I have been in this house for 17 months, and I can assure you that I have not bought any knee hi hose, especially a ginormous box of them. I'm not sure exactly a. from whence they came, because I have been up on a ladder putting stuff on those shelves in the past year, and never saw them before, or b. to whom they might belong, because the previous resident was a widower, and had been for several years before he remarried and moved out of the house.
I don't want to get overly confident, but it appears that perhaps things are looking up, at least on the job search front. I had an appointment this morning with a local staffing agency. I had some success with them several years ago, before I had the job I lost this spring. Unfortunately, at that time, the positions they had available were nearly 50 miles, one way, away from my house, and the pay that was being offered would have been eaten up in gas. The good news is that they seemed impressed with my experience, confident that they would be able to place me, and, in fact, have a position that while it would likely be a year-long temporary position, I am an excellent match for, and it's in my industry! And it's less than 20 miles from my house (the last job was 26 or so)! I had put in all of my information online already, so there were only a few forms that I had to complete, and the orientation/office safety video. I just almost couldn't concentrate on it simply because "Sherlock Holmes" had SUCH a HORRIBLE British accent! At any rate, my Excel & Word scores were great, my typing speed was about what I expected, and my Power Point score was better than I had anticipated, considering I've done a whole ONE PPS in my entire life, and I generally don't have access to the program. Now I just have to wait for them to submit my information to the client and see when they want to interview me!
When I got home, I happened to look at my horoscope message that comes up every day on the welcome screen of my phone and found this: If you have been stamping the ground with impatience, dear Libra, waiting for the moment to jump into new adventures with renewed vigor after your meditation during the last few months, know that the moment has almost arrived! You now have the strategy, objective, and means at your disposal to success. Just a bit more work remains to be done. Gather your strength and get ready for action! Now, I don't live my life by the astrologer's statements or predictions, though I am often amazed at how accurate they are. This one came across to me as a positive reinforcement of my morning's activities.
On another note, there's someone in my world that has been quite important to me for awhile now, and the whole situation has had its ups and downs. I finally came to the realization that he is indeed an idiot. I have told him in the past that I need to figure out how not to be in love with him, and for awhile he gives me space, and then he sucks me back in, and I wind up tripping down that same path, flirting with him, looking forward to talking to him on some sort of schedule, and getting hurt feelings when that doesn't happen. It has occurred to me that this is all some sort of game to him, an idea that I resisted for months. If he REALLY wanted me to stop chasing him, and not flirt with him, he has had plenty of opportunities to either ask me directly to stop, or to talk to some of our friends who have questioned him about the whole situation about it bothering him. I am no longer going to stroke his ego just so he can feel wanted, let one of his other female friends, that he really gives a crap about do that. It's not as if he has women fawning over him. I don't know what it is that causes him to be unwilling to spend time alone with women who might actually be available to be in a romantic relationship with him, but for whatever reasons, the ones he will actually hang out and go places (other than with a group) with are all married or involved in committed relationships. My heart will eventually heal from this, but the whole situation is just another in the string of events over the past year that have caused me to question virtually all of my friendships, and my trust in both myself and the people with whom I surround myself. It sucks, and it's going to take me some time to rebuild my faith in my ability to trust what I'm dealing with.
Quote for the Day: Instead of looking at life as a narrowing funnel, we can see it ever widening to choose the things we want to do, to take the wisdom we've learned and create something. –Liz Carpenter
The day that they passed out the forms that said "we guarantee you will be able to get a job after you graduate from our school". Oh, wait, that's right, they don't have those forms! But apparently, a woman in NY is under the impression that there is a guarantee that comes with her diploma. She is suing the private college she attended because she doesn't think they did enough to help her find a job when she graduated in April. It's some sort of business degree, but any FOOL knows that a degree does not come with the promise of a job. Hell, I have NEVER worked in the field of my degree. A Bachelor of Arts in History is not a particularly career friendly sheepskin, unless you want to teach, go to law school, or live somewhere with an abundance of rich history museums. I think that my degree has gotten me 1 temp-to-hire position, and that was not even in my field, not that the company cared. I think that the only thing that mattered to the company was that I would actually finish something that I started, and the degree shows that. Do I wish sometimes that I'd taken more business classes, or majored in something with stronger marketability? Sure. In retrospect, I should have taken some accounting, some HR, some more in depth computer classes. Even with those I wouldn't expect a guaranteed job.
I am consistently astounded at the sense of entitlement that people have these days. I've been unemployed for 11 weeks now, and do I think I SHOULD still have my old job? Yep, I absolutely do, however I don't, and I have spent well over 40 hours a week for the last 11 weeks trying to find something new. I've managed to secure my SECOND interview tomorrow morning. The first didn't pan out into a position for me, and I'm ok with that, because I was honest about my experience and abilities, and while I honestly believe I could have done what they were looking for a candidate to do, they wanted someone who already had the experience of doing it, and I don't. Do I believe that I DESERVE a response to the resumes I have sent, especially those that I specifically followed up with more than once? You betcha. Am I ENTITLED to know why they won't answer me, or give me the courtesy of an interview? Nope. For whatever reason, my resume didn't meet their criteria. Or they've called someone who is NOT on my reference list and the "Good Ole Boys" network rides again. There is a degree plan, actually a couple of options in my current field, and come the end of the month, hopefully I'll be enrolled in night classes at one of the community colleges in the area to work toward getting some certification under my belt. I have paid back my student loans, which, granted, didn't fund a $70K education, but that's mostly because I didn't go to a PRIVATE institution. I am sure that there are those who believe that a private school provides a better education and therefore an easier time finding a job, but I don't think that's necessarily true. It seems to me that it would benefit EVERY STUDENT to have to do some sort of residency or internship, just like doctors, nurses, teachers, and some other fields require. The bottom line is that a Bachelor's degree doesn't prepare a person for the real world any more than a standardized test prepares a high school student for college. (and THAT is a whole other rant that I will save for another day) The bottom line is that with my nearly 9 years experience in my field, with progressively more responsibility, I have applied for 15-20 different positions WITHIN MY FIELD (and fifty or so others in other industries for which I'm also qualified), and I've managed to score 1 interview.
If you ask me, little miss priss needs to get a grip on the real world and realize that she's looking for an entry-level position, and there are thousands of other people competing for that same position, despite the fact that I would venture to guess that at least half of the people competing for that same job have become victims of the recession and have a proven record of their successes IN THE REAL WORLD, and frankly, are a much better risk than the fresh-faced young thing with no experience.
Rant over.
Quote for the Day: "Anyone who has gumption knows what it is, and anyone who hasn't can never know what it is." –Lucy Maud Montgomery
This has been a busy week, thus far, yet somehow I just don't feel like I've accomplished much to speak of, and that's annoying and frustrating. I've fallen into a vicious cycle of not sleeping properly at night, which leaves me very sleepy during the day, and then I fall asleep in the afternoon, which then keeps me from sleeping well that night and I'm stuck in that mess. Part of the problem, I'm sure, is that I don't do enough up and moving about throughout the day, and I'm working on that. I've also taken a couple of Candida overload kinds of tests which indicate that I am probably suffering from a proliferation of candida in my system, and likely have been for a VERY long time. The following is a list of issues associated with it:
Now, the **-ed items I've always attributed to my fibromyalgia, but I wonder now whether the fibro may be a symptom of the candida overload? I'm working on adding more raw foods into my diet, because I know I feel better when I have more of them, and I'm working on some research to see how to adapt my diet without totally depriving myself, which is always my downfall when I try to change my habits… I feel deprived, so I cheat, and then I give up. Giving up the Dr Pepper will be one of the hardest things for me. Candida feeds on sugar, so I have to get off the sodas, because I HATE diet sodas (unless they are properly spiked with Captain Morgan), and I am not sure that something in the formulation of them doesn't trigger (at least in me) a physiological (or psychosomatic) hunger or feeling of dissatisfaction and need to eat more to be sated. There are all sorts of Candida Cleanses out there, but virtually all of them involve becoming nearly vegan, and I loves me some MEAT! I have also read several articles that state that 70% of the diet should be raw food. I'm not sure I can convince myself to eat that much raw stuff…. I love salad, but eventually I get tired of chewing it! I'm going to aim for 50% by this time next week, and be more careful with what the other 50% is.
Other news in my world, the unemployment world is still sucky, and today it got a little worse, because I got notice that I owe the State of Texas all of the unemployment I've already collected, because they've reversed the decision to pay me, based on the phone hearing that was held a couple of weeks ago. I am NOT happy about this, because I feel that the company did not provide me with notice that there was an ongoing problem, and they misrepresented themselves in the hearing. I've appealed the decision to the Commission, but that's a written appeal, and they will review the previous hearing. I've not heard back yet whether or not they are going to listen to it or not. When you add up the wages I've lost and the money the state wants back, I am down 32% of my annual salary in just 10 weeks! My frustration mounts every day that passes and I don't hear back from the hundred (literally) or so contacts that I've made thus far. I did finally get a response from the interview I had in June, and another candidate was selected. I am not surprised, as the interviewer indicated to me that she was looking for someone with more contract analysis experience, whereas what I have is essentially review. I have also found that one that I applied for I am not being considered, and frankly, that doesn't come as a huge surprise, as it is a company with whom my former employer has done significant business, and I suspect that they picked up the phone and called someone over there who dislikes me. The lesson from that little bit is: focus on contractors that don't have long history with the former employer. There are a couple of others that show they are still in review, so maybe something will pan out there soon. I do have an appointment, FINALLY with a staffing agency over in Ft. Worth that did send me on a couple of interviews before I got the last job, but they were all 40+miles from where I lived in Arlington. Those same areas are closer to 15-20 from where I live now, so perhaps it will be a productive agency for me.
This weekend will begin the big EBAY selloff of stuff. I've got garb that I bought on impulse and shouldn't have because I won't wear it, I've got miscellaneous antique and old stuff, Christmas ornaments, a pretty good variety of stuff. I won't get rich, but hopefully I'll keep a roof over my head until I have something more steadily coming in.
Off to bed, another long day tomorrow starting with a trip to see a friend in the hospital.
That is my addition to the adage "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."
There are a lot of things that I will put up with, but being lied to is not one of them. Standing in front of me when I tell you something and acting as if you are utterly astounded to hear it, when you were fully aware that it was happening, and did, in fact, add to the situation, is LYING TO ME! Truthfully, I thought when that little lie was exposed, that perhaps your involvement and frankly, SUPPORT of the situation was an act of self-preservation, and I was willing to overlook it. Unfortunately, I have learned a hard lesson out of this whole fiasco, and that is to remember that just because I count someone among my friends, I shouldn't expect to be able to trust them and count on them if there is a crisis. Twice in the last year, I have done something to help someone (2 different people), which directly impacted my world, on a daily basis. Twice now my friendship and help has been repaid by deceit. We all know the story of the roomie from hell back at the beginning of the year. The second incident I won't go into details about, but will say that if I knew something that was going to cost someone who had been a good friend to me dearly, I would be talking to them about it, to be sure they were aware of the situation, before it turned their world upside down. And I would certainly NOT let it go on for 6 months, while they were oblivious to it.
Yeah, I'm MAD AS HELL about this, and I'm having to carefully take stock of the relationships in my world, to be sure I don't get shafted again.
