Archive for the ‘Jobs and Careers’ Category

Well, ain’t it nice to see you all again!  I have missed you!  But I had a much needed little time-out with the fam and we are all in a much better place today.  I guess I should bring you all up to speed because there has been a LOT going on ’round these here parts.

After the break in last weekend, we packed up basically our entire house except for the furniture and went to stay with my parents.  It has been so nice to be here and to feel safe and secure while we make some decisions, instead of making them out of fear or in haste.  The only part that is a little tricky is that it is about an hour and a half drive into Orlando every day for Chris to work and last week, Bean Man and I had lots to take care of, so we were making the trip almost every day, too.  That part is no fun at all, but it’s just part of the arrangement right now and it could be much worse.

The first thing we had to do was figure out the living situation.  We had been holding off on moving because we really couldn’t afford anywhere that was much better than where we were without me having a job.  Which is why we hadn’t moved before.  But, we decided that job or no job, we had to move so we started looking around right away for somewhere else.  Turns out there were some options, but not great ones and though it was frustrating, we were just happy that we had other places to go.

And then, lo and behold, my oldest friend in the whole wide world, Sarah, called me last Tuesday.  She and her husband are both teachers and she told me that her school was looking for someone to teach a class.  Like the Saint that she is, she got me an interview on Wednesday.  After the interview, of course, I headed up to Sarah’s classroom to tell her all about it and as I’m sitting there gushing about some of my answers, in walks the person who interviewed me and she offered me the job.  Right there.  On the spot.

Prayer.  Answered.

I can’t be positive, but I may have started crying when she told me.  But I’m not sure because I was screaming so loudly I wasn’t able to concentrate on my tear ducts.  I can’t tell you where or what I’m teaching because of all that internet-psycho-mumbo-jumbo-safety-stuff, but I can tell you that I am so excited about it.  I’ve never taught before, but I really think I might be good at it.  School starts today, but there is a sub in my class until my temporary teaching certificate comes through.  And actually, that in itself is another blessing because I’ll probably start teaching in a couple weeks which would give us time to move in to our new place.  Commuting every day from two hours away would be really difficult since I have to be there so early in the morning and this way I have time to move before I actually start.

The next task we had to tackle last week was a daycare for Bean Man because he would be really irritated if I hid him under my desk all day.  And – wowza! – did we luck out!  We found a daycare very close to my school that is WONDERFUL!  I want to go there.  It is so clean and bright and all the kids looked happy and healthy and like they were having a really good time.  In Bean’s class, there were 6 other children and they were all his size!  It was a class of kids just like him!  And they were all sitting in little bitty chairs having a snack when we toured the facility, just like little people!  As we stood there, the two teachers helped them CLEAN UP THEIR OWN SNACK (can you imagine Bean cleaning up after himself?  I cannot.) and then move over to circle time where they all sat like little gems in a circle on the floor and watched as the teacher read a book to them.  All I could think was, “Bean is going to have MANNERS!!!!”  Seriously, I thought I had died and gone to daycare heaven.

Prayer.  Answered.

The cost of this daycare is about what we paid in Connecticut, which is a little pricey for this area.  But with my new job, we are able to pay it and we think it is totally worth the extra cost.  I really think Bean is going to love it there and it will be easier for me to go back to work knowing he’s in such a friendly place.

The last piece of the whole puzzle is a house.  With our income more than doubling since I now have a job, we were finally able to look in neighborhoods and at homes that we had imagined us living in all along.  Nothing huge, but nice, clean houses in safe, family-friendly neighborhoods.  And boy did we luck out!  We found a really great house in an older suburb of Orlando that is absolutely perfect.  It isn’t too big, but is comparable to the size of our house in Connecticut which means that – holy moly – we’ll be able to unpack completely for the first time in six months!  And the best part is that the neighborhood is full of families with kids playing outside, people walking dogs, and mothers strolling down sidewalks with their babies.

That’s right.

I said sidewalks.

Prayer.  Answered.

Now, I realize that these things might not be that big of a deal to anyone, but to our family who has lived in the ghetto for the past six months, sidewalks and kids playing outside are HUGE.  We put in our application to rent the house last week and we are hoping to hear this week if we got the house.  If so, we would move in Labor Day weekend and, hopefully, I’d start teaching the week after.

All in all, it’s been a pretty exciting time for our family this past week.  We went from the worst possible situation to the best possible situation in about three days.  I can’t even begin to tell you the roller coaster of emotions we’ve been through.  But through it all, Chris and I have continued to stay positive and have kept talking to each other.  Usually during the day, so much was going on that we wouldn’t really have time to talk too much.  Mostly just checking in with each other and updating the other on things that were happening.  But at night before we went to bed, we’d talk through things.  We’d plan, we’d worry, we’d squeal, but mostly, we’d laugh.  And it was just a reaffirmation to me that I had married the right person.  There’s no one else that could go through something like this with me more perfectly that Chris and I’ve never been more happy to have married my best friend.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go drag my best friend out of bed so he can go to work and bring me home a paycheck.

Best friends are really awesome when they bring home paychecks.

August 13, 2010, 3:18am:

No! Don’t do it! Don’t wake up! Don’t wake up!

Shoot.  I’m awake.

I need a job.

I hope it has benefits.

I can’t wait to get a paycheck again.

When I get a paycheck, I’m going to go to Target every day.

And eat Chick-fil-a every day.

And pay off my student loans.

And save for Bean’s college.

If I’m getting a paycheck, then Bean’s got to go to daycare.

He’s going to be so sad!

He’s going to think I’ve abandoned him!

Maybe that will only last a couple days and then he’ll make some friends.

I hope his friends are cool.

I hope Bean isn’t nerdy when he grows up.

I don’t know how to do calculus.

Or where to buy a pocket protector.

What is a pocket protector?

I need to do laundry.

Am I out of fabric softener?

I need to add it to my grocery list.

I’ll go grocery shopping tomorrow when Chris gets paid.

I can’t wait to get a paycheck again.

I need a job.

…

…

3:21am

It’s only been three minutes?!?!

Oh, man.  I’m going to be so tired in the morning!

I wonder if Chris will get up with Bean even though it’s my morning.

Why is Chris sleeping so good?!?!

He should be awake with me.

(nudge, nudge)

Wait, it he wakes up he’ll just wanna…you know…

Do I wanna?

Nah.

Better let him sleep.

Why don’t I wanna?

I feel fat.

I’m getting fat.

Oh, we need Oreos from the grocery store tomorrow.

I can’t wait for Chris to get paid tomorrow.

I miss getting a paycheck.

I need a job.

…

…

3:22am

It’s only been a MINUTE?!?!

I’ve got to go to sleep.

Should I read?

No, the light will wake Chris up.

But I could go to the living room and then use the light.

If I’m in the living room, I could write a little bit.

This would make a funny blog post.

When is my BlogHer check supposed to come this month?

I miss getting a real paycheck.

I need a job.

…

…

3:22am

I miss Bean.

Maybe I’ll go wake him up just so I can blubber his belly.

Nah.  He’s never happy when he’s woken up.

Maybe I’ll just go peep at him instead.

But then I’d have to step over Big Molly in the hallway and that would wake her up.

She’d want to go outside.

That would wake Lucy up.

Lucy would want to eat.

The dogs need a bath.

I need a bath.

Did I shower yesterday?

I don’t even know if I showered yesterday.  Good Lord.

I need a job.

But I don’t want Bean to go back to daycare.

He’ll start to get sick all the time again.

Maybe that was just a Connecticut thing.

I miss Connecticut.

I wonder how our house is doing?

I wonder if the basement still smells?

Gosh, I wish we had a basement here.

Then we could put all our moving boxes in there and free up that room.

I could turn that room into an office.

But, why?

It’s not like I have a job.

I need a job.

…

…

3:40am

Maybe I should take something.

Does that make me a pill popper?

I can’t believe Brittney Murphy died.

I loved when she said “Cheese and rice!” instead of saying a curse word.

Man, cheese and rice sounds delicious right now.

I’m hungry.

I wonder if I could sneak some food in bed without waking Chris up?

I think we’re out of pretzels.

Better get those at the grocery store tomorrow.

Chris gets paid tomorrow.

I can’t wait to get a paycheck.

I need a job.

Yesterday I had a job interview.  I’m not giving too many details on the ol’ bloggerooski here because I don’t want any of you loons calling up the hiring manager and being like, “Dude, don’t hire her.  You’ll just been encouraging her Target addiction every time you give her a paycheck.”  I will tell you that the position is in higher education, just like I was doing in Connecticut.  I thought I had a pretty good shot at this job actually.  And my interview with the two managers was going really well.  Until my ear started itching.

It was my left ear.  And it was just a little itch at first, on the outside just at the start of the ear tunnel.

(NOTE: I do not know the names for the parts of the ear so I will make them up.  This is why I am not applying for medical positions.)

So, very casually as I’m listening to one of the two interviewers ask me a question, I reach up and scratch my ear nonchalantly-like.  No biggie.  Just a girl on a job interview scratching her ear.

Only, then the itch gets further down my ear tunnel.  I’m still trying to concentrate on this long, complex question they are setting me up to answer, but my ear is itching and I just scratched it, so I can’t scratch it again yet because then I’d look like a dog with fleas.  So, I continue to sit there trying to think of a good answer to their question all while concentrating on NOT scratching my ear again.

But then, the itch goes even further down my ear tunnel and I think to myself, “Is it possible for your ear drum to itch?”

And then I think to myself, “Only if there was something on it to itch it.”

And then I think, “Something like a bug!”

And then I think, “OH MY GOD!  WHAT IF THERE’S A BUG IN MY EAR?!?!”

The whole time I was having this inner dialogue with myself, I was also speaking.  I have no clue what I was saying or what question I was even answering.  For all I know, I was telling them how much I hate working with students and that I think higher education is a waste of time and money and that we should all just become CPA’s.  Who knows.

As I am having inner dialogue AND answering interview question, I am ALSO forming a plan on how to catch the bug that might be in my ear now.  I remember from my childhood growing up on the beach that if you bang on the side of a boat, dolphins will come because they like the vibrations.

(Don’t ask my why I thought to equate a bug and/or itch in my ear to dolphins.  It just made sense at the time.)

So, I decide I need to get my hands to my ear as fast as is nonchalantly possible and begin to tap on the outside of my ear tunnel and maybe those vibrations will entice the bug and/or itch in my ear to come back out and leave me and my ear drum alone.

At this point, I have finished my unknown answer to their unknown question and the other guy is now starting to tell me a little more about their program.  I should be listening.  I should be paying attention.  This is critical information to gather and respond to during a job interview.  But instead, I am concentrating on bug hunting in my left ear.

I casually cross my arms (which you should NEVER do in the job interview, by the way…sign of hostility…) and then I raise my left hand up to my face.  I tilt my head over to the left and cradle my cheek into the palm of my hand, sort of cocking my head to the side as if I am really interested in what this man is telling me.  Then I stretch my fingers out along my cheekbone until the tip of my middle finger is on that part of your outter ear that sticks out into your ear tunnel.

(Are you guys following me here?  Keep up, people.  Bug hunting in ears is complicated.)

And then I start tapping.  Very casually.  As casually as you can tap an ear during a job interview.  I just sort of tap, tap, tap and I focus on the bug and/or itch that has planted itself on my ear drum.

With a plan of attack underway, I try to once again focus on the job interview, but I tune in just in time to hear the guy say, “…What are your thoughts on that issue?”

(crickets, crickets, crickets)

“Well,” I begin,” you raise some excellent points…”  and from there I began talking about the economy.  Don’t know why.  Just opened my mouth and the Recession poured out.  And just as I was trying to tie the economy to public education programs in some sane and logical manner, I FELT THE BUG AND/OR ITCH MOVE AGAIN!

So now, I start tapping harder and I lean my head even more to the side, hoping that the bug and/or itch will just fall right out.

But then I think that if it IS a bug (at this point I’m leaning more towards the possibility that it is just an itch after all), what the crap am I going to say if I’m sitting in an interview and a bug falls out of my ear onto the conference room table?  What is the correct response to that situation?  THERE ISN’T ONE!  So, I quickly snap my head back up straight and I clamp my hand over my ear completely so that if it is a bug, he can’t get out of my ear tunnel.

As this is unfolding in my left ear, I have somehow managed to bring my interview answer back around to higher education after all, though I am awkwardly talking about gender biases in the admission process (WHAT?!?!?) with my left hand completely covering my left ear.  Which, incidentally, is a difficult position to pull off casually.

I figure by now I have made a complete fool out of myself and so why not just give up and shove my entire finger down my ear and have myself a good scratch?  Just put myself out of my misery, seal the deal on this clearly horrible job interview, and end the itching in my stupid left freaking ear.

So, I do.

I shove my finger down in my ear and just start scratching.  Big scratching.  Bold scratching.  The kind of ear scratching where you are pumping your entire arm.

And it’s good.

It feels so good.

So unbelievably good.

I’m having a holy experience sitting in that conference room scratching my inner ear and talking about the importance of Facebook to freshmen (WHAT?!?!?).

In the end, it wasn’t a bug after all.  It was just an itch.  A terrible, horrible, incredible itch from hell in my left ear.  The interviewers said they’d be notifying candidates who would be continuing on in the interview process next week and that they’d be in touch.  But they probably won’t.  And I don’t even care.  I’m just so relieved that my ear stopped itching.  Unemployment is totally worth un-itchy ear drums.