Pikachu, thunderbolt!

Today's title has nothing to do with the actual entry--except maybe I think of Pokemon when I'm in a good mood (I like Pokemon), and I just so happen to be in a good mood.

Simply put, my luck has, as I predicted, started to turn around. Though my car and computer are both broken, my overall outlook is looking up.
Taking a job with Shades of Yellow, doing market research, has turned out to be one of the best choices I've made my whole college career. It's really opened up a new field to me, and I'm pleasantly surprised that I enjoy it--researching, in-depth, people and clinics, to help SoY expand into services helping a specific group of people--it's neat. I'm not having nearly as much luck as my fellow employee (who is in charge of the more LGBT-focused groups--I've got most of the hospitals and the Hmong-specific organizations), but it's been a great experience. My contract was even extended for another week, so I'm making some much-appreciated extra bucks. And next weekend, I, along with some choice pals, am heading to Wisconsin for SoY's leadership retreat.

Today was my first official Day Student Government meeting as Chief of Staff. I enjoy my new role already, though I can tell it's going to be a lot of work. I suppose I've always sort of liked it that way, though. I'm a workhorse.


I've also been doing a lot of Homemade planning as well. We're looking to expand into social media, so Lily and I took to Christensen Center during SOAR (that's the first-year summer orientation) and surveyed approximately seventy incoming students. We collected some interesting data, and I'm excited to start the implementation phase...

I'm also busy applying for internships for the fall semester. And when I say internships, I mean a lot of internships. There are a couple I'm very interested in, and one I would kill for (what a violent phrase!), but I've learned from my mistakes and don't want to put all my eggs in one basket. I won't hear back from my top choice for at least another week (the person in charge is on vacation), but most internship deadlines aren't until the middle of August or even late August, so I'll be antsy for a while. Wish me luck!

Tomorrow, the gang is coming over (sans Katie, who is on vacation with her family) for grilled steak and watermelon. I'm also baking a cake, and Alan and I are going to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday (Mitch likes Harry Potter a lot, too, but isn't quite as nerdy as we are). Harry will be twenty-nine years old (he was born in 1980). It's always a little confusing to think about that, because of when the books were released (I graduated with Harry Potter, who was seventeen in the seventh book, and that was published in 2007). Of course, Harry Potter is a fictional character, but I don't really think about that. Tomorrow is also J.K. Rowling's birthday, so I suppose we'll also celebrate her as well. After all, without Rowling, there would be no Harry Potter, no Severus Snape, no Rubeus Hagrid, no Albus Dumbledore...

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Of course I went to the midnight premiere! After all, I saw the first two films on their premiere days, and since the third (Prisoner of Azkaban), I've gone at midnight. I grew up with Harry Potter, so did you expect any less?

Here are some pics from that night:

Me (center), Lily, and Alan in the apartment, watching Prisoner of Azkaban before heading to the theater. Lily and Alan donned Ravenclaw gear; I wore Slytherin.

Lily read us trivia questions from the "Sorcerer's Stone Trivia Game." We got to the theater at 9 P.M., so we would have been pretty bored otherwise.

Alan showing us his nerd-face

Me (far-right), Alan, Mitch, and Lily. Mitch is dressed as a Muggle (non-magic folk, of course). He's no fun.

I try not to think about there being only two more Harry Potter midnight premieres in my life.

Oh, and I suppose I should say what I thought of the film:
First and foremost, I think, it's important to read the books before seeing this film. And I say this recognizing the fact that some people haven't read the books before seeing the first few films--so be it. But Half-Blood Prince moves at too fast a pace, I believe, for non-readers to keep up.
For devoted readers, on the other hand, Half-Blood Prince proves to be well-crafted. I like to keep in mind that film is very different from literature, and conveying ideas and events on the big screen is sometimes much harder to do than on paper. I say this because a number of events in the film differ drastically from the events in the book--the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, for example--but I deal. I understand.
As it should, the trio's (Rupert Grint's, Emma Watson's, and Dan Radcliff's) acting has improved in Half-Blood Prince. Alan Rickman returns in full enunciated glory, and Michael Gambon stops playing Dumbledore like he's an angry at the world.
All-in-all, Half-Blood Prince is easily the best Harry Potter film yet. It sets up Deathly Hallows (the 7th and final installment) well, and does nicely on its own. There are, of course, flaws, but none too aggravating.

Fortuna and the Rota Fortunae

Today's No, I Am a Cat title refers, of course, to Fortuna, the goddess of fate, luck, and fortune, and her wheel for determining fate, the Rota Fortunae.
My last two entries have been about my recently terrible luck. And by recently, I really mean the last three to four months. If you, my loyal readers, may remember, I couldn't land an internship (or even a job) for the life of me, was turned down for a hefty URGO grant, contracted a debilitating viral infection, and have, in general, dealt with a lot of frustrating stuff since April. Fortuna was definitely spinning her wheel in such a way that did not benefit me in the slightest.

The original "Wheel of Fortune"

But, like I predicted in my previous entry, "Backward deus ex machina, you can't keep me down," the Rota Fortunae is slowly beginning to spin in my favor. Here's the story:

A couple weeks ago, Mitch, my fiance, sent me a craigslist ad. It was from a man named Kevin, who works for "Shades of Yellow," a Hmong LGBT organization in St. Paul. Kevin was looking for a research and data analyst--someone who could do a bit of market research on health/wellness clinics in the Twin Cities. I quickly discovered, however, that I was a bit underqualified--Kevin was asking for said analyst to have at least one year of research experience. But I decided to send him an email anyway--and I told him, outright, that I didn't have the experience he was asking for. However, I added, I have roughly half the experience, and so would work for half the money. You see, Kevin was offering said analyst $1000 for roughly three weeks of work (part-time, too). I said I'd work for $650 (so a little over $10/hr). Well, Kevin seemed to like that: I'm now one of two Research and Data Analysts (i.e. market researchers) for Shades of Yellow.

Today was my first day. I met Kevin and Laura, the other analyst, and we went over some specifics. I've since decided this job is going to be mega-cool. I:
1) get to work from home most days--due to the fact that a lot of the research I'll be doing involves interviewing clinic staff over the phone. This'll make it easy for me to still give campus tours and tutor public speaking in the evenings.
2) am invited to attend SoY's leadership retreat in Wisconsin, as well as the Asian Pacific Islanders GLBT Conference in Seattle, Washington, for a mere $50 (that's the registration fee--everything else, including airfare and hotel-costs are covered by SoY). While I haven't decided if I'll attend the national conference (there is quite a bit of volunteer work required by each participant upon returning from the conference), the fact that it's an almost free option for me is exciting.
3) get to help a neat organization secure a $20,000 grant. Not only will it make me feel like the latter half of my summer wasn't a complete waste of time, it's going to look kick-ass on my resume.

Those are just a few reasons my new gig at Shades of Yellow is going to rock. I was a bit nervous before today, seeing as how I don't have a year of research experience (and relatively no experience in market research), but now, I'm confident I can do it. I did a little preparing over the weekend--studying what sort of questions market researchers ask, what I need to pay attention to in my own work (detail, correlations...)--and the like, and the people at SoY seem very friendly, so I'll have no problem bouncing ideas off my fellow analyst and the others (Kevin, etc.).

Aaaaah. I've been mentally sighing with relief for a few days now. To know that I have a well-paying job that helps people--there's no doubt that, at least for now, that Fortuna's making sure the Rota Fortunae lands well for me.

Backward deus ex machina, you can't keep me down!

With my last entry in mind (Lady Luck can be a bitch), you should read this New York Times piece by Alex Williams. It's about all the other U.S. students who have the exact same problem I do: We're smart, hardworking, and willing, but unable to land a job (especially an intellectually-stimulating job) or an internship--anywhere. And how, unable to find anything, we're stuck at home doing nothing--for what seems like the first time in our lives. As members of the Millennials or Generation Y, we grew up being told that, as long as we put our minds to it, and as long as we worked hard, we would do well--we would make money--we would be successful (the "American Dream," right?). And so we crammed in extracurricular activities and AP classes, believing that if we kept it up, someday we'd be rewarded. And we're finding that it was all a big lie. It doesn't matter what we do, because a backward deus ex machina came out of nowhere and fucked up all our plans and our dreams.

Do well in school? Hold leadership positions? Got a great smile? Oh well, you're still not getting an internship.

No, I don't actually believe that. It's just what it feels like. And it makes me feel better that I'm not the only frustrated student out there.

Though it's emotionally hard to do right now, I'm going to keep busting my butt. Even though I work, at most, five to six hours a week, and I didn't get any of the dozens of internships I applied for, I'm going to keep reading books about Japanese politics, and writing op-eds for game websites, and researching gender issues, because damn it, I've come this far and I'm not giving up.

This college student is wearing a smile while reading her textbooks, but I prefer war-paint.

Lady Luck can be a bitch

Hello beloved readers! Long-time-no-see.
Because I can't fill you in to every itty bitty thing that's happened in the world of Ali since my last entry (and by last entry, I mean the last time an entry was about my life as a student here at Augsburg College), I'll do a bullet-point deal.

I:

• was turned down for what seems like an infinite number of internships, despite my flawless academic record (a cumulative 4.0 GPA) and experiences as a visible leader on-campus and in my departments.
• cannot find an intellectually stimulating full-time job for the life of me. I give tours, and tutor, of course (and I love doing it), but with a puppy and an apartment to pay for, those very part-time jobs suffice only to cover those two expenses--with absolutely no money left over to pay off my computer and VISA bills.
• learned, because of this continual hardship, to never again put all my eggs in one basket. You see, I fully intended to get an URGO grant to study gender representation in video games this summer; and I assumed that, with my outstanding record, I would have no problem securing a grant. I was wrong. And now I have nothing.
• completed 100 hours of research for URGO (definitely not what I originally applied to do, but it was something), and compiled approximately fifty pages of notes from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
  
• was taken to the emergency room, where I found out I had a viral infection attacking my joints--which explained my week-long total inability to move without severe pain. This, in turn, kept me from attending my last two Intercultural Communication classes--and from taking the final exam. Luckily (although I don't use that word very often anymore), my professor let me take it a few days after, and I nailed it (a perfect score).

I suppose that's it, really. Of course, I've had more fun that I let on, but when Lady Luck keeps kicking me even though I've been down and out for three months, it's the aforementioned kind of stuff that dominates my train of thought.
But the way I see it--the way I've come to expect life to be--sooner or later, Lady Luck will quit being such a bitch.

C'mon, gimme a break, will ya?