When I'm not stalking other people on the internet, I'm stalking myself. Just kidding. I just like to keep an eye out for what my internet persona is telling other people about me. So tonight, I decided to do a little snooping and look what I stumbled upon:

Am I vain or am I vain? (Don't answer that.) In reality, this "serious" face is not indicative of my normal bike demeanor. I'm usually more jolly, or at least I hope. Regardless, it was very fun to discover these photos nine months after they were taken by Brendan Smialowski for Micheline Maynard's New York Times piece. I took the liberty of posting my favorites below. It's not everyday that someone documents your journey to work.

Thanks to Brendan Smialowski for posting these. You can check out some more of his photojournalism work here.

Please excuse my absence, Gitnerblog loyalists. These past month or two have rendered me busier than ever, with marathon-length work weeks and stacked assignments. Highlights of the month so far include my interview with musician/hero Kaki King (photo below) for Autostraddle and my latest for NPR, a write-up on Ratatat's LP4 for our First Listen series. One year ago, I was graduating with no job prospects and had just barely secured a summer internship with Sirius XM. Honestly, I felt like a failure -- that all I'd worked for and come to expect after taking this certain path was imaginary.

Today, I'm happy and relieved to say that, so far, things have worked out. There were some bumps along the way, times I doubted what I was doing would pay off -- living in a 1-bedroom apartment with 3 people, not having health insurance, eating meager dinners of canned tuna with rice, for example. But here I am, doing job(s) I genuinely enjoy and living in a neighborhood I love. I didn't do it alone. (Does anyone?) But I did work like a damn dog (and still do) to make it happen.

2010 seems to be a kinder year for new graduates but if anyone's having trouble, I have this advice. Work hard and stick it out. Find something, whether it be retail or restaurants or coffee shops, to weather the storm. And lastly, aim to do what you love because anything else will make you miserable. That's a pearl of wisdom from this 22-year-old.

To close the post, here is me with Kaki King. Just because it happened.

Stalking Myself: Photo Finds

One Year Since Graduation