:Nintendo Widow

Lately, I’ve felt really worn out. I’m feeling a lot better physically, but the two week trip to China really took it out of me. During finals, I was mentally exhausted. Now I’m just emotionally worn down. I’m just not motivated for anything. Today, I had a four hour leadership training seminar with my fellow MBA club leaders. It was good and I was very excited about the upcoming year during the session. Once I got home, I just didn’t know what to do with myself. Of course I should study or call relatives I haven’t spoken to in weeks, but I just didn’t feel like it. I didn’t feel like doing anything fun or otherwise. I just wanted to turn on some music and lie in bed.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me. School this quarter should be really fun - only three more core classes and then some cool electives. I don’t know, I’m just…done.

I think I should start exercising again. I got a lot of good walking in while in China. That was really good. My favorite thing was the bike ride. Maybe I should dig my bike out of our storage closet and go for a ride on the neighborhood hike and bike trail. I have time now and I think it would help clear my head. I’m just so blah lately.

No Comments

I made it home alright. Compared to the students who went to India, we had it easy. They arrived home after a mind-numbingly long flight to discover that the airline lost everyone’s luggage. Total suck.

I’m jetlagged but the landscape has lifted my mood a bit. While I was away, the cherry trees have come into bloom. Everywhere I walk I’m showered with falling blossoms. It’s sunny and gorgeous. Too bad all I want to do is sleep. I hear that sunshine and exercise are the best ways to get over jetlag so I’m taking a few extra walks today despite my exhaustion.

No Comments

I had my first 6 hour interview today. I feel really good about it and I’m jazzed about the internship. It is for a large, well-known company that has a well-structured internship program. I will get a lot of hands-on experience as well as required networking and team-building time.

This type of internship may not be for everyone, but I truly appreciate a structured training program. I do not want to show up to my internship and read a book while waiting for my computer to be set up or for my employer to figure out what to do with me. I want a schedule and I want it now. This is the type of internship program that makes my little heart go pitter-pat.

My second 6 hour interview is tomorrow. I should be fine as long as I don’t run out of energy and blank.

Today, I accomplished no schoolwork. This is bad and good. Bad: I did not study for my exams. Good: I got a lot of quality networking time in for both internships. Bad: I haven’t come up with a schedule for completing my take-home finals and studying for the rest. Good: I went to a fun Women in Business Club officer meeting and then topped off the evening with classmates at a local wine bar.

No Comments

On Friday, our strategy professor grilled us on our midterm papers. As a team, we had to come up with a comprehensive turnaround strategy for a failing company and include the financial data to support it. Since this is our first strategy class, many of us were stymied by this assignment. Our professor cold-called us and grilled us on our assumptions. We’ve come to expect this teaching style, but for me it can be quite intimidating. In fact, it’s pretty stressful.

After the first hour of class, he relaxed a little. He explained to us that he is being tough on us for a good reason. When we’re in a boardroom defending ourselves, we need to be prepared for anything. Although this is a tough lesson to learn, it is absolutely necessary and, as our professor said, those board members won’t be as easy on us as he is.

2 Comments

I fell asleep at school today. I was working on a team strategy paper in the MBA lounge this afternoon and I just needed a nap. My teammates were working on a question and I needed their answers before I could add my part. I was sitting in the back of the cube with my head resting in the corner. I thought “Wow, I could just go to sleep here and it wouldn’t be a big deal. My teammates are right here. They can just wake me up when they need me.” It made perfect sense.
I told them that I would be “resting my eyes” for a few minutes. I hope they weren’t too disgusted. I think they were more amused when I tried to groggily answer a question from a team in the neighboring cube. At least the carpet marks on my face weren’t too noticeable.

This week has been it. We are at the end of our ropes. We smile and just pray that we’ll get to sleep for more than 4 hours a night. I’m exhausted, but I’m not half as tired as my classmates who have additional electives and competitions this quarter. I have an additional two-hour class for my study tour, but that only meets twice a month.

In other news, Danny and I hit the liquor store on the way home from dinner and I got a fresh bottle of vodka to celebrate the end of hell week, or at least when I turn in my take-home marketing midterm this weekend.

1 Comment

I had my Finance midterm this morning. It was tough but not as toenail-rippingly painful as I had imagined. Like Jonathan, I like Finance but I think it’s having second thoughts about the relationship. Until then, I can treat it sweetly and give it extra attention until it comes around and we make beautiful mathmatical music together.

Tomorrow afternoon I have my macroeconomics midterm followed by a late night of strategy project cramming. I will be able to breathe a deep sigh of relief on Thursday night. I still have a take home marketing midterm for the weekend, but I’m not terrified by that. I probably should be a bit more wary but I’m not. I haven’t the energy for worrying about what might go wrong.

In other semi-related news, I’m running for one of the MBA student government VP positions. The program development VP is a fairly new position and I’m going to use it to try to get the MBA blogging thing up and running. We have a lot of interest in the blogging initiative, just not the time to do anything about it. Maybe by the end of spring we’ll have something working. I’m always optimistic.

Despite the pile of work, I do see a light at the end of the tunnel and, as a result, I’m in a much better mood than expected. I hope it lasts through tomorrow night when I’ll be slogging away at strategy.

No Comments

The number of group projects required of us this quarter is bordering on ridiculous.

This post from Isaac cracked me up.

No Comments

I am not good at writing cover letters. I’m a writer for crying out loud but I don’t know how to market myself. I’m not overly modest, but I have a hard time saying that I can positively contribute to XYZ company with my limited knowledge and experience. Since I’m a career changer, I have the most to gain from the experience. I need to get better at spinning it so that it sounds like I’m “doing them a favor” by offering them my expertise.

I know that companies offer internships so that people like me CAN get experience, but it’s just a weird situation for me. I’ve never had to market myself. Usually I got recruited for a job because some of my skills showed up in a resume text search.

As for marketing myself in-person, I’m pretty good at that. I like talking to people. I like finding out what they do, what they like about their job and ultimately what they’re looking for in an employee. It isn’t always that simple, but I can smile and get across who I am in person or even over the phone better than I can on paper.

I’m not stressing about this too much. I have an appointment tomorrow with someone at our career center to look over my cover letter and give me tips on how to market myself. I am applying for a really cool internship and I want everything to be as perfect as possible. I’m not worried about it, but getting another pair of eyes to look over my work will put my mind at ease.

In other news, I’ve been busy. One of my classmates put it nicely: the level of work isn’t harder, but the level of team projects has skyrocketed. It’s true. I’ve had team meetings every day this week except for Wed and that’s because we didn’t have class on Wednesday. I had OTHER meetings, but no sanctioned, official team meetings.

Midterms start on Monday and I’ll be spending all weekend doing finance practice problems and reviewing the IS-LM model for macroeconomics. A long weekend of studying is fine. The kicker is the Strategy paper my team has to turn in in a week. I’m not even going to think about it right now.

In other other news, I’ve been talking to fellow classmates about starting a student-led MBA blogging initiative. Apparently, something is in the works already but I want to add my thoughts as well. I think it is a great idea and would really help get the word out about the program. Visiting a school and talking to the administration is one thing. Reading what the students are actually doing is extremely helpful in terms of choosing a program. I hope this initiative gets up and running before the end of the year. Nerdy MBA bloggers unite!

1 Comment

I’m so tired. No really. I’m more tired than those times before when I thought I was tired. I wasn’t really tired. I was LAZY. Geez.

This week has been hellish for most of us. Not only do we have tons of assignments due, but we’re trying to put together a quality presentation by Friday. I have four team meetings tomorrow: one from 8-9am, one from 10-10:30pm, one from 4-4:30pm, and one from 6-whenever we get finished.

Today, I was studying macroeconomics with some of my classmates. The problems weren’t terribly difficult, but my brain was just not functioning correctly. I need sleep or a stiff drink. Or both. In short, I felt like this.

3 Comments

I’m short on time so here’s a brief laundry list of what’s been happening and what is coming up this week.

1. The s*** is starting to hit the fan. I have three team assignments and two individual assignments due this week, not to mention hundreds of pages of reading. Reading = okay. Assignments = stress.

2. I just finished my finance homework. Unfortunately, it was the easiest one in terms of time spent. I still got lots to do.

3. My class got had a rude awakening yesterday. Our strategy teacher started cold-calling us on specific numbers buried within our 100 pages of reading. We perked up quickly and started flipping pages.

4. I have my first team presentation on Friday. I hope our prof likes it.

5. I can’t complain too much because some of my teammates had a VC competition today. This = stress, lots more work, and one less day to complete the tasks I mentioned above.

In other random news, the snow melted by Wednesday and it was sunny and in the 40’s today. Danny and went to the international district for dim sum and some shopping. I know it was procrastination, but it was worth it to get out of the house for a few hours.

No Comments