6.21.2012

A Nice Hot Day

Standing at my bus stop on what is suspected to be a 100°+ day, I fan myself with a folding fan I kept from my mom's 75th birthday. Catching what ever breeze I can squeeze from the air, I watch a rusty blue Chevy truck pull up. A thin old man comes out and takes a little cage from the covered truck bed. I look close and I see a frightened little squirrel. Old man taps on the cage and unlocks one of the sides while the squirrel runs to the side furthest away from human contact. Finally realizing the man is trying to help him, the squirrel bolts out to the freedom of the trees and creek behind me as the man says "there you go little buddy!" The man gets in his car and drives away but not before yelling out the window to tell me "you're going to need a bigger fan!" I couldn't help but laugh and give him a big smile.

Most days I try to avoid speaking to anyone while I'm at the bus stop, metro stop, on the bus, or wherever. Most people put in their earphones and call it a day. All I can say is that this little interaction this morning is going to help me set this day straight. Today of going to be hot but good day. *=D

5.15.2012

I Love Thunderstorms

Random Poetry inspired by tonight's thunderstorm...

I love thunderstorms!
I love the way they feel.
Like the heavens are reviving life by
removing unseen burden felt by all.
I wish that it would thunderstorm through my body.
I wish for a downpour to cleanse my murky veins and arteries
For thunder to massage away the tension in my muscles and erase the pain in my bones
For lightning to shock my nerves from deep within my brain to the tip of my toes
in order to revive my life
to what it can be, should be, and will be.
I love thunderstorms.

5.12.2012

Success vs. Love

I sit here in Busboys and Poets and I'm surrounded by art pieces of significant figures like Gandhi, Dalai Lama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Langston Hughes, President Barack Obama, etc. It got me thinking about their lives, or how little I know about their lives, and I try to understand  what choices they had to make to get to where they are, or were.

I dream of being successful. Of having a powerful voice to help others live the lives they want and should. To live healthy, prosperous lives. I've always dreamed this for my future. However, time kept moving and things changed.

I think I'm developing a fear of success because I fear it will hurt my chances at true love.

There are so many I look up to and their lives appear to be fulfilled, but are they? My biggest fear is being alone in this success I seek. Can I really have both success and love?

3.28.2012

Will Young and Innovative Win Over Mature, Tried, and True?

I met someone a few weeks ago who's been in the working world for more than a few years now. She has a pretty good, well-paying job and I asked her what did she do prior to what she does now. To my surprise, about six years ago, she held the job that I currently hold today. She got me thinking. Am I on the right path? Am I doing what I should be doing at this age?

In this time where the current NBA MVP was born the same year the A-Team ended, college dropouts are billionaires, and successful, qualified 40-50 year-olds are unemployed or underemployed, this 27 year-old (aka ME) is having a hard time understanding where I should be in my career and what I should be doing.

Can I really be this woman with a well-paying management position six years from now or would companies see me as being "too young"? That got me thinking about other 20-somethings in my shoes.

Should degrees matter as much as they do? Is this structure of "advanced degrees = more money" the correct structure to promote in a time where college costs are rising and people aren't putting an emphasis on education as much as they should be? I know people with masters and doctorates degrees that are not doing as great of a job as one should expect. In the meantime, there are passionate, innovative, and extremely talented young people who are constantly being looked over because they do not have enough years under their belt or letters after their name. Age discrimination?

Unfortunately, age discrimination doesn't work for those under 40...
"Age discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) less favorably because of his age.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) only forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older. It does not protect workers under the age of 40, although some states do have laws that protect younger workers from age discrimination.
- US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/age.cfm) 10:35 PM EDT March 27, 2012
I understand that there are certain skills and competencies that can only be acquired through experience but can't there be a way to recognize a talented, employable individual standing in the front office with a nice suit, youthful glow, and a brain more powerful than any computer in the building? Don't even get me started on how companies undervalue our young Military Veterans!

Companies, here's an idea, if you aren't doing this already; provide these young individuals a mentor (current staff) to build the skills and competencies you see necessary to do the work! Your company will actually do some succession planning (ensuring the future of your company) AND will benefit from the technological skills, youthful energy, and innovative minds of the younger generation (not saying that the older generations don't have those skills...). Plus, you'll be investing in the future instead of pretending to be.

Is society's demographics, talents, education, and technological competency not matching up to the traditional "I've-been-here-for-25-years-and-I-deserve-that-management-position" mentality of yesterday?

Until the current culture of employment and career mobility changes, I think that there will be more and more frustrated, talented, educated, innovative, hard working, passionate, young adults (Vets and Non-Vets) walking around feeling as if they are unemployable AND companies continuing to be frustrated, understaffed/poorly staffed, and struggling thinking that there just aren't people qualified for their positions.

3.26.2012

Is Loving Someone Enough in a Relationship or Should There Be More?

I've been thinking a lot about love. I'm not saying if I am in love or if I've been in love. Nor am I saying that I'm an expert in love. I just notice that a lot of songs are about love and I've been noticing them more than I used to.

I feel that loving someone is much different than being in love. Is it bad that someone you used to be in love with is now someone you just "love" and nothing else? The feeling of that fire of passion, whether a blazing inferno or a dim ember should and must exist in order to "be in love". Otherwise, you are no longer in love. Now you just love the person like you love a friend and sex is just a physical activity.

Being in love is a state of being, not just an action, not just a description of the status of your relationship. It is being engulfed by a new world: one in which you realize that this other human being is not only someone worth loving (and they equally think the same of you) but in which you both realize that you are both being raised up to a level you both could not reach at an individual level before.

The key to staying "in love" (at least what I think) is having the ability to maintain this level. Once the ability is forgotten or no longer there, you fall out of love. You may still "love" the person, but he/she is no longer someone that can make you feel and be more than you are alone or you are unable to do that for him/her. That lightheartedness, puppy love, newlywed honeymoon feeling that is usually tied to "being in love" has ceased.

I'm not saying that roses, chocolates, or excessive romance is necessary on a constant basis. To keep love going, to remain "in love," all you need to do is remember that you need each other to stay at the level you cannot be at on your own. Well, at least that's what I think.

Love to me does not require material things or making someone do things they do not normally do. Love is finding the person who will walk with me on my life journey and will raise me, as I would raise him, to a level of happiness, comfort, and being that no friend, best friend, or family member could take us.

I'm not dreaming of Prince Charmings and Mr. Perfects. I'm wanting someone that can make the awesome person I am even more awesome and I the same for him.

3.22.2012

Blogger On My Phone Means More Me

Total dork but I just installed the blogger app on my phone and now I have a feeling that I'll be talking a lot more *=D.

I basically got back to blogging because I opened an about.me account and I linked my blogger to it. I realized I have nothing in the blog so hopefully that'll all change.

I'm currently blogging from my phone while my laptop is in my lap. That's sad. Is that what this world is coming to? The other day, I was so lazy to pick up my house phone (yeah I have one still in case of emergency) and too lazy to open my laptop that I downloaded the app for dominos and ordered my pizza from my cell phone app. Maybe its just me degenerating/hopping on the technological waves of the future.

Anywho, I'm going to stop blogging from the phone and get back to the laptop to do other things that aren't really important haha. I'll get back to studying for the GMAT this weekend when I'm not thinking about work.

Learn more about me at http://about.me/JaCaBran

Peace!

Jackie

9.19.2010

Currently...

So I know that I haven't posted anything in a while, or ever, mainly because it has been difficult to figure out what to write about. I think I want to write about my successes, but I don't want to boast. I could write about my failures but I don't want to be emo. I guess what I could write about is just life in general which could be anything.

Life is interesting right now, I feel that people are talking about the same thing at this time in our lives. Mid-20s post college. What people mostly talk about is growing up, work, life, love, marriage, future, future, and more future. Its as if we think we are smart enough to figure out what's next but we just can't seem to see it.

Hopefully, time will slow our roll in trying to figure out life and allow us to start living it. Right now, I'm enjoying it to the best of my ability but would like to squeeze out a little more joy...doesn't everyone?

Stay tuned, I may have another thought-vomit and something interesting will be found in it. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you again soon!