Friday, February 8, 2008

Rearrange Your Room, Rearrange Your Life (subtitle: I'm employed!!!

For starters, last Sunday (Jan 27) I decided that it was time to get to serious about a job. The next three days were kind of weird , but I can't really say why or how. Let me start here:

For many years I have been an ardent believer that the energy of your bedroom and the energy of your life are completely intertwined. However, I accidentally forget this. Spending a lot of time in my room lately, I had started to really hate it. One day in the depth of my despair (well, I don't really "do" despair, but I was feeling very odd emotionally) I finally decided that I was going to clean the outside of my windows, darn it! So what if I am, in fact, contractually obligated to NOT clean the windows, the property managers weren't going to it do, it had been annoying me for six months AND it's bad feng shui. Luckily my room has the fire escape so it was only partly death-defying. I was amazed at the difference!! For the first time I felt like people would actually be able to see me when I changed in my room at night. I had no idea that clean windows would make such a big difference.

The next day, inspired by Corina's new room (complete with feng shui professional consulting), in a fit of long-pent up energy, I decided to move everything out of my room and start over. I had the wisdom and foresight to do a "before" picture:There are several things wrong with this set up. (please feel free to skip this paragraph.) First, the bed is totally the center of the room, you totally have to just sneak around it to get anywhere. Second, the chi (life energy) flow is totally off. I mean, I am not a feng shui expert, but i know a think or two. Third, the back left corner is totally hidden (AKA invitation for a mess). I will skip my psychoanalytic interpretation in lieu of showing you the "after" picture:Much better!! Of course, the photo doesn't capture the entire beauty, but it is much better, much more inviting, and much more open for good things to flow into my life.

The very day I cleaned my room, I also got a second head hunter. Friends and acquaintances started calling and emailing me with job leads. Between my two head hunters and my social referrals, I had an interview almost every day. (Also, more new friends started flowing into my life, which was great, but I guess that's a different story.)

All my interviews went really well. The recruiters kept calling, I pretty much had decided the job I wanted and knew they were going to make an offer higher than the original offer but had not yet. To be honest, I was feeling quite overwhelmed by all the possibilities flowing into my life. I remember something that Sister Orton had said in a meeting--that we tend to shy away from living in abundance because it is very stressful to us when our cup is literally running over. Instead of thinking "Wonderful! I need a bigger cup for all these blessings" we tend to only think of the mess it is making. That is exactly how I felt! It was pretty nifty. I love living in abundance!!

Finally, Thursday I got the call to discuss the salary at the job I wanted at a law office. I spoke with the partner I had interviewed with. He made an offer 10% higher than the original offer and I talked him up to 15%. (I give the Spirit all the credit.) At the end, the offer was the one I thought in my head that I would need in order to happily accept the job.

To be honest, there is an exciting twist here regarding a very successful and intriguing interview at the University of Oxford North America office. I will leave out this part of the story for the sake of brevity. I was very very seriously considering taking that job, but decided against it.

Here are some of the totally awesome things about my new jobs:
1. I work at a Wall Street law firm. I think that sounds very nice.
2. 35 hour work week. If you come in at 9, you can leave at 4!!
3. Time and a half for anything over 35 hrs/wk
4. I kind of know 3 people who work there and they all love it a lot
5. Everyone there seems really nice (yes, including the lawyers)
6. Free subway pass every month
7. It seems like something I would be really good at. No feeling like a competent, confident feeling.
8. A fun new New York neighborhood to explore! The financial district!
9. Flexibility with hours
10. It just feels right!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

A Humorous Quote in Honor of Election Day

by Dave Barry (shown below)

"Republicans hate the news media. They're up front about this. They basically come right out and say 'We're prosperous and religious and patriotic and clean-cut, and you media people are communist atheistic dope addicts wearing clothes that look like they came from a store called the Fashion Dumpster.' I find this attitude refreshing. I'm always happier around Republicans, who are honestly hostile, than around Democrats, who really want the media to like them and who get all pouty when we note that they have the managerial competence of oatmeal."



End quote. This is Holly talking now. I decided about a month ago that I'm a McCain gal, but i woke up this morning confused and thinking maybe Romney was a better choice. I really like them both so much. For a moment I had the brilliant idea that perhaps they could be running mates and was quite pleased with this idea. Then I remembered that they hate each other. Too bad.