Diva

So almost every time I get together with a certain group of friends we end up talking about the Diva Cup.  We have joked many a times about how we should blog about our Diva Cup experiences. *light bulb* I have a blog why dont I blog about the Diva Cup... *pause* I cant write about that it deals with *pause nervously looking around* periods.  Did I seriously just think that?  Society has trained me well.  I as a women should never talk about my period its gross and nasty and no one wants to hear about that.  Well to hell with that I am going to talk about the Diva Cup and periods so if that bothers you stop now, actually maybe it will be good for you to read ahead push your comfort zone a little.

Well the story started several months ago at a conference where one of the topics was the Diva Cup.  Now I was presenting during this time so I could not go, but to be honest I would not have gone to this talk even if I had not been presenting.  I was not one of those feminist that embraces there period and thinks how wonderful and amazing it is.  Hell I still am not my period annoys me. And I though I would never try the Diva Cup I mean how gross you have to deal with a cup of menstrual blood every time you take it out. 

Fast forward a month or so....
A friend of mine tries out said Diva Cup and raves about how amazing it is.  I will admit this planted a seed of doubt in my  belief that Diva Cups were simply not for me.  I ended up deciding to go out and get one and give it a try. 

A week or so later I get my period.  After the first week I was not convinced the Diva Cup was amazing but after my second period I was.  Now I am completely hooked!  I love how the Diva Cup is reusable now I do not have to buy expensive tampons every month and who knew that the period smell is not actually due to your period it is due to the woad of cotton I chose to shove up my vagina every month.  Using the Diva Cup period smell is completely gone!!!  I will admit that getting it in and out the first few times, okay for that entire first period, can be a little difficult.   That first week it was like I was doing aerobics in my bathroom trying to get it in and out.  (lift leg, spin to the left, lower leg a little, bend down... dammit still cant get it in.  Okay squat, relax, shimmy to the right.... Yes its in oh crap it suctioned to early take 800)  and that was just getting it in.  Getting it out was a whole other issue for me. I am just very grateful to have a wonderful partner who helped keep me calm when I was convinced the Diva Cup was stuck inside me forever. Turns out it was not and that panicking and squeezing your vag mussels makes getting the cup out even harder haha (I was the only one who had extreme difficulty getting it out but I like to be different haha.).  The actual cup of blood is not nearly as gross as I thought it would be in fact its not bad at all.  Although I will not march out of a public bathroom stall proudly holding my Diva Cup of blood to empty and clean out and thankfully I can wear it long enough not to have to even take it out in public.  Overall the Diva Cup is a good investment in my opinion and it makes having your period a little less annoying.   

REJECTED

Okay I just have to say job hunting can be quite painful for your ego and self-esteem. At this point I am getting used to the stream of rejection I get when it come to jobs but I have to say that this recent one stung a bit. I recently applied for an AmeriCorps position, not my dream job but hey it was something and it was something that would not make me pull my hair out. So when you apply for AmeriCorps you do so on there website. When you have turned an application in it says submitted next to the job post and it is put on your main page, like you need the consent reminder that you applied and still have not heard from them. Well when you do not get the job they but in giant all caps, bold lettering REJECTED. Okay so maybe I am feeling a little sensitive since this is like my 8 millionth job rejection but was that really necessary. Now every time I log onto AmeriCorps there is that 8 letter word starting back at me reminding me that yet again I am not what they are looking for. Couldn’t they at least have picked a nicer word or even a nicer sting of words to reject you with? Like “thanks for trying but this is not going to work out good luck with your search.” I am starting to think that job searching is harder than dating and we all know how much I loved dating (well maybe you don’t know but take it from me I was not a fan) In fact I was off people and had officially quit dating… that is until I happened upon my partner. Maybe I will happen upon a job soon. Well now that I am done licking my wounds I am going to go apply for another 25 jobs.

*On a way different side note can I say that this blogging thing is scarier than I thought… to put my ideas and experiences out there to be judged by others. That probably had to do with some internalized oppression. Well I will dissect that and maybe even blog about it later. Just thought I would make not of that.

Is higher education really all that higher?

So lately I have been doing a lot of thinking around higher education. I clearly think education is important I went to college and am trying to get my degree. Yet at the same time do we place the inappropriate amount of importance or maybe emphasis on it? I think there are many people out there that are qualified for jobs and that are overlooked simply because they do not have a college diploma. I recently had to put getting my degree on hold do to financial reasons (yes is sucks big time since I only have at most a year left). When I apply for jobs now, that I know I could do and am completely qualified for, more often than not they will not hire me because I do not have that piece of paper. Or that is what they are telling me. “we would love to have you on staff contact us when you finish your degree”. Yet maybe there are other reasons I am not getting hired. When I finished that last semester/year up and receive that piece of paper will something magical happen that all of a sudden makes me ready for the job force? I do not even honestly feel like college is what has made me qualified to do what I want to do. I think it is the volunteer work I have done and the job I held as a student. I know I am extremely privileged to have even made it this far into the university world and by simply having some college many more opportunities are available to me. Yet all of this derailing of my plans has made me think about everyone who for some reason or another cannot even get a few years of college. What about those that have a lot of “life experience” yet do not have the official piece of paper that states you are ready and qualified for upper level jobs? I do not know the answers it just seems like there is something flawed with the system.  You will probably hear more on the topic of education and job finding since that is what is consuming my thoughts lately.