All these years I thought of Hawaii as a blissful vacation destination, the tropical getaway to top all tropical getaways.  Well, the wool is no longer down over my eyes!  I was recently informed of…”termite night”.  That’s right…termite night.  Apparently, one of the harbingers of summer is a swarm of termites.  When the trade winds settle down and the nights are warm, out they come.  Eileen, a family friend, visited Hawaii last month and experienced it firsthand.  She was relaxing outside after dinner with one of the homeowners when he noticed a termite.  He hurried Eileen into the house, turned out all the nights, and bid her farewell.  Yup, the termites ended the evening!  Her friends spent the rest of the evening watching a movie with little bowls of water set up under the television to drown the little buggers (who were drawn to the tv because it was the only light in the house).  Here, read this from a blog posting I found: http://trickychix.blogspot.com/2006/05/ants-keep-on-marching.html.  Can you believe it?  And here’s a photo:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/yui0ta/2400558314/.  It’s good to know a tropical paradise isn’t always paradisiacal (yes, it’s a word!  I checked it out on dictionary.com).  :)  Maya, on all your trips to Hawaii, how could you fail to mention this little occurrence?!!

So, I went to Border’s last night to do a little reading and thinking about my job search.  I am overwhelmed and grateful at the same time:  overwhelmed by the work and bravery it will take to find a career I will enjoy, and grateful for the education I already have.  I get so angry at myself because when I first spoke with the career coach a few weeks ago, she asked how much time I had available to spend job hunting, and I responded that I was totally available.  She said my search would become my full-time job, and here we are a few weeks later, and I haven’t done half the items on the list she gave me.  I’m constantly finding other activities to do:  going to movies, cooking, playing with the dogs, walking, you name it.

I feel as though I have no experience applying for jobs, but I reminded myself  that last year, I applied and interviewed for two different jobs, within a few months of each other.  I worked at the first job, interpreting, for a few months, and relapsed a couple weeks after the interview for the second job.  I will always remember my interview several years ago, when I sat at a boardroom table fielding questions in both Spanish and English for five interviewers sitting across from me.  It lasted almost two hours.  I didn’t get the job because I didn’t have any experience, although they did make me feel good when they said I would have been a better fit personality-wise for the office.  What I was most proud of though was my ability to make it through that interview.  I’m pretty sure all future interviews will be measured against it.

But let’s get back to my current job search.  Here I am, and I regret to say I’m no further along in my job search than the last time I posted.  I sat down this afternoon to take care of some to-do items on my job coaching list.  First, I decided to check out facebook to send my friend, Maya, a message.  My mom is more up to date on my facebook than I am, and she had informed me that Maya found out she’s having a little boy!!!  So I logged in with the simple task of sending her a congratulatory note.  Then I decided to take the Myers-Briggs facebook test to see how it rated me (hey, that’s kind of related to a job search!).  As I scrolled through everyone’s updates, I noticed my friend Marcie’s new photos.  Through “Yearbook yourself”, you can upload a picture and then watch as the computer applies hair/glasses/clothes to transform you into a typical gal/guy from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.  I just had to see how I would look in an afro, so I spent my job search time choosing the perfect picture and cracking myself up as the images spewed forth.  Now I sit here with a glass of wine, enjoying “House Hunters International”, and thinking about my day tomorrow and how I might redeem myself.

I saw “Julie and Julia” tonight, and I’m still enjoying the uplifting sensation you feel after a really, really good movie.  I’m inspired by both the acting and the real-life women behind the story.  I’ve watched my dad study “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”, making notes before beginning a recipe.  The book itself is daunting:  quite large and lacking in pictures (the latter is something which I find very reassuring).  I scanned the foreword and was surprised and delighted to read the final sentence, which echoed the feel of the movie:  “Above all, have a good time.”

I think I should follow that same advice for my career search.  After all, wasn’t the movie itself a study in finding oneself?  I should adopt Julia’s optimistic attitude, and also her order to “never apologize” (for whatever happens in the kitchen), not that it has anything to do with a career search!  From here on out, I will not point out flaws in my cooking.  Thanks, Julia (and Meryl). 

Just as with Julie and Julia, there is something I’m meant to be doing, and I look forward to figuring that out.  It’s a process, I know.  I’m learning a lot more about it as I read “What Color is Your Parachute?”.  And now, I can imagine Julie and Julia struggling and succeeding in their own careers.  If Julia could barely boil an egg when she began, who knows where I will find myself in a few years?  No, I won’t be taking up cooking as a profession, but I’ll have more confidence with each new recipe I undertake.  And I will be strengthened in my career search by remembering the efforts and accomplishments of an American icon.

One question I have after the movie:  what would Julia have thought of “I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter”?!!  I am resolute in my decision to never touch the fake stuff!  Hey, Julia loved herself some butter and she lived to be almost 92!!

So here’s to butter, here’s to cooking and here’s to working toward finding the dream job.

“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”  ~Julia Child

Will do, Julia…will do.

Lots of love to everyone,

Julie