This year, I will spend Thanksgiving weekend in New York City. It will be my first time in New York, but I feel like some of my favorite movies and television series have already taught me most of what I need to know. Check out my list below and be sure to let me know if there’s anything else I need to know before my trip.

1). Every New Yorker falls into one of the following categories: artist, actor, singer, dancer, writer, or Wall Street goon. (Multiple sources/General impression)

2). If you live in NYC and don’t work in freelance, you’re a sell out (“Rent” and Dan Kennedy’s book, “Rock on: An Office Power Ballad”)

3). Everyone has AIDS. (Film: “Team America”)

4). MDMA will make you feel like champion, but since the city never sleeps, it’s acceptable to mix it with Ambien. I can only assume they would put this information in a song if a doctor had recommended it in the first place. (Song: “Empire State of Mind”)

5). Your first job working as an assistant will provide you a never-ending supply of designer clothes, shoes, and accessories and unlimited access to the company’s fleet of town cars (Film: “Devil Wears Prada”)

6). If you kiss a random sailor in Times Square during Fleet Week, a photographer will conveniently be there to capture the moment. (Famous photo)

7). Even if you are neither “real” nor a “housewife,” you can still be on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of New York.” (Think Bethenny Frankel in Season One)

8). Pizza. That’s all. (Food Network and NBC’s “30 Rock”) 

9). If I sense that I am being pursued by predators, I should NOT call the police. Instead, I should sneak into an abandoned brownstone, booby trap the joint, and alert the police by way of fireworks from Central Park. (Film: “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York”)

10). Women in their 30s and 40s dress and talk like slutty teenagers and everyone seems to be fine with it (HBO’s “Sex and the City”) 

11). If you meet your soul mate in a department store, you’ll live happily every after with him, but not until after you’re already engaged to a long-haired John Corbett years later. (Film: “Serendipity”)

12). Sometimes giant balloons fly through the air (Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade)

13). Lady Liberty is wearing granny panties underneath that toga. (No source, just my assumption).

So there you have it. Think I’ve missed something? Tweet me at @LauraKellyKC

I was northbound on I-35 heading towards downtown Kansas City when I hit the usual early morning traffic jam. I had come to expect this and, over the course of seven months, had almost gotten used to it. Most mornings I would listen to my favorite radio show and browse through my Twitter stream while I crawled from the Overland Parkway to my office in Union Station. My commute on August 31 was no different than any other, except that it would be my last one.

I began a post-graduate internship at a small non-profit organization in Kansas City in February 2011. I consider myself lucky – I graduated from the University of Kansas in December 2010 and had landed a job (kinda) within two months. If I remember correctly, I think it was the first job I applied for after I graduated. To top it off, in May, the organization offered to extend my internship to the end of August, with the understanding that I was free to accept any offer for permanent employment elsewhere.

But the end of August came and went and all the resumes and cover letters I submitted had gone unanswered. I moved into my mom’s apartment in Overland Park and rented a storage unit for all of my furniture from my apartment in Lawrence.  

On the morning of August 31, I decided to forgo my favorite radio morning show and catch up on some episodes of the “This American Life” podcast. I was three months behind, so I started with the May 8 episode entitled, “This Week.”

Oddly enough, what I heard was both comforting and incredibly depressing.

The last eight minutes of the episode was about a girl named Laura who had just graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville.

“I don’t know what I want to do and I don’t know where I want to move, so that poses a problem,” she said.

Yes, I imagine that would pose a problem. As a matter of fact, I know it does. I felt the same way when I graduated from KU seven months ago.

She continues.

“How am I going to get a job? I have nothing on my resume. All my friends had internships and they’re getting all of these amazing jobs and moving away and, what’s my plan after college? I’m moving back home. I’m a failure.”

Here’s where Laura and I differ. Having just completed my second internship, I can hardly feel sorry for someone who hasn’t completed any and can’t find a job. Secondly, who are these friends who are finding “all of these amazing jobs and moving away”? What kind of jobs are they finding and where are they moving? I’ve had two internships, good internships, in fact–both of them paid and I was only asked to fetch coffee one time–and I still had to move in with my parents after college. How had my luck changed so drastically in the last seven months?

To top it off, it is revealed that the former “This American Life” intern, Eric, who was interviewing Laura, had made the same move one year earlier. What he said echoed what I had been feeling for the last month and I nearly broke down in tears as I was parking my car.

“I couldn’t land a job. Then after two weeks, then a month, then six months without any real sense of direction, it was easily the saddest and most depressed I’ve ever felt in my life.”

Well, at least we know he had completed an internship and couldn’t find a job either.

On my last day, I spent my hour-long commute on I-35 South reading Twitter and thinking about my next move. I sent a tweet to my former employer’s account:

“Here’s to opportunities: those that are won, those that are missed, and those still waiting to be found. Thanks for everything!”

I meant what I said. My job, my opportunity, is still out there. It may not be glamorous, or pay a huge salary, but it will be my job. I’ll own it–even if I have to fetch coffee. I’ll work my ass off, sacrifice nights and weekends and do whatever it takes to be the best at whatever it is I’m doing.

To all the recent graduates out there: chin up. All of our lives we’ve been told that we can be anything we want. We can still be anything we want! So keep your heads up and with a little luck, we’ll get there.

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When Laura Kelly isn’t spending her time tweeting while driving, she is searching for a job in marketing/communications. Laura is based in Kansas City, but is willing to relocate to any company that will have her.

You can download the free “This American Life” podcast here or find it on iTunes.