Blogging for a Job

Every single day I wake up, eat a grapefruit, and check the job listings on Purdue's Student Employment website. Every single day I am disappointed to find that all of these wonderful research and job opportunities are not available to me since I do not qualify as a "Work Study" student. Finding a job is tough, especially in this economy. Add the fact that I am 19 years old and a sophomore in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, well, the odds are not exactly in my favor - at least not until I graduate.



A few days ago I stumbled upon a job opportunity that was entitled "Admissions Blogger." The job entails writing blog entries about Purdue experiences for incoming and inquiring students to read. My first thought was, "Hey! I can do that! I LOVE PURDUE! Plus, I Facebook my entire life anyway so why not put it in a blog form and make something useful for future students and the university?" When I inquired about the position, the contact informed me that I needed to already have a blog, i.e. "blogging experience." So here it goes folks: My name is Sequoia Elite Murray, and I over the course of these next few weeks will (hopefully) blog my way into a job at Purdue University.



*Side note: Some of the names in the blog are disguised as characters from some of my favorite literature. This is of their own choice. Though all of the names may or may not be real, all of the events are fact, or as the character which you are about to meet would say "all of the events are 'real talk.' Truth."



That night at approximately 10:20ish pm, I picked up my best friend's brother, Sodapop, from the Lafayette train station. I hadn't seen Sodapop in almost a year, so I was slightly nervous and excited to see him. He moseyed off the train and down the steps wearing what I thought was an atrocious University of Illinois hat, a backpack, and the same goofy grin he has worn since I met him in third grade. Though Sodapop is a year older than I, he looked like an adorable ten-year-old boy coming off the train dragging his feet and even stumbling while he carried his suitcase in one hand and clenched the shoulder strap of his backpack with the other. Sodapop came to West Lafayette for one purpose- to retrieve his belongings from his sister and my best friend, Cherry. Sodapop moved in with Cherry after a rough, but needed break up with his girlfriend. They had been dating on and off for years, and everyone and their grandma was more than relieved to see them finally part ways for good. Now Sodapop lives and works in Chicago, and it was time for him to bring his things along with him.



As I drove Sodapop to Cherry's, he began chatting away as if we had seen each other yesterday. He's always had the ability to talk as if absolutely no time had gone by since we had last seen each other. I suppose that's just how childhood friendships are suppose to be. Regardless of what happens in your life and how long you are apart, in the end you can always count on that sense of familiarity to calm and lighten the situation. There is something about childhood friends and growing up that bonds you together in some way whether you like it or not.



After we complied and compress all of Sodapop's belongings into several bags (One of which I thought he stole from Mary Poppins. I'm not kidding. For a minute or two I thought he was going to pull a lamp right out of the bag.) Sodapop, Elizabeth, Jo, and I sat around the living room of Apartment 22 and chatted all through the night. Jo, due to a nasty case of mono, grew tired quickly and zonked out from exhaustion fairly early in the conversation. Sodapop, however, who was scheduled to leave on a 7:30am train the next morning decided it would be a wonderful idea to stay up all night. Elizabeth had to open at Red Mango, a trendy frozen yogurt joint that recently opened on Chauncey next to Noodles & Company and originated in Korea, the next morning, so needless to say she was not thrilled about the idea of staying up all night. (The continued talk of "staying up all night" caused me to hum Yellow Card's "Ocean Avenue" all night) I didn't really mind. For some reason which I have been unable to discover, I cannot, no matter what I do, get a good night's rest while I am at Purdue. When I travel home I sleep for hours and hours like a baby, but the second I try and sleep on campus, I am completely incapable. So, really, Sodapop and Elizabeth were just keeping me company on a night when I probably would have only received a few hours of sleep anyway.



At around 1 am or so, I started whining and complaining about how hard I have worked to find a job this summer, yet all of my efforts have seemed to go to waste since obviously I still did not have a job. I began to tell Sodapop and Elizabeth about the blogging job posted on Purdue's website and about how I did not think I would get the position since I have never blogged before.



"Oh my gosh Sequoia!" yelled Sodapop from his seat on the kitchen counter, "you would be perfect for something like this. You have to make a blog. Tonight. Before I leave. Seriously, if you had a blog, I would totally read it, and I think other people would too. I don't know. I just think you would be good at it."



With Sodapop's encouragement, I quickly googled free blogging websites and quickly found blogger.com. I quickly filled out all of the personal information needed and clicked next, but I paused when I read the box "Blog Title." I was stumped. Ever since I was a wee little tyke writing papers in first grade I had always spent an unhealthy amount of time dedicated to determining the titles of anything. The title of something is what a reader first reads, and in most cases, determines whether or not the reader will even continue on to read the story. For three hours Elizabeth, Sodapop, and I threw around titles at each other and brainstormed about a possible title for my blog. Here is a brief list of some of the more entertaining blog titles that were put on the table that night, or I guess technically that morning: "Purdue: Real Talk" (According to Sodapop, the term 'real talk' is a slang term for the word truth indicating that I would be blogging the raw truth about being a Purdue student. Since both Elizabeth and I had never heard the term before it was quickly eliminated but not before the term 'real talk' started entering our everyday speech in a joking manner.) "Purdue: Chicks and Hicks" (Elizabeth thought of this one. We laughed when she said it and all agreed that if we saw a title like this we would most definitely read the rest of the story. However, I finally deemed it inappropriate for what I wanted for the blog.) "Purdue Pandemonium" "Purdue: Life After Your Initial Tassel Flip" "Starting Over," and "The World's Wide Open." There were of course many many others within the course of that three hours, some of which I do not remember and others which were...well...I will just end this portion with three dots...



The three of us ended up passing out at roughly 4 o'clock. Poor Elizabeth woke up at 6:30am in order to get Sodapop to the train station on time. I briefly remember waking up from my spot on the futon to watch the pair walk out the door, but I quickly fell right to my pillow not conscious enough to utter a 'bye.' I woke up just in time to get to my summer class-Engineering 195 Part II. I always turn my phone off before that class since it is in the basement of Armstrong, and there is absolutely no signal. When I left class I had three text messages from Sodapop all containing potential names for a blog and all of which he felt the humor and irony would be wasted on the general population. All that is except for "Purdue Pickle" which just made no sense at all.



The very last words he wrote to me were, "I don't know Sequoia, if you had to pick a blog name right now, right this very second, a now or never type thing from your gut what would it be? I know we keep trying to incorporate Purdue within it somehow, but really the most important thing is that it's about you and says something about you. Because...well because for the blog to be at all interesting or successful it needs to be you."



So, here I sit at my kitchen table almost a full 24 hours since I mentioned this blogging job to Sodapop and Elizabeth. I still do not know why I entitled my blog "Simply Sequoia," but I did. I guess it was a now or never type thing from my gut. I hope to eventually catch the essence of me in this blog, whatever that essence might be. Goodnight for now, though I am sure when I shut down my computer it will be a solid two or three hours before I actually fall asleep.



All my love,

Koya = )

*Side note: For those interested, here are a list of today's characters and what books they are from.
Sodapop - The Outsiders
Cherry Valence - The Outsiders
Elizabeth Bennet - Pride & Prejudice
Jo March - Little Women