What Happened to September?

September has been a really busy month.  A week after I got back from Greece, I started a full-time job, my boyfriend and I searched the city for a new apartment, it was restaurant week, we went to New York for a weekend, my mom was in town, and, well... things just seemed busier.  When I start listing things, it doesn't seem like so much.  To be honest, I have also started watching Mad Men on Netflix and with four seasons to catch up on, relaxing on the couch after work has been beating out writing more often than not.

After work, I look kind of like this, but less fluffy and with more Don Draper.

I have also run into a bit of an issue in that I've had a lot of ideas of what I want to write about, but none of them have been enough for a whole post.  For example, a couple Saturdays ago, I woke up missing the intersection of Main Street and Washington Street in Ann Arbor.  I've written before about how I tend to miss specific locations.  That intersection is one that I always associate with autumn because of my first off-campus adventure to Washington Street that happened over fall break.  If I had tried to write the whole post, it probably would have sounded like a huge sigh and a whine about how much I miss Ann Arbor.  Happily, though, this past week I've gotten to slow down a little and have had time to organize some of my ideas.  Hopefully I can get back to posting at least once a week again!  For now, let me catch you up on something I've been up to lately.


A few weeks ago, I entered the working world as a temp.  I'm doing data entry and document processing.  If things go as well as they have for some other temps I've heard about, within sixty-five episodes I should be the youngest VP in the company's history, launch a new website, then get arrested for defrauding investors and begin working as a temp again.  (Thanks for the great ideas, Ryan Howard/B.J. Novak and the writers of The Office!)

"The real crime, I think, was the beard."

It has been exciting to have a job and to have slowed the job-hunt for the first time since last September.  I'm also starting to get used to life in an office.  My temp agency has told me not to leave anything of my own at work, which means that I haven't decorated my desk.  (I have considered crafting a piece of abstract art out of paperclips.  Suggestions are welcome.)  However, I have really enjoyed learning about my coworkers from how they've decorated theirs.  I've gotten to indulge the part of me that still hopes I'll be an old-time PI.  There are pictures of children, calendars of favorite TV programs, old birthday cards and evidence of years of service to the company.  You can also tell who else is a temp, since their desks are bare.  Even the pictures on people's desktops are revealing.  (I have also contemplated how I would decorate my desk if I could - I could put up actual pictures of my family and friends and a giant Michigan flag, or I could decorate with pictures of famous people and see if I could convince people that I was related to them.)

Though my job is not related to my history degree, I am using certain skills that I learned in college.  For one, I know how important it is to wake up early enough to make myself coffee in the morning before I catch the train.  This became essential after having many difficulties staying alert in lectures that started before 11:30 AM.  I have also re-learned the value of weekends; I spent the summer working as a line cook in a cafe and had morning shifts on Saturdays and Sundays.  Having two days off to sleep in, travel, and otherwise get up to fun things is as wonderful as it was back in the spring. Speaking of traveling on the weekends, I'll be headed back to Ann Arbor for my birthday - keep checking the blog for more Ann Arbor stories and pictures!

How do you like your post-grad (or undergrad) job?

How has the month of September been for you?