Author: Emily Schiola

loves good beer, bad movies, and cats. Follow her on Twitter @ESchiola for sporadic tweets about soccer and TV shows.

Show Wrap-Ups

I consume entirely too much media on a daily basis. This Fall alone I’ve already added six shows to my line up, and that’s on top of the old ones I was already watching and the 65 YouTube channels I’m subscribed to. It’s getting out of hand and no one has tried to stop me, in fact everyone in my life is just an enabler. My boyfriend, friends and parents send me funny cat videos all the time. My coworkers are constantly bringing up things I’ve haven’t read or watched. Hell, even the ads on the street I take to work are filled with shows that look intriguing to me.

I have a sickness but I like it. I like watching people talk about their lives into a camera. I like watching cheesy sitcoms that recycle jokes from years past. And I really like cat videos. So what do I do? Turn off my TV, computer and phone? Keep my head down when I go outside so I don’t catch the beginning of a Law and Order: SVU marathon? Or do I accept my fate as another media-obsessed millennial and own it? I choose the latter.

This whole uncomfortable post was to say that I’m going to start doing show recaps on this blog, because at least then I can justify my obsession as productive. Starting sometime soon (never commit to an actual date, or anything for that matter) I will be writing about my favorite shows of the week in a comprehensive post on Sunday. If you like shows too, go ahead and read it, if not skip ahead to when I drink beer on Friday or make the funny funny jokes about being unemployed. I just made you a free, less fun Choose Your Own Adventure book, you’re welcome.

Waiting

A few months ago I talked about the “No Response” from employers. This isn’t when you’re told you haven’t received a job, this is when you get no response at all after applying and interviewing. It’s a terrible limbo where you begin to imagine yourself working and excelling at the job, but you also can’t let yourself get too emotionally invested. That job is a cat and you are Schroedinger, at this point it doesn’t matter what happens you just need to know if you should be disposing of a dead cat.

The good and smart thing to do in this moment in time is to not think about the job. Just go about your business, eat, sleep, drink and buy a new cat, everything is normal. Keep applying so it feels like just another day. That is what the smart thing to do is. From reading these posts you should know by now I don’t always choose the smart option. Why did I buy a six-pack of Pumpkin Spice Blue Moon? Why do I go on Pet Finder and read all the sad stories when I know I can’t have an animal? Because I don’t like to make things easy for myself.

So instead of pretending like I didn’t have an interview two days ago and still haven’t heard anything, I start to imagine what I’ll need to wear to the new job and if it calls for a shopping trip. Is it in a new city or state? Then I’m probably thinking about how many boxes I’ll need to buy in the next few weeks. I even go over what I’m going to tell my current employers, and worry they’ll be mad. This is the unhealthy way to handle the waiting game, but by gum I can’t help but torture myself.

You see, I’m a planner, always have been always will. I’m the friend that texts you a week before we have plans to lock them down so I can mentally map out my week and make sure I’m prepared for everything. This is not a good quality for someone fresh out of college and mostly unemployed to have, but hey you work with the cards you’re dealt with. I can’t turn off my little planner voice that works overtime when there’s a potential life change on the horizon. So here I am, planning my imaginary and awesome new life at a job I don’t have yet.

The unknown is scary to everyone but especially someone that plans dinner a week in advance, thanks for these genes, mom. I’m just a high strung girl in a low strung world. Yeah I feel weird about that sentence too, but it’s staying in!

Beerview: Burnside Brewing’s Sweet Heat

Beerview: Burnside Brewing’s Sweet Heat

I like beer, and I like to try new beers. I’ll tell you about the good and bad ones I find. I am not qualified an any way to talk about beer, but I’m going to anyway.

I’ve been feeling really adventurous when it comes to beer lately, so I couldn’t say no to Burnside Brewing’s Sweet Heat. The label says it has a combination of apricot puree and Jamaican Scotch Bonnet peppers. I’ve had a few spicy beers in the past and have loved them so I was excited to sink my teeth into this Portland creation.

The color is a light orange almost like a cream soda, and it smells like it has a kick. The first sip is quite sweet without much spice at all. I was actually disappointed because I was looking for something with a stronger flavor not Pyramid Apricot Ale. As I made my way through the bottle, my throat began to burn a bit and I started to detect the smokey flavor of a pepper.

I’ve never tasted a beer that had nailed a flavor on the head like that. With half my drink left it felt like I was eating a pepper dipped in apricot jam right from the stem and the subtle burn in my throat persisted. All in all it was a pretty well-rounded beer. Not something I could drink more than a pint of, but I did enjoy it.

Rating: 3 Pints

Getting healthy

I always ate really well as a kid. My parents were good at making sure I had the right amount of vegetables, protein and grains to keep my tiny bones growing. Granted I didn’t grow much, but I don’t think that can be blamed on the vegetables. I was never a super active child, I did some dance but I really liked band and choir and neither of those call for a lot of movement. So as far as health go I always got an A plus on diet but a D on exercise.

Growing up it didn’t seem like an issue because I was young and carefree and felt great. Then in college I started having stomach problems, which are complicated and boring so I’m not going to go into it but I started looking long and hard at my diet. There wasn’t really a pattern for what was making me feel sick beside really fatty or salty foods, so that was a bust.

My junior year I took a couple PE classes to round out my credits and I realized that I felt better the weeks I ran or swam. As much as it’s against my nature, I try to work out five times a week for 30 minutes and it really does make a difference. I’ve never been interested in losing weight or gaining muscle because I’m already a slim person, but I just feel so much better when I go for a short run.

I am not by any means into fitness but I’ve learned how to make it a part of my day and I can definitely notice a difference on off days. The real reason I’m writing this post is to keep myself honest. I am the queen of making excuses and justifying things to myself so it’s easy to skip days. My theory is that if I write it out for two people in the world to read I’ll stick to my weekly goal! Here’s to a healthier November!

Applications

When I was applying to my first job eight years ago I drove around town and filled out paper applications at any place that would have me. I didn’t have a resume or job experience, I just went in and asked for an application.

This is pretty out of character for me seeing as I get nervous calling to order a pizza, luckily the guys down the street know my order so I don’t have to say much, but it’s just what you did in 2006. It was nice to sit down and talk to store owners and see what they were looking for and make a case for myself in person.

These days everything is digital, which I as an introvert really appreciate but it makes applying so tedious and boring. Attaching resume and cover letter and checking boxes to confirm that I’m a white female citizen. It gets really exciting when even though you’ve uploaded a cover letter they ask you to manually fill in a form. Call me crazy but you would think that in 2014 we would have the technology to pull information from a document and plug it into a form online, but hey what do I know?

So here I go, plugging in the same information I already wrote, edited and formatted in a word document you can access online. Yes I realize I can copy and paste things but that isn’t easy or efficient either.

The worst part is thinking about the position while you’re plugging in all the details of your life. I aways go over everything in my head and start to imagine myself doing the work and loving it. This of course leads to thinking that I shouldn’t get excited about it because I probably won’t be chosen anyway and I’ll just be disappointed. Then comes the mini pep talk to remind myself that I’m worth it and deserve any job I could want. So after that emotional roller coaster the application is submitted and I need a snack.

I’m nostalgic for the days when I could walk into the local pizza store with no experience or education and talk about my love of toppings and cheese and get awarded the job.

Beerview: Rolling Rock

Beerview: Rolling Rock

I like beer, and I like to try new beers. I’ll tell you about the good and bad ones I find. I am not qualified an any way to talk about beer, but I’m going to anyway.

I realize Rolling Rock is a little different than what I normally review, but sometimes you want a casual cheap beer for a football game or just to hang out and enjoy. In my eyes, it’s the best of the worst, I put it in the same category as Bud or Coors Light. Honestly I probably can’t tell them all apart, but everyone has their favorite cheap beer and mine just happens to come in a green bottle.

The thing with beer is people have really strong opinions on it. I have friends who will defend Pabst to the death, while I feel like it’s drinking a piece of bread, in a bad way. Other people actually spend money on Miller, while I liken it to drinking melted butter. These people seem crazy to me while they have in turn bashed my beloved drink of choice.

It’s unclear why people choose the beer they love since they all pretty much taste like water. Maybe it’s regional, although I think even people in Milwaukee make fun of Milwaukee’s Best, and I’m from Colorado but I’m not Team Coors. Maybe it’s the color of the can, how well the pop tops, or if it effectively shotguns.

Like most things in life it all comes down to personal preference. It doesn’t make sense to argue over which is better because at the end of the day it’s all water and hops, even if it can turn the can as blue as the Rockies. I’ve found with beer that people are going to drink what they’re going to drink regardless of how hard you try to convince them yours is better. That’s why I am now and will forever be Rolling Rock’s number one fan.

Rating: Three tall boys

Cover Letters

When I see “please attach or copy and paste a cover letter” I read “tell me why you’re better than the 100 other people who applied for this position in 500 words or less, no pressure.” It’s terrifying, and I hate it.

You would think I would love cover letters because I’m a writer and should enjoy writing about myself. Well you would be wrong. I guess that’s it’s nice to send more than a resume and explain why you only worked somewhere for three months, and I guess it’s nice to explain what you really did at a job. So it can be a good way to set yourself apart from everyone else who has the exact same qualifications as you.

But I still hate it. I get it but I hate it.

It’s incredibly nerve-wracking, but you have to do it. I have one stock cover letter that has my basic job experience outlined but I end up going back through and changing everything for each open position anyway, so each application ends up taking 15 or 20 minutes. I always get excited when I see an application that only asks for a resume but that makes me nervous at the same time because a resume is easier to overlook.

It’s a vicious cycle that is seemingly never ending, but there isn’t really a better way to do things. Basically I just have to suck it up and do it but I would rather write a post complaining about how much I hate cover letters than actually write a cover letter. I guess I can’t avoid it for long seeing as I’m getting to the end of this post. Ugh, okay I’ll get back to applying.

Beerview: Elysian Bifrost Winter Ale

Beerview: Elysian Bifrost Winter Ale

I like beer, and I like to try new beers. I’ll tell you about the good and bad ones I find. I am not qualified an any way to talk about beer, but I’m going to anyway.

Winter is coming, and bringing dark, rich beer with it. Elysian Brewing Company from Seattle is never one to shy away from full flavors, and Bifrost is no exception.

Though it boasts citrus flavors on the label the thing that hits you in the face is the hops. It is a full flavor that will warm you to your toes on a frosty night. This isn’t a beer to enjoy a lot because it’s 7.6%, so be wary of drinking too many.

Overall this is a really solid beer to carry you from Fall to Winter.

Rating: 4 pint glasses

Quarter-Life Crisis

Lately a lot of my friends have used the phrase “quarter-life crisis” to describe how it feels to graduate college and be further away from knowing what you want to do than when you started college. The phrase started as a joke, but it seems to be something my friends are taking more seriously.

Though it seems dramatic and entitled, there isn’t a term for exactly what we’re experiencing post-college. We don’t yet have a name for this feeling. As I talked about in my post about millenials, people my age are in a unique situation. A college degree doesn’t guarantee you a career immediately after graduation. So a lot of us are finding us graduated and confused, thus the quarter-life crisis.

I’ve heard it from friends who have full-time jobs, friends who are still looking for work and even my most “put-together” friend. Maybe this comes from the fact that there aren’t any jobs out there so we have to find work in fields we don’t like. Maybe it’s because we have too many options and can’t find something to commit to.

Whatever the reason, it’s clear that no one really has a plan anymore. So what does this mean? Is my generation going to be working multiple part-time jobs our entire lives, or are we going to create new and interesting careers out of things we’re good at? I am sincerely hoping for the latter seeing as I am smack dab in the middle of my own quarter-life crisis.

Wineview: Wine Cube

Wineview: Wine Cube

I like wine, and I like to try new wine. I’ll tell you about the good and bad ones I find. I am not qualified an any way to talk about wine, but I’m going to anyway.

Look, I’m poor. If you didn’t know that you’re obviously new, so welcome! This means that I can’t splurge on wine. I’m more of a beer girl, but every once in a while I like to buy a bottle of wine. However the wine that is in my budget tastes like vinegar. With that in mind, I may have found the solution and it is ridiculous and excessive. It’s called the Wine Cube. No brand name, just a description of what shape it is and what it holds.

No it isn’t classy and yes you’ll feel like an idiot buying one, but it’s cheap and tastes good. In case you haven’t caught up on it it’s a cube of wine, take that Franzia, that holds four bottles and actually seals so it stays fresh for up to a month. I paid $15 for it, which means a little under $4/bottle. Here’s the kicker: It doesn’t suck. No it isn’t going to win any awards or be featured in any self respecting restaurant but if you’re sipping on a budget you are in luck/

I tried the Cabernet Sauvignon and it was dry, sweet and full-bodied. Let’s be honest though, if you’re buying wine in a box you can’t have super high expectations, but with Wine Cube you will enjoy your rotten grapes.