{"id":15760,"date":"2018-04-04T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T16:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=15760"},"modified":"2018-03-29T14:53:36","modified_gmt":"2018-03-29T21:53:36","slug":"calculated-thought-farewell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/04\/04\/calculated-thought-farewell\/","title":{"rendered":"Calculated Thought<\/em>: Farewell"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve always loved to write. I remember when I was eight years old, writing cartoon stories about Mr. Bean going on ridiculous adventures. I would write ads on the back of them for the next story that said, \u201cComing to a classroom near you.\u201d I thought it was insanely clever.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t pay much attention to writing, but I knew I enjoyed doing it. Yet it was only when it was required at school that I did it. I never wrote for fun, or as an outlet. I wrote a few really bad songs when I was a teenager. That\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n

So, after quitting my restaurant job in my second year at Camosun, I realized I had more time on my hands than I thought I would. I was looking for jobs in my new field (accounting), and I was in a place many know well: reading job descriptions that said, \u201cEntry-level position. Two years previous experience required.\u201d I was desperate to get experience. I feared I would be another millennial sob story. That I would join the ranks of the degree-holding baristas who can\u2019t pay off their student loans.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Calculated Thought<\/em> is a column dealing with student finances that is featured in every issue of Nexus<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well, not exactly. I was a mature student; I had other experience through a short career in hospitality management, but I was bored. The last thing I wanted was to feel I wasted my time going back to school.<\/p>\n

I thought, if you can\u2019t find a job, maybe you\u2019ll have to work for free. I looked for volunteer opportunities in accounting. They didn\u2019t exist, really.<\/p>\n

In my search, I ended up on the Nexus<\/i> website, in the volunteer section.<\/p>\n

As I said, I enjoyed writing. And I\u2019ve learned a lot studying finance and economics. I constantly read about current events: trade deals, central bank announcements, stock markets, government fiscal policy. I could write about some of that, I thought. Sure, I got to write in my accounting classes, but analysis of corporate financial statements scratches exactly zero creative itches.<\/p>\n

And, 30 articles later, here I am, penning my last. I graduate this spring.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a wonderful experience. Writing for an audience can be exhilarating. It forces thoughtfulness that we only get when speaking with strangers on whom we wish to leave a good impression. It takes you past a headline, tweet, or blurb, and forces you to dig deeper, question other people\u2019s opinions, and challenge your own.<\/p>\n

I call out to anyone reading this to consider what interests you and to write about it. The folks at Nexus<\/i> are super friendly, and they\u2019ll fix your grammar mistakes for free. They\u2019ll have at least one spot to fill on the columns page now, so pitch them an idea.<\/p>\n

John Steinbeck wrote: \u201cFarewell has a sweet sound of reluctance. Good-by is short and final, a word with teeth sharp to bite through the string that ties past to the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think I\u2019ll keep writing. So, farewell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve always loved to write. I remember when I was eight years old, writing cartoon stories about Mr. Bean going on ridiculous adventures. I would write ads on the back of them for the next story that said, \u201cComing to a classroom near you.\u201d I thought it was insanely clever. I didn\u2019t pay much attention […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,210],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-april-4-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15761,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15760\/revisions\/15761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}