Everyone should make a habit out of writing and re-writing their own resumes. Even if they are currently employed and not really looking for a new job.

The trick is to write and create it as if you were seriously vying for a position….

I tell you, the experience is humbling.

All of a sudden, the past accomplishments seem so insignificant, the stress and the long hours all seem as if they were for naught.

All of a sudden you want to look good, not in person, but on paper. Its as if you’re donning you’re favorite outfit that makes you look uber professional for that first day at work…or for my fellow-SPLers, for that first ever, nerve racking first Panel presentation (okay, well that is if you did dress up for it, God Knows I did -- and I still say they SHOULD!)

Maybe resume writing can take the place of the yearly performance evaluation. Or it can be done parallel to it. Grated that you are being truthful and honest about your achievements, it forces you look at your work from an outsider’s point of view and makes you ask the question….so what??

At the end of it though, I cannot guarantee that you would want to keep doing what you’re doing. Do not blame me if all of a sudden you’re unhappy with what you do.

The other night I was rummaging through my things when I came across a particular box I havent seen in a long time. It held my collection of greeting cards.
When I was in High School, I would browse through the Greeting Cards under the "All Occassion" category, randomly reading whatever caught my eye. If I find one I liked for any reason -- it was funny, the cartoon was cute, it was something mushy without being gross -- I would buy it. Of course, I never really had anyone in mind when I buy them. I didn't know who I would send it to, much less when I would send it out. I just had a growing pile of them waiting for the right person, and the right moment.
And then that moment never came. Neither did that person. So my collection of greeting cards are still there. Unopened up to this very day, and unsent still. I suppose I can just choose a random friend and sent them out, but then, I wouldn't have memories of the cheesy collection I used to have.
I remember that my favorite among them was one with a ziggy wearing a cap on the cover. On top of it, it said "I'm wearing my favorite thinking hat today..." and when you opened it, there was another ziggy cartoon, also with the cap on, but on the cap, written on big bold letters: YOU.
Mushy I know. But then it was cute. And a really nice way to let someone know you're thinking about 'em ;-)

I can hear them...

I am 23 floors up and two (or three?) blocks away from the center of the rally yet I can hear demonstrators down in the street chanting their "Gloria Resign" piece. Not surprisingly, I still don't give a damn.

I am preoccupied more with thoughts of how I can work with my limited budget and begin my independence next month. So much to spend for and very little to spend with.

I'm also trying, with very little success, to quell this feeling of being trapped. My days are filled with my day job and with the usual (and now minimal) interpersonal interactions. Make that, my weekdays. Weekends are spent dealing with responsibilities passed on to me. On one hand I dont mind because it is after all, only right and appropriate that I deal with it. On the other, I resent and reject it because it limits me to something I would rather not do. While deep inside I resist, I cannot find it me to fully turn away from it, because it is to some extent, unspeakable to do so.

Like always, I stick to following what I am inherently drawn to do. Grin and bear it. I cannot after all, look back and find that I was so selfish, I refused to help out.