Jamie Jane

I get reminded every so often, especially with the internet, that we live in a small world. Seven billion people, and yet only six degrees of seperation. 

A few clicks around twitter, and I run into someone from highschool I haven’t seen or heard from in years. A few clicks more, I stumble upon their personal blog. I read that they move across country, continuing education and trying to live their lives. 

To be honest, I was never found of her. Sure, we shared a volleyball team and a few classes, but we never had anything in common. Now, I know we are much more alike than she will ever know. 

Is a relationship with another human being ever a black and white affair? I truly believe that a relationship is always cyclical, where one can choose to step in or out of a life, but both are still left with memories. 

Luck or coincidence can have an instantaneous effect that is never accounted in relationships. It can either reaffirm why one has no contact with the other, or spark that is meant to ignite the need to be in eachothers’ lives. I want to believe that you never lose touch with a person, but rather, weave a delicate bond that is unique as one’s own chromosomes; it creates something beautiful as it is complex and form something much more than just memories. 

People ask me what I want to do with my life after school. I don’t have a plan. I have a fuzzy understanding of where life leads me. I sometimes wonder whether or not I can control my own destiny, or if it is a part of a bigger, more serendipitous plan which there are reasons as to why things happen that were never clear. 

Sure, I did get a job out of university, that’s what the natural progression of a person who is post-graduate. There are some situations where I know I can control things, but there is always lingering thought of the “what-if” and why I was hired from one, and rejected from others. I was so sure I had the internship in the bag, and I was devastated for a while, but that same afternoon I was offered a paid position at a more lucrative company. Was it just not for me? was this job more suitable? something I don’t think I’ll ever know, really. 

Back to the basis of the question, aunts, uncles, parents, and friends, have been offering me advice left and right. They ask me questions I am not even sure I understand. RRSP? for me, that stands for Reality (is) Really Settling, Plan. 

At the moment, I am going to scribble down what I want to cross of my bucket list. Try something new everyday. It’s okay to be scared, but act fearless with every step and to try to sync it with the beat of my heart. 

visceralconnection:

… that all pants should be sweatpants.

This is my old roommate, Marianne. The little bits of her life is sprinkled between the love of Lord of the Rings, Beautiful geological images, and the love of all things canadian. The more you know about her, the more you’ll fall in love with her. I promise. 

Sounds exactly what it’s going to be: myself, highlighting a blog or tumblr that I love to follow, and give you why. Give you a bit of bio background, how I know them, and why you should follow. This has been on my mind all day, so stay tuned. 

That awkward I’m-not-a-girl-not-yet-a-woman phase happened so quickly during my middle school years. I became self aware about how I looked and would constantly compare myself to my blonde barbie friends; you know the type, the girls who shot up like a tree and skipped the gawky phase and went from being flat to a real bra in a matter of months. 

Aside from the usual braces, glasses, and training bra, I envied the barbies for one reason: blonde hair. No girl who was blessed with sunshine hair ever had to deal with the shadows and dark fuzziness that would turn into unibrows and sideburns in an instant. I not only had to deal with my chubby little body, but also the sasquatch-esque growth above my upper lip. 

I remember I got so fed up with being hairy, I took my dad’s razor and just shaved my upper lip and took that same razor down the middle of my face to finally have two eyebrows. It was just horrendous. The burning sensation was so intense, I vividly remember trying to cool down my face, at this point bleeding, after just grazing the blade on dry skin. I don’t think I’ve done it since then, and I pay the price of uneven eyebrows for the rest of highschool. 

Being a huge swimming fanatic during my younger days, it gave me an excuse to shave down anything from my neck down to get ready to hit the pool. Arms, legs, and my toe hair would all be removed after a good two hours just soaking in a tub with shaving cream floating around me. I did this for years and years, up until the end of my senior year. I remember just downright hating myself for the way I looked and the unspoken rule that women shouldn’t have hair on their bodies. It was so much work for no one to really notice, but when they did, my day would be ultimately ruined over a snarky comment from a barbie. Hours and hours would be spent to combat something that was, well, natural, but it took years for me to be okay with hair on my arms and embrace my sideburns. I just wanted to stop caring about what people thought about my hair and I did. No one noticed that I had a bit more arm hair than usual. No one. 

My roommate Simon and I would always joke that I should grow my upper lip hair for Movember; I still think I can grow a much more fuller, darker moustache before we see a shadow of his blonde hair. I’ve become much more accepting about body hair. I still wax and shave, but not to the point of excessiveness and without shame. The course hair on my arms will stay, and so will the knuckle hair and sideburns. 

So far, I have send 209 emails that contained a cover letter and resume to hundreds, literally hundreds, of companies within the Vancouver area…This is what I’ve wished I’d known when I sent out the first 100 emails: 

1. Networking is the best way to find opportunities: About half of my interviews were through my career networks that were able to give it to HR personally, and helped put it on the top of the pile. It is true what they say: It’s not what you got, but who you know. I think it was from Maid in Manhattan, but I’m sure it was way before the 2002 movie. 
2. Don’t search hard, search smart: sure, google is your friend for job searches, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’re going to end up the feeling of overwhelming work. Be more specific and more oriented towards what you’re looking for. I found that Linkedin and other job search engines, such as Eluta.ca, gives you more control on the geographic location, industry type and occupation. Don’t forget to keep your settings and save your job search specifics. It will save you a lot of time in the future! 
3. Review your resume & cover letter before every single email: Be prepared to edit all of your information before sending it out to the company and making sure you are tailoring your work experience to the job at hand. I make sure that I have a word document template of my resume and convert the same file into a PDF version and send it out. It should always be a PDF file, unless specified otherwise.
4. It’s all about the waiting game: Posts will usually stay up on a company website for approximately a month before even looking at candidates, and can take almost two months of processing before a phone call will be laid to you about an interview. Prepare to wait, but in the mean time, stay positive, and keep learning new things that may be valuable skill in the workplace. 

These are just small experiences that I’ve had to deal with so far. Wish me luck!