Under Construction

Big life changes in the last few weeks. Mostly good ones. I graduated, got a job, and made some decisions.

I'm working for a tech startup, and it's pretty fun and exciting so far. I have been learning a lot, and I'm getting opportunities to write, to be creative, and to take on responsibility. It's a big change from my last few jobs...in a very good way. The funny thing is, I applied for this job the week before graduation. I had signed on with a temp agency as a last resort, because all of my resumes were going out into the void with no response. Temping wasn't quite what I had in mind for myself when I went back to finish my degree, but I was down to the wire with no good leads. Still, I had this superstitious kind of feeling that if I kept looking, I would find something at the very last minute that would be perfect for me. And then I did.

The mixed blessing is that I'm only working three days a week right now. This makes my checking account sad. I'll have to figure out a way to make more money before too long, but I'm scraping by for now. The upside is that it's giving me a lot of time to focus on some personal projects, and it seems like this is a good time for me to be frugal, go to the gym, spend some time on my own, do some cocooning, make some progress, and figure out some long-term plans for myself.

I'm participating in a writing workshop this summer, and I hope that it's going to help me gain some creative momentum. I worry that - now that I'm out of school and don't have deadlines or assignments - I won't be able to find the motivation to keep working on my writing projects. I'm probably going to apply for an MFA program in creative writing, and I can imagine it being very easy to keep putting it off until next year, then the next, then the next. So, in the workshop, I'm trying to get rolling on the project that I'm planning to use as my portfolio. It's a non-fiction project that is rather close to my heart, which makes it easy to think about and talk about, but it's difficult to meet the standard that I have imagined for the piece. I think I may have had a breakthrough on the subway yesterday, though, so hopefully I've reached a turning point. The goal is to get it in shape by the end of the summer, so I can send out applications at the end of the year...

Shadows, Textures, Reflections

Photography Final Presentation from Meg Kramer on Vimeo.

A photography portfolio.

Onward and Upward

Where there is change, there is opportunity. That's one of those things that people say to other people, when that second group of people is freaking out about, say, job-hunting.

I am job-hunting, but I'm not freaking out...yet. I'm embracing the opportunity that will, doubtless, present itself to me, but not without much searching and effort on my part, because that is how a quest works. I'm writing cover letters that, hopefully, express with some sincerity my many fine qualities, useful skills, and general strength of character. I'm graduating in one month and I am not freaking out. But I'm really going to miss The New School and the freedom it has afforded me to explore so many different interests. And I'm also going to miss doing most of my work in my pajamas.

Hello, Sunshine

The park across the street is a Wi-Fi hotspot, and the weather forecast predicts high temps in the 70s for today. So why am I still in my pajamas? C'mon laptop, let's get us some vitamin D.

Hello, sunshine. Hello, springtime. Hello, sandals. I've missed you.

CHAdeMO: Resurrecting the Electric Car

What’s a coalition of automotive heavyweights without a little whimsy? CHAdeMO wants you to drink green tea while you charge your electric car.

Read the article on Temporist.

Microactivism: If We Ran the World

“We want to tap the single largest pool of untapped natural resource in the world: human good intentions that never translate into action.”

Here's my post on Temporist.

Updates

So, the big news right now is that I've just started contributing to futurist blog Temporist. This means that I am spending ever more time reading science news and trying to imagine what other people will find interesting. I, of course, get excited about it all. I'm trying hard to work my way to a bloggier/informal style, but gosh, it's hard not to skew academic when writing about stem cell research.

The other biggish news is that I've started sending some short stories out to journals for consideration. Already got a rejection letter and everything. I'm not discouraged about it; this is rite of passage. It would probably be some kind of jinx if my first piece were to be accepted somewhere immediately. One nice thing about the process is that I had to write a short personal bio, so I spent some time thinking about how to make myself sound like I've accomplished things in my life (and I HAVE accomplished things, I just haven't been paid for any of the work I'm proud of). So watch for my "About Me" blurb on this blog to change sometime soon. You'll be surprised at how cool I am. And to think you never knew...

My projects for my life right now are:
Write about the future.
Continue working on the electricity piece. (I think it wants to be a book!)
Wrap up some short stories that have been lingering unfinished.
Stay in touch with people who have been supportive or encouraging.
Keep up with the schoolwork.
Update my resume.
Find a JOB!