Thursday, July 29, 2010

NOT MUCH

A portion of the poster that used to hang over where I slept.

Looking for work has become serious business with both of us looking.
Job hunting has always been stressful to me.
The idea of selling myself feels like bragging
and some what phony.
I know, it's what you do to get a job.
Interviews are the worst.
I haven't had one yet.  I hope I have one soon,
but in education, those do not start until mid-August.
All I can do now is fill out applications and then wait for them to get around to interviews.
There are 19 school districts in the county where I live.  However, as good as that sounds in regards to opportunities, this county is huge!
It goes all the way to the coast from here.
I am not getting up and driving to the coast everyday to work.  Half hour, yes.  An hour and a half, no.

Several of the districts only accept on line applications.  I can fill them out in my jammies if I want.  But one of them... the main one where I want to work... insists that you have to go through an educational online jobs company.
It should not be a big deal, but it is.
The program is stubborn and kicks stuff back out.
You have to seriously be committed or 
you would just give up and shut the damn thing down.
That what I'm up to... frustration and filling out applications on paper, then delivering them to places.
I don't know where anything is here.
Randy is back to answering my questions about where places are by telling me that he will drive me there.
I can't really blame him.  When I get lost, I have little idea of where I am.  I say things like
"Well, there's a Chevron across the street."
As if he knows where every Chevron is.
My "day" is pretty much over.  I have two paper applications to deliver in the morning.
I was able to down load these two.
And even though these, and one I turned in there yesterday, are at the same location,  each has to have its own application identical to the other two.
So I decided to fill out everything on one except for dates, signatures and job title or number and make a master copy.
 From now on, I only have to fill in a few blanks.
I am hoping they believe this is clever and not lazy.


My blogging may be a bit spotty for a bit...
I'm seeing so much of my computer that I hardly want to look at it.
But you don't get a job by sitting on your hands.
Forgive me if I miss some of your entries.
And now, if you will excuse me,
it's time for a nice bloody mary and a BBQ rib steak.
Later I'll watch the squirrels search for the peanuts I hid for them.


Yes, I am aware that pictured above is a chicken and not a squirrel.  But I can't find my squirrel photo
and well, maybe the chicken will drop back by.

Sometimes you just gotta make do.
 

30 comments:

  1. I feel just as you do when job hunting...sell myself? Oh, never! But, yeah, that is what it really is and I know you can do it!!!

    As for the app. copying thing, I would think they'd appreciate someone who worked smarter, not harder. You're not a time waster!

    Enjoy your steak and bloody mary and squirrel watching. :-)

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  2. But of course he knows where the Chevron is.

    It's across the street.

    I know, not funny.

    Good luck on the job hunt. I'm sure you'll find something. May not be exactly what you're looking for right away, but once you get established in the area and get some networking done, you can always look again later.

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  3. yeesh, i'm so sorry to hear the 2 of you are having to hustle for work at the same time. prayers going up as requested.

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  4. how about one of those gps deals? i have some friends that consider them essential.

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  5. Love the randomness of this one ;-) No squirrel? Aw hell, here's a chicken.

    Don't think I'd want that particular poster over my bed. Yikes! The last one to hang over my bed was for the rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus - the one with Lennon, Clapton, Keith, and Mitch Mitchell playing Yer Blues.

    Interviews... bleah. Ever read Gallagher's NYU application? Al least, I think that's what it was... Might give you some good ideas, heh, heh.

    "In my spare time, I breed prizewinning clams..." Or something.

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  6. laura b.-- I'm just not a self-tooter. But I do have some lovely letters of reference from my supervisors and co-workers. I hope they read them.

    The steak, which we split and still had left over, was divine! And well, bloody marys are my second favorite... I'd rather have a margarita but the cost of decent tequila went way up. :-(
    Alas...no squirrels, no chicken!

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  7. KenV-- Actually I laughed out loud at that. There's always a Chevron across the street!

    Right you are about accepting what comes... I sure will and later, I can look for exactly what I want. I did that to get my last job and then it fell into my lap. Thanks for the encouragement.

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  8. billy pilgrim-- You know that's a very sane idea.
    Possibly why I have not thought of it myself. ;-)

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  9. Cricket-- I must admit by the time I got to write this post my eyes had gone fuzzy and my brain was fried.

    I began putting nuts out for the squirrels about two weeks ago. That began a battle with BlueJays.
    The Jays bury the nuts and the squirrels come in to dig them up... Jays begin dive bombing. It makes a good show! I have no sympathy for the Jays since they stole our cherries this year and I intend to guard my black berries like a lunitic... you know your basic arm flapping, screaming and gyrating.

    That poster was the last thing I would see and the first thing I'd see each day. Odd because I refused to see the movie when Heath Ledger died. Yet there he was, a strange comfort.

    I have not read that but I will now. Thanks. I can use job search giggles.

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  10. Sending good job finding vibes your way. It must make you feel hopeful having excellent letters of recommendations. That has to bump your application to the front of the line.

    Funny you would mention bluejay dive bombing. On Tuesday, one of my evil cats caught a baby bluejay and we went to take it away from her, when the bird starting screeching and ran under one of the trucks and then under a work bench.

    The incident caused an uproar in the local bluejay population. What a racket! At one point, I went out to check on it and one of the bluejays thwacked me on the head with its wing.

    They were crazed, swooping in and out of our carport, screeching and generally raising heck
    for hours.

    Later, I saw that the little bird was dead. And even later, I saw that it was gone.

    Nature, red in tooth and claw. Still not as creepy as that poster though ;-)

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  11. Cube-- The Jays here create a real circus. They are absolutely dedicated to battle with squirrels and I have never seen that before now. I don't doubt for a second that they were crazed or willing to attack you.

    Currently, they are the rulers of Sanctuary's yards. Even the neighbor cats run when dive bombed. But that doesn't stop the cats from hiding in the berries and attacking back. It's a war zone.

    Funny story. Thanks for sharing it and thanks for the good vibes.
    You know, when I watch things like that I often think of you. Shark week is upon us. I guess we will be watching it. Talk about raw nature and predators! Life is a show if we tune it in. :-)

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  12. We have the same bird vs. squirrel vs. cat wars here too. Birds are amazing critters in my estimation, but they do have the ability to fly which is like a super power that the others don't have so should we root for them or not?

    BTW I can't wait for shark week either. A little known fact about me is that I was bitten by a shark and lived.

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  13. Cube-- YIKES!!! Glad you are okay!
    You will have to tell me that story. Please. Well, we'll be watching shark week right with you, but I'll be rooting for the sea lions. I'm very attached to them. Like turtles.

    I tend to root for the squirrels since I get the nuts for them. I suppose I could put out a bird feeder... we have several in storage... and see how the Jay like it when the squirrels become the thieves. Should make for another good show.

    I never thought about birds having a super power. Interesting. I suppose cats do too with their claws. Atomantium vs the power of flight.

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  14. Keep up the hard work and you will be working in no time. Hang in there Ananda girl and good luck.

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  15. That poster would give me nightmares.

    I hate job hunting, too, and I really hope something turns up soon.

    Just to let you know, I had to change URL's. This avatar links ot the new site.

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  16. Mr. Shife-- Thanks for the luck Shife! I will hang in.

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  17. secret agent woman-- Thanks for the heads up on the new URL. I will be sure to follow it.

    I used to have nightmares every night, but that was even before the poster and I actually found it oddly comforting. Now I rarely have them since I moved. :-)

    Job hunting sucks!

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  18. Glad you didn't turn out to be the Joker with a poster like that!

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  19. If you drink enough and squint, it could look like a chicken.
    Good luck to you!!! Jeez. At least I have a person in my life who has a job. The stress must be bad. But at least you have eachother.

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  20. Shit, I meant squirrel. So much for the joke.

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  21. dmarks-- When we were kids, my brother always chose to be Batman and that left me to be the villian... yep, I picked the Joker.
    Big grins!

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  22. NoRegrets-- Hahahaha... I don't know, it was still pretty funny!

    Yeah. there is stress. Mostly I worry about one, the other or both of us getting depressed. He feels pretty crappy, like he let me down. I do not feel that way, but...

    We are so far okay financially and actually in a fairly good position as we do not have house payments or rent to worry about for a year. Both our cars are paid for and that means we only have basic utility, computer and food expenses. It could be much worse.

    One way or another I always get work. I'd hate to go back to retail but will for a temporary fix if I have to. And I have a wide range of work experiences to draw off of, his experiences are much more narrow. But he also has his shop and does side work plus the wooden toys he sells.

    Time has a way of increasing pressure. I am thinking of this as a test. If we can get through this, then the rest of life is a piece of cake.

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  23. Yes, that is what M and I have been saying to ourselves. But in reality, it means you just have experience for the next major crisis, whenever that may be. It's just the nature of life I think to have crises. Jeez, that sounds very pessimistic. Or is it realisitic? Trying to determine how much point of view matters. I think it matters a lot and M subscribes to changing outlook changes lives. I have to absorb that.

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  24. Ugh. I abhor interviews. I've been employed at the same place now for coming up on 20 years, and I dread ever having to interview again. I hope I never do.

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  25. The story about my shark bite is very anti-climactic. I caught a small shark at the beach and was going to release it when my eldest daughter asked to hold it. I let her and it began to wriggle vigorously and I went to help her hold it, and it turned swiftly and bit me on the thumb. We let it go, but that shark left me with a story I will tell for the rest of my life ;-)

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  26. BTW I wish a stray chicken would visit me because I love chickens, but then again, I have 3 cats, so maybe the chicken would be better served if it stayed away from my house.

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  27. Good luck to both you and Randy. I know it sucks while you're doing it, but hopefully, you'll both find jobs soon and can finally settle into your new world.

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  28. Maybe the squirrel is behind the chicken.

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  29. michael-- Maybe so! I had not thought of that. But I love that feaking chicken!

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