Post-Grad Life Update #6
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? There are multiple excuses I could make as to why, but the main reason is that I was lazy and unmotivated. Many things have happened in my life since I last posted in April, and since I last really wrote a blog post in March. Let’s do this in chronological order.
In April, Luke and I went to Colorado to visit my brother for a week. The tickets were cheap. While in Colorado, I was promoted at Ulta. It was great because I got a pay raise, but I was also given a lot more responsibility and my hours actually dropped a little bit. I was glad to have it anyways though. This was about the same time that Luke went from being a full-time manager at Fed Ex to being a part-time package handler again. His pay dropped but mine increased so things sort of evened themselves out.
In May, there wasn’t a lot that happened. I got into being MSC at Ulta and Luke got into having more free time again. Both of us being part-time meant that we had quite a bit of time to spend together so we did. The problem was that we were spending our time being unproductive.
In June, I started considering leaving Ulta. I wasn’t making enough money part-time, and I was getting fed up working retail and having horrible customers. More theft than you’d believe happens at Ulta, and people are very entitled. Then, around the end of the month, Luke got hurt at work and lost his job at Fed Ex. He went from making less money to making no money and that meant I had to stay at Ulta, at least for a little bit longer.
In July, I debated telling my GM that I was going to start looking for a new job. I was very torn about it because I like her and I didn’t want to leave, but money was still a concern. Then, the day before Luke and I left for Tampa, she told me that there were two positions open at another store near by and they wanted me to interview for them. This tore me up even more inside, but I saw no harm in interviewing and debated it while I was away. While in Tampa, I reunited with Yakira, went to Disney World, watched Alexis and Aaron get married, and visited with some other college friends. It was a great trip but I was ready to get back to Austin and get to interviewing. When we got back I found out that one of the positions was already filled and that I was no longer being considered for the other. I was heart broken. Though I was already thinking of leaving, I hadn’t made a decision yet. This seemed like the universe telling me that my time at Ulta was over. I told my GM I was leaving. Luke got a new full-time job.
In August, Luke and I went to RTX. After having such a bad experience at 2017’s, we weren’t going to go. The price increased and last year, it felt like we spent all of our time waiting in lines to get nowhere and do nothing. It just didn’t seem worth it. Once I realized that I still wanted to go though, we bought the passes and got our cosplays together in a day. It was such a great experience that I didn’t regret a second of it. We saw Gabe and took a photo with him for the third year in a row, I saw Bethany on the expo hall floor, we spent a lot of time on the expo hall floor, and we went to the events panel. At the events panel, I met more people on the Rooster Teeth events team, one of whom remembered the thank you notes I sent after my interview, and I realized that working with them was still my dream. The whole weekend was a difficult pill to swallow because I’d spent the entire last year feeling resentful towards Rooster Teeth. Aside from them rejecting me for a position last October, there were many decisions they’d made that I didn’t agree with and I decided I was over it and needed a new dream. I didn’t know what that dream was at the time, but thanks to RTX it has been realized again. After this, I spent at least 10 minutes every day on Indeed, LinkedIn, and every other hiring site looking for a job in events. About two weeks later, there was a new events position open at Rooster Teeth. I applied. I still have not heard back.
It is now a week into September. Luke is at work, a job he seems to enjoy at least a little bit (he always says that it is air-conditioned, at least) and I just filmed a new video. I got today off, but tomorrow will be my last day at my store. On Monday, I start a new adventure as the RSM at a new store, the store I interviewed for back in July. Things ended up working themselves out in a weird way and while I may still want to pursue my long-term career goals, I need a find a new way to go about doing so but I also need to keep growing in the process. I thought about staying at my old store while I kept looking for new jobs, but there is no growth in that and I couldn’t make the money work. For multiple reasons, I think that this is a good opportunity for me and I’m super excited for the change. This is not my long-term though, and I will get where I’m trying to go. It’s just going to take work and time and probably a lot more tears but I’ll get there.
In the meantime, I’ll try to update here more often, and I’ll still be making videos. Thanks for reading. I appreciate all the support.