He Got my Credit Cards, my License, and my Resume.

Sometimes I see myself the way I worry that others might see me: cliché. In some ways I am Coyote Ugly. The tragic story of the young Midwestern girl moving to the big bad city to be discovered and realize her dream as a superstar. Only in my dream, is just a successful woman in the television industry. Maybe someone who gets tickets to the Golden Globe awards. Maybe someone who eventually presents an award? But lets not get ahead of ourselves. For now, just a successful woman in the television industry would be fine. And I don’t expect to get there overnight. I expect to earn it. But that is for another post.
Lets go back to that cliché.
On Thanksgiving this past year, I decided to stay in New York, and experience one of the greatest days New York City has offer. I went to a Balloon Party, where I got to watch people blowing up the balloons for the Macy’s day parade. (I saw Mariska Hargitay there, and our exchange of ‘Happy Holidays’ was super exciting too.)
I woke up early that Thursday morning to get breakfast with friends, and the walk along the parade from the Upper West Side all the way down to Times Square.

I then rushed back to my apartment to pick up my overnight bag and take the 1 train up to Riverdale, where I was catching a ride to Thanksgiving dinner.
I stood on the platform waiting for the train to arrive, impatiently looking between my watch and down the seemingly endless black tunnel. Finally, the growing light indicated that a train was arriving.
The doors opened and I politely stepped aside to allow other people to exit. Then, as I myself was about to step on to the train, some guy cut in front of me, entered the train, and then just stood there, looking confused. I waited, standing now right in between the doors, waiting for him to step aside and let me through. Finally, as the doors began to close, he jumped off of the train at the last second, allowing me to move into the train car just before it pulled away. As I then put my bag on my lap, I realized that it had been opened, and my stuff had been taken.
Within seconds I realized what had happened. I asked the guy next to me if someone else had been standing behind me, 'waiting to get on' while the whole 3 second occurrence took place. He said yes, but then he decided not to get on at the last second. He too then understood what had happened.
Two guys had basically sandwiched me between the doors, quickly opened my bag and took things, including my wallet, and then jumped off the train, leaving me headed to the next station, sans wallet, and without reception. Lucky for me, I have Verizon, and while I think their customer service is terrible (I actually HATE them) I can't seem to make good on my threats to leave them because they have the best service around. So from the subway, I canceled my credit cards, and began fuming that I had just been mugged, at 1pm, on Thanksgiving Day.

Oh, and of course, my resume is tucked away inside my wallet. You think he's got good contacts in the entertainment industry? You think he'll bother to pass it along?

Because I Actually Do Have A Bucket List. Typed Up In A Word Document.

Now, even before the movie The Bucket List came out, I have had a list of my own that I just call ‘Things I Want To Do Before I Die’. Doesn’t sound as good I know, but if Morgan Freeman had uttered it in a soothing voice on thousands of the big screen you might feel differently.
Get a drink named after me. Check.
Go skydiving. Check.
Go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. Check.
Be in People Magazine. _____

Now, there are way more things besides being in People that I haven’t yet accomplished (see a Blue Whale, see a man eating clam- I swear, my AP Bio teacher said they exist) but that is the one we are going to focus on today.
You see, just before I started this blog, something else hit the web and exploded! Bigger than Charlie Bit Me and bigger than FML. Why bigger? Who is the judge? Because this thing that hit every computer screen somewhere, got written up in the next issue of People Magazine. (It has since then even been incorporated into my favorite TV show (spoiler alert for those of you who still haven’t caught up on this season), The Office.
So congratulations Kevin and Jill, you have hit that goal before me. Congratulations on your wedding too. And on being in People magazine. Oh ya, and for trying to turn a brief youtube phenomenon into a charity organization.

So what does this have to do with my blog, my job search, or me?

Not much, other than I too had a good 5 seconds of fame (this definitely didn’t count as part of my 15 minutes) recently, and I just wanted to share it with you all.
A few nights ago, a more than an acquaintance, not quite a good friend, (lets call her a ‘friendly’), started chatting to me about my life. She opened with, “I have been thinking about you all week.”
Really? I asked. Why?
“Earlier this week, a friend of mine in the CBS Page Program sent me a blog to read saying ‘this person writes my life’. So then I started reading it and I just wanted to share it with you, because it is hilarious, all of my friends read it now, and I feel like it is your life too!”

Well now I am intrigued! What is this blog?

The friendly laughs. She says, “Its called ambitious and funemployed.”
Before she finishes my jaw has unhinged and is resting on the floor. But within a split second, I think I am shrieking. I hope I wasn’t, because I can get very high-pitched, but I think my still ringing ears would attest- there was shrieking.
Did I start this blog with the intentions of being famous? No.
Do I think that because one group of post-college grads found it on the internet and now read it that I am famous? No.
Does this in any way accomplish my goal of getting into People magazine? No.
Am I still loving the fact that someone unknowingly recommended that I read my own work? Hell yes!

So, What Have You Got to Show For Yourself Young Lady?

In the last twelve months, I have:

• Received my Bachelors Degree
  
• Learned to make coffee
• Memorized the the excel spreadsheet shortcut handbook
• Perfected the art of changing in and out of my interview suit in Banana Republic dressing rooms
• Completed a senior Capstone Thesis Project
• Accumulated enough twitter accounts for promotional sites at internships to donate to the people in Oklahoma city who still don't have twitter
• Had business cards made. 5 free ones. They sit on my dresser.
• Had my fair share of celebrity encounters
• Moved to New York City
• Applied and re-applied to the NBC Page Program
• Probably got blacklisted from The Daily Show (I have tickets to see Jon Stewart as well as tickets to The Colbert Report this upcoming March, so stay tuned...)
• Started attending shows at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre
• Made some sort of impression on the CBS Page Program
• Realized I know very little about sports...
• Yet also went to my first Rangers game.
• Hopefully maintained a positive attitude
• Devoted more unpaid internship hours than most people do in a lifetime
• Dealt with absent minded creative supervisors, and overly anal OCD supervisors
• Sent out a lot of resumes and applications
• Met a ton of extraordinary people. Nice, extraordinary people.

Bring it on 2010! Hit me with your best shot.