I'm a real girl adult, now!

This past week, I made a somewhat (personally) earth-shattering discovery: it is possible to be happy after college. Not only is it possible to be happy, it is possible to be perhaps happier than ever before. I "survived" my first week as a copywriter, and now that I finally have the time to sit down and write about it I am making this long-overdue post.

Gorgeous downtown Syracuse architecture.

Monday morning was much like the first day of school. I had spent an hour the night before getting my clothes and lunch ready, packing my bag and not getting to bed at a decent time (though I totally planned to). My alarm went off at the excruciatingly early 6:00AM, a time I will probably be frighteningly familiar with in a month. I showered, dressed, ate a hasty breakfast, put my makeup on. By 7:10, I was standing outside waiting for the bus feeling about as nervous as I did the day I started high school seven years ago.

As I walked through the doors of my new building, I pondered over the same things fourteen-year-old me did: Will I make any friends? Where will I sit at lunch? Will I like my classes? Okay, change "classes" to "work" and you get the general picture. The building I work in was built in 1897 and has a gorgeous lobby with double staircases sweeping up either side to the first floor. The elevators are ancient, wobbly and horrifyingly slow.

Of course I take them instead of the stairs, because ultimately my laziness trumps my fear of elevator death. Though on Wednesday one of my coworkers showed me that she stops on the second floor to walk down one of the grand lobby staircases, something I'll probably start doing myself. They make me feel like I should be wearing a ball gown and heading to the opera or something similar.

In his Kill the Messenger tour, Chris Rock says the difference between a job and a career can be boiled down to the amount of time you get for lunch. And I would have to say I totally agree. Working at Claire's (I suppose I can reveal this now, since I am no longer employed), I would be on my feet selling things and straightening things for eight hours at a time and receive a measly 30 minutes to eat something and try to relax. Didn't happen.

By the time you put on your jacket, walk around the corner, go to the sandwich spot, order a sandwich, wait for them to make it, then get on another line to pay for it, 28 minutes have passed. Now you rushing back to work, you're eating your sandwich, you're spilling beer down your shirt. And when you get in, your boss got the nerve to go, "hey, man, you're eight minutes late."

"Fuck YOU!"

Do you realize even criminals in jail get a hour lunch break? Like, can I at least eat like a murderer? I bet if you shot your ass, I could finish this sandwich.

At my new job, not only do I get to eat like a murderer, I have time to eat and then spend 30-40 minutes doing whatever I want. And I can do this whenever I want, which is the most brilliant thing. For a good majority of your life, especially growing up, people constantly tell you when you can eat and for how long. At home, you eat when your parents decide. At school, you eat during your assigned lunch period. Doesn't matter if the cafeteria isn't equipped to handle long lines and you have barely five minutes left by the time you sit down. When that bell rings, you better get up and get out. Granted, in college nobody gave a fuck when I ate or if I did. But my job at food services and my job after college at Claire's, they made damn sure I stuck within that 15 or 30 minute time limit. But not anymore.

Shops in charming Hanover Square.

The location of my office is right in the heart of downtown Syracuse, NY. Despite spending the last four years of my life here, I am rather ashamed to admit that I haven't really gotten to know much of the city beyond the SU campus and its surrounding areas. Of course, I've been downtown - but only to go to one specific place, and always with a general sense of "oh crap, I'm lost". What I have realized in the last week is that Syracuse is quite an extraordinary city, full of nice little parks and gorgeous architecture. I know this city has a lot of history, and I think it would be really fun to use this opportunity to actually discover the places around me.

Because that's how I roll: full nerd. Speaking of nerd, this week I also discovered just how much of one I can be outside of school. Copywriting, it turns out, is largely based on writing skill, grammar skill, and a smidge of marketing. At least, the kind of copywriting I'm doing now. And I can honestly say I have loved every minute of it. There is something simply thrilling about using every brain cell you have to get work done. In a way, it feels to me like spending every day doing exercises in one of my old Language Arts books. And I was the type of kid who did the evens AND the odds, even though the teacher only assigned half. Heck, I have fond memories of our sentence diagramming unit in 8th grade English.

So I guess it makes sense, for now at least, that this is what I'm doing. I don't think it's what I will want to do forever, but I love the opportunity to get a chance to learn and explore something completely new (and yet so familiar), all while getting paid and actually enjoying every day. That, to me, is the most amazing thing: I get to be happy.

I am writing this during my last couple hours of independence. Monday will be two weeks since Terrell left me, though it feels longer considering how much has happened. Though the first week was, as I guessed in my entry on being alone, quite difficult I not only made it through but kind of started to enjoy being on my own. I can go to bed with all the lights off in the apartment now and not fear lurking homicidal maniacs. I can wake up on time at ungodly hours of the morning and get myself to work -- though I did learn a lesson on Tuesday not to try to sleep in and take the 8:03 bus because it likely will arrive at 8:15 instead, thus making me late to work. I can be an independent woman.

But I am deliriously happy that Terrell will be returning to me on Monday. In the meantime, I will have my mother's company from later tonight until Monday morning. Her birthday was yesterday, but since we both worked she decided to come today after resting. It should be fun. I plan on making her take me shopping so I can buy some career clothes, and then tomorrow we'll be heading to the renaissance festival as my birthday gift to her.

It would probably behoove me to stop using the computer, take a shower and dress in something other than pajamas and do some cleaning. The apartment is rather messy, mostly because I haven't spent much time in it the last week. More posts and more pictures to come. I got my camera fixed, and will be taking it with me on lunch whenever possible as I explore downtown Syracuse.