An Internship, Grabbing Life By The Balls, The King's Speech, And The Gibson I Didn't Have

So the past few days have been very interesting for me...or I should say week.

On Wednesday I had a phone interview for an internship that I was then offered on Thursday and accepted on Friday. It is with Nexen, a Canadian based oil and natural gas company. The internship will be in Dallas from June-ish to September-ish, and hopefully it will turn into more than just an internship

Getting this is a really big deal for me on many levels. The first is knowing that I will have something after I graduate. So many of my friends from high school all now live at or near home with their parents, which is something that terrifies me.

My whole life I have always thought that one leaves home for college and then after that gets a job elsewhere. The thought that I would go home after college to "find myself" or "figure out what i'm doing" was absurd and just not in the cards for me. I can only move forward not back.

The second thing that made this a big deal was kind of two fold: whether my education could get me a job in the petroleum industry. On the one hand, I've been told time and time again by some people that I was going about it all wrong. That because I didn't go to a big oil school for grad school, I was already a step behind everyone else I was competing against. That because I was from an unfamiliar school, no one would want me. On, and on, and on, and on.

Also, a friend of mine who was a year ahead of me went on a similar track I was heading towards and didn't get a job. So with that precedent I was a little pessimistic going into the whole process. But by getting the internship I feel vindicated. I feel that I have proven my self-worth, the usefulness of my degree, and shown that I can in fact stand on my own merit.

This also gives me more focus for my thesis. The rest of life is starting.

I feel as if I've been walking through a long dark tunnel and I've been feeling my way along the walls, always knowing I'm going forward, but not seeing the end. But now I can see a light, a pin prick in the darkness and with every day that I get closer to graduation that pin prick gets larger. The excitement of the next real stage of my life is exhilarating. i don't usually get excited about things, but this is something I am truly excited about.

But of course there is still the thesis. And with a goal to run towards I am determined now more than ever to work towards finishing. I met on Friday with my advisor to go over my "progress". Always a fun thing to do, but I decided to grab the meeting by the balls and give the best song and dance I could. I set the agenda for the meeting. I outlined what I'd done, what I had to do, and a schedule (the key bit) of how I would finish my thesis. My advisor was impressed and happy with the fact that I was on top of my shit. And I was happy that she didn't have anything else to talk with me about.

After the meeting it was of back to home to visit mama and celebrate the internship. And I ate steak. So. Much. Steak. It was fantastic.

However, the whole time I wanted to have a Gibson. A Gibson is a martini with cocktail onions instead of olives. Nothing special, but I wanted to try one and be special.

Instead I got a gin drink off the special menu and enjoyed it very much. The Gibson will have to wait.

My mother and I also saw The King's Speech, which has to be the very best move I have seen in years. The acting, the story, everything was spectacular. If you haven't seen it yet, please do. It is truly one of the very best.