Tuesday, June 26, 2012

I understand where the word "intern" comes from now...

Location: Couch
Listening to: Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You from The Last Five Years


So, as I mentioned in my last post, I've been interning this summer. I'm working for a set of aviation-oriented business magazines. One deals with maintenance, one with ground support, and one with airports.

I'm going to be honest with you. I'm not a huge fan of it. So far my main task has been going through old issues of the magazines and tagging articles online so that they show up in search engines. Which involves a lot of aviation terminology.

Here's a secret: I don't know anything about aviation. I'm not interested in aviation. I have been on a plane one time in my entire life.

I've done a few other things, like editing press releases and proofing copy for stories. I've sat in on some planning meetings and I've been promised that I will get the change to write something at some point. I kind of doubt that will happen, because that's just the way things are going at the moment. Normally I'm there for five hours a day, four days a week. Usually they give me about one hour's worth of work, so I spend roughly four hours doing nothing.

And not getting paid for it.

You know how some people equate college internships to slave labor? I think they're wrong. I think college internships (or, some, at least) are more like indentured servitude. I had to pay upwards of $900 to be able to get credit towards graduating for this internship that is not paying me and making me do the work no one else wants to do. I will be free eventually, I just have to work off my debt first. Which kind of feels like it will never happen.

I know this semi-job is giving me some sort of experience that might help me in the future and it will look great on my resume. But I wish I could be done. I kind of just want to spend summer being  a lazy bum. It would be optimal if someone would pay me to be a lazy bum.

Siiigghhhh. I can dream....

(Also, in reference to the title of this post, I now believe that "intern" comes from the word "internment" which I think means something like "You are forced to be somewhere and work for free". But I'm not a dictionary. So I could be wrong. :D)

Monday, June 25, 2012

Time Flies

Location: The Couch
Listening to: The Colbert Report


I feel old.

Today I am feeling kind of nostalgic. I was thinking earlier about how long it's been since I was last in a theater production (about 3 years) and then how long it's been since I first got involved in theater (at least 8 years). My life used to revolve around theater. In high school, I was involved in at least one production each year (usually I participated in several shows each year). It was a huge part of my life and how I met most of my friends.

That made me think about how long it's been since I've talked to some of my best friends from high school. The person who I consider to be my best friend in my last years of high school and I haven't talked in over a year. We started drifting apart a little during our senior year when I was in and out of school with my mysterious medical condition (which ended up just being anxiety). We haven't really reconnected, but I hope we will. I miss her.

I really only regularly talk to one of my friends from high school, and she and I have been friends since 6th grade. I occasionally talk to a few other friends and see them sometimes when I go home, but I'm starting to feel like I don't have connections with them. Which is sad. I have a hard time letting go of friends, even when it's clear there isn't anything to hold onto anymore.

The summer between my junior and senior years, I kind of dated one of my friend's exboyfriends. Things ended dramatically and caused a lot of craziness. Today, in my fit of nostalgia, I looked back at some messages sent and received during that time between me and this guy, and none of it made sense. In one particular message, he's trying to make me see reason and forgive him, and he's citing all these examples of things that happened and how I knew him better than anyone, and none of it made sense. I couldn't remember any of the things he was talking about. It shocked me, because it felt like the biggest deal at the time, and now I can't even remember the details.

In four months, I turn 21. It's really the last big age-related milestone until I turn 40. I feel both very young and so old at the same time. I have about a year and a half left of college and then I'll be out looking for a grown up job. A lot of people I know and graduated with are getting married and having babies.

I feel like I'm caught between adolescence and adulthood. Which I guess I kind of am.

(I'm really sorry for not posting for the last two months, everybody. I've been so busy with finals and then  moving into my new apartment and starting my internship and life has been kind of hectic. I promise I'm going to try to update more!)