recent highlights
I graduated from BYU with my BA in English and editing minor. It was a great experience, though the prayer part at commencement was a bit nerve-wracking. Saying the prayer in sacrament meeting is ok. Saying the prayer at some larger meeting like stake conference is still ok. But saying the prayer at a BYU commencement which is broadcast over TV? The pressure not to trip over your feet and not to say something odd or humiliating is definitely magnified times 20. All that day I thought I was going to be perfectly fine but then I got to the podium, closed my eyes, and my legs started shaking. What traitors!
I got to sit up here on the stand on the second row right by the flag.
Since graduating, I have discovered that life is less about having the time to do what you have always wanted and talked and thought about doing and more about prioritizing your time. It seems that even though I am done with school, the random projects never quit coming. Not that these projects are bad--they are just more learning experiences that take up time and require effort. Most have been very rewarding.
For example, I was asked to write an article on Internet Security for Frontiers, the alumni magazine for the BYU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. Then this past month, they also asked me to do a final copyedit on the entire magazine. This has been a good opportunity to keep up my editing and also earn a little side money.
Right now I am working on condensing my 13,000 + word thesis into a 3,000-4,500 word research article for the Science Editor---a publication by the Council of Science Editors. Surprisingly, it was quite easy for me to condense it down to three words: usage, corpus, manuals. I still don't understand why anyone would want to read my thesis---I certainly don't enjoy rereading it and finding all those mistakes that I knew were hiding there.
Lastly, I have been searching and applying for editing jobs. I am currently working full time at Powerspeak, a company that produce online foreign language courses for students. But I really really want to do something in editing. This past week I had a follow-up interview for an editing position and it went ok. I wasn't prepared for how formal it was though. Yesterday I took a 2 1/2 hour editing test for it. Wow. It was pretty intense. My biggest challenge was the time limit. It felt like I was in school again. I didn't finish everything before the time limit, so I am personally not satisfied with how I did, but I guess we will see that they think. Oh well. The worse they can do is not hire me.
Hey, I'm glad that you've started blogging! Yes, it does take some time and effort, but think it as a journal. I't definitely a great start!! Did you know that you can have your blog printed and binded as well? "Blogs2print" is what I used to print out my first copy. Not bad. I will definitely keep checking on your happenings!!
ReplyDelete:) Airi