I spent 50 cents at the movies! Yeah, really!

OK, so staying home has become rather tedious.  It is driving me insane and to get my mind off the job search, I decided to go to the “dollar” movies with my family.  Little did I know, everybody and their momma had the same idea.  So, it’s Monday evening and we go to purchase our tickets.

“Four for “Drag Me To Hell” please.”

“Two dollars.”

“Awesome!!!”

You can’t beat paying 5o cents to watch a movie on the big screen, even if the movie did suck.  I recommend checking out your local “dollar” movies and use that as your movie theatre for a while.  The movies will be a bit old, but who says you have to watch a movie as soon as it comes out?  No one!  You know what I heard on a DirecTv commercial?  That when you go to the movies with your family of five, you pay for the same movie five times.  True story.  I never thought about it that way, but it makes total sense.

This theater is Cinemark Movies 8 and is located in North Richland Hills right off of loop 820 and Grapevine Highway.  However, I believe that on Mondays it is 50cents per person if you buy tickets for three or more people.  Either way, it is a great buy.

So to save money in this struggling economy, hit up your bargain theatres but on a day that it’s not as crowded.  Also, check out the new Redbox option.  More to come on that next.

Random Act of Kindness

Have you ever heard of a smile being contagious?  Well, as far as I know, it is true.  Now, have you heard the same applies to random acts of kindness?  In my book, that is also true. 

I hardly see any little details here and there in our society.  Usually, people do things to get something in return.  Hello. . . .  Don’t they know you are supposed to give more than you get?  I do.  The other day, I was driving home and I see a guy pushing his car in 100 degree weather because, I am assuming, that it stopped working.  Well, as I am at a stop sign, I see a couple of young guys pull over and run to the rescue.  Literally, they ran to the car which the sweaty guy was pushing and helped him get it off the road.  It was an amazing sight.  You could tell they didn’t know each other.  It truly warmed my heart and I had a smile on my face for the rest of the day.  In fact, I have a smile just writing about it. 

I don’t know why, but it really was great to see that.  What should I do to keep the chain reaction going?  Volunteer more often?  Donate more of my clothes?  Help someone that I meet in my daily life? 

Has helping others been so lost in our society that when we see something like, that we are amazed?  I hope it hasn’t.

What have you done to help someone in need?  Have you done your good deed of the day?  What was it? 

Psst, psst. . . Inside secret?  It makes you feel extraordinary when you do something to help someone else.  Believe me. . .  I know.

Today’s Economic Stimulus Package (on a small scale)

The economy has sure gotten us down.  We are no longer buying meaningless things here and there, well, at least I’m not.  My savings have declined to an astonishing yet manageable amount, my truck usage has completely stopped (not being employed helped with this), I’m not overusing my phone nor the text messages and my credit card debt, minus student loans, is surprisingly low. 

Maybe the businesses out there have noticed, who wouldn’t, about the penny pinching we are doing nowadays.  Today alone, I have seen advertisements for a free pastry at Starbucks, a free roast beef burger thing from Arby’s and free business cards on vistaprint.com.  Is this a growing trend?  There are tons of free things out there if you look for them.  I happened to come across vistaprint.com because I was looking to get business cards, not because I have a job, but because I want something to hand to a potential employer with my contact information.

If you know what you want, take a few minutes and search on the Internet.  Even if you can’t find it for free, you will be able to compare prices and get a better deal.  When saving money is the key, you can never do enough research.

Bored, Annoyed and Unemployed

So, after college, I landed a job at the Fort Worth Independent School District as a tutor for their AVID program at a middle school.  I loved it.  However, now it is Summer time and there are no students to tutor so I am left out in the cold.  I have now been unemployed, officially, for two months and it is killing me.

I really want to get a great job using my Journalism degree from, what I consider, one of the great journalism schools in Texas, maybe more.  The University of North Texas prepared me for news writing, however, I should have asked for more.  I knew I didn’t want to be a reporter, so why did I choose that path?  Well, I want to edit.  I love editing, I have been editing for as long as I remember.

In high school, we used to pass notes in class and guess what, I would edit them and give them back to my friends.  I don’t know, it’s just in me, I guess.  When I read something, I make a mental note when I see something that is wrong.  A blessing and a curse all at the same time, but although I know what I want, I just can’t seem to find it.

I have been looking and looking and researching and applying for any job that I think will interest me and that I feel would be a good match, but the employers seem to think I am not a good match for them.  Well, they haven’t told me that, but their silence and lack of any communication leads me to believe so.

I don’t know.  I am 26 years old, have a Bachelor of Arts degree, have editing, social media, blogging and writing experience, I am a fast learner and adapt well, but no one wants to hire me.  What is going on when a college degree isn’t cutting it anymore?  Could it be that now, a master’s degree is what is going to get you in the door?  I can’t afford to go back to school right now, I can’t afford to move to a place (New York) where there seem to be more than enough jobs in my field of interest (editing, magazines, publishing).

I am tired of staying home during the week.  I really want a job and maybe, just maybe, I am at fault.  Maybe I am not looking hard enough or something.  Who knows, but things need to change and they need to change fast.

I am bored, I am annoyed and unfortunately, I am unemployed.  HELP!!!