20 resumes, 5 interviews, 2 continents, and 1 thumb drive

On any given day, as many as 5 or 6 thumb drives are abandoned in the library. They are forgotten for a number of reasons. The biggest factor is probably that our CPUs are mounted behind the monitors, so you can't actually SEE your thumb drive once you've connected it. I'm guessing most people are frantically working on a paper, finish it just in time for class, print it off, pick up their pages in a hurry, and forget the thing that their paper is saved on. These lost thumb drives have resulted in calls first thing the next morning from panicked thumb drive owners, to students casually inquiring months later if we still have it.

I have a couple of  thumb drives. I like to keep my resumes and cover letters on one, and other random documents on another. I have had my resume thumb drive for over 6 years. I'm not sure if this is due to the importance of the information on it, or if I'm just more responsible than the average student. It's a nice and simple design, no logos or flashy colors. Just brushed metal. It has a nice weight to it, and I like that the "cover" is attached. One less thing to lose!

Browsing through the files on my thumb drive is like a walk down memory lane of all the jobs I've applied for. There was the Craigslist "framer" job I applied for when I first moved to Santa Fe, and was desperate for ANYTHING full-time. I recall sending a follow up email to the poster, professing my love of picture framing, how I missed it, and how I wished to return to that industry. I never heard back. I hate that! "Maybe it was building framing, and not picture framing they were needing?" There was the resume for the job at a university in Kazakhstan. I'm sure it would have been an adventure, which is what I was looking for, but I can't help the sinking feeling that I dodged a bullet turning down the offer of an interview with the higher ups. There are resumes for jobs that would have taken me somewhere I didn't really want to live, but would have been professionally satisfying, and vice versa.

My thumb drive also houses the resume and cover letter for the position I will be taking on in a little over a month. I feel a little like Goldilocks in that this position seems, "just right" compared to so many of the others I've seen, applied, and interviewed for. This new opportunity will take me out of the state, and back to whence I came...ish. I'm OK with the "ish" portion, and more than a little excited about it. A new city to explore, new opportunities, and the chance to reinvent myself. I have no idea what the future will bring, but I'm looking forward to finding out!