Day 40 - Ms. Doolittle is doing a lot

I woke up earlier than usual this morning to feed Simba and Misty, and take Simba for a walk. I had to be at work by 8:45, and I was almost late trying to steer my bike through the adolescent baseball team gathering
behind our building. I was in a good mood so it didn't really matter. The general manager was supervising the store today so I made sure to stay busy. After work I came home and put my resolve to the test. It has been 40 days of traffic jam between my thoughts and my actions. Clearly, I can't just think it and do it. I needed a creative and consistent way to attack these goals. The three major tasks are: to cook more, participate in more archival projects, and find an archives mentor. In this pursuit I have written down every recipe that I want to try and every repository that I want to contact, on separate pieces of paper. Every morning, I will pick a recipe and a repository and I will cook something and call somebody. I will keep track of the outcomes and see what kind of progress I make. I feel like the 40 day mark, the absence of Lauren, and the highs and lows that I experienced on Thursday and Friday, and that back to school, a.k.a. fresh start mentality that comes with September is working for me. If I can blog everyday, I can work on my career and my personal goals everyday too. 

Day 38 - Chaitra went out like Casey...at the bat

The big day arrived and left without any networking fireworks. I got there and turned into Sally Silence. Even with my Bloody Mary, I was relaxed but not in the mood to talk. When I saw Linda from the Arizona Historical Foundation, I said hello but she dashed off to another presentation and I didn't follow up. I saw two other archivists from Arizona, I didn't remember their names but I could have struck up a conversation with our common network. The icing on the cake was that I even saw my most recent contact, Samip from the South Asian Digital Archive in Chicago, and I didn't say anything! I don't know what was wrong with me, but in retrospect I suppose I was feeling inadequate.

I could say that I moved, but I haven't accomplished very much career wise, yet. I assumed that networking should be an exchange and I don't feel that I have much to offer at this point. The whole day was not fabulous in the way that I thought it would be, but there was a silver lining. The sessions that I went to and the people that spoke have inspired me to keep going in my path and give it a lot more effort. After today's disappointment and the subsequent conversation with my sister I realized that I cannot waste my opportunity to make a living at something that I truly enjoy. Of course it is not going to be easy, if it was easy to be employed doing what you love, there would be a lot more rock bands, bakery shops and travel journalists.

I bought two books from the conference and took copious notes in the session about making that leap from student to professional. There are 162 repositories in the Chicago area, and I have contacted 2. I have so much work to do. Don't worry ya'll this chance was demolished as a result of doubt and insecurity, but I haven't given up just yet. In the words of Curtis Mayfield, I gotta keep on pushin'.   

Day 35 - Hiding Out

I made it to work on time today. I need to take my bike to the shop, the gear shift on the handlebar is not working properly and the front tire could use a little air. Every morning I take it to work, I swear I'm going to take it in afterwards, tomorrow for sure. Since I did not have enough sleep yesterday, my 3 hour nap today has made up for it. I didn't mention it before every other day when I get home, the dog or the cat has vomited in the house. I have picked it up before and let Lauren know about it. Today, I was not feeling so generous. I walked past the mess, took my snacks and some DVDs to my room and camped out there all evening. I've also been scrap booking and talking on the phone. I have my big Society of American Archivists conference on Thursday and I need to make sure that I have a Bloody Mary, extra spicy, my resumes and some witty canned answers, ready on that morning. There is no time for strike outs in the Big Leagues.  

Day 23 - Bookstore Apathy

On the second day she learned that this is really just a job. I clock in, do mundane work, go to lunch, do more mundane work and then go home. I could shelve 200 books or 20 books and no one would notice. Don't get me wrong, my paycheck will be welcomed, this is just no place to rest on one's laurels. When I told Zach that I wanted a new job, he was like that's cool, I'll tell Erin that you were insubordinate we can terminate you during the probation period. He laughed but that would not be funny. This little job saved me from succumbing to my education addiction. As many of you know, I was thinking about going back to school a few weeks ago, but now I am re-focused on my "working" archives ambition. As luck would have it, there is potential paid position at the DuSable Museum to help process their collections. That would be perfect. This may be another sign that a little sacrifice and patience can be rewarded.