my favorite day of the year

It’s not Christmas or Halloween. Not even Thanksgiving. It’s my birthday.

I absolutely love my birthday. And it’s not because of presents or even having everyone wish you a happy birthday.

It’s because it’s the one day that’s about me. It’s the day I was born and because I don’t know anyone who has the same birthday, I don’t have to share it with anyone.

Now, I do love when people wish me a happy birthday and with the inventions of Facebook and Twitter, people who you barely know wish you a happy birthday, which is AWESOME.

And unlike Molly Ringwald from Sixteen Candles, I would not hesitate to tell people who forget. I have no shame when it comes to my birthday.

You may think that I sound selfish, and I don’t really care because it’s my birthday goshdarnit and I can be as selfish as I want.

I’m an equal opportunity birthday lover. I love wishing people happy birthday because I know how good it can make them feel.

So, happy birthday to me.

I have no shame when it comes to my birthday.

one great way to secure a jobless future

Having an internship is one of the best opportunities a young professional (or soon-to-be professional) can have. It can be mundane and boring at times, but that’s the life of an intern.

As an intern myself, I’ve learned to take every project handed to me with a smile, even if it sucks (although I haven’t really gotten any of those yet).

Unfortunately, some people think they’re bigger and better than they are and go and do something like this:

This open letter was submitted by Jenavi Kasper, who recently resigned as an intern at one of the large local ad agencies:

Dear Local Advertising Agency Named After the Founders,

Well, it’s been one heck of a time interning over at your super-cool office. The Friday in-house happy hour was a great touch. When I landed the internship at your place I was excited. Working downtown in a hip office, getting some experience in the industry and the free beer is what lured me in. It sounded like a dream! And I have to say, when I told people where I was interning they were pretty impressed.

But you guys dropped the ball (figuratively of course). Come to think of it, while I was there I never did see anyone start the pick-up game of basketball I was expecting to break out at any moment–but maybe I was tainted by the YouTube video. (What good is the basketball hoop in the office if nobody uses it?)

I would be crazy to leave, right? Even if it was an unpaid internship it’s still a resumè builder.

But, if you can believe it, I left this experience disappointed.

Maybe that’s my fault. I had unrealistic expectations. I thought that interning would allow me to use my brain and maybe, just maybe, apply some of what I spent four years learning. But you proved me wrong. You have snatched my naiveté like a pillowcase filled with candy on Halloween.

The funny thing is, I didn’t get it right away. When you assigned me to organize the pens by color on my first day I didn’t worry much about it. When you asked me to drop off DVDs to your client’s office, I didn’t think twice (though I wasn’t paid for gas). I didn’t even mind when you asked me to help you move binders out of your office.

But it started to get old fast. When “helping with projections” meant reading you numbers off a spreadsheet I became a little discouraged. When “working with scripts” meant retyping scripts I was bummed. It was especially painful when I spent all morning cleaning out an office for the new girl while you guys took off to Starbucks.

It wasn’t all bad. You did let me go to that commercial shoot, which was fun, and it was great to be able to sit in on a couple of meetings. But there are some things you should keep in mind before you bring in my replacement:

Remember, we are ADVERTISING students. That stuff you do for your clients to get the word out, the get the brand promise out to the target audience, we know how to do that too. We also know those Jedi mind tricks.

We want to learn as much about the business as possible and if you can’t provide that training we will find someplace else that will. That place might be your competition.

Or heck, we’ll freelance and become your competition.

So be careful. You don’t want to end up being called out on a blog, do you?

Yours Truly,
The Intern

You had to sort a few pens? So what? Everyone does things they don’t want to do. Grow up and realize this is the real world, and everyone starts at the bottom.

I hope this girl knows she’ll never get a job now. She’s a crisis communications risk that any business would be stupid to take. Just ask Crisisblogger.

For all you future and current interns, this is one great way to secure a jobless future.

my darling blog

My first post.

I’m pretty excited about it.

There’s a lot riding it. You know that whole “you only get one first impression” and all that jazz. 

Your first blog post is almost like your first kiss.You hope that they like it  and give you another chance because a first kiss is never as good as you think it’s going to be. It’s kind of awkward, you’re not really sure what you’re doing and you know it will definitely better with practice.

This isn’t my first blog post. Last year I authored a blog for class, and well, it could have gone better. Looking back, I was trying way too hard to sound smart, I was quite wordy and it took me awhile to get to the point (and I may not have even had one).

So here’s my second try, blogging about my darling view of the world – it’s a darling view because, well, I just really like the word “darling.” It’s a fun word to say.

I hope you enjoy .