Sunday, August 1, 2010

Refueling the Empty



My first full week of work is over! From the way that I'm acting, you'd think I'd never worked a 40 hour work week in my life. Which of course is not the case for me but the last two years have coddled me severely with the bliss that is part time work and internships and the last two months of unemployment have left me believing it's perfectly fine to stay until 2am every morning and wake up fresh as a daisy, at 10am.

My new job requires I wake up at 5:30 in the morning. It is an ungodly but manageable hour to work with. I get up this early to fix my hair, makeup, and dress for the day. If there is still time, I'll eat breakfast but not often. At 6:30, I leave and walk up to the bus stop with my iPod and I sharing the morning together.



I've said it once and I'll say it again: I'm going to try to never buy a car in my lifetime. It's an expense I do not want to tack on my list and since day one, I've literally shown zero interest in driving. I like walking and seeing the world around me. I also enjoy public transportation. In LA, it's a lost art. Everyone sits in their cube with wheels and that becomes their world. Cuts you off from communicating with others in so many ways.

Work is fine. I write courtesy descriptions for companies about the products in a very specific fashion that steers clear of using names or phone numbers. You would think doing this would be quick and simple, but it eats away at time. You stay busy, but it does require some interest in this line of work. If you don't like copywriting, you will walk out after a day (according to stories from everyone I work with).



There are some issues I'm taking with this job though. Mostly they fall in the holiday day-off policy. Because the owners are Jewish, we don't get very many days off. I don't even get Christmas Eve off! Which means I'll be spending Christmas in my apartment this winter...not terrible, but not exactly what I had in mind. Then the other issues are just expectations I've had that weren't fulfilled like the lack of artwork on the walls and silly things like that. This is an entry-level position though. It's not like I'll be doing it for years. Takes small steps to climb up the ladder to my ultimate goal: high rise building with a large office filled with tons of windows, ornamental decor on the walls and a nonstop great playlist of music rolling throughout the day.

I get off from work at 5pm and generally arrive home at 6:30pm. Dead tired. And I sit at a desk all day! I believe my crappy sleeping habits are highly to blame for this because there is no other culprit. So I've begun taking steps to prevent this. I try, try, try to be asleep by 11pm at the latest. I failed at this twice in the last week, once from blogging too late and the other time because Project Runway's new season started and I was incredibly unaware of this fact but alerted to it within 15 minutes of the show starting.

Tonight is my typical Sunday night with True Blood and Mad Men back to back. So 11pm it is for me again! Just trying to stay consistent with my sleep patterns while still you know, living :)



Sorry for the blahness of this post. I'm becoming an old person who needs to get 8 hours of sleep. It sucks. If I start sleeping with my hair in rollers and complaining about the noise downstairs, um, I might need an intervention or something.

Love to you all,
Heather

12 comments:

Meg O. said...

Congrats on surviving your first work week! And.... I wish I didn't have to own a car. Where I live, it's impossible to do without one. Being in suburbia, spread out TX doesn't give me the option for public transit. Only if I go downtown. And yeah, it seems like nobody knew about the new season of Project Runway! I would have never known if I hadn't seen a commercial randomly!!

Anonymous said...

That's too bad about the holidays. Do you at least get overtime if you work those days. Here, those are STA hols so if you are required to work them, most people get at least time-and-a- half.
Hang in there. It's a starting point and not forever. - G

Jaime @ laviejaime said...

I am SO not a morning person- I agree 5:30 am is an ungodly hour! Glad you survived your first week :)

Martina said...

Oh Heather, i'm finding it soooo hard to look perfect and dressed and fresh as a daisy early in the morning - and always find it unfair that early birds are favoured by the job world. I can't be creative before 10 ;)

Sadako said...

No way, you could never be blah or boring. Great pics as usual.

Unknown said...

It's so hard to get back into work full time. I know for me, when I was working a 9-5 job (mostly ended up being 8-6) I was soooo tired by the time I got home.

Diana Mieczan said...

Ohh that is too bad,sweetie..It will get better for sure;)

I bet I can cheer you up with my GIVEAWAY!!!
…hint?(something you can wear) so please join in !!!!

Kisses and hugs

drollgirl said...

welcome to the wonderful world of working full time! bleh! well, it is good to have a paycheck, but going to be early is for the birds! bleh!

and your employer HAS to give you christmas eve off! for crying out loud! if not, take it as a vacation day!

p.s. i have hours like yours, and i am so tired when i get home, even tho i just sit all day long. it is a struggle for me to keep up with exercising. i really have to force myself to do it, but it does NOT always get done. argh!

Jennifer Fabulous said...

Oh lordy. Your work days sound soooo long and exhausting. Sigh. I can't believe you have to get up so freaking EARLY!! Man.

I have no doubt you look incredibly lovely and polished once you head into work though. :) At least a lot better than I would! Ha!

Goood luck. xo

Unknown said...

5:30 is rough! ugh...hang in there, maybe this job will lead to the next one for you.

Tiffany Kadani said...

I love hearing about what you do! I'd love even more hearing about what you are wearing. Ha- I'm a sucker for things like that!

Ashley said...

I feel the same way! All summer I have been working 10-12 hours shifts 3-4 days a week, and I feel like I could just sleep forever! I used to stay up til midnight every night and still wake up but 6:30, but not so much anymore. Boo.