Job Hunting, Probes and Pumpkins… Oh, My!

Well sorry friends and neighbors, I’ve been away for awhile – caught up in the frenzy of the job search, keeping the Division of Workforce Services happy – man, they are a lot tougher than they used to be! – getting caught up on all those pesky medical tests I never had time to get done with my work schedule, and of course preparing for Halloween – the best Holiday of the year.

First: Had the job interview. I thought it went really well, the one person (I was interviewed by four) that was tough was the lady I’d be reporting to, but I still thought I held my own and made a good impression. Haven’t heard much back, and when I saw the job re-posted last Friday I started getting a little antsy – so I started harassing my recruiter. Just got word this morning that they are having a lovely visit with the FDA, so immediately I understood why everything else was put on hold. I’ve had a couple other places report the same thing in the last few weeks, so I knew they were slinking around the area… so still waiting and trying to keep hopeful, but of course as a requirement of the whole unemployment benefits thing, I’m also applying to 4 new jobs every week. I just hope I can keep finding 4 reasonable postings to apply to while I wait for something to happen.

Second: Finally went and got that stupid EGD I’ve been putting off since June. I have Barret’s Esophagus, which is a pre-cancerous condition caused by years of Gastric Reflux on steroids… so I finally make the appointment, and you know they put you out and you have to have a ride home and all that – then my husband announces he’s going to be in Guam that week. Guam? Seriously? Who goes to Guam? Well my husband does, apparently. Fortunately I have a friend who was available to take me, and everything looks fine, and I don’t have to go back for three years. Yay!

Third: Halloween. My yard is a full-on Pirate Graveyard, complete with flags, pirate zombies, pirate heads on stakes, pirate headstones, pirate groundbreakers… you get the picture. We upped the ante this year with strobelights in the garden greenery and an eyeball rosebush.  Today is PUMPKIN DAY!! As  soon as I finish this post I will retreat to the back porch where I will begin cleaning out the 14 pumpkins that myself and my sons will carve – I am going with a Pirate theme this year (shocking!) as I have found great designs for Captn Jack, Barbossa, Davey Jones and the POTC skull and bones; the Mighty B is going with an Avengers theme – Thor, Iron Man, Loki and I think the Hulk. Mister J (I just can’t call him Little J anymore, especially since he towers about three inches over me, the little twerp) is interested in a zombie pumpkin and some Tim Burton characters if I remember correctly. We found this web site, zombiepumpkin.com I think it is, where for a nominal fee you can choose from a HUGE selection of some of the coolest designs I’ve ever seen. So I get to spend the afternoon doing all the dirty work and cleaning them out, so when the boys arrive home from school we can begin carving in earnest and display fresh and impressive jack-o-lanterns tomorrow night. Oh, and my costume? Zombie biker. I can’t be a Pirate EVERY year, after all…

I’ll keep you all informed on the job front, and hopefully have photos to share after Halloween.

Happy Boo Day, everyone!!

Ah, the things we do for work….

So…. I have this job interview tomorrow. And as pragmatic as I’m trying to be, as hard as I’m working to NOT put all my eggs in one basket NOR count them as chickens before they are hatched – this job sounds like it was meant for me. I’ve had a few other nibbles, at least one other recruiter who has an opportunity he’d like to put me in for, but this one seems like the perfect fit.

So in addition to feeling hopeful and somewhat confident, I am also a bundle of nerves. What if it IS the perfect job for me, and I blow the interview?  I’ve taken appropriate precautions, I’ve changed my hair back to one natural color (BLEAH!) and selected a professional-looking outfit that even hides all my tattoos  (I’ve heard that’s a good thing); I’ve even rehearsed my answers to some of those typical sticky interview questions (“Why were you discharged from your last job?” Telling people it was your stupid jerk boss’s fault and you were just targeted and picked on is never well-received, but taking the right amount of personal responsibility while communicating the extenuating circumstances while maintaining appropriate brevity CAN BE TRICKY).

I’ve practiced ‘sparing, professional cosmetic application’ and made sure the shoes I’m wearing will be comfortable enough. I managed to dig out a modest pair of non-pirate earrings. I’m still looking for my traditional wedding ring to wear instead of my big Jolly Roger band; I know it’s around here somewhere. Now I just have to select my least pirate-y looking watch and make sure I wear my hair in such a way that it covers the skull and bones tattoo on my neck that is the bane of my mother’s existence.

I know I have a good, positive and pleasant personality that comes across well in interviews. I don’t remember having an interview that went really badly, and I know that in light of the job requirements for this position, my 20+ years of experience (yes I started when I was nine) will definitely help me come off as knowledgeable and capable.

I’m going to be fine, I know it. Is it stupid that I worry that being fat will deter people from wanting to hire me? I mean, I always have this niggling feeling that when my big ol’ ass shows up, maybe people think the size of one’s waistband correlates to their propensity for laziness. I’m a hard worker; I just really like ice cream.

I wonder if that would be a weird thing to put in ones’ cover letter….?

I’m back…. AGAIN… and here’s my new theme song

Come and listen to a story ‘bout a Magpye bird,

A blogger with one of the oddest stories that you’ve heard,

It seems she was a writin’ and a sharin’ all her junk,

When all of a sudden she fell in to a funk.

 

Well the next thing you know, Ol’ Magpye’s all depressed,

So deep down in the blues she’d hardly make herself get dressed,

Her husband and her family didn’t know just what to do,

And when they’d try to help her she’d just tell them all to shoo.

 

She struggled and she bawled and she dragged herself to work,

Which wasn’t very easy ‘cause her boss was such a jerk,

But eventually she went and paid a visit to her Doc,

And got some helpful med adjustment and encouraging talk.

 

She doubled up her efforts to work hard and do her job,

And started taking care and gave up being such a slob,

And just when she really felt that things were on the mend,

Her jerky boss informed her, her employment was to end.

 

Now, you’d think that she’d be devastated, pushed beyond the brink,

But as the news sank in, well that ol’ Magpye started to think,

She realized how hostile her workplace had become,

And wondered why she’d stayed so long, how could she be so dumb?

 

Well now our birdie friend she sits at home and looks for jobs,

But she’s happy and relieved and she no longer wails and sobs,

She feels a weight has lifted, she’s no longer in a fog,

And the best part is that now she has more time to write her blog!