Late to Join the Bandwagon

I admit it. I have a weakness. I am like a child, and when someone tells me to do something, it makes me not want to do it. In fact, I tend to avoid it as much as possible. In some instances, I find myself doing the opposite. So when people have told me to watch a television show, a movie, or read a book series, I tend to stray away from following their advice. What I am learning is that I should really start listening to people, because avoiding their advice and recommendations has left me rather late on joining the bandwagon for many things I have come to love and enjoy.

Take, for example, the Harry Potter books. Way back when the books first came out, I thought the idea was stupid. I resisted reading them. Finally, my mom ordered the first two for me, out of her Avon book, of all places. I was still skeptical, but I eventually picked them up and read them right away. I loved them. I went on to read all the books and see all the movies. I can't even imagine a life without Harry Potter in it, but yet, if my mom wouldn't have started me off with the first two books, I don't think I ever would have read them.

While I never had HBO in order to watch Sex and the City during the time when new episodes aired, (and I was probably too young to watch it), I did see both movies when they were out in theatres. I thought I might enjoy the show, but I never really gave it a second thought. Earlier this year, a friend from work loaned me the first two seasons of the show. Again, I put off watching them. It started out slowly, and I just didn't think I would like it. All of a sudden, I became obsessed! All I wanted to do was watch Sex and the City to see what happened next. I went on the hunt to purchase all the seasons for myself in the exact covers I wanted. I was disappointed when I located all except Season Five at a Target near my house and elated when I went back a month later and discovered it there, on sale. With my collection complete, I have delayed watching Season Six: Part Two simply because I don't want the show to end! On the bright side, I do have both movies to look forward to, since I don't really remember much from those.

For anyone who has read The Hunger Games, you know that explaining the concept to someone else makes the book series sound completely bizarre. I had multiple people tell me to read the book series and attempt to tell me what it was about. I made the decision that I wasn't interested, and the books sounded weird. Then, I don't know what happened - something made me want to read them just to see what all the fuss was about. I received the first book for my birthday, and I then delayed reading the books for two months. When I finally picked it up, I read all three books and saw the first movie within a week. I became completely obsessed. I developed a crush on Peeta. (No, not Josh Hutcherson - Peeta, the character from the book). I was annoyed to stop and go to the bathroom or eat. All I wanted to do was read my books. Now, I can't possibly imagine waiting over a year before I can see Catching Fire on the big screen, the next installment of the trilogy and my favorite book of the series.

Perhaps the one bandwagon I was slowest to jump on has been Twilight. I simply was not interested in vampires, and I thought I would be cheating on Harry Potter in reading another series. Since I like to read books before I see the movies, I have been sure to avoid each and every one of them. I ordered all four books online ages ago when they were on sale, but they have sat on my bookshelf collecting dust since. Finally, this week, I sat down and started reading the first one. Much to my dismay, I actually have enjoyed what I've read so far. My new dilemma is whether I want to read one book at a time and watch the movie and so on or if I would rather read all the books before seeing all the movies.

What other bandwagon am I missing? I know 50 Shades of Grey is looming in my future, but am I missing the boat on something else? What bandwagons have you been late to jump on? I am certain I can't be the only one out there so resistant to the recommendations of others.

Quarter-Life Crisis

The past couple of weeks, I have been joking and dramatizing the fact that I am having a mid-life crisis at age 25. My husband corrected me - it is actually called a "quarter-life crisis." Now that I have a title for my dilemma, I am full steam ahead in my crisis and really unsure of a way out.

I followed the path I thought I was supposed to follow. I went to college and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in English, with my field of expertise being Creative Writing. At the time, I wasn't entirely sure of what I wanted to do - when I was younger, I wanted to teach. By the time I got to college, I knew I could not bear to deal with rotten school children or spending any more time in school. I thought I would be able to find some sort of writing job. I had dreams of sitting at home with my laptop, in my home office, writing and editing to my heart's content.

Yet, here I am, just three years after graduation, working in an office at a desk job, not using any of the skills I went to college to improve. I thought this job would be a good place to work my way up and at least pay the bills until I was financially capable of pursuing my writing and editing goals. Only now, I feel like I have wasted yet another two years of my life in a field I am finding is not stable, nor is it something I would be interested in remaining at long-term. For now, it is fine...but how long can a person really stay at a job where they remain a flex employee with no hope of transitioning to a "real" (core) employee. I wonder if my time has come to move on and I am just too resistant to change to see where the signs are pointing.

Throughout my earlier years, I wrote and wrote and wrote. There was never a time when I didn't have a story (or two) in progress. Then, I hit college, and in turn, hit a wall. For whatever reason, my classmates in writing workshops were always full of criticism, none of which felt constructive. Other students, who were nowhere near as grammatically correct as myself, seemed to get praise for off-the-wall story ideas. The wackier, the better. It never failed - if I thought a story was ridiculous or disgusting, the other students and professors would love it. As someone with low self-esteem to begin with, this really hurt the confidence level I once had, after being asked if I wanted to try and publish anything by my high school Creative Writing teacher.

Since then, I have dabbled in blogging, SEO writing, and a stint with Examiner.com as the Milwaukee TV and American Idol Examiners. I still have not gone back to the excessive short story writing I once did. Frankly, I know I just need to get over what happened in college and start writing again, even if it is just for myself. I am never going to accomplish any goals or become the next Nicholas Sparks or J.K Rowling if I sit here and avoid writing. I can't let myself get so disappointed about my job - I need to remember that this isn't my future career. It is something I can do for now before I eventually move into my chosen field.

Well, that's a lot easier to say than do. So, here I am, stuck. I don't have the experience in the field I want to be in, so getting a job in that field is virtually hopeless. I could try and find a new position related to what I do now, but that really isn't my passion and feels like it would be wasting more time. I feel unsure of what step to take next, I worry I missed out on opportunities and wasted too much time, and I am afraid to make a decision because I am an incredibly indecisive person and can hardly figure out what I want to eat for every meal, let alone what career path to take. Therefore, I have determined I am officially experiencing a quarter-life crisis.

If you have found yourself in a quarter-life crisis and aren't sure where to turn, therapy might be a great outlet for you. Please see this link for further information: https://www.betterhelp.com/start/.

Sounds Like a Flock of Wah Wahs

It amazes me how negative our world has become. Social media has given people plenty of outlets for expressing themselves - unfortunately, it offers an endless array of options for all of us to complain about every detail in our lives. Now, don't get me wrong. I was once one of those people. I felt I had to update my Facebook status every time something happened, good or bad. Since then, I have realized how incredibly obnoxious that can be. I hardly ever update my status, and when I do, I try to make it something exciting or positive. Twitter is something I am still working on improving, since it's much easier to throw a cryptic message of crabby-ness out there without anyone noticing.

Bad things happen in life. That's just life. We deal with it, we move on, we get over it. Why would you want to focus on everything negative and make yourself miserable? Every day, you have the option of making a conscious decision: either you wake up and have a good day because you keep a positive attitude and don't let yourself get brought down, or you wake up and let every little thing bother you, spend your day complaining, and most likely have a crappy day.

I'm not saying you can never complain about anything. I am the type of person who likes to share every detail about my day with those I am close to. Maybe it's because I want to be a writer, but this is just how I have always been. I would come home from school when I was younger and tell my mom everything. Often times, my dad would eavesdrop and comment, "Sounds like a flock of wah wahs!" to make fun of me for complaining. I never saw it as complaining - I was just being thorough.

This year, one of my goals is to try and be a more positive person. I tend to get hung up on the little things, overreact, and get upset when I shouldn't. That adds excess stress to my life that just isn't necessary. Please see this article for further information on stress: https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/stress/. Life is better when you are thankful for what you have, instead of frustrated over the bad things that may occur. You can have a bad day every now and again, but really, is every day of your life that bad? Do you have a job? Do you have a caring family? Do you have a place to call home? Do you have friends you can count on? Do you have enough food to eat every day? More than likely, you have at least one of those things going for you. Things probably aren't as bad as you are making them out to be, and there are certainly others in the world who have it a lot worse.

Before you jump to Facebook or Twitter to update it with negative thoughts or complaints, take a moment to ask yourself if you are going to look back on that status or update and regret it. Are you going to want to remember it? Or, was it just something else minor that happened that would be better kept to yourself? Are you going to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable when other close family or friends read what you have to say? In the moment, your post may seem like the best way for you to vent, but that complaint could be better suited to be kept private, in a journal or notebook, where you can release your feelings without telling the world about your moment of weakness or frustration.

I don't write this to offend anyone or make them mad. I write this with the hope that even just one person might read it and feel more motivated to have a better, positive attitude. My life hasn't been perfect. I have been through a lot. But, if I woke up every day and focused on everything bad that has ever happened to me, you can bet I would be a pretty depressed person. Instead, I am choosing to wake up each day and hope for the best and to feel thankful for what I have. Your life probably won't ever be perfect and what you imagined it would be, but I find it is most important to be grateful for what you have and remain as positive as possible. Negative people are going to continue to attract other negative people and things around them. Positive people don't want to spend time with negative ones who spend their days complaining.

The next time you go to say or post something negative, take a moment to think about it: is it worth it? Or, in a day, will you look back and laugh at yourself for overreacting and getting so upset? Try eliminating negative posts and replacing them with only positive ones. You will certainly begin to see a a gradual change it your life, even if it isn't noticeable at first.

What do you think? Are you trying to be more positive in your own life? What do you do to limit your negative posts or excessive complaints? Leave a comment below to give your opinions on overcoming negativity and the negative people in your life!

Phone Interview Dos and Don'ts

My job is to conduct phone interviews. Day in and day out, I talk to people throughout the United States to conduct phone interviews. It simply amazes me at the things people tell you on the phone, the personal information they throw out there, and the absolutely awful answers they give for the simplest questions. If you have a phone interview coming up, you may want to take a few things into consideration before you prepare.

• The most important thing is to avoid having a bad attitude. Don't be rude, don't be snotty, and don't be negative. If you want a job, how do you expect to get one if you treat the interviewer poorly? Even if you're having a bad day, you're fighting with your significant other, or if you aren't feeling well, do not tell the person interviewing you about any of these things! Be upbeat! Be excited! Be likable! In the words of my co-worker, your personality should be more than that of a wet blanket.
• Do not ramble or give excess information. I understand you only have a set amount of time to get information about yourself out there and set yourself apart from other candidates, but the second you start to ramble and get off-topic, you are going to lose the interest of your interviewer, and you will quickly join the category of candidates we call "the ramblers." You'll be the one to throw off our interview schedule for the rest of the day because you started talking about your work history dating back to 1972 or telling a ridiculously long story that took 10 minutes and should only have taken two. Keep your responses clear, concise, and to the point. Answer the question you were asked, and nothing more.
• Don't talk about your age. In most cases, your age can't be held against you when it comes to a job anyway, so stop bringing it up. I know that I personally never take that into consideration, nor do I make a note of it in my interview notes. Don't make things awkward by revealing your age or making assumptions about the age of your interviewer. (For example: "I've been working in customer service longer than you've been alive").
• When asked why you left a position, do not launch into a story about how you were taking care of a family member with cancer and that person passed away or how you had a disagreement with your employer. Trust me. (My mom passed away from cancer, so I am certainly not being insensitive here). This will make another awkward situation, and everything can actually be summed up in two simple words: "Personal reasons." That's what we will write anyway, so that's what you might as well say.
• If asked about the job description for the position you applied for, a good response is never that you applied for so many jobs that you can't remember. Read the job description. Know what you applied for. Heavens, take notes if you have to.
• Generally, if you can't answer a question, you probably aren't going to pass. So, you should at least make an effort to think of something instead of automatically saying you can't think of anything.
• Questions are good, but you should never ask too many questions. I would say keep it to five questions or less, unless the phone interview happens to be the very last step of the process. Especially if it is early on, asking a lot of specific questions is unnecessary, because you haven't really made it all that far yet, so there may not be a lot of specific information available at that point.

Once the interview is done, it is fine to follow-up. However, do not check excessively. Try calling or e-mailing one time. In many cases, when you don't hear back, that means they aren't going to move forward with you. In other cases, a decision has maybe just taken a little longer to be made. In any case, do not harass the person you are trying to contact. That certainly will not help to speed up the process, and it is most likely out of their hands anyway.

At the end of the day, we don't want you to fail your phone interview. We want you to pass. So, think smart, don't ramble, and be pleasant. If you don't, you are most likely going to remain jobless, because someone else out there will have listened to this blog post when you didn't. =)

Book Review: Sisterhood Everlasting

**Spoiler Alert: There will be spoilers from the book discussed in this review.**

I have always been a fan of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants novels. I had an idea in my head of how I wanted my friendships to turn out in my teenage years, and I always imagined I would have three best friends to last me for life, just like Lena, Tibby, Carmen, and Bridget. When I learned a fifth book was coming out very soon, (it was released on June 14th), I hopped on over to the Barnes and Noble website and pre-ordered it right away.

During a weekend up north at my husband's parents' cottage, I thought this would be the perfect time to read my book. I was excited to see where the four girls had ended up in their lives 10 years later. I assumed the book would be happy, and that even though they had drifted apart, they would be reunited and everything would end up just how it used to be and as it should be. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I finished the book within a couple of days, but that didn't stop me from feeling depressed and cranky throughout the two days. The book brought down my mood, and I honestly just kept reading it in the hopes that things would change or somehow get better. Truth be told, by the time the book finally ended, I was relieved. I was slightly satisfied with the endings that came about for Bridget, Lena, and Carmen, but I could not get over the fact that Ann Brashares actually killed Tibby off in the book.

What bothered me the most about this is that enough people have died throughout this series. Even to start this book, Carmen revealed that her father's wife, Lydia, had passed away. In my opinion, there was enough death up to this point in the books. Bridget's mom, Bailey, Lena's grandparents, now Lydia...but to add Tibby to that list? It just seemed ridiculous and completely unnecessary.

I was mad at the characters for just not picking up the phone and talking to one another and for assuming Tibby had killed herself, when (to me, anyway), it was obvious that there was more than likely something wrong with her. I felt frustrated that the four girls never got to say good bye and that they came so close, but it just didn't happen. I was annoyed at the change in Carmen's personality, I was annoyed with Bridget for just running away, I was annoyed with Lena for never doing anything and being so incredibly passive, and I was annoyed with Tibby for not reaching out to her friends sooner and having a complex about telling them everything in person. Most of all, I was annoyed with Ann Brashares for writing this book the way she did.

There were some good moments...oh, maybe in the last 10 pages of the book. I was happy to see Lena and Kostos end up together, to see Carmen break off her engagement, for Bridget to finally come clean and tell Eric the truth, for everyone to finally know the truth and get all the misunderstandings cleared up about Tibby, and for the whole gang to have a place to share together. The one thing that would have made this better is if Tibby could have been there to share it with them.

Overall, I just didn't like this book. It brought down my mood, the characters were frustrating, and this was not the ending I had in mind for the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants girls. I almost would prefer this book was never even written so they could have remained in my head how I imagined, and not down a member of the Sisterhood. It was an incredibly disappointing book.

What do you think? Do you agree with me, or am I being to harsh? Did you read the book? Did you like it or hate it? Will you read it in the future if you haven't already? Feel free to discuss by leaving a comment below!