Introduction // Nothing Normal
Friends and family,
Many folks say that Public Accountants make the best bloggers.
To clarify, nobody has said that. Yet. But on the off-chance that this thing ever goes viral, I would like the *credit* for being the first to make such a declaration. And for everyone keeping track, please note that it took a mere 3 sentences for the first accounting pun to appear.
For much of my life, I have tried to pick up journaling. At the start of each new year, while the rest of the world headed to the gym, I would be rolling up to Borders (R.I.P.) to buy a new notebook. I would get home and passionately start to fill up the pages, bragging to friends and family how I would have a treasure-trove of memories to look back on when I got old and turned 22. But like clockwork, after about a month, I would get busy, forget an entry, and ultimately toss my journal in a drawer somewhere. My aspiration to document the important moments was there, but my committment to keeping a journal was not. And now that I'm actually old and 22, I thought a change was in order.
As I transition into a new season of life, I want to take on a new creative outlet for writing and sharing. I intend to post here every month or so, documenting moments of triumph and, more frequently, moments of failure and hilarity. And as an added bonus, these posts will allow the 3-5 family members (read: grandparents) who will actually follow these to keep up with my life. That’s right folks, I'm talking about blogging.
If the timeless classics Friends and New Girl have taught me anything, it’s that my “Working 20s” will have some pretty important moments. Aspirations for a meaningful career, exciting new living situations, and lifelong friendships being formed. I’m trying to amend the list to include “Getting home from work at 7:30 and wondering when it’s appropriate to crawl into bed for the night”, but that doesn’t exactly make for good television.
I can’t promise readers utility, brevity, or even structural consistency. But what I can promise is a genuine and lighthearted take on what it means to be a 22-year old entering the professional workforce for the first time. If you too are a recent graduate, experiencing a whole new world of happy hour networking, wondering how long you can postpone an oil change, and researching what an "exemption" is on your W-4, welcome, fellow traveler. And if you’re still in college or a long way past it, hopefully you can still find joy and laughter in what was, or what’s still to come.
That’s enough of an introduction for one day. Thanks for reading this inaugural entry, and I hope you enjoy my journey from Golden Dome to Golden Coast!
1. Nothing Normal
I want to start by bringing everyone up to speed. Like many of my peers, I spent my last summer of freedom galavanting all over Europe. And by galavanting all over Europe, I actually mean studying for the CPA in the basement of my parents’ house in St. Louis. Which, for someone who loves accounting as much as me, is basically just as fun! (Not really). Don’t get me wrong, I cherished the extended time I got with my family. And much to my surprise, I was remarkably productive. For example, I made an entire 6-track composition using only clarinet tones on my electric keyboard. I played enough ping-pong with Justin to make Forrest Gump sweat. And I managed to accidentally walk our dog into the invisible fence not once, but two times while he was still wearing his shock collar. Sorry, Brady.
In all seriousness, this was a really important and challenging summer for me. For the first time in forever, summer wasn’t just a break before the next school year began. It was no longer the period of anticipation before band camp, classes, and same-siding it with some untrainedfreshman first-year in the dining hall. My summer had ceased to be a bridge to familiarity, and was instead a clunky and sometimes painful transition from all the memories I was leaving behind.
I had to go from being busy 7 days a week to making "Leave the house today" the top item on my to-do list. I had to go from Southwest Salad and Fajita Night to reheating leftovers for two weeks in a row because I still haven’t learned how to cook Italian for one. I had to go from watching my Irish from the best seats in the house, while holding my clarinet, to watching them from my actual house, still holding my clarinet. (I haven’t truly done this yet, but the season is still young, so stay tuned).
However, the biggest challenge since graduating has been learning how to meet new people. I intentionally use the word “learning” because college felt like the minor leagues compared to the real world. At Notre Dame, the questions basically asked themselves. “What dorm do you live in? What are you studying? Are you from Naperville, Aurora, or Wheaton?” This small talk would provide a good starting point until you found a mutual “Sean” or “Emily” that you both knew, and then the ice would be broken, and a friendship formed.
That same conversation structure doesn’t work as well in the professional world. None of my colleagues care who my RA was, or whether I did an SSLP last summer. Nobody here will debate me on why Clarity is the best timeout song in our stand's folder, or fight me over SDH's superiority to North. My very first day of work, I found myself wondering how to start a conversation with the stranger sitting next to me at training. What follows is areal "hypothetical" example of how you might *not* want to approach the situation.
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Scene: First Day at Ernst & Young; San Jose Office
Many folks say that Public Accountants make the best bloggers.
To clarify, nobody has said that. Yet. But on the off-chance that this thing ever goes viral, I would like the *credit* for being the first to make such a declaration. And for everyone keeping track, please note that it took a mere 3 sentences for the first accounting pun to appear.
For much of my life, I have tried to pick up journaling. At the start of each new year, while the rest of the world headed to the gym, I would be rolling up to Borders (R.I.P.) to buy a new notebook. I would get home and passionately start to fill up the pages, bragging to friends and family how I would have a treasure-trove of memories to look back on when I got old and turned 22. But like clockwork, after about a month, I would get busy, forget an entry, and ultimately toss my journal in a drawer somewhere. My aspiration to document the important moments was there, but my committment to keeping a journal was not. And now that I'm actually old and 22, I thought a change was in order.
As I transition into a new season of life, I want to take on a new creative outlet for writing and sharing. I intend to post here every month or so, documenting moments of triumph and, more frequently, moments of failure and hilarity. And as an added bonus, these posts will allow the 3-5 family members (read: grandparents) who will actually follow these to keep up with my life. That’s right folks, I'm talking about blogging.
If the timeless classics Friends and New Girl have taught me anything, it’s that my “Working 20s” will have some pretty important moments. Aspirations for a meaningful career, exciting new living situations, and lifelong friendships being formed. I’m trying to amend the list to include “Getting home from work at 7:30 and wondering when it’s appropriate to crawl into bed for the night”, but that doesn’t exactly make for good television.
I can’t promise readers utility, brevity, or even structural consistency. But what I can promise is a genuine and lighthearted take on what it means to be a 22-year old entering the professional workforce for the first time. If you too are a recent graduate, experiencing a whole new world of happy hour networking, wondering how long you can postpone an oil change, and researching what an "exemption" is on your W-4, welcome, fellow traveler. And if you’re still in college or a long way past it, hopefully you can still find joy and laughter in what was, or what’s still to come.
That’s enough of an introduction for one day. Thanks for reading this inaugural entry, and I hope you enjoy my journey from Golden Dome to Golden Coast!
1. Nothing Normal
I want to start by bringing everyone up to speed. Like many of my peers, I spent my last summer of freedom galavanting all over Europe. And by galavanting all over Europe, I actually mean studying for the CPA in the basement of my parents’ house in St. Louis. Which, for someone who loves accounting as much as me, is basically just as fun! (Not really). Don’t get me wrong, I cherished the extended time I got with my family. And much to my surprise, I was remarkably productive. For example, I made an entire 6-track composition using only clarinet tones on my electric keyboard. I played enough ping-pong with Justin to make Forrest Gump sweat. And I managed to accidentally walk our dog into the invisible fence not once, but two times while he was still wearing his shock collar. Sorry, Brady.
In all seriousness, this was a really important and challenging summer for me. For the first time in forever, summer wasn’t just a break before the next school year began. It was no longer the period of anticipation before band camp, classes, and same-siding it with some untrained
I had to go from being busy 7 days a week to making "Leave the house today" the top item on my to-do list. I had to go from Southwest Salad and Fajita Night to reheating leftovers for two weeks in a row because I still haven’t learned how to cook Italian for one. I had to go from watching my Irish from the best seats in the house, while holding my clarinet, to watching them from my actual house, still holding my clarinet. (I haven’t truly done this yet, but the season is still young, so stay tuned).
However, the biggest challenge since graduating has been learning how to meet new people. I intentionally use the word “learning” because college felt like the minor leagues compared to the real world. At Notre Dame, the questions basically asked themselves. “What dorm do you live in? What are you studying? Are you from Naperville, Aurora, or Wheaton?” This small talk would provide a good starting point until you found a mutual “Sean” or “Emily” that you both knew, and then the ice would be broken, and a friendship formed.
That same conversation structure doesn’t work as well in the professional world. None of my colleagues care who my RA was, or whether I did an SSLP last summer. Nobody here will debate me on why Clarity is the best timeout song in our stand's folder, or fight me over SDH's superiority to North. My very first day of work, I found myself wondering how to start a conversation with the stranger sitting next to me at training. What follows is a
-
Scene: First Day at Ernst & Young; San Jose Office
Danny enters the training room and sits down next to a new Staff 1 whose head is buried in his phone. Attempting to connect with his new coworker, he strikes up a conversation.
Danny: Hey! How’s it going?
Danny: Hey! How’s it going?
Unnamed Staff 1: Good, and you?
Danny: Great! Thanks!
There’s an awkward pause as Danny desperately tries to steer the conversation away from predictable small talk.
Danny: Great! Thanks!
There’s an awkward pause as Danny desperately tries to steer the conversation away from predictable small talk.
Danny: So… how’s your heart?
Unnamed Staff 1: Good, and you?
Me: Great! Thanks!
The conversation ends, and Danny proceeds to sit next to this person in awkward silence for the next 3 days of training.
-
Did you cringe just reading this? Imagine living it. At a place like Notre Dame, I could get away with asking questions like these to people I had just met. Conversations like these are often encouraged in a place of intellectual curiosity. And if anyone thought I was strange, I would just say I was "doing research", and there was my escape route. But that same excuse doesn't play in the corporate world. It's gonna take some time to re-learn how to meet new people, and not scare them away. But I'm up to the challenge. In an effort to "tone it down", I’m only signing “Warmly” on every other email.
Amidst these growing pains, there have been numerous beautiful and joyful moments as well. Blasting musicals with the windows down as I sit in California traffic, trying to lock eyes with strangers during the two-part harmonies. Deleting Weatherbug from my phone, because who needs an app to tell them it’s going to be 72 with a high chance of perfection every single day? Finding a local library, park, and Starbs within walking distance, and testing my body's/wallet's limit on how much tea and boba I can consume on a daily basis. Grabbing every kitchen item off the shelf at Ikea and actually using them all, as our house cooks together almost every night.
Me: Great! Thanks!
The conversation ends, and Danny proceeds to sit next to this person in awkward silence for the next 3 days of training.
-
Did you cringe just reading this? Imagine living it. At a place like Notre Dame, I could get away with asking questions like these to people I had just met. Conversations like these are often encouraged in a place of intellectual curiosity. And if anyone thought I was strange, I would just say I was "doing research", and there was my escape route. But that same excuse doesn't play in the corporate world. It's gonna take some time to re-learn how to meet new people, and not scare them away. But I'm up to the challenge. In an effort to "tone it down", I’m only signing “Warmly” on every other email.
Amidst these growing pains, there have been numerous beautiful and joyful moments as well. Blasting musicals with the windows down as I sit in California traffic, trying to lock eyes with strangers during the two-part harmonies. Deleting Weatherbug from my phone, because who needs an app to tell them it’s going to be 72 with a high chance of perfection every single day? Finding a local library, park, and Starbs within walking distance, and testing my body's/wallet's limit on how much tea and boba I can consume on a daily basis. Grabbing every kitchen item off the shelf at Ikea and actually using them all, as our house cooks together almost every night.
If I’m being honest, nothing feels quite normal yet. And I’m learning to be ok with that. As I've found myself saying during Notre Dame's most recent home games, "Relax. It's early." I'm still finding my rhythm out here, while trying to "say yes" to moments of sponteneity that make a new season memorable. If you are reading this, know that I’m praying for you, whether you’re in the middle of a crazy week at work, a stressful week at school, or a routine week living your best life. As I navigate this new season, and try to avoid giving my entire paycheck back to Trader Joe’s, I ask for your prayers as well.
Warmly,
Danny
Warmly,
Danny
Wow, public accountants make the best bloggers...but the worst roommates
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