defining myself as journalist, blogger, person

being unemployed has resulted in more sensory overload than i ever could have expected. even when i don't sleep in, there never seems to be enough hours in the day to accomplish as many things as i used to during a work day. how does that happen? i used to wake up at 7:30, watch the today show, read the paper on the way in to the office and keep on top of certain blogs and newspapers all day long. at night i would go home and blog or catch up on other fun websites and personal blogs.

since leaving the full time world, there are lots more things for me to do on a day to day basis. i religiously search job boards, write cover letters, send resumes, email contacts. i have started working on freelance projects. i joined twitter, and update that often.

what's worse, blogging has taken on a new sense of urgency and importance, yet i am afraid to write. this blog used to be a portal for my innermost thoughts. what i wrote was candid and personal and usually accompanied by embarrassing photos. now i struggle with whether i want to connect past and future business contacts to this site. if you follow me on twitter or are friends with me on facebook, you know the address, but i took it off of my linkedin profile and there's no mention on mediabistro.

recently, i've been spending a bulk of my time designing a website that will eventually live at amandaernst.com. this blog will play a very big role on that site, so i guess i have to tone it down. what's more, a new crop of people are starting to friend me on facebook - family members of my parents' generation. my grandfather has read this blog for awhile (a little while ago my mother told me that she would never let her grandfather read some of the things i post on here...but i think she just doesn't read it that often and must have caught me during a particularly blue period). still, i feel uncomfortable about letting these people i have only met a few times in my life into my personal world. yes, we are related, but i feel more comfortable sharing my silly status updates and drunken photos with my peers than with my dad's. not that there is anything particularly embarrassing on there, it just feels wrong in some way.

today, someone wisely predicted that now that facebook is open to all, the younger generation that started it all will flee to other social networking mediums. i feel particularly sad about this, because as a member since spring 2004, i was one of the early adopters of facebook. but nearly 5 years later, i am now 26 and among the older generation of members. i have spent 5 years compiling a community i am happy with, i'm not ready to flee! as long as my friends are there, i will be facebooking for the foreseeable future. unless something better comes along.

however, with older family members and possible professional contacts joining formerly personal spheres, i have had to sit down and think how i want to present myself as "a brand" across all the various mediums that i now employ. thankfully, i googled myself the other day and found i was harder to find than expected. hopefully a new website will change that.

well, i have to run. i have to review my facebook profile to make sure there is nothing too embarrassing or horrific for adult eyes to see. but, the drinking will commence first thing tomorrow morning for hoboken st. patricks day. here's my post from last year's festivities. stay tuned for updates from this year. i'll be live tweeting on twitter - you can follow me at www.twitter.com/amandanyc.