2014 In Review

I am still employed at the library and I am glad I still have that job. At the beginning of this year, I wanted to move to Detroit. After a few multi-level marketing scam interviews at the beginning of 2014, I decided that maybe I should just take the plunge and move. I attempted temping for a few months at the beginning of the year—I was planning on temping from March until June. I used one local temp agency and the recruiter was awesome. She was a sweet older lady and very helpful. Sadly, the job I was placed in was a Craig’s List job and only lasted a day because he wasn’t impressed with me. Apparently, people left that job a lot because his bills were behind for nine months. Although it would have been a nice second job, it might have been a good thing it didn’t work out since he left the office for three hours and didn’t want to talk to any of the section 8 people trying to find section 8 housing. Some were living in crummy conditions and the way they described housing conditions to me and the way he left them unfixed, it broke my heart listening to them.

As I mentioned above, I had an interview with Quicken Loans in July. I applied to Quicken Loans in May during my visit to Detroit. I was so happy when they finally called for an interview on July 9. They thought I already moved since I mentioned that in my cover letter and were shocked when I hadn’t moved. Needless to say, I did make some mistakes on the interview and ultimately, I didn’t get the job. When SocraTea e-mailed me to set up an interview, the owner was surprised I didn’t move yet either. I explained I wanted a job lined up, but I changed my mind. Knowing that SocraTea, a tearoom, was most likely minimum wage… I knew I couldn’t move on that and I wasn’t sure if finding a second job in Michigan would be easy. I decided that I would try Green Bay again, but after I save up and gain experience in King of Prussia. It’s not my favorite decision, but I don’t want to and can’t really move broke.

I had a few interviews since then and none of them panned out. A work-at-home telemarketing job did pan out and I lasted through the training. However, mom works from home and uses Ethernet. For the telemarketing dialer, I needed Ethernet because WiFi wouldn’t work with it. It would dial and I could hear, but they couldn’t hear me. I was sad about it because I thought it would be great to move on that. However, in 2015 I am going to talk to the career lab at the university I graduated from. They know I want to move, but I want to talk to them about helping me find something as long term temporary or contract (that is also okay with me keeping the library—I want to keep the library until I can move) so I can start saving and hopefully make a move by summer 2016. I think that’s reasonable. I think the career lab could also help me interview. I applied for some long term temporary positions and I have my fingers crossed. I will also try the local temp agency again and I’m going to reapply with Randstadt even though they said they weren’t interested last year despite not testing or interviewing me. I am also looking in the papers for contract work or something in an office setting. I will also be working on freelance writing and looking for some free contests. I entered some contests that cost money and didn’t really have luck.

As 2014 comes to a close, I learned a lot about myself this year even though it was mostly disappointing on the job front. For a while I was unsure where I wanted to go once I had the money. People online compared Green Bay to King of Prussia—a town where dreams go to die and said Madison would be better. I just don’t want to live in Madison. I never been there, but I don’t want to live in a college town. I have too many bad experiences from my college days in a Pennsylvania college town - although I didn't live there, just being a student in that town was bad enough. I would rather live in Green Bay or Appleton or try a suburb of Milwaukee. When I start this process again in 2016 after saving and working here, I know not to give definite dates unless there is something definite or ask for help. I think when the time comes, I will ask for help in crafting a cover letter for relocation. There is no shame in that.

I would prefer Green Bay. As Christina said to me last night, “I think you should stop listening to everyone else and do what you want when you’re ready because you aren’t going to find what makes you happy by listening to random people on the internet.” She’s right. I loved Green Bay; I met a lot of wonderful people that I still talk to in Green Bay, though they are scattered throughout Wisconsin. Even people I work with at the library have friends and family in Wisconsin and have been sending me paper clippings of job leads for the past year. I also got around okay in Green Bay too; I didn’t find the transit system that horrible and it was walkable. Appleton wouldn’t be bad either (and people have said Appleton has wonderful transit as does the suburbs in Milwaukee; Milwaukee had a good transit system too). As a Wisconsinite I met in Memphis said to me after I told him I wanted to live in Wisconsin someday soon, “You’re a writer! You can live anywhere because that’s the nature of writing as it is with libraries. You could find a job anywhere whether it’s writing or a library or even both. You’re not limited.” It reminds me of what I read in A Prison, A Paradise by John Jeremiah Sullivan, “To them, [Cuba] even after half a century, it’s the querencia, an untranslatable Spanish word that means something like ‘the place where you are your most authentic self.’”

I entered several writing contests in the latter part of 2014 that I found from The Writer magazine and then The Narrative. Sadly, the stories and poems didn't win, but for 2015 I am going to find some free contests or contests that don't charge a hefty fee (to enter The Narrative contests, entry fees were $20-$25; a few of the contests from The Writer were only $5, which wasn't bad at all).

I was going to enter a book publishing contest that the University of Colorado was holding, but I am going to pass that one. I was going to finish a book about nan that I started for a poetry class in 2013 (it was a poetry book contest), but then I decided that I would want the book to be filled with poems and creative non-fiction pieces about nan and childhood memories. I wrote this for a blog the other day, remembering the 10th anniversary of a tsunami in Asia, that I would like to work into a non-fiction piece:

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Tsunami in Asia. I can't believe it's been 10 years because I remember it like it was yesterday. On December 26, 2004, nan and I went to Aunt Kelly's to spend some time with her. That was when Aunt Kelly was newly diagnosed with Altzheimer's and that's when she still lived in her house in Wayne. On Christmas Day, she went to her daughter's, so nan and I decided to spend some time with her the day after. Aunt Kelly's living room was decent size and her furniture was always covered with Snoopy/Peanuts bed sheets from the 1960s. She had the TV on, but nan and I were sitting in her kitchen... which sat atop the living room. There were two stairs that led into the linoleum tiled kitchen with a card table as a kitchen table. It was very 1950s. We were sipping on the strong iced tea (as she always made her iced tea strong) and making sandwiches when we heard the breaking news. We were stunned.

There are a lot of memories like that; I remember in 2006 when Aunt Kelly's home was sold so she could live with one of her daughters, I was given her old Corona typewriter. I loved that typewriter and I would spend hours in nan's basement typing stories and poems. Sadly, the typewriter ran out of ribbon and I couldn't find a replacement. To buy a new typewriter was more expensive than a laptop. I think these stories will be a slow project and I'm not sure if I would want to publish them. I'm happy with the folder I started on Writing.com and I think I will keep it there.

I think this year I will just work on crafting my travel writing. I borrowed a book from the library about writing specifically for travel. These two rules in the introduction (the rest of the book is filled with travel stories) stick out to me:

1. There is no story in the world so marvelous that it cannot be told boringly.
2. There is no story in the world so boring that it cannot be told marvelously.

​I hope you have had a wonderful 2014 and I hope 2015 is filled with joy, great health and lots of adventures.

Have a great and safe New Years Eve and I'll talk to you in 2015! ~Jessica​


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