The Cake that Took the Cake

I missed a February post by that much. Blimey. Oh well, I prefer March to February anyway - now that I don't get Presidents' Day off from work. Happy March! Beware the Ides of it! Aaaaand scene.

I've been home over a month now. Can you believe it? I can't. I left Arlington, VA, on January 24th and arrived in Tulsa on January 25th. I think we can all agree that I've been home over a month. And this week will be my fourth on the job. How did I get so Tulsan again so quickly? I don't know where the time went, but I'll tell you this: I'm loving it. Who knew I'd be back on the streets of Tulsa - driving, not walking, as this is no pedestrian city - and so happy to see that Taco Cabana and that Panera bread and that ORU?! It is good to be home again.

Alright, I'm going to insert my foot into my mouth RIGHT NOW and tell you what my goals are for this year in Tulsa. Yes, please remind me of these in 9 months and listen to my sob stories of how I just couldn't quite get them all accomplished. Whatever. Here we go: I want to take violin lessons again, I want to learn to cook more foods, I want to pick up this physical fitness thingy again and I want to spend more time poolside during the warmer months. My first goal isn't set in stone, but I would love to be a sub again for the Tulsa Signature Symphony. I did that when I was living here last and it was great fun. Plus, this October my dad and brother will performing with the symphony, and it'd be jolly good to play with them. I told my mom I wanted to learn to cook more and I'm worried that will be interpreted as let-me-cook-for-you-often. Nope! I just want to try new recipes and...okay, that does sound like let-me-cook-for-you-often. Okay, maybe I'll start trying one new recipe a week. Geez, I should just take some initiative. I'm not shaking on it!

Alright, here's the rub with the physical fitness thing. I really have to do it. Problem! I don't walk everywhere anymore. In DC I walked two miles everyday just to get to and from the metro. I canceled my gym membership because that was enough of a work out for me in the winter months. Well, now I'm driving everywhere AND sitting at a desk all day AND sitting on my couch at night to (re)read Harry Potter. But how to get motivated to pick up those running shoes again? Maybe look in the mirror. Ha! Self-deprecating humor! It's like I'm hilarious and British! Anyway, that's a goal. March is a good time for this. Perhaps I'll pair that goal with giving up something junk foody for Lent. Perhaps.

Finally, let's spend some time at the pool, people. I don't have one, but I know people. I have pool connections. I just have to milk them for all they're worth. Not that I'm using anyone. Aaaand scene.

You know, I've found myself a lot busier than I thought I'd be upon returning home. For some reason I had this expectation that I'd be home every night, wondering what activities I should get involved in so I could "plug in" to the community. I guess that's been my task the last two moves I've made (i.e. Kentucky and DC), so I assumed the same would go for Tulsa. Nerd. How about all the friends I haven't seen in ages? How about the musical events I attend because I'm finally in the same city where my dad and brother play? How about it?! Maybe that's why this month flew by...

Alright, I have a cake story, slash explanation for the picture that won't seem to copy and paste to the bottom of this post. My Sunday school class made a cake to auction off at the annual FUMC Birthday Banquet, an event to raise money for youth missions. Not only were we making a cake to raise money for the youth, we were making a cake to win the "Best Cake" prize. Last Saturday we gathered, tools in hand, to make a penguin and his igloo look impressive. We even incorporated a class "uniform" into our presentation. Gotta admit, victory tastes sweet.

Overcompensating

The OHR mentor coordinator told us that we had until August 28th to turn in our complete Individual Development Plans (IDPs). Oh boy. If you read my post on "The Real World: Goals " you'll know exactly how that statement made me feel. In sum, it activated my sensitive gag reflex. However, this weekend I started jotting down some ideas based on the results of a personal assessment I took. I knew I wanted great knowledge of the Smithsonian Institution (SI), I knew I wanted to increase my professional network (IMPW) and I knew that I wanted to improve my written communication skills (INTIWTIMWCS).

I completed my IDP draft today and emailed it to my mentor. I had 8 goals (as determined by the assessment administered to me by the program coordinator), 16 reasons why these goals would help me professionally and personally, 13 activities I will pursue to accomplish these goals, 9 dates for completion of my goals and sub-goals, 13 resources I will need to accomplish said goals, and 9 methods with which to measure my progress. I thought that's what I was supposed to do. Apparently, I went overboard.

In my defense, the example IDP I received looked a lot like the one I created. Okay, okay, there was no (or little) plagiarism involved. What I mean is that the format looked the same. I thought that for each goal I needed 2 or 3 reasons why said goal would help me personally and professionally and at least 2 activities I would pursue to attain the goals. Then of course I had to have completion dates for the activities, measurements for progress and blah blah blah. Formatting. That's what I was going for. I didn't want to look like a slacker, especially because every time my mentor asked me what I wanted to accomplish I really, really, really sounded like a slacker.

I sent my completed IDP draft to my mentor so he could look over it and make suggestions. This is what he said to me: "It certainly seems like you're going to be pretty busy over the next few months!" Oh garsh. Now he probably thinks I'm an over-achiever. Undo! Undo! Undo!

The Real World: Goals

Are we supposed to have them? Well, apparently when you're in a mentor-mentee relationship, you are. I know this because I've been given the task of hashing out 8 professional goals for myself over the next 6 months. Allow me to rephrase. I have less than two weeks to figure out how to achieve 8 professionals goals in the next 6 months. Cripes.

Whatever happened to just hanging out and maybe just seeing how things play out? Since when is it vital to set goals for yourself professionally? Don't answer that. I KNOW the answer. I'm just annoyed by it is all. I mean, I have some goals in my head: make some money, pay some bills, work some but mostly hang out. I even have more ambitious goals in mind: make some more money, pay off my college loans, use more money to vacation to more exotic places once I make the more money. But now I have to formalize my goals. And I have to get my supervisor to approve them, AND my mentor. Poor guy. He must think I'm hopeless.

Luckily, I have all my papers from career counseling at UK. I have reacquainted myself with my personality type, what sorts of things I value in a job and blah blah blah. It's given me some ideas for my "Individual Development Plan." Ugh. When my mentor and I were talking the other day he said something like, "So you're not one of those really driven people who knew what you wanted to do since you were young." I said, "Sure I knew what I wanted to do when I was young, but that changed every six months." Actually, I wasn't being quite honest. It didn't change. I wanted to be a movie star for years and years. I only gave up that dream when I realized it required moving and auditions and eating Ramen, AGAIN, for months on end while I acted in B movies that I would be more embarrassed by if they weren't paying the bills. But back to reality...The Real World, if you will.

Goals. Gotta have 'em if you want to be motivated and get anywhere in life, I suppose. And so I've come up with my top two goals: Smithsonian Institution Knowledge and Developing My Professional Network. My mentor can help me with both of those. I just have to come up with a plan to attain those goals in the next six months and some performance measurements. BORING! Then, of course, I have to do the same for the six other goals I came up with during my personal assessment test: Creativity & Innovation, Written Communication, Ability to Influence Others, Getting Results, Flexibility & Adaptability, and Stress Tolerance. I'm not sure exactly how I'm supposed to increase my creativity and innovation, for example. How am I supposed to measure my progress in that area? What sorts of exercises can help me get there? I mean, if I'm thinking of creative writing then no problem - I'll set myself a goal of writing a short story every month and reading it aloud or something. But I'm also supposed to be thinking about being creative in my job right now. Not too easy when I'm a data entry specialist. How do I get creative and innovative there? These are not rhetorical questions.

So that's my goal - to formalize my goals. Who knew getting a mentor would require so much homework? Granted, this is a good thing. I need to think about this stuff. I'm not all that concerned about my career path, but that doesn't mean I should sit idly by and not make things happen for myself, right? Right. Hmmm, it might be a good start if I stop blogging and get to that mentee homework.

Bye bye.