The Suicide Pact

I made a suicide pact with Kit and Amanda last Halloween. We were sitting in the car, in costume, and promised each other we wouldn't spend next Halloween together because we'd be living in different cities with different jobs. They'll be in Vegas this Halloween, and I'll be in Fort Wayne. But none of us have new jobs so it looks like they're diving off the Stratosphere, and I'm doing myself in with pills.

It's no secret I am looking for a job in the Chicago area. When I started applying early last summer, I had NO IDEA it would take this long. Of course, I picked the ultimate perfect time to search for employment. Not only am I looking for a job, but so are hundreds, if not thousands, of journalists who have been laid-off.

I visit your average journalism job sites: JournalismJobs, MediaBistro and all of the media companies' Web sites. But so does every other out-of-work journalist. Who have more experience than me. At bigger papers. As far as the newspaper world, I am limiting myself to basically three newspapers, the Sun-Times, Tribune and Daily Herald, so I automatically put myself at a disadvantage. I'd consider Milwaukee and just applied for a job in Madison, Wisc. on a whim.

Don't get me wrong. I'm very thankful to even have a job. If I didn't, Chachi and I would pack up and move back to Casa de Soderlund, only to be left a chore list every day that would no doubt include: hauling wood from one area of our house to the other (for no given reason); possibly mowing or aerating the lawn (though my dad would come home and redo it himself anyway); and various combinations of my all time favorite tasks of dusting, vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom.

I'm thankful but sick of living on NOTHING. I don't feel like a grown up. I'm sick of throwing my money away on rent and am envious of my big girl friends who own their own homes and have lots of money to decorate.

So I've thought of other areas of communication I could work in. Namely, public relations. That was a big deal to shift my mindset toward applying for PR job. In journalism school, you're taught that PR people are the devil. When you become a journalist, you learn they nearly are. And it just seems .... boring compared to what I'm used to. I've applied for a handful of jobs that seem slightly interesting. I just applied for a couple jobs at Harpo Productions (Oprah's company) that got me excited. And I wouldn't mind doing PR for a college or school districts. But corporate PR makes me want to vomit.

I'm taking suggestions for the perfect pill combination.