tortoisegirl: (Shield)
tortoisegirl ([personal profile] tortoisegirl) wrote2010-10-08 03:01 pm

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30 Day Meme
Day 19 → A talent of yours

Eh, I guess writing counts as a talent. I'm in the middle of trying to churn out several papers for school and my writing really doesn't feel like anything to be proud of right now.

It's been a busy week at school, since all my teachers conspired to have the big assignments due around the same time, and at work now that my boss is back from Brazil and we're working on a big international student exchange project. I'm putting together most of the promotional material which means I get to do a lot with graphics, which is the more fun side of my job at least. I mentioned a while ago that my childhood cat, Stripes, had been doing badly lately and last weekend my Dad emailed to say that Stripes had died :( He was a old cat and he died quietly in his sleep, but it's still sad. We've had that cat since I was 7.

But, despite the workload and unavoidable sad things, it's October and beautiful and cool out, and I'm in a lovely fall Halloween mood. I've painted my nails orange and I'm planning all sorts of apple- or pumpkin-flavored things to cook once I'm done with school stuff.


My grandmother's 80th birthday party is this weekend, which means I'll be seeing a lot of my family. This is usually not a bad thing, except that since I'm graduating soon people are going to be asking me a lot of questions about myself and my plans that I really don't want to answer. After high school when I didn't know what the hell I was doing with myself I avoided seeing my extended family for a year so I wouldn't have to talk about my fucked up life. But I can't avoid this party, and I'm not looking forward to it. Idk, anyone got any advice on deflecting questions you don't want to answer? If one more person asks me what I plan to do after I graduate I might just cry. Hiding in the bathroom is my working plan right now.

[identity profile] the-duckay.livejournal.com 2010-10-08 07:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Aww I'm sorry to hear about Stripes ='( He will be missed.

Aah I am very familiar with your situation haha Last Christmas, when I had already graduated 7 months ago and still unemployed, was when we went to Seattle where my extended family live. Luckily, they're pretty chill and non-judgmental people, but I did get asked the typical questions. I pretty much just said that I'd been looking for a job since graduation...using the whole recession thing as a reason why I didn't have one yet (which is, I guess, true). As for what I was looking to "do", I gave an incredibly vague answer comprised of one or more of the following words: communications, marketing, web, advertising, broadcasting, mass media, online, production...which was usually preceded by "something to do with". =p Vague, fancy-sounding answers are always a win! haha

[identity profile] tortoisegirl.livejournal.com 2010-10-08 07:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Vague answers about "something in editing or publishing" has been my standard so far, and I'll def be sticking with that as a first line of defense. If it's just small talk that'll probably fend people off, but I know some are going to go into questions about whether I've done internships, looked at jobs yet, seen a career counselor, etc. Which is where I get to answer "...no" and feel like an idiot :| They're not judgmental about it, but it's still awkward as hell and I'm going to come across it soooo many times. One positive thing is that I will be able to work for Dominique one semester more so I can at least tell people it's not gonna be immediate unemployment, haha.

[identity profile] the-duckay.livejournal.com 2010-10-08 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
O wow luckily my extended fam didn't go into detailed questions like that...I would've been so annoyed! haha

Yea, Domo was my reason for my not having immediate unemployment as well...always thankful for that! lol

[identity profile] findmyantidrug.livejournal.com 2010-10-08 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sorry to hear about Stripes. D: -hug-

Wish I could help you on the family thing, but my general method is hiding in bathrooms, too, so. Good luck. D:

[identity profile] tortoisegirl.livejournal.com 2010-10-08 08:45 pm (UTC)(link)
The party's at a big banquet hall so maybe they'll have nice bathrooms, at least XD Thanks :)

[identity profile] wednesday42.livejournal.com 2010-10-09 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
I'm sorry to hear about Stripes. :( I had a cat like that too, named Gilligan. I'm at least glad to hear that Stripes got a peaceful end.

I suppose one answer you can give family members asking about your plans is that you're "exploring your options". Given the current economy, that's actually a reasonable answer! ;P I know what you mean about that frustration... at best, people ask that sort of thing out of genuine concern, but it just ends up causing more stress than one started with. :-/

[identity profile] tortoisegirl.livejournal.com 2010-10-10 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, vague non-answers that are technically true seem to be the way to go! It's the genuinely curious I'm most dreading, since I know it's coming from a good place and I don't want to be rude about it :\ But it's also very possible I'm working myself up about it too much, I should probably just chill XD