But I'm great at APA formatting...

There are two parts to this post, both relating to my employment status (un).

First, until about a month ago, I had never been rejected from a job for which I interviewed. Not to say that I'm so outstanding that everyone wanted me. But as a high school/college student in the 'burbs or central Illinois applying to minimum wage jobs, I would say I was fairly competent, qualified, and impressive compared to some of my peers. Then all of a sudden I was a 22-year-old college graduate preparing to move to the big city, thinking "I have barista experience, surely I'll just find a bar or restaurant to hire me where I will make a fortune being server-extraordinaire". Wrong. No restaurant experience, no job. I've hardly even attempted those jobs because I know the outcome. (Sidenote, this is extremely frustrating because I know that I would be a fantastic server and I would love it, but none of these places care that the only person who can attest to this is my mom).

Instead, for the past 2 months I've been scouring Craigslist, sending my resume to unsuspecting employers, and eyeing every storefront I pass in search of the one institution in Chicago who wants a moderately-experienced but well-educated student to work an inflexible schedule of up to fifteen hours per week. I know it's out there. But seriously, I'm losing motivation. It's tiring and depressing, and I don't know how long I can keep doing it. It takes up nearly as much time as actually working, but I'm not getting paid. Yet if I want to eat more than rice, beans, and oatmeal, and if I want to watch HGTV til 1am Saturday night, and if I want to buy this pumpkin ale staring at me while I type at Whole Foods (where I've been scamming internet for a month), the search must continue.

But what's this, a crepe and coffee cafe wants to hire me but they need someone to work 20-25 hours per week? Well. This brings me to the second point, being that I'm kinda lazy. Not in the sit-on-the couch all day sense, in the "oh I can't commit to too much responsibility because I might have to get less than 9 hours of sleep and then I'll just be cranky" sense. Right now I'm taking three classes and one internship. I know people who have an additional class, 7-hour/week work study, and part-time job. How do they do it???? I'd like to be able to see friends once and a while too. Is that asking too much? Regardless, I need to start being responsible and accept that until May 2012 I will be an overworked student and minimum-wage worker. But at least I won't gawk at the $28 price tag on a resale shop dress.