Happy Friday... small Hiatus on Blogger

I had a positive week this week. Yesterday I had an interview at Build A Bear. I'm not sure how it went as she has several other people to interview, but even if I don't get the job I am proud of myself. Why be proud if I didn't get the job? Yesterday was my first time in months that I was positive during an interview. When I was doing phone interviews with Michigan jobs (the few PA employers I talked to the last time I interviewed for temp positions here never asked these questions), I could never remember team contributions or I was never asked how I handle criticism. Yesterday I remembered team work I did for my West Chester job: in preparation for RECAP for the two years I worked the RECAP conference, we all had to work as a team putting things together, organized and cleaned. Even proofreading manuals and helping one another prepare for classes were acts of teamwork. For the library job, there are times my coworkers and I have to work as a team getting organized and delivered/put back in time for patrons. Criticism examples were easy: I was a writing major, critiques were a MAJOR part of the classes I had to take.

I wrote this all down for when Green Bay jobs start to call, that way I remember these tidbits. I think they'll be a big help. I'm going to apply to other retail places and see what happens. I feel positive about things, especially with how things look regarding Green Bay. No, I haven't heard anything yet, but I'm finding a lot of jobs that match what I want to do. As I said to dad last night, "It's amazing what a change in location can do. I'm finding a lot of jobs that match me perfectly, according to Zip Recruiter, in Green Bay. I couldn't say that for Detroit or the metro area of Detroit." He smiled and said, "Yeah, it's amazing what a change can do."

I remembered something I submitted to This I Believe in 2008. It was for a writing class I took as a first semester freshman and the professor wanted us to submit the essay to the project. I remember getting the e-mail in January 2009 and I remember getting all excited: my essay made the collection! I don't think it was put in the book, but it's on the site's collection: http://thisibelieve.org/essay/54552/ . It's hard to believe it was six years ago. I'm going to put this on my resume for writing jobs. Today I made a copy of a page with contests from The Writer and I will be entering some writing contests. I have some great ideas in mind for poetry, essays and non-fiction.

I'm also thinking about submitting what I learned yesterday to Chicken Soup for the Soul. I checked out a book on being positive, so maybe I can submit it for another positive thinking book. Yesterday was 9 months since the unspeakable thing happened, yet I was positive. I want to write about my journey these past nine months, the detours, what I learned and how things are looking up now that I'm on track. Would anyone mind critiquing the essay when I'm done?

I'm going to take a little hiatus from the Blog Party each Friday. I will still be updating my blog, but for a month or two I'm going to focus on writing, travel and photography: http://clayxmatthewsxfan89.blogspot....g-party_8.html

Tomorrow I am meeting a friend at the Academy of Natural Sciences for Bug Fest. Last year I chickened out with trying other bugs other than chocolate chirp cookies. I'm going to be brave and I'm going to try other bugs. I will be bringing my camera, so there will be pictures!