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| For one of my classes, I have to read "When the Little Things Count... and They Always Count" by Barbara Pachter. Go figure the first time I bother to crack it open, I find myself appauled by how sexist it is! Here are a few quotes from the chapter on how to dress for work (office) that reeally stood out to me. "'Sally, one of our field representatives, showed up at the office on a hot summer day wearing a low-cut sleeveless blouse and very short skirt. We were shocked. We are a very conservative organization and we thought Sally understood this. I lost all respect for her that day." I would've done the same thing. Sounds to me that she was dressed for the weather. I wear sleeveless on sweaty days to avoid dealing with underarm sweat rings. And I really don't think anyone's respect should be hanging on what they choose to wear. "Know what message you're sending. What is your clothing saying about you? Does it project the image of a serious professional? If a woman wears a sexy, tight, seductive dress to a company party, what message is she sending? You want to be viewed as someone who pays attention to detail and is ready for work." First of all, I'm not sending a message with the clothes I wear. I'm just putting clothes on. Secondly, by wearing something that looks good on me, that it showing that I do pay attention to detail, that I notice what does and doesn't look good on me. And if what I'm wearing is "sexy" suddenly that means I'm not ready for work? What's that supposed to mean? That I'm ready for something else? By dressing sexy, I can't be ready for work, I can only be ready for... sex? Fuck that. "Women need to avoid very high heels- a 2'' to 2 1/2'' heel is appropriate." What shoes I choose to wear don't inhibit my ability to sit at a desk and do paperwork. Plus, in my experience, cute shoes don't come in a 2-2.5 in heel. Cute shoes come in flats, kitten heels, and stilettos. "Be prepared. Men should keep an electrice razor for five o'clock shadow. Women should keep an extra pair of stockings and a nail file." Not many women wear stockings anymore. And if I were wearing a pair that got a bad run in them, I'd just take them off. And why do women need to keep a nail file? How is a lady snaggly nail any worse than a man's snaggly nail? "Don't dress too sexy! Showing too much leg (even really good ones) and revealing too much cleavage (no matter the size of your breasts) is never an appropriate way to dress for the office. This is the kind of mistake that can severely damage a woman's credibility in the workplace." Some of this seems to be reiterating an early point. And I'm just gonna throw this out there. I work hard to look the way I do. If you've got it, flaunt it! Seeing someone good lookin' ain't gonna hurt nobody. "Long hair on a woman in the workplace is too girlish, sexy, or distracting. If you choose to wear long hair, pull it back or put it up." My hair doesn't get in the way of sitting at a desk and doing paperwork. I'm not modifying my hairstyle for the tard who can't wrap their pea-sized brain around the idea of the length of my hair. Just needed to rant. Thanks! Love, Sharon. | | |
| Well, I am no longer at my old job that was not lining my wallet with enough I cushion and causing me too much headache. Thank God! It had been shit there and hurting me financially on top of being treated like crap since October. I am not at LA Fitness in Denton, and it is so much better there. I get a free tanning membership, people are nice, it's pretty relaxed, and I can work as many hours as I want. I only make 50 cents an hour there than at the previous job, but I also make commission, so it works out about the same if not better. Plus I get to workout at any location for free and can bring up to two guests with me. Other than that, I dropped one of my classes, my feature writing class. It sounds like a great class and all, but I just don't have the time to give it my all the semester. They were talking about really spending time with the characters of our stories, like 3 days and whatnot. I just didn't have the time or financial security for that. I would have to have a steady job making enough money to be able to take that time off to work on that for school. But I was not working enough, so the time I wasn't working, I was really needing to spend finding another job. But next semester, it should be better, because David should have a regular teaching job, so he'd be making enough money, where I wouldn't have to worry about working so much and can focus on finishing school for my last semester. I met with my advisor, and I am still on track for graduating my December. I was hoping I could graduate by August, but NONE of my journalism classes will be offered over the summer :(. So, over the summer, i should just have a biology lab and an internship, then in the fall, four upper-level journalism classes, then I'll be done. If I take the classes I want though, my schedule is gonna be all kindsa funky :/. Oh well. At least I'll be done soon. In other news... My oldest brother, Ryan finally got married!!! I thought this day would never come. He is very lucky. His wife is a very nice lady (better than he deserves, if ya ask me). It was a small but nice wedding, and I was so lucky as to be the maid of honor. It was also nice, because I was able to make sure my sister and I didn't have to spend any money on shoes and dresses for the wedding, using what I had in my closet (lucky we're the same size), and borrowed some shoes from a friend for myself. Anyway, glad to have her (Skye) and her sweet daughter (Lynzie) in the family now. My little brother (Steven) and his girlfriend (Stevie) seem pretty sweet. They've been together for a little over a year, I guess. Give it some time. They're still babies. David and I finally got our tax returns in. I got $1,609. I was a little bit behind with the change in jobs and not getting enough hrs, so my car payment was so late, that I had to make a double payment. Then I paid off my credit cards, and now I'm broke again :/. At least David got a good tax return and is making decent money on top of that. He's been working 7 days a week. He got a full time substitute teaching job at the school he did his student teaching at, and he's still working Fri nts, and Sat and Sun at Walgreen's still. He's now the bread-winner. I'm still not used to it. It's weird. I need to be making more money, damn it. But I'll worry about that after I finish school... Anyway, the hookah (and my boo) beckons... Love, Sharon. | | |
| This semester is looking to be like it'll be a better one than last semester. I had some easy classes last semester, and one really intense one that had me doing crap all the time, and I was working a lot and having a hard time emotionally since my grandma died last semester. So far, I like my classes. I'm taking my last Spanish class to finish my minor in Spanish, and I'm also taking Pilates, Personal Development, and two journalism classes (photojournalism and feature writing). I don't really feel like I'm the best with the camera, but I'm not the worst either. It also helps that the teacher is very helpful and available for extra explaining to figure that technology out. I lucked out, and my dad is lending me his fancy camera for the class. And in my feature writing class, I'm so happy and relieved to finally have a writing journalism class that encourages flourish of words and eloquent descriptions (whereas with the news writing, they wanted short and sweet, and dumbed-down language to a 5th grade level or something like that...). I'm enjoying Pilates and look forward to getting toned this semester. David finished his teaching certification in December and landed a full-time subbing position at the school he did his student teaching at, and hopefully he wil get a teaching position in the fall. We just celebrated our 4 year anniversary yesterday, and it was wonderful. Spent wayyy too much money, but at least we had fun. Looking forward to Valentine's, my favorite holiday. It won't be as extravagent, but I'll be happy so long as I just get to spend the evening with my man. Love, Sharon. | | |
| Nonchalant sailboat
Superfluous acrobat
Vindictive nature.
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| It's been a fairly rough semester so far. Mreh. Can't wait to just be done with school already! I've got the senioritis pretty bad. If the last few classes I need to take will be offered in the summer, I should be finished with school by August. Taking 12 hours, all upper-level classes this semester on top of belly dance twice a week in Bedford and working full time between my two jobs. Need to find an internship for the summer. Needs to be decently paid. Will already be paying tuition to do it, I'm not going without pay or making minimum wage. Girl's got bills to pay. Would prefer to start writing for a magazine. My favorite class this semester is easily Beverage Survey. We get to learn about the making of wine, beers, and distilled spirits... and taste them! It's the bee's knees. Very interesting. I'm also enjoying my journalism class where we get to write stories for the school paper. I'm officially a published writer. Three stories thus far. I'm not liking my journalism PR for non-profits class. It's really cool and great that we get to work with non-profits, come up with marketing plans and actually implement them. I just don't like that the prof doesn't seem to understand that not everyone in the class is a PR or marketing major. I've never taken a PR or marketing class before in my life, so I don't really have a great grasp on everything. He seems to assume that we know all these terms and whatnot... Plus we have to work in groups. Our group leader / leaders don't seem to take into account everyone's busy schedules and just decides on stuff around their schedules then just tells everyone else last miniute. Doesn't work for me. On the bright side, I really love the non-profit I'm getting to work for. It's reSale by CCA. CCA is a Christian group that helps people who can't afford their costs of living. They offer free health clinics, a food pantry, clothes, help with rent, everything. The best part is that they also have workshops on finding a job and working on resumes and whatnot to help their "angels" get back on their feet. I am so glad I am able to help this group out, because when I was growing up, my mom was a single mom raising five kids. We were very poor, and churches and our schools were so kind to help us out. They were the nicest people. I remember one time, they were bringing our Christmas gifts and hiding them in the mess that was my mom's closet. An iron fell on one of the ladies' heads. I felt really bad about it, but she was nothing but nice. My grandma Hodges died on September 27. It was especially difficult, because her memorial service wasn't until October 21. That in-between time was hell. But at least the memorial has finally come and gone. I feel much better now, after I was able to go out there and get that over with. The Treasures have been so kind as to be in the talent show for my music class and perform with me, belly dancing with swords and veils. I'm so glad that they agreed to help me out, and I don't have to do it alone. Looking forward to the performance next Monday. It's good that we've been working on that choreography some more to fine-tune and improve it, because it has a lot of potential. Gotta work tomorrow. Time for bed. If anyone has any suggestions for my internship, let me know. Thanks! :) Love, Sharon. | | |
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