Tag: experiences

Looking for a job to enjoy

MiaLeave a comment
need a job on cardboard
Photo: WP Free Photos

Do you enjoy your job?

Daily Prompt

The question is IF I had a job to enjoy. I had a few boring jobs when I was younger. It was when I didn’t know what I wanted to do. The jobs were boring, and they felt forced. They were internships where you get 9 euros per day, plus unemployment benefits. At least I had something to do. You would think you didn’t need to apply for so-called boring jobs when you know what kind of job you’re looking for. I never wanted a job everyone else had, so I have studied creative things. I want to work in design. No matter how many degrees you have, it doesn’t mean you get a job. I don’t look like a satyr, but I guess employers don’t like my face. They don’t look at your education; they look at your work experiences. When seeing mine, they probably think there is something wrong with me. There must be since I don’t even get internships in the field. How can you get job experience when no one gives you a chance.

I applied for a part-time job last week, and they said they would contact me this week. It’s Friday now, and nothing has happened. Waiting is the hardest part. I hope they haven’t forgotten. It’s a job where you use social media. It would start in August/September. Some employers don’t reply at all, so at least I got something. The job would be a wage subsidy place, so I would get an actual salary. About 3 years ago, I was in one as a media assistant. It was a job I liked, and my workmates were great. It was for 11 months, but I was also laid off for a while because of covid. Even if I liked the job, I wouldn’t want to go again. It’s like returning to the crime scene; I want to move on.

If I had a job, it would be something creative. It should be flexible and maybe have some travelling in it. Remote jobs would be good. I hate getting up early, so working at home would be nice. I want a position where I feel I belong. The working world is fake; you need to be something you’re not. It’s a lie that you should be yourself. You’re not allowed for real, especially in job interviews. It’s a shame job search has become so complicated. You must be like a brand if you’re looking for a job. It’s not enough to know how to do a job; you also need to be a social butterfly. Social isn’t the same as being talkative. When I was an intern at a local newspaper as a photographer, the final report said I wasn’t social enough. I only got two weeks there, so how would they know. I enjoyed being the photographer because I didn’t need to sit in an office all day. That’s the kind of job I want to do, versatile.

It seems becoming an entrepreneur is being fake too. You see them showing their faces like it’s the only way to find clients. If you don’t want to show your face, use your voice. What if you look awful in photos and you don’t like your voice? Should you forget entrepreneurship? That’s the image social media marketing people give. Either way, a brand seems to be the only way to get anything today. And that’s a shame.

My few concert experiences

MiaLeave a comment
concert
Photo by Sebastian Ervi on Pexels.com

I wanted to go to a concert when I was a teenager in the 1990s, but my mother didn’t let me. At the time, foreign bands didn’t come to Finland that often. You had to travel to Stockholm, Sweden. But sometimes, they did, which was great. The American boyband, New kids on the block, was the first band I wanted to see live in concert. Perhaps the tickets were expensive, so my mother didn’t want to pay for them. The same with the British boyband, Take That. They haven’t been here since then. I’ve only seen their concert on TV and once in a movie theatre. But it’s not the same. They’re still around, but they succeed more in their own country. I haven’t heard their songs on the radio anymore. But thanks to Spotify, I can listen to them.

I have never been into festivals. I think I have only been in one, but that was a free one. I have no memory of it, but I’m sure I have been into one. There are always some bands or artists I can’t stand at festivals. Concerts are more my kind of events. It took until 2017 that I got the courage to go to a concert. Before that, I didn’t like big crowds and didn’t have the money to go, either. The first concert was by Robbie Williams. That was the moment I got the going to concerts- bug. It was such a great experience. It’s the atmosphere and feeling of seeing your favourite artist in real life. You’re there with other people who have the same favourite as yours. The best part of a concert is when the audience sings along to the songs. The performer loves the feeling too.

This year, as you might know, I went to two other concerts. The one I really looked forward to seeing was Duran Duran. (FYI, today it’s Duran Duran Appreciation Day) You can read about the concert from the link to the band’s name in this paragraph, so I don’t need to repeat it. It was worth waiting for. Who knows if they will come back to Finland again. I can’t afford to travel aboard to see concerts, so they better get here instead.

I don’t usually do things without thinking, but when the American band Toto would come to my city, I didn’t think twice about it to go. I’m not that familiar with their music, but I know their hits. They’ve been around since 1977, with different line-ups since then. I listened to their other songs before I went to the concert. They composed most of the soundtrack to the original movie, Dune, in 1984, so they’ve also done songs without words. In the concert, there were awesome different instrument solos. I’ve always been fascinated by how some people can play instruments so well. I can hardly play easy songs.

In concerts, the volume is so loud, so sometimes you don’t hear what a band is playing or saying between songs. No wonder they have earplugs in their ears when they perform. Loud noises are not suitable for your hearing in the long run. I haven’t used earplugs. It’s a bit scary to put them inside my ears. My hearing is still great, anyway. The concerts should be heard as intended, loud and live. It’s only for a short period anyway. It can take years before I go to concerts again. If only that Elton John concert wouldn’t have been cancelled. It would have been next year. Oh, well that’s how it goes sometimes. You can’t always get what you want. Not even in concerts.

Narrowing down is the hardest thing

Mia2 Comments
two yellow lines on asphalt
Photo: Andrew Martin Pixabay

When you’re a person who likes to do more than one thing in their life, narrowing them down is the hardest thing. Sometimes I wish I could narrow my interests, but I’m not that kind of person. I could have achieved so much more if I had only concentrated on a few things. It feels like time is running out, and I don’t have time to do anything. I need to have time to be lazy too. I thought I wanted to be one thing, but my interests got somewhere else. That’s how my life has been. So many choices but so little time. Maybe one of the reasons why I have had so many problems with decisions is that I think the grass is greener on the other side. Perhaps I’ve been too unrealistic with what I’ve wanted to do in my life. It isn’t a lack of support from other people. I subconsciously don’t dare to do things because I’m too scared of failing. Or maybe I’m just too lazy. It can also be like that because I failed many times, so I don’t want to go through it again. I know when you fall, you get up again, but still, I don’t get anything done.

I could have narrowed things down, but I like to be versatile. I never wanted to have an ordinary job, so it was difficult to know what to study. When I finally do, that’s not enough either. The reality is that some people are narrow-minded, even if they might think that they aren’t. Their opinion is that you need to have specific education and a certain amount of job experience to be good enough to be in their little group known as ‘their business’. You need to be a student or have an amount of experience to even get an internship. Neither way, you can’t gain experience if you’re not allowed to practice your skills in a job. I’ve started to believe I’m not meant to be a graphic designer. At Helsinki Design School, where I studied some years ago, I didn’t get the encouragement I expected. I got the assumption that I’m only average compared to the others. One time I got feedback on a poster I made about my city from one of the teachers. I should have done some research, and she wouldn’t have put it on her wall. I know my town, so there is no need for it. I just think she didn’t understand my style. One opinion doesn’t make me believe I’m bad at graphic design. Drawing isn’t my strong point anyway. It makes you think twice, though. It’s the same with photography. I doubt my skills in that too. Seeing other people’s work doesn’t help me either. It’s a little depressing. It makes me think I’m not good enough at anything. It feels like I’m an outcast and don’t belong to this creative business club. Maybe I have wasted my time and life thinking I have what it takes to be a graphic designer. Or any other job where design is concerned.

It’s a positive thing to have knowledge of many things instead of only having one narrow one. Both have a good and a bad side. If you know about many things, it’s also more challenging to choose between them. If you have a narrowed skill, it’s easier to improve that. Either way, both are needed. If there is something you can’t do, there is always someone who can. I only wish someone could have some use for my skills in the workplace, but I guess there isn’t. Too bad for them.