A leap of something..

I am making some changes despite not knowing what is going on with PC quite yet.

First thing is first: I love my job.  Like, a lot.  I have worked for Old Navy for 6.5 years and have moved up in the company to management, a position that I have been in, in one form or another, for the past 3 years.  I have been a bit bored and complacent at work for the past few months after being told I won't get promoted with PC hanging over my head like a "Don't waste your time with me light," which also meant that I couldn't get a change of scenery in a new store. In addition to this, we recently got a new general store manager, who once upon worked in my store as the assistant store manager.  Let's just say I like him as person, but he is not the greatest for morale.  I say this having worked with him before and having to correct the shitty morale of the stores shipment team after he went to work in another store and I took over his position for 4 months. 

I like to say I can adapt well to change and can get along with anyone. I would also contend that I am quite the ridiculous optimist.  With all of these things working for me, it is sad that I have come to dread going to work and feeling negativity.  A friend of mine told me that it is good to see other management styles and personalities (to which I told him that neither of those have much to do with a "I know better" complex and knack for disrespect and snap judgements).

What does this have to do with changes sparked by PC?

Well, here is the second part:  I put in a 30 day notice on my apartment so that I wouldn't have to put up with my inconsiderate roommate anymore and to pay less in rent/bills by moving in with a friend from HS to get credit cards paid down before a possible March departure. 

Two weeks into having the new store manager, I have decided that I'd much rather move to Florida to be with my family for the holidays than leave Old Navy hating my job and being unhappy for the next few months at a place I spend 40 hours a week. 

Honestly, if it weren't for Peace Corps, I would be looking for another job in town to work for the next few months before making a move to Oregon with a friend who graduates in December. 

I really am quite excited to be near my family though!  I am going to live with my Meme and transfer to the nearby ON as a part time associate.  It will be SO FREAKING NICE not to be stressed by holiday in retail management. :)

Basically, I have no clue as to what my plan will be if I don't get in! Keeping my fingers crossed for two things:
      1) OMS gets back to be ASAP on my medical so I can get stuff taken care of before I don't have insurance anymore
      2) Invite!



**I didn't feel like proof reading.  Don't judge me.

Recent PCV Murder in Lesotho

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 4, 2010 – Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams is saddened to announce the death of Peace Corps volunteer Thomas “Tom” Maresco in Lesotho. Tom, 24, died as a result of a gunshot wound on Sept. 3 in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. The investigation into this incident is ongoing, but at this time it appears it may have been an attempted robbery.

I am pretty sure this is his blog.
RIP Tom.

Work and the Peace Corps

Applying for the Peace Corps is a trying process.  The application itself is long and thorough, you may have to twist the arms of those writing your recommendations to get them done in a timely manner.  If you are successful with those things an interview is next, hopefully followed by a nomination.  With that nomination comes the medical and dental portion of the process.  In between all of this is the waiting.  I have been prepared for all of this in reading through dozens and dozens of blogs.  No problem.

Something I didn't expect about the process?  Being held back at work because I might be leaving in March.  I am awesome at my job and from February to mid-May I was acting as Assistant Store Manager of Merchandising.  I loved it.  I was able to work on re-merchandising my store for floorsets, focus on visuals, improve the moral of the shipment team, and train a new leader on on merchandising.  During those months, I interviewed for an actual ASM position in another store and it went great.  I was told I wold have had it had another current ASM in town hadn't needed a new store due to them dating an associate at their current one.  Great! 

This left that ASM's old position open and the ASM position at my store opened up as well once we learned our ASM, who was on loan at another store, was going to be staying where he had been for the past few months.  I interviewed again, this time with my store manager and another one, at the same time!  I was a nervous wreck.  Interviews were being done at my store and I got to see my fellow interviewees and freaked myself into feeling inferior.  I didn't get either job despite impressing both store managers.  One job went to someone I had trained early on in his Old Navy career and had found himself in a lucky situation which lead to his promotion, the other (the one in MY store) went to someone new in the company who had been hired on by a acting store manager to replace her job as ASM while the actual store manager was working on something for corporate.  Longer story shorter: he came back early, and I lost my chance.

And now I find myself being held back at work.  I love my job, but I am burned out on a fully customer service focused role.  I was told when I didn't get promoted that they wanted to move me to a higher profile store and that I am the next person in town to be in an ASM position.  Once I told my SM I was going for it with PC, I was pretty much told no SM would take me and invest time in my development if I was going to be leaving in March.  I am so frustrated by this.  I could understand if I needed additional training, but I don't as I am pretty sound in all areas of the business ( I would hope so after being with the company for 6.5 years!).

I guess I just didn't expect that applying to PC would hold me back at work.  Suffice it to say I will be pissed if I don't get in!  I tend to find the upside in things as I am an eternal optimist; however, I will have a hard time finding one if I wind up being held back for nothing.

/don't feel like proof reading, forgive my possible mistypings/poor grammar :)

PC=Risky Business?

*A quick disclaimer: this post is NOT about sexual violence and assault, as that is a whole different ball game in which someone has no control of the situation at hand.  This is in rebuff to the mentioned articles which, in a large part, have to do with other forms of violence and crime.  I am bummed I have to put a disclaimer, but a recent blog post by First Response Action (which has a noble cause) kind of painted me as quite naive about cultural differences where gender is concerned and the risks of sexual assault. 

I have done my fair share of reading up on the Peace Corps and feel like I have a good idea of what it may or may not entail and I don't have any illusions about the risks of serving in an underdeveloped/impoverished/corrupt nation.  That is, afterall, the name of the game.  The website states it clearly "...because Volunteers serve worldwide, sometimes in very remote areas, health and safety risks are an inherent part of Volunteer service."

Where is all of this coming from?  I recently encountered a series of articles from 2003 that are insistent on highlighting the dangers of Peace Corps service by reporting on murders, assaults, rapes, robberies, and sicknesses that have happened in the Peace Corps without acknowledging that it is small fraction of PCVs it has happened to, without also mentioning volunteers that such bad things didn't happen to.  But who wants to throw some positive into stories designed to sensationalize the possible downsides of service?

It seems that a failed realization on the part of the reporters is that crime happens EVERYWHERE!  Even in the United States. Surprising right? Living in Las Vegas, I have a less than 1 in 50 chance of being the victim of a violent crime ( I am unsure of the exact number as I cannot find a recent crime index for LV, but the ones from previous years are anywhere from 1 in 37 to 1 in 42!).  This fact does not stop me from walking to my car after work in a not-so-great area of town after dark.

 My question is: why make it a point to try and scare the crap out of potential volunteers or families and friends of current volunteers by filling their heads with what is likely to not happen?  Why not hold some of the people in the stories told accountable for not following PC recommendations for safety (granted, I am aware that it is not always a victims fault, but some of the accounts do show negligence on the PCVs part)?  Why the insistance from reporters and family that the PC play babysitter to adults who signed up for job with risks?  I understand the PC should be responsible for basic safety and training, but I don't think it is their responsibility to watch after the day to day life of volunteers.I don't have a babysitter now in the real-world, why would I deem it a requirement as a volunteer?

Just a few thoughts.  I recommend checking out the articles as well as letters to the editor because I while I do find the writing sensationalized and redundant of itself, it is important to learn about the scary part of service, even if it is famed as "PC hating".  Keep in mind the articles are from seven years ago, so quite a few developments (such as wider use of cell phones and internet) have been made in many places.

Overall, to all applicants, PCTs, and PCVs:  Only you can be accountable for your actions and how you present yourselves!  Safety is your responibility and there are risks involved in everyday life, especially underdeveloped countries, but if all we ever did was focus on the bad that could happen, would we ever enjoy life?   One of my favorite quotes is "There is more to living than being alive."  It seems to me after reading blog after blog of volunteers, it couldn't be more true.

Las Vegas to Who-Knows-Where

I feel like I have been spoiled having grown up in a 24 hour town like Las Vegas.  3AM sushi is a possibility here, even off of the Las Vegas Strip.  I am in for quite the culture shock if I get invited to serve in the Peace Corps:

No driving.
No long time friends.
No late nights out drinking.
No Spaghetti and Cortez (kitties!)
No 3AM restaurant meals.
No best bed ever created.
No easy phone calls to my mom.
No 24 hour conveniences.

Why is it I am so stoked to go?  Perhaps I am a masochist of sorts, but at least I am one that is willing to do away with the comforts of home in favor of doing something good.  Plus, I am down for "roughing" it, trying and experiencing new things, traveling somewhere new, and being immersed in a foreign language and culture while impacting the lives of even a few others.

\end randomness. Bed time!