Part of Being a Grown-up

Well, the economy has finally touched me on a personal level.  I have officially been laid off for the first time in my career.  I guess I should have been a little bit more prepared than I was--I really should have seen it coming.  I mean, I do work part time, and the business that I work for is a family business.  It would only stand to reason that the non-family members get the boot first.  

It's a strange feeling, walking into work like its any normal day, and then being told that it's your last.  I'm not extremely sad to be leaving the job behind.  There will be others.  I will miss all of the fantastic people that I have had the chance to work with.  And I also worry about them.  There are so many good people there and they are my friends.

I have worked very hard for this company over the last five years.  I have worked in nearly every department, become certified in TAS, and completely revamped an entire department.  All this, and I could still write pages about the way the company has mistreated and taken advantage of the people that work for them.  But you know what...writing about the unethical decisions that the company has chosen to make will not accomplish anything.  Instead, I will continue to work hard, and I will refuse to believe that this is the way that business works.  I have been told by so many older people that I should accept that this is the way business works--that no matter where I go, I will always find that businesses are like this--treating people like they don't matter and that anything should be done to make or save a buck. I absolutely refuse to accept this, and if it takes creating my own business someday, and leading by example, then that is what I will do.  

 

School

I survived the first week of school!  I did have a few minor setbacks, but all in all, it was a pretty good week.  I have arranged my schedule so that my day starts at 10 instead of 8.  This allows me to get the sleep that I need, and still get up and work out and eat breakfast, and hopefully, still be to class on time.  That wasn't really the case this week.  I couldn't drag myself out of bed to work out, and I barely got up in time to shower and get ready and drive to school.  And then, even though I was at the school way in time to be to class, I didn't factor in the fact that I would be parking anywhere from 4-6 blocks away from campus.  So, needless to say, I was late everyday this week except for Friday.  I absolutely do not like walking in late to class.  It's embarrassing.  On Tuesday, it was exceptionally embarrassing...

  I had to park about 6 blocks away from where my classroom was, so I was about 10 minutes late.  I had decided to wear my super cute black boots, which unfortunately, have high heels and squeak a lot when I walk.  These boots were not made for walking.  So, I finally get to the building where my class is being held, and try, as quietly as possible, to slink into the back row.  My squeaky boots did not help me in this feat.  Then, someone hands me a syllabus and the teacher continues talking.  He is holding up the books that we will need for the class so that we can all see them, and I think to myself, "Man, I totally got the wrong books!"  Then, I look at the syllabus and realize that I am sitting in a U.S. History class, when I'm supposed to be sitting in a religion class.  I was in the wrong class.  So then, I had to get up (and it wasn't quietly) and leave the class.  I then had to walk into the right class, and go through the whole scenario all over again, except for I didn't get to leave.  What a day!

It's always funny to me how at the first of the semester I am always on top of things and totally ready to learn new things and meet new people, and by the end of the semester, I'm still working hard, but I can't wait until its over so that I can have a few weeks of vacation.  This semester is going to be a little more stressful because I am applying to the business school.  I am really excited and nervous at the same time.  The whole reason I am at school is to be an accountant, so I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing if I don't get into the business school.  I'm just going to trust that this is the path that Heavenly Father has in store for me, and if it doesn't work out, then I know that there will be another path that I am supposed to take.  I'm learning that a lot of times, the plans we make for ourselves don't work out the way that we imagined.  But, during those times, I think I learn the most, and when I look back, those times are often filled with memories of people and places that I will treasure forever.  I guess that old saying is true, "Life is what happens while we are making other plans."  I think my journey to TCU is just as important as the education that I will receive here.  So, this semester I will be working as hard as possible to get into the business school, and keeping my fingers crossed that it will all work out.  But, I'm also going to be trying to enjoy the journey a little bit more... 

My New Blog

Welcome to my blog, Thoughts in Panoramic.  I originally started this blog as an assignment for one of my classes.  So, as you may notice, the first blog entry is pretty random.  The assignment was to write about how we could use a particular Web 2.0 feature to enhance the company that we had created to sell costumes. 

So now it's just me being me.  There are lots of blogs out there with deeply profound insight into our universe or witty and entertaining excerpts from exciting lives.  I don't profess to have profound insight or exciting adventures to report, but sometimes the day to day stuff is enough to keep me busy, and that can be entertaining in its own way.  I hope you enjoy, and feel free to come back and visit as often as you like.