Tuesday, January 24, 2012

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.

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