of my husband's has asked if I was looking for a job. (Maybe I should introduce him to my new blog?) Anyway, he's been really nice and asking his colleagues and friends if anyone's hiring at the moment and telling me to send my resume over if I see anything interesting on X, Y, and Z company sites. I'm starting to feel a little guilty that the guy is going out on a limb for me. When people advise you to use your whole network when job searching, is there a line that you shouldn't cross? Should you not stretch your personal contacts to the limit and just kind of hope that something perfect will just fall into their laps which will then be forwarded to you????

Do I really need money?

2009-08-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

I think I've become a little desperate in my attempt to find meaningful work. Case in point, I recently applied to a job that offered no money and no benefits. Um...what? I even had an interview with the CEO of the company. Actually it wasn't really an interview, it was more of a phone call where the guy tried to sell me on himself and his buddy and their start up company idea. I guess it sounded pretty interesting, and both of the guys had some pretty impressive stints in their career, but really? To work without getting paid? I haven't done that since I was 19 years old and interned at Soap Opera Digest! At least back then I got to watch soaps all afternoon and then Oprah at 3pm while getting free lunch everyday!

These days, my expenses are WAY greater than when I had that unpaid internship. I mean, I just spent a shitload of money on graduate school tuition! Well, fine I borrowed it, but that's even worse because I actually have to pay that money back!! Gone are the days when the only reason to work is to get an LV bag and at the rate I'm going now, I'm lucky if I can even afford this trash bag!

Hmmmm....Ok, after much consideration, I just don't think I can do it. Sorry folks...the reality is, I need to get paid so that I can start paying back Sallie effing Mae.

House Smouse

2009-08-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

So it's been 11 months since I've been unemployed! I've decided that I should be a little more productive and get my real estate license. My husband and I are planning on buying a house next year, and maybe this way I can save some money on agent commissions!

So my mom, who has been an agent for 20 years, suggested I go to her friend. Fine. I called her friend up, talked to him on the phone for 20 min and was like OK, that's cool and showed up at his class. His class was in CHINESE! What?? He spoke perfect English to me on the phone and didn't even ASK me if I spoke Chinese and definitely did not mention that the 6 week class was in Chinese! Anyway, I understood "Hello, class" "There's a bathroom break at 8pm" "Even if you don't speak English, you can still pass the test" and that's just about it!! Needless to say, I never went back....

Anyway, that was a few months ago, and this week I finally went online to do the classes and get my license online: http://www.californialicense.com/

I think I waited this long because I'm kind of scared that I won't pass the test!! After what that guy at the class said? "Even if you don't speak English...??" I mean, what if I don't pass?!?! Thankfully I got all my class materials at a site that says 100% money back guarantee....so this way, if I don't pass, I'll just be embarrassed but at least I'll still get my $200 bucks back...

Netflix, where is the love?

2009-08-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

Dear Netflix,

I really like you...I get DVDs from you and even watch movies on your website. How come you don't like me back? I've applied to a few jobs at your company since my unemployment, and I've heard nothing back! Rejection is so hard! And it would be such a great relationship too since I live across a parking lot from you and all your employees come into my apartment building to use the facilities like the gym, the pool, etc.

(This is the view of the backside of Netflix from my parking spot!!)

Anyway, Netflix, if you ever want to talk, please give me a call. I'll be waiting!

Interviews!

2009-08-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

Yay! After over a month of being up in the Bay Area, I finally got some interviews lined up!

One is a start up that I don't even know the name of. And they don't offer any salary, just stock options and they expect to go public next year. Yes, it sounds a little sketchy, but hey I'm sitting at home getting no experience and getting older and older and not getting paid anyway, why not go do some contract work for a few months? It may pay out!

The second is for a CPG firm. For products that I actually use! Well, I used to anyway when I had a job and could afford the products...these days I'm on generic brands or whatever is on sale at Target.

Anyway, I guess trolling Linkedin and Craigslist really does work....To be continued...

Oops, I Forgot I started a Blog

2009-08-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

HA! It's August of 2009 and I forgot that I had started a blog to describe my job search and what my days are like since I'm unemployed!

I guess to make a long story short, at the beginning of February, my husband got a job offer in San Jose and we decided that we would move to the Bay Area in June of this year. So basically from Feb to the end of June, my job hunt was put on hold cuz I didn't want to actually get a job offer and move up here without my husband! LOL. Man, was I optimistic about finding a job!

Anyway, I spent Feb to Jun hanging out with my family and friends and basically taking time off. It wasn't really the time off that I had always imagined though. In my working days, I always thought that one day, I would save up some money and take a year off work to be a travel writer or whatever, just travel to exotic places and eat and relax....Um, let's just say things are different when you 1. Forgot to save 2. Got laid off right before your wedding so that anything you may have saved went to that so now you're broke and 3. Are newly married and don't want to leave your spouse. Yeah....I spent a lot of days hanging out and eating lunch specials and making food at home. Not a very fabulous adventure!

So now we have been up in San Jose for the last 6 weeks, and my job search has continued in earnest....stay tuned.....

New Year, New Job?

2009-01-05T11:27:00.000-08:00

So I've now been unemployed for about 4 months, which is the longest I've ever been unemployed for since I was 16 years old and had my first real job bussing tables at Osaka Terriyaki House. I have to admit, when I first got laid off, I was so HAPPY that I almost peeded in my pants! Unemployment didn't bother me one bit in September because I was getting married at the end of the month and I had more important things, like flower arrangements and cake, to think about besides the fact that the economy was busting up and I didn't have a steady income.

My job situation, or lack thereof, continued to not affect my mindset at all in October because for the first week I was on my honeymoon in Europe blithely spending my/"our" cash gifts from the wedding. Then when we got back, there were about a thousand thank you cards to write to our friends and family, and about same number of wedding gifts to unpack and sort out. (By the way, thanks again for all the gifts, we loved them all!)

Then the month of November rolled around. In theory, not working is awesome. I know that in my whole life, no matter how much I liked my job, in the back of my mind I always wished that I could be unemployed and stay at home all day....but just as I thought I'd actually reached my Nirvana, I started to get bored. I realized that there was only so much cleaning and unpacking you can really do in a tiny ass one bedroom apartment that was really fit for one small Asian girl but was now being shared by an abnormally large Asian couple.

Anyway, after 2 months off and running countless lame ass errands - like getting stamps at the post office - and spending entirely way too much time at home watching bad daytime TV - Home Improvement, Roseanne, The View, The Today Show, General Hospital, and Oprah mostly - I decided that I needed to go out and get a job! However, my timing was totally off!! WTF? For the first time in my life, I was actually desparate for a job, and every place I turned to was on a "hiring freeze" or doing "lay-offs" or just not getting back to me. WTF!?!

It's Jan 2009, and I'm sick of being bored and not working. I'm also sick of my friends (though probably well-meaning and good natured) asking me "What do you DOOOOO everyday?" and "Aren't you having the best time ever" and "You are SOOOOOO lucky you don't have to work." I rue the day I used to say the same things to my unemployed friends. For those of you who I said that to in the past, I'm sorry. For those of you who are asking now? Well, I guess you can continue to read my blog...