Thursday, February 26, 2009

isn't here

I've always liked personality quizzes, starting with the ones in YM and Seventeen at 12 and sometimes going a little out of control. (Now that I tracked down that link I want to do them all again and see where I am a year later. Many of them will be the same but some will have changed. haha)

That's not my point though, I actually did an online quiz I'd like to comment on. I'm planning a little day trip to Philadelphia in a couple of weeks, after visiting my cousin in Lancaster for the weekend!, and I need a place to keep my bags while wandering the city. I was scouring the Visit Phila website and found this cute, what should you do in Philadelphia quiz. I took it and this is what I was told:


How frustrating. But I think it says a lot about me, not just right now, but in general, my answers to the questions were a little random. I mean my favorite thing in my apartment is my tv but I'd want a fishing rod if stranded on an island plus if it were raining outside I'd "take a stroll, think about the rain, stop in a restaurant you’ve never heard of, maybe a bookstore." Yes, those were a few of my answers. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the answers aren't right in front of me and I need to find them out for myself.

Update: Any answers you submit result in the same answer, meaning the quiz is broken. I look forward to when they fix it and see how I should spend my rainy day in Philly with a dog named Daisy and no Big Lebowski fix.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

just

I was doing a little web surfing/job hunting and someone, NPR I think, had run the President's "Address to Congress" through Woordle. So, of course, I spent the next couple of minutes running different things through it, my cover letter, other people's blogs, and then my own. What I found is that I write JUST a lot! I couldn't quite believe it at first and and I went through and counted the number of times I've typed just in my short time blogging. Can you believe it, 18 times in just 11 blogs!!?



Everything else just pales in comparison. (posted and comments appear larger also because I just copied all)

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Kate a Teacher?!

Kate a Teacher?! Well I'm one step closer to it being a reality!

Two weeks ago I submitted my Teach For America application and today I found out that I was accepted in to the final round interviews. I'm skipping the phone interview, which was a relief due to my ever weakening Chocolate, and straight to the group final interview!

I'll know more as of the ninth after they complete the phone interviews and release the details of the locations and the sample teaching session. A sample teaching session, five minutes in front of 12 other interviewees and the panel. I'm nervous already, but a good nervous. I'm excited to see where this could take me and will enjoy preparing for it.

I posted my letter of intent and application essay below just for the heck of it. Check 'em out if you'd like.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

this week

Let me take a look back over the last week, my first full week on being laid off.

Well, maybe I should start with lovely little jaunt to DC. It was an enjoyable trip other than the obnoxiously bright bus back to NY. Seriously, 1 in the morning and they have these green lights on, bright enough to hinder sleeping but to dim to read by. How rude! Anyway, back to DC I spent a lovely day and half just wandering the Smithsonian museums, the mall, and enjoying delicious Sushi. It was a good little trip. I'd like to go back for a day trip to the zoo but it might not work out.


My previous blog about my new obsession with Twitter has become an absolute beast. I still have 100's of Firefox tabs open from my first day of Twittering a job. I didn't have a Twitter following to begin with so it's definitely been a process to find people in media and their followers. Then there has been the process of finding the job opportunities that are available and posted on company websites or just sending cold emails. I'm proud to report that over this week I've applied for 27 jobs, 15 of which were just yesterday. That's no where near my goal of 50 for yesterday, possibly unrealistic. With just 27 jobs applied for I obviously didn't spend every waking moment submitting my cover letter and resume. Almost a whole day was spent on the aforementioned Twittering, which I will get a handle on in the coming days, there must be a work flow to it! In my defense, at job 15 I realized the job posting was an attempt at fraud so I spent the rest of the evening reporting the websites that had listed it and turning it in to the IC3.

I've also taken a little time for myself, on Thursday I took the afternoon off. I went down to the TKTS booth in Times Square and bought myself a ticket to see Speed the Plow, a David Mamet play with William H. Macy. It was very good and stimulating, it made me want to read more by Mamet. Since I was in midtown and had time to kill, I didn't feel like coming all the home for just 45 minutes, I went to see Taken which I'd also been wanting to see for a while. It was alright, there were some serious holes in the story but I did enjoy it, just on a completely different level than Speed the Plow.

I hope to post more next week, just tokeep my brain stimulated by a different activity that rehashing my cover letter every 10 minutes.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Twitter

I'm totally sucked in by the phenomenon that is Twitter.

Maybe it will help me be a better blogger because I can tweet something as I think of it and then come back and write about it further.

But there's a good chance I'll get twitterreah (http://tinyurl.com/bygwcg) stop me if I do.

Anyway, follow me if you wish: twitter.com/katerees711

Oh and if someone other than Mike or Kayleigh is reading this I'd love to know!

(All sentences above could be tweeted - they're under 140 characters)

Thursday, February 12, 2009

TFA - Essay

In 500 words, describe a time when you encountered serious obstacles to success while working on a project. You may choose any academic, professional, or extracurricular project you have worked on during the past four years.



Growing up outside of a very small town I always dreamed of living in a big city and just over a year ago I was knee deep in emails searching for an apartment in New York. I'd just accepted an internship with a company unknown to me, Corra Films and was about to move to a city far from anyone I knew. It was a dream come true but a huge challenge as well to make this all a reality, first securing the internship, then a place to live, and finally finding my way in the city.
To complete my degree at Ferris State University I was required to complete a six month internship in video production. My classmates were interviewing for internships provided by the university but I wanted an internship that I received on my own merits and not simply because I was a Ferris student. In September I started sending resumes to production companies in Chicago and New York. I spent countless hours researching companies and scouring job websites for internship opportunities. After several interviews I was offered a position in New York at Corra Films. I was so excited, after living in mid-Michigan my whole life, I was moving to New York!

Now I had to find a place to live. I sent hundreds of email responses to postings on craigslist.com searching for an apartment. Then I was able to spend 36 hours in the city viewing 12 apartments, a marathon of subway rides and getting lost in beautiful neighborhoods. At the last stop, I found my apartment, close to work, the subway, and in a great neighborhood.

I was moving from mid-Michigan to New York on the cusp of a new life and I was just excited. Adjusting to life in the big city was hard at times. I felt alone and overwhelmed many days but I learned to overcome it. First, by exploring the city and its many neighborhoods and eventually by finding people with similar interests through a website called meetup.com.

I've continued on in the city, accepting a full time position at Corra Films. Its given me the opportunity to make further discoveries and the most recent has been that while New York may provide me with exciting opportunities the things I enjoy the most are still the same as when I was living in mid-Michigan. Partially because of this realization, I've come to a crossroads and I don't want to just go on to the next job that comes my way. Teach For America will give me an opportunity to explore a new path while improving the lives of students. I've have always had a support system behind me, I was able to move to New York for an unpaid internship with my mom's support and excitement. Not everyone, or even most people, would have the freedom to make a drastic financial leap such as this without support from their family and friends.

TFA - Letter of Intent

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to express my interest in joining Teach For America. After learning about Teach For America I knew it was an organization that I wanted to be a part of. The commitment to optimism is something that I can bring to the program while showing respect to fellow corps members and students.

I grew up in a small rural community in mid-Michigan. The school district was a microcosm of some of the inequities in education that Teach For America seeks to remedy. While the school I attended was not able to provide the depth of experiences that nearby larger districts were able to, I was very fortunate to have parents that were educators themselves and provide me with much that was missing from my daily school life. But, many of my peers were not so fortunate.

Equality in education and opportunity regardless whether a person is from a wealthy community or the inner city is a basic human right but is not a reality for many. Working to correct that injustice is something I want to be a part of. I know that it will take many people with many skills playing many roles to accomplish this. As a member of the corps, I would be able to use my knowledge and skills in media and video production, but at this time in my life, I feel that I can contribute the most by joining the corp as a teacher.

With both parents as educators becoming a teacher seemed a natural goal for me, but I chose a different path. I completed my degree in video production which brought me to New York for an internship at Corra Films, a documentary film and commercial production company. After completing my internship I joined the staff but now as the economy has taken a downward turn my position has been one of the first to go. At this point my career is at a crossroads and joining Teach For America would bring me back to one of original career aspirations to become a teacher.

To have the opportunity to enter the classroom with the support of the corps and positively effect the lives of students would be an experience like none other. While I have a personality that would work well in a classroom - fun but calm, passionate but real, Teach For America's support through the training courses would provide me with the confidence and knowledge necessary to be an excellent teacher.

As this program focuses on closing the achievement gap of education in the United States, I can be a positive force for the effort. I would work to inspire passion in students to have them be excited about learning something will help them work to learn more and more ultimately achieving educational success.

If you have any questions for me please feel free to contact me... Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Kate Rees

Monday, February 2, 2009

My List of 25 Things!



1. I think its hilarious that my mom sent me an article about Twittering a job.

2. I wish I was seven years old, second grade, swimming all summer, that was a good age.

3. My favorite music is Christmas music I only listen to it during the holidays though. I love that I can sing along.

4. I always knew it in the back of my mind but after a year in New York I'm ready to move away to be closer to my family and friends.

5. Looking at my old notes I found my life list I'm happy to say that I've completed some of the things on it.

6. this was originally posted on facebook. I started a blog, check it out here http://katerees711.blogspot.com/

7. I watch a lot of television. (ridiculous amounts)

8. I'm about to be laid off.

9. I wish that I could just bum around the city for awhile before having to find a new job but I'm afraid that I don't find something right away I'll get into a slump.

10. Over the past year I've become much more accepting of who I am and I'm happy with that person. I like me. Oh, that sounds cheesy.

11. I have an ipod shuffle but the same 14 songs have been on it since August. I can admit that I'm finally sick of Flavors of Entanglement from Alanis Morissette.

12. I cried through the last half of the Brave One and was so worried she wasn't going to be able to achieve revenge for her loss.

13. I miss driving, summer driving...windows down, sun streaming in.

14. I miss the lakes. Last summer the closest I got to the water was riding the Staten Island Ferry. Let me remind you a live on an island, on the Atlantic coast.

15. I love skiing but I only go once a year.

16. I'm applying for Teach For America.

17. I love food, love, love, love it.

18. Ovaltine is delicious.

19. I have a lot of ideas running through my head. I'm not sure if they're something I'm really interested in or if I just think I am.

20. Such as, maybe I should be a detective. or not.

21. I love traveling. I need to start saving my pennies so I can do it more often.

22. And more pennies, I'd love to buy a house.

23. I love crosswords but I'm not very good at them.

24. I'm getting better at Sudoku but I don't like it as much.

25. I'm a lazy, lazy bum.
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