back to square one

Yep that's the story of my life these days: the more things change, the more they stay the same. Here I sit, in a house full of cats and dogs, worrying about my hair, and without the prospect of finding work.  It would seem that the temp position is not going to pan out after all. I'm being passed over for a younger, cheaper (and probably better-looking!) in-house version. But it's really not that heartbreaking because although I enjoyed getting up and putting on outfits and feeling employed, this was an incredibly boring job. I didn't really do anything all day long. I'm sure the actual person does more than a temp, but I read through every file I could find, but physical and electronic, and couldn't really find much evidence of anything requiring too much effort. So in that respect, I won't complain.

On the other hand, it's a blow to the ego. And another 'headhunter' responded to my resume and spoke to me on the phone. She, as many others, is in the city and wants to meet me. But she was forward enough to say that she doesn't want me to come in just to see her. But she also said that it would be better if my background had been in fixed income instead of, er er, what was it again? That annoyed me so I said well, it was asset management, and in fact, it WAS fixed income. So I don't know if I'll bother to go and see her. I actually only sent the resume by mistake, I didn't realize until too late that she wasn't the actual company placing the ad.

As for my hair, I finally got myself in and used my Groupon for the hair straightening. It looked ok, although a little TOO straight and greasy.  But then someone told me they saw a TV show on the perils of keratin and I googled and threw myself into a panic! This woman who discounted the treatment so steeply surely doesn't use a safer formulation! Although, she didn't seem too concerned about protecting even herself during the application. As soon as I read that, I washed my hair, even though it was 12 hours too soon. It still feels kind of coated and straight so I imagine my head is still filled with formaldehyde. I guess the best I can do for now is wash it on a regular schedule and never do it again!! I did have burning eyes and a burning head, but that had begun strangely the morning of the treatment, so I know that it was caused by something else.

The little cats are starting to take over the house and I really have to think about getting them back to the shelter. It's such a Catch-22. You're supposed to make them more endearing to people so people will want to adopt them, but then they start to grow on you and you don't want to give them back! I'd like to time it so they go right into a good situation (not a smelly scary cage in the back but one of the nice digs up front where people can see them) and right out into a home. I guess this week I'll speak to the shelter about it. Five cats is just too many and they're tearing up everything! Plus, Wilbur keeps eating their kitten food.

And in other news, B got his midterm results back and, while better than past years, a couple of grades were disappointing.  I always hope that he will learn from these experiences, but still, time after time, there he is locked in his room for a week before, trying to cram everything in that he should have been outlining and studying all along.  He's also taking the SATs this weekend - going in sort of blindly because he had to study for midterms and didn't have time to prep, but I just wanted to know his true starting point. We're going to have to pay for one of those pricey prep places, so I'd like to know just how much improvement needs to be made, and in which areas.

As for me, I guess it's back to resume-bombing the job sites. The postings have been slow lately, which is a bit alarming. I took a sub job yesterday, figuring I've already blown the unemployment with the temp job; I'm not sure if I will have trouble extending benefits if I haven't found anything by 26 weeks. I had a nice day at the school. It's hard work trying to get an obstinate kindergartener to forsake fire trucks in favor of a math worksheet, but it's also a good environment and I received a warm welcome from all, so it was nice to feel appreciated. I'll keep an eye out for more jobs...in fact this same one should be posted regularly, but it requires ninja-job-snatching abilities to snare it; not sure how I got it in the first place, just a fluke, I guess! I'm beginning to regret taking the two week temp job, although it will help pay the Christmas bills. But had I not, I think I would have been offered a part time insurance job, and I would have had flexibility and income - albeit meager.

2012, here i come

So the official start to my year is tomorrow. My two week temp job begins! I will be working true full time hours for the first time since before B was born, so over 16 years! Luckily I was somewhat broken in with my 36 hour work weeks, but even that ended at the end of October. So I am a little nervous and a little excited. I hope that it works out and there will be the potential to turn this into a permanent position, but I don't really want to say anything and jinx any likelihood!

Also back to 2012 tomorrow is M. Back from their training trip in places warm and exotic, the team is settled into their dorms and ready to start classes tomorrow! We will head down to watch a meet next weekend, and after that we don't expect to see her until spring break in March.  She did finish out the last semester with a reasonably impressive GPA although the shock of anatomy and one of the other speech curriculum courses kept her off the Dean's List by a fraction of a percentage. And we thought that only happened in the pool!

B is winding down the first half of the year and allegedly studying hard for finals. His GPA remains in satisfactory standing but he's had a few stumbles recently and he needs to get himself back on track.  Unfortunately, the mock trial competition in which he had been assigned a part falls on days 1 and 2 of his three days of midterms, so he's probably going to back out of the competition. I think he could probably swing it, but I can't force him and he is not historically one for efficient time management, so if he feels he needs those evenings to cram, he will have to use them. His favorite school club is stage crew anyway, so he'll probably just stick with that; they just started preparing for the musical.

And Kevin is, as usual, status quo. He just completed his own staff reviews and now awaits news of the new year's compensation.  Hopefully the news will be good; he just passed by in the hall on his way to complete the FAFSA!

And in other news, the baby cats remain. The less shy one with the one eye is having a ball. She gets a little skittish but I think she is more independent (and also partly blind) than she is being unfriendly. The other is still pretty scared and anti-human, but she is appreciative of her meals. Unfortunately they don't seem to agree with her delicate constitution lately so I'm going to have to rethink her diet. They've had a much broader run of the house the past couple of days with long periods of time loose in the family room. I think the older of the two has developed a crush on our Rusty, and it may not be unrequited!