First of Many Firsts

I have experienced a lot of "firsts" these past few months. I defended my thesis, moved to the west coast, became a resident of another state, moved in with my significant other,   and traumatically, for the first time in my adult life I was unemployed.

For the first time the next step wasn't obvious to me. Technically the obvious next step was to post-doc, but 5.5 years of graduate school helped me decide I was done with research. A couple more years of it was not going to change how I felt about it. 

While I did my best to find leads and network for potential job opportunities prior to graduating, my time was limited as I scrambled to finish writing and some last experiments. And so only with with the intention to apply for science media/journalism related internships I defended and moved out here to San Diego in time to ring in the new year with my fiance, AB.

I really should have started blogging in mid-January when I began having trouble dealing with my freedom. More than anything else it was the lack of structure in my days. I could wake up and go to bed as I pleased and essentially had no responsibilities. I know approximately ALL of you want to strangle me right now, but hear me out. In grad school I would have also killed to have this kind of time. So trust me, it came as a surprise when I began to recognize the signs of mild-depression that I was experiencing.

I soon realized not having anything to do also meant having no sense of accomplishment, which apparently was important for me. How was I going to justify how I spent a day? 

Additionally, this was the first time I wasn't receiving a paycheck. With moving and living expenses and payments for the wedding I watched the savings I had accrued over almost a decade practically vanish.

After settling in I began to take charge of our finances and came up with a budget so we could continue saving for the wedding on AB's paycheck. I started searching for coupons and grocery deals, mapped out the most efficient routes to the stores to save on gas, and made all of our meals. Helping us to save money became how I could gain the feeling of accomplishment. It wasn't enough.

I followed through my plan of applying for the those internships but wasn't going to hear back until March and decided in the mean time I needed a job. It would address the finance issue and get me out of the apartment. But what kind of job? I either needed a job that would let me go on a 10 week hiatus if I was lucky enough to get one of the internships or get a job that I could afford to quit.

And so one day when I successfully got myself out of the apartment and walked to the mall across the street I passed the Ritz Camera store that happened to have a sign advertising that they were hiring. I picked up an application and debated for a week whether this was something I really wanted to do. 

Long story short, after two rounds of interviews and a background check they offered me the job. So there you have it. I got a job. I am now a Ritz Camera part-time employee. There's a first.