“When I was 5 years old, I would walk around putting teacups on tables because that’s all I could carry back then.”

April 2 2009.

So back when the Top 50 was first announced, we were all required to send in a new picture of ourselves as well as a short essay/short story about ourselves. Now that I’m out of the running, I figure it’s okay to share what I sent in.

Here’s the picture I sent in (along with another one I also liked ;))

I basically changed all of the desktops of all the computers in a Mac lab at school so they would say “CHOOSE LINDA FOR THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD” and then my friend Pamelina took the photos! :)

(Side note: I’ve made it my mission to start a collection of shirts that say “LOVE” on it. So far the count is at 2, lol).

Now for the short story/essay, we had to cover the following in under 500 words:

1. A little about your background, previous employment, family, where you live.
2. What is most important to you in life.
3. If successful in gaining The Best Job in the World with Tourism Queensland, who will be joining you on your journey to the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef (partner and / or children and tell us a little about them).
4. Anything else you would like to share about yourself.

This is what I sent in:

I’m a 19-year-old journalism student from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I was born here and I’ve lived here my entire life. I’ve traveled around Canada and the United States, but I’ve never left the continent, even though I often dream of doing so.

Every weekend for as far back as I can remember, I help my parents by working at our Vietnamese family restaurant. My dad often tells people that when I was 5 years old, I would walk around putting teacups on tables because that’s all I could carry back then. Now I can do pretty much everything at the restaurant except cook. It’s a small but busy place, and my parents don’t like hiring outside of the family so I am a hostess, waitress, busgirl, and dishwasher, all in one.

Last summer after my first year of journalism, I got my first real career-related job at a small weekly newspaper. This was a full four-month gig. Normally a first year journalism student wouldn’t usually get work like that, but I was really keen on getting as much experience as I could, as early as I could, plus the paper liked my sample articles and the fact that I was at the top of my class, so they took me.

After I successfully finished that internship and went back to school for my second (and current) year, I started dabbling into freelance writing for smaller papers and magazines in Edmonton. I was chosen to do a three-week winter break internship at a major daily newspaper in the city and completed that successfully as well.

Over the years, no matter how busy I am with school, work, or just hanging out with friends and family, I’ve always made time to stay connected online through social networking, creating my own websites, fansites, and teaching myself new skills like how to video edit, use Photoshop and make graphics.

The most important thing in life to me, honestly, is happiness. I want to be happy. I want to surround myself with people who make me happy. I want to make those people around me happy. I want to do whatever it is and whatever it takes, so that the outcome leaves me feeling good about life.

If I am successful in gaining The Best Job in the World with Tourism Queensland, there is no one I’ll be bringing to live with me for the entire 6-month duration. I certainly intend on having my parents, brothers, cousins, and friends come throughout the 6 months to stay with me for extended periods of time. But I really want this to be a truly new and independent experience, especially at this stage in my life. I’m also looking forward to meeting new people on the islands and having them become a part of those 6 months, along with my friends and family who visit.

Thank you so much for considering me. The experience so far has been incredible and I really hope it doesn’t end anytime soon.

I had debated whether or not they wanted me to write a “story” about a girl named Linda, etc., or whether they just wanted to see how well I could write while making sure to answer their questions. I went with the latter approach. Maybe it was a little less creative and maybe that hurt me in the overall decision for who moved onto the next round but, oh well! That’s what I sent in. ;)

Linda