What I did NOT do on Memorial Day Weekend....

Well, I guess I am not considered a 'proper' American. On Memorial Day weekend I did NOT :
- Have a picnic
- Go away for the weekend
- See the latest Star Wars movie
- Spend time with friends
- Get in the last bit of snowboarding in Tahoe

I STAYED HOME. By myself. With my cat. Does that make me weird? Does that make me un-American? What is more, I enjoyed every minute of it!! Now, I am not by nature an unfriendly person or a 'loner'. However, there are times when spending quality time with oneself is extremely satisfying and a needed respite from the hectic woes of our daily lives. This was one such weekend. I did do one traditional thing: I barbequed up a feast for myself! Piled the chicken and steak on the grill and now have enough for the whole week!

Played 'blowing bubbles' and 'laser light' with the cat, polished my toenails, read a whole book (!), read the whole Sunday paper, launched about 50 Ebay items to sell, sat out on my deck with a glass of Peach wine and some watermelon slices, repaired a picture frame that was broken and that I've been meaning to fix for awhile, did 8 crossword puzzles, watched a good part of the Bugs & Vipers movie marathon on the Sci-Fi channel, slept in and had breakfast in bed between my gold satin sheets, had at least one bubble bath, washed my hair & cut it and then tried out different hair styles, listened to some of my favorite CD's that almost had cobwebs on them from lack of use, and last but not least, wrote emails to some friends who were long overdue a letter from me.

Do I wish I had someone to share the weekend with? YES. Did I have someone? NO. Ok, so I decided to just go with the flow and relax. My car is still at the mechanics almost 50 miles south of here and is sitting there because I haven't had enough money to go and pick it up! It had to have an emergency 'brain transplant' (i.e. rebuilt engine), and hopefully, after working these past 2 weeks, I'll have enough money to go and pick it up this next weekend. So without a car, I really hadn't much choice except to stay close to home. These past few months everything that was mechanical/electrical around my house seemed to go on strike.... my car broke down, the color printer ribbon on my printer died, and I couldn't afford a new one, my toilet flooded over onto my new bathroom carpet, the new wireless speakers I bought for my deck do not work with my existing stereo setup (!), my lampshade fell apart, a picture fell off my wall for no apparent reason and broke, and my best pair of earrings came apart in a way that they are not fixable!

So that was my exciting Memorial Day weekend. Well, at least I was not out on the freeways getting mangled by some drunk driver. God knows I have enough problems just staying home!

My Desk Smells Like Garlic....

Been on a temp assignment at a law firm working my little butt off. But here it is Friday the day before Memorial Day weekend and work has come to a standstill, and at 4:30 pm, the office has all but been deserted. That's good for me as I hope to be able to blog here while I tick off the time til I get off work. Today, they had free food at lunch to 'welcome' the summer. (Some summer... it's still sort of raining!) But, WHOOPIE! Free food! They had 2 huge platters of 2 different types of pasta and 2 types of salads, french bread, and assorted cookies. Had I known this was going to happen, I wouldn't have run out earlier this morning and bought my lunch! But since I did, I decided to go load up a plate (or two!) and save it for dinner tonight at home! Goodie, goodie, I won't have to cook dinner tonight now!
Ok, I now have to confess here....... about a half hour ago, I walked by the kitchen area and saw the huge pasta bowl still sitting there ... Now, I know there is almost no one left here, it's now 5:00 pm on a Friday and given that, the janitors will just throw out the open bowl of food at the end of the day. Well, I hate to waste food, so I searched around and found a huge plastic bag, swiftly swung by the kitchen and faster than the speed of light, slung the whole bowl of pasta right into the plastic bag! I then furtively headed back to my desk, where I stowed it in my carry-home bag!! God knows if someone will smell the garlic and spaghetti sauce emanating from under my desk!!!
As a matter of fact, I've had a free lunch all week. Yesterday I got to go on a market research study during my lunch hour. I'm signed up with about 3 market research firms who call me now and again for paid studies. This one was for an hour and half of my time and paid $175 (!!) for my opinions on what kind of computer printer I would buy. This study just happened to take place 1 block from my office, so it was extremely convenient, and they even served us lunch! So I made $175 and got a free lunch. Some days you are the windshield, and some days you are the bug..

Today I mailed a Tuna Fish Sandwich!

Yes, yes, I know I haven't blogged in several days here, but looking for a job is more of a job than an actual job! I have been going faster than the north end of a moose going south trying everything from looking at various sites on the internet, going to career counseling, re-doing my resume (again!), calling people, writing people.. and figuratively biting my nails!! - I'm going so fast, I passed myself in the hall!

A few nights ago I attended a seminar on 'aging gracefully' (HA!!!) given by a woman in her late 70's with a Ph.D. in Psychology. I forced myself to go since some of my Red Hat Society ladies were also going and also because I thought it would do me good to get out and mingle a bit. The woman giving the lecture was SO DAMN ACADEMIC in her speaking manner, I almost fell asleep! And it seems her true goal was to sell her book! However, sitting next to me was a woman who happened to be a career counselor! Lucky break for me! We got to talking, and she told me to send her my resume so she could review it. I was rather worried as to what charges she would hit me with for this service, however she assured me she would do it for free! Gads, did I meet a Guardian Angel?? So we met two nights ago, and she spent over 2 and a half hours going over my resume with me! Well, let me tell you, this was the most valuable information I've had in a long time! I used to do other people's resumes for a living when I was a data processing recruiter, but somehow it's always hard to do your own! She opened my eyes to the flaws and problems with mine. Anyway, we had a wonderful meeting, and I went home enthused and with renewed hopes that I am not a lost cause after all!

Last night I burned the midnight oil starting on this project of re-arranging my resume. Already sent some out today, and lo and behold, already have had some responses! Today I had 2 more interviews with AGENCIES, and, I say 'Agencies' with a roll-my-eyes facial expression as I am sooooo jaded and worn out with the agency routine! You go in with a job in hand that they advertised, and then when you get there, they say '"oh, that one has been filled'" or "Oh, that one is on hold".....!!! HELLO??? Can we spell BAIT AND SWITCH????... Then, despite however detailed your resume is, you have to fill in their god-awful epic JOB APPLICATION papers!! Never enough room on them to sqeeze your whole telephone number in, and then you have to REPEAT everything that is already on your resume! Oh, and did I mention the tests they make you take??? Doesn't matter if you took the exact same test just an hour before at another agency down the street, you STILL have to take THEIR tests~~ Today I spent over 2 hours at each agency, repeating almost identical paperwork and tests! Will somebody PLEASE start a clearing house for this type of data where you could take fresh tests maybe once every one to three months and use those for any and each agency!???

At the first agency I went to today, I also had to do a spelling test, a grammar test and a math test! Being math is not my strong point, I scribbled like crazy on the back of an envelope trying to get my half-century brain cells to work out the answers to the 4th grade math questions!



I finished witht the first agency around 3:30 pm and had to then dash across the other side of the financial district of San Francisco in the windy rain to try and make the 2nd interview at 4:00 pm. I had all of $1.47 in my wallet, and I was starving by now, having only dashed out the door this morning with a cup of coffee in my stomach. And in my checking account was the grand sum of $3.87!! So not only did I not have TIME for lunch, I also had no MONEY for lunch! Dashed into a Walgreens and grabbed a pre-packaged tuna fish sandwich and an orange juice and wrote Walgreens a check, knowing that by tomorrow I'd have funds in my account. Ok, so I take off doing my power walk down Montgomery Street, trying to eat the soggy sandwich at the same time. While doing all this, I realized I needed to mail an envelope, so I stopped at a mailbox, and opened the box to drop in the envelope, but.......... Instead of dropping in the envelope, I dropped in my tuna fish sandwich!!!! ACHHHH!!! Now I had nothing to eat 'cause I mailed my lunch!!! Crap.

Finally made it to the 2nd interview agency, and lo and behold, this one-man office with no fancy furniture and where I did not have to take one itty bitty test, actually FOUND ME A JOB!!! They secured me a temporary job for the next 3 weeks in a law firm where I can do what I like, which is word processing! What a relief!! At least for awhile! However when I got out of there and walked out the front door of the building, I got the spooks!!! WHY? Because.... are you ready for this???? ...... The front door of this agency that finally found me a job was literally feet away from where that Bible nearly fell on my head last week!!!!

EEEEEOOOOOUUUUUUU!!! The Twilight Zone? Geez, my life is weird.

It's Friday the 13th!! Is Today Supposed to be Different??

Well, this sort of sums up my week!
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/flash/nojob.html

And I'm Having Trouble Finding a Job???!!

Check this out!! Even a chimp!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/05/11/chimp.modernart.ap/index.html

And isn't this just dandy... I study broadcasting for 3 years, graduate with Honors and knock myself out working 2 radio shifts and a regular job for years and get NOWHERE. Now, this bimbo is offered a $30K yr job! This really sucks.

"Jennifer Wilbanks: Radio Star
Oh boy, here we go again. A local talk radio station in New Mexico has offered Flee-ance Jennifer Wilbanks a job as a commentator. It was reported over the weekend that this isn't the first time Wilbanks left a fiance at the altar, and now she's been offered a $30,000-a-year job on the radio. Hey, if she's not available, I'm sure you can hire Corey Clark, since your broadcast standards are so high."

Also: http://www.spoofnews.com/content/view/235/1

OY VEY!

Thumped on the head by God!

Friday afternoon, after finishing an interview, I was standing on Kearny St. near the curb waiting for the bus. All of a sudden, out of the blue, and I do mean literally out of the blue (!!!), I feel something hit my right shoulder, and hear "TWHUMP"!! I look down and see that a book had just fallen 'from the sky' and nearly hit me on the head!! Then I looked more closely at the book there laying in the gutter, and discovered that of all books, it was a BIBLE!!!! I couldn't believe it!! I looked up and couldn't see where it had come from, but somehow it must have either fallen from a window above or thrown!! I waited for a few minutes to see if someone was looking down for it, but didn't see anyone or a darn thing!! So I picked up the book and took off!! Now, is this some kind of sign or what??!!!! I saw that some pages were dog-eared, and couldn't wait to read those pages thinking that maybe there was some message in there marked for me!! Talk about WEIRD!! A Bible falling out of the sky and nearly on my head!!! Is God trying to tell me something?!!! Unbelievable! What the hell does THAT mean!!!?????

Can I apply to be an Illegal Alien???!!

Well, I have another job interview Friday.. Here we go again... I just go with the flow... I've now been out of work for months, except for a couple of short temp jobs. Geez, do I have to become an illegal alien to get a job in my own country, or what!? Thirty-something years in the computer industry, and I'm struggling to find a job! Of course, it could have something to do with me being over the 50 year old mark now and not having the last name of Lopez! I would like to just have the privilege of being able to support myself - is that asking too much?!

To add insult to injury to my already crappy week, I went to scratch an itch on my butt today in a store, and stuck my hand down my waistband (is this more information than you need to know.....!!!??) ... Anyway, my Egyptian cartouche (good luck??) ring got stuck in the waistband of my pants and I was standing there with my hand caught down my pants!! It was such an awkward angle and I couldn't get loose!! Finally, had to slip out of the ring with it still hanging onto my waistband just to extricate myself!! god almighty. Why me?

And just now tonight, as I got up to take something off the stove, I stepped in the cat's water bowl and knocked it over, and hence spilled all the water all over the kitchen floor and the hem of my robe. Ended up having to mop up the floor. Does it ever end?

Time to go get another glass of wine. When in doubt, drink.

The Joys of Temping....!

Achh! This seems like such a long day! Going from not working to working til 6 pm is reallllly hard for me! Especially when there is little to do here. Most of the time, I am just sitting and staring pretending to do something as I try and stay off the computer since the boss doesn't want excessive use of the Internet. But then he doesn't know the difference between the Internet and email or even when you are doing a legitimate Word document! If I had a lot of typing to do, I would be happier, as it would keep me from getting bored.

There's a ton of filing, however whenever I attempt to do it and catch up, the supervisor says "you really can't do it right now as our files are so jam packed". It's a wonder I haven't broken a nail yet! Plus, it's really a challenge to figure out first of all WHERE papers should be filed, as the client name is not always obvious on the paperwork! Then there are some clients who have more than one file and by go by a different name! (Where are my Osmosis skills when I need them!) So there is no way to figure it out logically except by being here for some time and getting to know it. Then when I do figure out which client to file the papers under, I go to the filing cabinet(s) and find that a) it's so jam-packed that I cannot even dip my little pinky in the drawer to pull the folder out (!) - or b) the folder is missing!! So it's useless. I have managed to file quite a bit even so, and the supervisor thinks I'm doing a great job, but to me it is sooooooo tedious and frustrating when I can never find or put all the filing away properly. So guess then where it goes ....... YEP! Back on my desk!! Round and round we go!

Today, I had so little to do, that I ended up making up my grocery list on a notepad. Oh gee. I'd love to have more meaty typing projects as that's what I like, but the work dribbles in from one of 3 attorneys, and even then ... it DRIBBLES! Work is so slow that would you believe that I actually elongated a job of punching holes in some documents just to have something to look busy with! And then I dropped the hole punch and so now there are holes all under my desk!! Is this what I have worked so hard for in the corporate world for over 30 years??!! Gads. Watched Susanne Somers on Larry King Live last night going on about natural hormones for those after 50 and now wondering if maybe what I need is hormones!! Can you just imagine with what verve and enthusiasm I would be able to punch those little darn holes if I got a windfall of energy back from going on hormones!!! WHEEEEEE!!

I job share this job with a gal who only comes in on Friday. Therefore, I cannot make the desk mine. I have to leave things arranged the way SHE likes them, even though she is here only one day! So the phone is on the wrong side for me and the computer tray keeps sliding everytime I hit a key! Oh well. Onward and upward just to bring home the bacon...

Just another exciting day in the life of Karen in the Corporate World.....!