I started dating a great new guy this week, let’s call him P. I’ve been talking to him for over a month, and we finally met in person the past week. He’s nice, sweet, and speaks with an accent. The accent isn’t from some exotic locale, but because P is deaf. He can hear with the use of hearing aids and fills in what he can’t catch with lip reading. This doesn’t bother me at all: just an excuse to learn some sign language on top of being around someone wonderful. To me, it’s just another interesting thing about him.

While talking about P, I mention that he is deaf/hard of hearing, that he can hear using hearing aids, and that he has an interesting accent because of it. I don’t really think much of it because it’s just a basic, interesting fact about him. Sometimes people have a question or two about it, I answer them, and the conversation goes its merry way. However, something I’m noticing is that some people pity me for this, and they feel bad that this guy I’m seeing is marred significantly by the fact he has trouble hearing. I can’t stand it. » » Read More » »

I have a phone interview for an internship today. How did I find it? By searching outside my immediate area for jobs.

I live in southern Connecticut, near Yale. My local Craigslist, the New Haven one, doesn’t have a whole lot of relevant things for me, so I decided to branch out. I took a look at the train routes and started looking for things in other areas I could get to, namely in the Eastern CT and Fairfield County Craigslists.

Since Fairfield is a subdivision of the NYC Craigslist, there were a lot of things that were too far, but there were just so many more listings available. I found an internship that allowed telecommuting and was for a major online journal site, so I quickly wrote a relevant writing sample and cover letter and sent it on its merry way on Sunday night. Tuesday afternoon, I received an email saying they were interested in scheduling a phone interview, and that is for today.

The moral of this story is branch out. Look a little further than the towns and cities nearby and see where you can get on public transportation. If you’re lucky, you can find something that allows you to work from home (only certain fields; sorry biochem majors!) some days to save you the commute. However, by looking further, you can find more relevant jobs to strive for.

A friend of mine last week was complaining about his lack of motivation. Ever since school ended for me, I’ve had the same issue. It’s hard to make yourself get up out of that warm bed and not just laze around all day. Here are some tips you can try to help ease your laziness.

Get up early. When I get up early in the morning, after the initial grogginess, I feel a lot more motivated to get things done during the day, and by the time the day is over, I’ve accomplished a lot. It’s amazing how much better you feel by not sleeping the day away.

Get dressed. If you get up and hang out in your pajamas for hours, you’re likely not going to get moving. It also slows you down when you finally do decide to get your butt out the door, because you have to decide what to wear. Just getting dressed when you wake up helps you get in the right mindset for productivity.

Exercise. Whether you get up and do 5 minutes of yoga, 20 sit ups, or run 5 miles, moving will make you feel like you’ve accomplished something and you’ll feel more confident when you get to the tasks at hand.

Carrot on a stick. Tell yourself, “I’m not going to play [game] until ___ is done!” Or you won’t look at your RSS feeds, or whatever your major distraction during the day is. Give yourself a reward after you have finished what needs to be done.