From One Driver to Another:

From "Adultette" to full-fledged adult, well, I'm working on it. Today I took a giant leap into the big kids pool, I didn't just dip my toe in and swish it around, I didn't slowly ease my body into the water and cling to the edge. I started from 50 feet back and took off running, sliding over cool decking and all, to plunge head first into the deep end. The life guard was yelling and I didn't care. As of today I am the owner of a brand new, 2010 loaded Honda Civic LXS.

In the sticky summer sun I handed over my old keys to a young girl about to start college. She was so sweet and eager to have a car of her own, I knew instantly that the little SUV that got me through high school and college, through make-outs and make-ups, was being driven away in perfectly naive hands. I hope that she smokes pot or gets it on or sings incessantly at the top of her lungs in that car with all of the wanton abandon that it was meant for.

While she's getting her freak on in the back seat of that old SUV I'm going to be freaking out about every spill and dent and bump that my new car accumulates. From adultette to adult, I think my new powerful engine will help me make a smooth transition ;)

The University of Phoenix:

So, I got offered a job from The University of Phoenix. I will be working as an academic advisor and this is great because I will get free tuition so that I can get my masters. I kicked the unemployment crisis and it feels good!!!

I Write Like:

I write like
Charles Dickens

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Been Thinking About You:

I had three interviews today:

1. The University of Phoenix (my second time seeing them for a different position).

*Pros--Free tuition, health care, benefits, nice starting salary, opportunity for growth

*Cons--Very far from my house :(

2. Fortune5 Marketing

*Pros--They called me back for second round already

*Cons--Hiring manager was totally creepy and douchy :(

3. Yelp.Com

*Pros--Great work environment, great company culture, ok starting salary, benefits, great company

*Cons--SALES, SALES, SALES....not exactly my forte.

I really would like to work for the University of Phoenix, I think at this point it could be an ideal job because it would get my foot in the door with a big company with great benefits and I could get my masters for free!!! Also, they have offices all over the country so the chances to move around are endless :)

After coming home from all these interviews I felt so stressed and un-happy with my performance. I really bombed the Yelp.Com interview, the men were so young and intimidating and I don't think they liked my "mock sales presentation." Ugh. I ate an apple and climbed into bed to listen to Radiohead. Nothing makes me feel better. Even though the lyrics are so sad this song makes me feel so good, it's one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Been thinking about you
Your record's a hit
Your eyes are on my wall
Your teeth are over there
But I'm still no one
And you're my star
What do you care?

Been thinking about you
And there's no rest
Should I still love you
Still see you in bed
But I'm playing with myself
What do you care?
When the other men are far far better

All the things you've got
All the things you need
Who bought you cigarettes
Who bribed the company to come and see you honey?

I've been thinking about you
So how can you sleep
These people aren't your friends
They're paid to kiss your feet
They don't know what I know
And why should you care
When I'm not there

Been thinking about you
And there's no rest
Should I still love you
Still see you in bed
But I'm playing with myself
What do you care?
When I'm not there.

All the things you've got
That you'll never need
All the things you've got
I've bled and I'd bleed to please you
... honey

Been thinking about you..

And Tell Me Miss Driver, Have You Ever Worked In A Results Driven Workplace?:

I have had 6 interviews in 2 days. I'm exhausted mentally and, well,...mentally. Because let's face it, it's easy to drive yourself to an office, it's easy to throw on a pair of heels, it's easy to print your resume 50 times. It is not easy, however, to "sell yourself" over and over and over again. I am tired of tip-toeing my way around every answer and smiling until my face hurts and pulling compelling stories out of nowhere at the drop of a hat. I'd like to write more but I just really don't feel up to it. I hope my responses will get me through the door somewhere, or if not the door maybe just the hallway leading up to it, or maybe the parking lot outside.

It's Jessica or Jess, Never Jessie!

So, it’s summer time. I feel lazy and uninspired due to the lack of earth-shaking events going on in my life. I try to blog about things of weight, things of substance but sometimes it feels good just to write about nothing at all. Fellow blogger Amanda, whose blog you can view HERE, had a fun entry that I thought I could copy-cat. This posting is about me, not the me of abstract thoughts and flowery wisdom but the me of “I hate wearing sunglasses for too long because after a while you get a red mark on your nose.”

**Name—Jessica Nicole Driver. Growing up, I hated my name. Don’t we all? I thought it was a boy’s name because I knew a boy named “Jesse” in second grade. My mother gave me the middle name “Nicole” because she was certain she was having a boy, and she was dead-set on naming him Nicholas. When I came gasping into the world without a penis, she knew Nicholas probably wouldn’t be as fitting as Nicole. Weirdly and randomly enough my dad had some sort of stalker-like obsession with the actress Jessica Lange and thus, he christened me with the name of a now aging 80’s celebrity. I think my flair for drama was instilled at birth.

Sidenote: Jessica was the most popular female name in 1986. Bingo mom and dad, you weren’t as creative as you assumed.

**Birthday—November 3, 1986. The night before my birth my mother was riding the slide at the State Fair. I like to think that somehow deep-fried Twinkies and the shallow ups and downs of carnival rides induced labor.

Sidenote: I am an election baby. My birthday falls around election time every 4 years. On November 2^nd, 2004 George Bush was re-elected. I turned 18 the next day. Let’s just say I was not pleased with the outcome.

**Fun Facts.

I can make the perfect omelette. It’s all about the flip to which I have perfected.

I hate when I’m working out and my Ipod doesn’t know which song I need to come on next to keep myself motivated. Why can’t Apple read minds yet?

Make-up first, blow dry hair second. Always.

My favorite part about drinking a cappuccino is sucking down the last sip, where the sugar has accumulated in the bottom of the cup. Delicious!

I used to hate my freckles, now I like them.

Winter over summer. Always

When I was 9 years old I pulled a girl off the monkey bars and as a result she had to have knee surgery. I warned her not to tell anybody and she never did. I wish I could harness that powerful disregard and use it against my current people-pleasing personality.

One of my favorite scenes from a movie is the opening credits to “Curly Sue” when she’s pulling all of her treasures out of her pathetic, homeless bag. Classic.

I am the hippy, the suburban hippy by default when the rest of your family is a bit too conservative.

I shed a silent tear today for Gli Azzurri, the Italian national soccer team who did not make it through to the second round of the World Cup. (My inner childhood tomboy is making a cameo right now)

I don't know, a fish named Elizabeth Gold, a stuffed bear I still own, my favorite pasta shape (Orechiette by the way), my first kiss...insignificant and yet entirely important because without them I just wouldn't be ME.

Buon Viaggio Olenka!

I was talking to a very lovely lady tonight who used to be the mother of my boyfriend, and who I now just consider a friend and confidant. We got to chatting about my blog and she said “I think you are doing a great job capturing the exasperation of being educated and loose on the world.” In my brain tiny electrodes and sparks went flying, it was an “Aha” moment. I thought to myself, “Yes, yes, educated and loose on the world, that’s exactly how I feel.” It sounds so explosive and exciting but somehow restricted and cautionary, which is how my every existence seems to be functioning at the moment. At times I feel like I was born and shot from a cannon and meant to land and bounce around the world, loose on the world if you will.

My friend Olenka was also meant to be a wild rover, a ramblin’ woman swinging between one continent and another. (Check out her blog HERE). She leaves very soon to go and teach English in South Korea. Sunday I’m throwing her a going-away bash filled with Mexican food that will surely be hard to come by in the land of fish and vegetables. I hope that she finds everything she is looking to experience while overseas and I hope that I discover a path that fulfills me while I’m over here.