20 days and $200 from Homelessness. Happy Graduation Sven.

The BBQ Pit
41

Grieving is a natural and VALID part of loss. It’s not as if she’s been doing it for MONTHS and MONTHS, she just finished up and is just now scared.

Not to mention YOUNG.

sven? You go ahead and HAVE a good cry, get it all out. Tears are a natural and healthy stress reliever. I didn’t see a whole bunch of “self pity” in your post, some sadness, and an attempt at a slight “goodbye cruel world” humor.

I’ve seen other posts by you on the boards. You seem like a bright and resourceful young lady.

Now. Is there a way that you can talk to your landlord? Explain the situation? Tell him you’ve been sending out resumes but no work yet…BUT that you are preparing to take on some interim work (waitressing, Temp agencies?, dog walking, babysitting?..)

Similarly, call up your utility companies. Most creditors will work with you, especially if they know you are being honest and making an effort.

I know it’s scary. I remember when I was that age. I was a late bloomer (well, in life, not physically ::rueful smilie::), I was so sure that if I called or met with ANY of my creditors that they’d immediately sieze me AND my meager assets with an “AHA!!! Off to debtors prison you GO me fair maiden” (or something similarly silly).

So, have your cry. Get a good sleep. Get up early and have some coffee or tea for a good wake up. Is there anyone you know that can come along on your “get organized” and meet the creditors journey?

And as some other great posters have mentioned, write out a budget. Can your boyfriend stay your roomie (or is he?) until you secure an interim job?

Mostly, hang in there, I know it’s cliched, and doesn’t help much NOW, but things get much better. This old memory of mine is getting to the point where it falters now and again, but I have NOT forgotten the early 20s. I felt older and more “weight of the world on my shoulders” than I have at almost any other time of my life.

Good luck, and good job hunting.

42

This is a ridiculous statement. First, how can you possibly judge whether someone is in need of antidepressants by reading a few paragraphs she has written on a message board? Even if you were qualified to make such a diagnosis, which I highly doubt you are, or you wouldn’t be handing out advice like that.

Second, not every sad person is depressed, and not every depressed person is in need of medication to control depression. (Leaving aside the question of whether even sven is clinically depressed or just going through a rough time, which neither of us is qualified to judge.) Antidepressants are serious stuff, and nobody has any business throwing around a diagnosis like that.

43

Have you talked with your professors? It sounds obvious, I know, but you didn’t mention it, so I thought you might not have. And if you haven’t - what are you waiting for? After four years, I expect you’ve figured out that the profs don’t bite. :slight_smile: I just finished freshman year, and I’ve gotten clued in to that. Provided that your grades are good and that you’ve been more than just a warm body snoozing merrily away in the back of the lecture hall, they’ll be happy to help give you advice, or maybe even pass your name along to some people. Your professors are the people you’ve been working with for the last four years, and the closest thing you’ve ever had for a prolonged period to bosses in your field. They can be invaluable as resources and references. In fact, a good prof will probably be willing to take the time to sit down with you and help you plan out the next few months and years. Remember, these people started out as new college grads just like you, and ended up as respected educators - they know how to get started!

Good luck!

44

Additional thought: If you don’t want to move out of the country, at least not yet, might you be interested in teaching high school? I don’t know how involved the process is to get certified in California, but if you did, you might be able to get a gig as some sort of english or arts teacher. This is where recommendations from your profs would be REALLY useful - I imagine statements like this:

“In every class she has taken with me over the past four years, Sven has provided an invaluable contribution. Her insight, creativity, hard work, and willingness to help her peers have consistently been above and beyond anything required simply to get an “A”, and my classes have been the richer for it. Having seen her demonstrate so many of the requisite virtues of a teacher - passion for the subject matter, love of learning and teaching, and a willingness to go far beyond the extra mile - I have no doubt that she would be an excellent addition to any school’s faculty.”

might open doors. I’m assuming that this praise is accurate, of course, based on the high opinion your fellow dopers seem to have of you (well, the ones who aren’t telling you to stop yer bellyachin’), and the fact that dopers as a whole seem to be pretty darned nifty people. :slight_smile: So the high school teaching thing may be something you want to consider, and talk to your profs!!!

Disclaimer: I’m going into my sophomore year of political science at Roger Williams University. I don’t go to your school, or have your major, or know anything at all about it, really. So your mileage, as they say, may vary.

As I’ve already said - Good luck!

45

Oh wow, I just got a letter in the mail saying I’m going to graduate with college honors, too. That makes college honors, departmental honors, and a scholorship award. Wow.

Tommorow I walk across the stage. Wish me more luck.

46

I think you’ll do great on your own merit, no luck required. You’ve already got all you need to succeed! It sounds as if things starting taking a turn for the better shortly after you vented here. I’m really glad for you.

I’ve read other posts of yours in other threads, and you sound like a really nice young woman. :slight_smile: Happy graduation!!!

47

What a difference 72 hours can make (since the OP), huh?

Good luck on the Grand Walk.

48

I would like to counter the Peace Corps advice. I have no doubt but that it will enrich you as a person and make a better filmmaker of you. But I have an alternate suggestion for you if you want to be a filmmaker (or video producer or whatever):

Make a film.

There is nothing that will give you more credibility among filmmakers like having made a film of your own, no matter how crappy it may be.

I’m sure the situation is a lot like my field, writing. For every actual writer there are about a thousand wannabe writers who are gonna write a great novel/screenplay/essay/whatever one of these days. When everything is just right and they can tell the story as beautifully as it deserves to be told.

Well, that’s crap. If you wanna be a writer, you write. You sit down and push the words out one after the other, and if you can’t or won’t do that, you’re not a writer, and your wonderful ideas/experiences aren’t gonna see the light of day.

Same with filmmaking, I suspect.

Going into the Peace Corps to become a filmmaker just seems kinda ROUNDABOUT. Filmmakers are generally all about making films and little or nothing else.

So make a film. It may not be perfect. It may not even be very good. But it will show that you can make a film, and that’ll get you a LOT farther than any amount of resume and education.

From what I have read, successful filmmakers are the ones who put everything else aside in their lives and focus completely on making the films. So, make a film. I strongly suspect that filmmaking is a career best started early. You have a camera. Go to it. If you make making films your most important priority, the other stuff will have a way of sorting itself out. That doesn’t mean it won’t be difficult or tiresome, but at least you’ll have a goal.