makeste | Adventures from my boring life, part two!

...Minus the "adventures from" part, I guess. Hmm.

Continuing with this meme! So

smilypie asked me, post about what you do for a living/your everyday life? And I apologize in advance if this post puts anyone to sleep, because the answer is... not much. XD

To start, let me tell you a tale about young Makeste! FLASHBACK TO ABOUT SEVEN OR EIGHT YEARS AGO. So there she was, going into college for the first time, and like many innocent new young adults, she was uncertain about her future! So she sought advice from friends and family about what she should major in. In turn, she got a lot of questions like, "Well, what do you like to do? What are you good at?" And for her, there was really only one answer that came to mind: "Writing, I guess."

Now it just so happened that Makeste had several aunts and friends-of-friends who had been communication/journalism majors in college. So upon hearing that she liked to write, the prevalent response was, "YOU SHOULD MAJOR IN COMMUNICATIONS." And having no better ideas, she complied.

FAST FORWARD TO A FEW YEARS LATER! A semester or so before graduation, Makeste came to several disturbing realizations: One, that even though she enjoyed writing for her own pleasure, it turns out that even a task you enjoy can become frustrating and burdensome if you are forced to do it on someone else's terms. Two, even though she was good at journalism, she sort of hated it! (The writing part I can handle; it's the research and interviewing that drive me nuts--and funnily enough, IT TURNS OUT THAT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, GASP.) Three, the employment market for new journalism graduates was quickly drying up thanks to the long and agonizingly drawn-out death of the newspaper industry. And four, it was too late to change her major and still graduate relatively debt-free (I was lucky enough to get a full scholarship to my school, but only for the expected four years). So! Faced with these harsh new realities, a few months later a rather dejected Makeste left school with a BA in Communication and pretty much no idea what the hell to do with it. XD

So to make a long story short, for the past three years I've pretty much just been working part-time, go-nowhere telemarketing and customer service jobs, and working as a lifeguard during the summer (i.e., right now). I actually don't mind lifeguarding all that much; it's not too difficult or stressful, I get to spend a lot of time outdoors as opposed to in a cubicle, and while the pay's not as good, the people are generally friendlier. But I'm only doing that until Labor Day, and after that it'll be back to the other stuff until I finally find something better/more permanent. Which I will be making a more serious effort to do this time around, because by this point I'm kind of starting to feel like a loser who's completely wasting all of her education. ;;

ANYWAY. As for the "everyday life" part, when I'm not working and/or online, my other main activity is karate, which I train in several days a week. I got my black belt back in 2001, and have been promoted twice since (most recently last May, when I earned my third-degree black belt), so nowadays I'm an instructor too; I even teach a kobudo class on Wednesday nights (I just got back from that, actually), which I love because I like teaching and because it's fucking awesome, okay. And that's more or less how I feel about karate in general. I love it and when I'm in the dojo I feel confident and at ease in a way I rarely do elsewhere in my life. And it's not something I talk about all that often because when I do, most people don't really know what to say aside from "wow, a black belt, please don't kick my butt, haha", but that's all right. XD

Anyway... so that's more or less it, I guess. Or at least this is where I'll stop, before this post starts running long and people really do start falling asleep. TOMORROW I WILL POST ABOUT CLOTHES! Unless KHR 303 comes out, in which case that will take priority (you guys, have you seen that cover page? I DID NOT KNOW THEY MADE TSUNAS THAT HOT).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Obviously, you should write a book.

THAT IS WHAT I ACTUALLY WOULD LIKE TO DO, and I do have a couple of stories I'm working on. It's just slow going. But I'll finish one someday (I should make it a new year's resolution or something), and after that, who knows? And if it doesn't work out, I'll write more. Because that is actually the kind of writing I do enjoy, and even if it doesn't end up panning out career-wise, I'll keep on doing it. o/

Wow, at least you like your life. I have the same basic problem, so my best to you. ^^v (Why aren't you writing articles and passing them freelance-like, for athletic mags, though?)

YES SHE MAKES HOT STEAMING TSUNAS NOW!

*hug* It sucks to spend all that time and money on an education only to belatedly realize that you actually have little to no interest in your chosen field, doesn't it? XD Best of luck to you as well. (And I've considered it, and even attempted it once or twice, but I more or less had the same issues that I do with journalism in general. I'd like to try the same thing out with short stories, though, and see how that goes.)

AND BOY DO THEY LOOK DELICIOUS.

I mean I did like what I learned, but I don't think I want to use it the way most people expect me to. I don't what alternatives to take yet.

You're life is plenty interesting! Seriously, I found this really fun to read XD

Agh, I understand what you mean about not wanting to do something you love doing when you're forced to do it. Part of the reason why I hate writing papers even though I like writing =/

Good luck with finding a better job/career!&hearts

Karate's pretty awesome 8o And hey, if you like teaching, maybe you could be an English teacher? You might have to go back to school for that though...

And yes, that cover page *___* It's currently becoming the image for my next profile insert as we speak 8D

Aw that wasn't boring at all! It's good to see a side of you other than "my lj friend who writes bombtastically hilarious recaps of KHR manga"

*hugs about the whole major confusion thing* If it helps...most ppl don't find their career's according to their majors, and i'm sure there's SOMETHING out there that you're good at since communications is very broad.

I started out as a Bio major and then realized...i like bio and chem...but I don't wanna do it for 8 years (which is what you've gotta do if you want a job in ANY field including research and grad school and such)

aaand since i always loved writing and reading, and my study abroad person was like: dude! since you wanna go to japan, major/minor in it!....

...thus my Double major in English/Japanese was created...and then demolished when i realized i also hate writing on a deadline and i'm more creative writing then essay writing...

AAACK...i just rambled on about myself...sowwy

HOLY SHIT YOU'RE IN KARATE?! JEALOUS! I never had the time for stuff like that and i'm kinda jealous and amazed that you've come so far AND kept it up. most kids i know quit around high school, so kudo's to you! *pat pat*

It sucks to spend all that time and money on an education only to belatedly realize that you actually have little to no interest in your chosen field

LOL same story with me ^^;
I am still part timing for now

Good luck finding more permanent jobs! :D

Adventures from my boring life, part two!

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