Monday, July 21

24 hour trip to NYC

Ok So I have a confession to make. Most of you remember how when I was in college and the first few years out I would decide to go away for the weekend and jump on a plane or train and go visit someone for the weekend. Once I started law school well something had to give and it appears that my spontaneous trips to visit friends was one of the first things to go. Now that I decided to be a homeowner my disposable income has definitely decreased. I also think that most of you have heard me talk about my friend Andrew's band Max Klau Band well they are in a national competition and they had to go to NYC to perform in shows where they would go up against 2 or 3 other bands and find out if they were going to move on to the next round. Well since I go to all the shows I possibly can in Boston and this is such an amazing opportunity for them I had to go at least one of their NYC shows to check it out. Finally it's Round 3 and this is the last round where they will perform and I am able to make it down to NYC for the night for the show.

I get my friend Kathleen to tell me that she will come down with me and we will have a short visit but a good one. We decide to take the Bolt Bus and get a hotel room and make a trip of it. Now comes the sad part the week we are supposed to go Kathleen ends up having to put her cat down. My heart totally broke for her and I understood why she was deciding to bow out of the trip but now it looks like I am going down solo. So I think about it and decide it's been a long time since I have done anything crazy like this and it's long past needed. I like my own company just fine so what if I am hanging out in NYC for the afternoon on my own. I really wanted to be there to support Andrew's band.

So I take the Bolt bus which I would totally recommend by the way it was clean, and not sketchy people. I enjoyed both the trip down and back as well as the fact it's express we made one pit stop in CT but that was it. It was my first time in NYC is so long and I realized how much I miss visiting there but that I have definitely been there enough since I got off the bus and realized it was 1:00 and since there was only me there was the good chance of getting a last minute ticket to a Broadway show and since it was RIDICULOUSLY humid I thought this would be a good idea. I start walking over to the Broadway area and I see signs for Chicago and decide what the hell. So I went to see Chicago and when that got out I went for a late lunch/early dinner at Olive Garden in Times Square since it has been forever since I have eaten at an OG and I figured they would most likely have room at the bar which they did. Then went and checked into my hotel room and got ready to go to the show. Katie called me when her and Andrew got into town and let me know where they were so I met up with Katie, Andrew, Max, and Beverly at a bar not too far from my hotel and hung out with them.

Now for the show. I don't have words for how AMAZING they nailed it that night. I have seen these guys perform a lot and let me just tell you that was something. They were all on and having such a good time and the crowd that was there for them I just couldn't get over it. I was signing along to all their songs and just feeling like I was on a high because I was just so excited for them. Most of the people there were Andrew's family and friends from high school. It was amazing to finally get to meet all these people that I hear so much about. After I saw them perform there was no doubt in my mind that they won and they will be going on to the final round. They played their set and then we hung out for a bit. I think I was in bed by midnight and then woke up the next morning got on my bus and was back in Boston by 1:00 in the afternoon. All things said not a bad trip. I am so glad that I did it for many reasons but it's nice to remind myself that taking a spontaneous trip usually ends with good memories and moments.

Wednesday, July 16

Well it has been a long time since I have posted on here and I have been enjoying the first summer where I don't have to pack everything in before school starts or push everything off until the end after I take a stupid test. It has been great. I of course started out over scheduling myself and falling into my usual pattern of the past couple of years. I have been trying to slow things down a little bit now.

I feel as though now I have passed the bar I am at a bit of a crossroads in my life. I am an attorney and yet my company wants me to stay in the lowest title possible in my group and just keep doing the same work for a lot less money then I can make somewhere else. So I have been in a bit of a bitter state lately and I am trying to figure out what to do and if it is the right decision for me to leave even though I would owe Fidelity money if I do. The more that I look at my current situation I just don't think that I can sit here for another 10 months and train my manager on the law and Fidelity just to get out of my obligation when I am running the legal department for the sub-advised business for a quarter or what my boss makes and what does he bring to the table exactly. I just feel that it has been a great run at Fidelity but I think that it is starting to come to an end.

Now I have to start a job search which I haven't done in seven years because Jen got me into Fidelity so this is weird and unfamiliar territory but I know it's the right thing to do and I can't wait around for a company to see my worth I need to get out there and gain the experience and see what happens. So I am talking to some attorneys that I know that are 40 Act attorneys that I feel like I can ask for their help and I am not putting them in an awkward position. I am getting feedback on my resume and reformatting it. I just feel like I have been scrapping and fighting for anything that I can get and that at this point in my career I really should be in a different place. I realize that Fidelity helped me pay for school and that I need to consider that but now that school is over and I am no longer getting that 20K for school then you have taken that money away from me and now what???

I know this is a combination of things. I have a manager that I don't feel I can learn anything from and my career hasn't advanced at all in the past two years and I don't see how I can go from an SPM to an attorney and I want to be an attorney. I know how that can sound but you have to look at it from my point of view. I just finished going to law school at night while I was working and taking the bar twice while I was working. What is all of that for if I don't become an attorney??? I mean that is a lot of time and money sacrificed to achieve a goal and get a license and then not use it?? I mean that is really what Fidelity expects me to do and it sounds like maybe in 3 or 4 years we will try to get you an attorney position. Well that is great and all but I am going to go somewhere that will give it to me now because frankly there are kids out there with no experience getting hired so the fact that I have this experience can only help me differentiate myself. OK well enough about the state of affairs of my work situation. Until next time...