Job Searching for the Weary

[Originally posted June 1, 2009 on Wanderlust @ Blogger.com]

So, I’m nearing month six of job searching with no positive results. Granted – for five of those six months I was looking in a country that would neither give me a work permit or more than one smile a week, but still, starting over a job search now doesn’t feel exhiliarating or “fresh”…it feels sucky.

Now I get to do what I did six months ago…again.

1. Email all university/internship/people from elementary school that might be able to connect me to someone who can email someone who can send someone a telegram…who can help me find work.

2. Scour all the relevant job search sites: Monster, Foreign Policy Jobs, Washington Post.

3. Write “personal” covering letters of which I know 95% aren’t even read.

4. Repear

5. Wait.

6. Wait.

7. You get the idea…

So in this new renewed job search I’ve gotten one interview, for which I flew from London to NYC to show them my apparent zeal and excitement for the opportunity…for which they promptly rejected me because I seemed too efficient, too driven…in the words of the incumbent, who sent me a personal email, “We chose some bookish looking boy who, honestly, will probably be happy to quietly stay here for some years, content with the system.” Whaa? Maybe I should have dumbed myself down then? I guess not, but sheesh! Half the jobs say I’m underqualified, the other 45% don’t get back to me, and now, “overqualification” is a new one I can add to the list.

Well, in a month I will leave the home of Churchill, numerous Tamil street riots, and 3AM kebabs and return to DC to continue my searching…and waiting…

AND P.S.

TO COMPANIES WHO POST ON ONLINE JOB BOARDS:
Please, PLEASE, remove old positions that have been filled, so I don’t spend 2 hours writing a cover letter, tinkering with my resume, and sending it off only to receive an instant “this has been filled” reply. Thanks.

On Peace & Anarchy

[Originally posted April 15, 2009 on Wanderlust @ Blogger.com]

Yesterday, on my exhausted journey back from a multi-hour session of job apps at Leon, I passed by an utterly confusing and, actually, typical representation of life in the City. Two buildings, abutting each other as if they had always been like that, represented time periods of at least 100 years difference. In the top windows of the older one there were two conflicting statements – “No War” in one window, written in red paint, and the anarchy symbol in the same paint in its partner window. At first I just thought of the contradicting nature of these two messages, obviously meant to be a public statement of the “artist’s” views.
Then I looked at the building next door. Probably built within the last ten years, it boasted green-tinted glass and an imposing, yet beautiful, modern exterior. The artist’s building was solidly white, with a touch of 1900-esque exterior decoration in wreaths and busts of anonymous ladies. I began to think of the contradictory themese of the peace vs. anarchy message and the seeming contradictions between the two architectural styles.
But was it such a contradiction? It has come to be, in my mind, part of what makes the City what it is – a hodge podge of styles: fashion, art, architecture, religious, etc. Perhaps we might not ever have “anarchy” at once with “peace”, but props for proposing the possibility, anonymous artist.

Gordon Brown, Georgetown, and China too!

[Originally Jan. 29, 2009, posted at Wanderlust on Blogger.com]

Well after a couple of more-than-slightly unproductive weeks in London, I’ve finally started to do something more during the day than wander around and try not to shop. I’m so far on day 2.5 of my internship here at the ::pause for annoying telemarketer call:: Foreign Press Association and after a rip-roaring first day involving a quasi-surprise visit from PM Gordon Brown, things have definitely settled down. That day’s excitement was compounded by the Georgetown reception that night where I met our President, Jack DeGioia, for the first time and he talked about DC in its new days of hope. But, for the last day and a half I have painstakingly been trying to fill my day until 18:00 with researching events, web surfing, and reading the news in Chinese (this is especially interesting about the China-Africa Summit in Beijing).
But, it’s not without its perks! Next week I have a first class train ticket up to Norwich for the China China China!!! exhibit at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. Should be a really interesting juxtaposition to the New Chinese Art exhibit Huu, Vic, and I just went to see at the Saatchi Gallery. Plus, it is on February 5th, before the exhibit even opens, so it’ll be awesome to actually see a gallery press opening.
Before all that happens next week (and my birthday to boot), I have the Chinese New Year celebrations in Chinatown with Thang, Van, and my boo. Should be fun albiet really crowded! Gotta say, nothing’s worse than last year’s Notting Hill Carnival, though. Okay, well a late lunch should be taken soon, so until my next post…

新年快乐!!

What is it about Tony?

I’ve been trying to figure out what it is about Anthony Bourdain that I love so much. It’s can’t just be his less-holier-than-thou persona or his f*** you attitude…can it (by the way, is this a family site or can I just say it)?  Perhaps it’s the fact that he looks and acts how my Dad would on an acid trip (not unlikely) and smokes two packs a day just like him. But what makes this 50-year-old leathery man so sexy to this 23-year-old? It must be my wish to have the gritty eloquence that seems to seep out of his pores.

Plus, he gets to travel the world and eat it all.  Was it good for me?  Tony, it always is with you.