Just Like Job

I decided to treat myself with some coffee and a slice of pie at Paul's Omega after my workout. There was no particular reason for this little side trip. I just had a hankering for pie and I didn't feel like going home just yet.

Well, I got my slice of apple pie and my mug of coffee and as I was sipping and eating, I got to thinking about my whole situation. I've been unemployed since May. My bank account is just about on fumes. I've been with the most wonderful woman in the world for six years and haven't been able to make an honest woman out of her yet, and the best job offer I've received is selling oil changes and sports tickets door to door. It was depressing to think that I worked so hard and learned so much in school that I'd find myself living off my parent's charity with no gainful career opportunities on the horizon.

Then, for some odd reason, I thought of Job. For those who are not familiar with the story, he's the guy that lost everything and was made to suffer because of a wager between God and Satan. Satan thought he could make Job curse God by doing all this nasty stuff to him. In the end, Job wound up sitting on a dung heap, covered in boils with no family, friends, or money, but he still did not curse or blame God. Even though he lost everything he still had faith that God would pull him through. To him, all of misfortune and suffering was merely a trial-God's way of preparing him for a great task he needed him for later down the road. I couldn't help but admire his strength and his optimism. I also couldn't help but feel hopeful.

Why?

First off, I am not truly suffering. As a certain Russian optimist may say, "Things could always be worse." I have a roof over my head, parents that love me and support me emotionally and financially, friends that cheer me on, and a wonderful young lady that has loved me and stuck by me for the past six years and has told me that she has no intentions of stopping. I am thankful for the things I do have, and that alone is enough to make me feel like king of the world.

Lastly, I can't help but wonder if this is my trial period. What am I being prepared for? What object lesson do I need to learn before I move on to what I need to do? I don't know, but whatever is in store for me, I want to be ready.

My resumes will be reviewed. I will be invited for interviews. I will find a job. I will marry the woman I love.

I just need to keep working. I just need to have faith. I just need to have hope.

Just like Job.

Birthday Thoughts

Sorry, but I'm not going to write anything too profound here. Just love your family and friends, and always realize that every day that you're around is another chance to make the world a better place for yourself and the world around you.

More of the Same

I spent this morning cruising the classifieds and applying to jobs. This has been my daily routine now for the past few months. Something tells me that I'm doing something wrong here. It's not that I haven't been getting any nibbles. It's just that everybody seems so reluctant to hire. Maybe it's just my repulsive personality ;). In any case, the holiday season is fast approaching, so doing some seasonal work as a stop gap measure wouldn't be a bad idea.

On a happier note, a friend of mine recently celebrated a birthday. We all went out with friends for dinner and drinks to celebrate. A good time was had by all. I wish you many more happy birthdays to come. Thanks again for your friendship, the solid steel d20, and a very important issue to think about.

Go Cardinals!!!

Tonight I had the pleasure of seeing a Cardinals' victory at Miller Park. My girlfriend's father got some tickets from a coworker and so he took his son and invited me along. It was a treat to seem my home team play and even though the stadium wasn't even halfway filled, an evening at the ballpark is never a bad thing.

Looking For a Job in the 21st Century

I finally got smart and put some of my writing samples online. Not only is this faster, but it will save me from having to spend my laundry quarters on stamps and library photocopies.

New opportunities are arising everyday. It seems like new jobs are cropping up everyday, most of which relate to my field of expertise. What's even more encouraging is that I'm starting to get responses from those jobs. Of course, I haven't heard the magical response of "You're hired," yet but I choose to remain optimistic.

I'm supposed to be meeting with a friend of mine and a client of his sometime this week about a office manager position. We haven't set a day or a time yet, but I'll be sure to ask him tonight at gaming.

My girlfriend's cousin-in-law might also have a line on a hr job at his shipping company. Apparently if I drop his name "I'm in," at least according to her. I called him last night and left a message, but he hasn't got back to me yet.

I'm beyond the point of being frustrated which is really good for me. I know what my goal is and now I'm pursuing it the best way I know how. The wost thing I can do is let myself be bogged down by doubt or frustration. Like Yoda says, "Do or do not." I've made my choice.

Adventures in IT

Last night after dinner, I helped my girlfriend set up her DSL connection in her new apartment...at least I tried to. Now I've done this kind of set up two times before, once for my computer and the other time was at the old job and I've run into the same problem each and every time.

In order for the installation to complete, you have to register the modem with the 2wire website. However, this site always seems to be down or unavailable during the initial registration. To make matters worse, if you halt the installation process there, you have to uninstall and then reinstall the software all over again in order to get the install utility to kick in. It's a bit of a pisser, but once this thing is up and running, I think it wil serve her and her roomates just fine. She'll just have to wait until that website gets up and running again.

What Mythological Beast Are You?

You are Form 0, Phoenix: The Eternal.

"And The Phoenix's cycle had reached
zenith, so he consumed himself in fire. He
emerged from his own ashes, to be forever
immortal."

Some examples of the Phoenix Form are Quetzalcoatl
(Aztec), Shiva (Indian), and Ra-Atum
(Egyptian).
The Phoenix is associated with the concept of life,
the number 0, and the element of fire.
His sign is the eclipsed sun.

As a member of Form 0, you are a determined
individual. You tend to keep your sense of
optomism, even through tough times and have a
positive outlook on most situations. You have
a way of looking at going through life as a
journey that you can constantly learn from.
Phoenixes are the best friends to have because
they cheer people up easily.


Which Mythological Form Are You?
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Blame Bulger

Two turnovers leading to two Atlanta Falcon touchdowns. Hmm, I'm not liking where this is going.

Another Lazy Saturday

You gotta love days like this. No pressing "must do" chores to complete. Oh, they will get done but I have the time to space them out and enjoy the day. Life, despite my better judgement, is pretty damn good.

Kung Fu and Cherry Pie

My evening couldn't have gone better. Today in class we started learning a new form call Shi Pa Lohan So, otherwise known as "The 18 Hands of Lohan." This form is the oldest one that we have in our system and has been passed down from the Shaolin monks to Pai Lum Tao practioners for the past 4000 years! At the risk of sounding maudlin, I have to say that I'm excited and honored to be a part of such a long standing tradition.

Afterwards I stopped at Paul's Omega for dinner and a slice of their delicious cherry pie. Mmm, after a long workout there is nothing better than a large piece of pie.

More Opportunity

I just got a call from Dunhill Staffing. They got my application for a HR position with a medical group downtown and wanted to go over my resume with me. It went pretty well, and so they said they would call me later to set up an interview. The thing is, why did they call me if they didn't intend to bring me in for an interview in the first place? Well, we'll just see if they decide to call back.

It's In the Cards

You are the Justice card. Justice preserves the
harmony of the world. Working with opposite
forces, Justice does not seek to criticize or
condemn but rather to accept. The idea behind
the card justice is that opposite forces are
complementary; you could not have good without
evil or light without darkness. Justice's
position is to make sure that if a thing is out
of balance, the weight of its energy is
realigned with its opposite force. This card is
also a card of humour, for it is in pointing
out contrary positions that humour is often
found. The attitude that is found in the
humourous person, being able to shift
perspective and flow with an instinct, is
important in the maintenance of good balance.
Image from The Blue Moon Tarot Deck.
http://www.themysticeye.com/pics/bluemoon.htm


Which Tarot Card Are You?
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Dammit

Just got a call from the temp agency that was working on the Howard's Grove position. They are canceling my interview because the company is going to fill the position internally. So this pretty much puts me back to square one. This sucks!!!

Bullsh*t

I'm sorry, but selling oil changes (or anything else) door to door from12:00pm to 8:00pm for commission is not my idea of a good job. Sure, there's the possiblility of advancement, but after a couple of months of doing that I'd be ready to grab a rifle and climb the nearest church steeple.

It takes a special kind of person to want to do that kind of work, and I am not one of them. Fortunately, it seems like the job market is improving. I just got another two job notifications today and an interview for Monday. It's for a writer/communications director position out in Howard's Grove, so it's worth checking out.

Going For the Brass Ring (again)

Well, I'm off to my second round interview with Langdon Promotional Group. Wish me luck, y'all. I'll phone in the results as soon as I know.

She's Alive, But...

Something seems to be bothering her. She's upset about something, but she:

a) Doesn't want to talk about it
b) Too busy to talk about it
c) Mad at me and therefore doesn't want to talk to me about it.
d) Some combination of a-c

I know she's got a lot of things on her mind. Hell, school and family are enough for anybody to handle. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm just another thing on her plate that she has to worry and stress over. But I know in the end we'll be able to find some time and talk about whatever is going on. I just hope that whatever is bothering her isn't causing her too much grief.

Missing In Action

We all had fun at last happy hour. Some of us drank way too much including myself and my girlfriend. I took my requisite 15-20 minute nap at the bar and managed to sober up. However the girlfriend wasn't in as good a shape when I drove her back to her apartment. We got in okay, and I managed to get some food into her before she passed out for the night.

I called her Saturday morning and again today to see how she's doing. I haven't heard from her yet. I know she went home on Saturday to celebrate her grandfather's birthday, but it's not like her not to return phone calls. It's probably nothing, but I'm getting a bit worried.

I Made It to Round 2

They invited me to do a second interview this coming monday. From what he said, it sounds like I'm going to do an observational day or something like that. If it looks like a match, they'll let me know by the end of that day. I'm interested in the position, but we'll see how Monday goes. I'm also still interested in the office manager job that my buddy's been lobbying for me to get an interview. I'd hate to have him go to all that trouble for nothing.

Another Interview

Here We Go

All rightey. My interview is at 12:30 this afternoon and I'm already up gettting prepared. I'm not nervous, but I do tend to get a bit jittery before I meet new people. Fortunately for me, the tension tends to evaporate the second the interview begins. Well, here goes nothing. I'll give the post fight highlights when I get back.

It Looks Like My Stock May Be Rising

This morning a friend of mine called me with car trouble and asked me if I could help him out with a few errands. It didn't take long at all since the only stops we made were to the bank and Lens Crafters. However, I got a pleasant surprise when he called a client of his and suggested me for a position in his office. As it turns out, I might have an interview with this guy next week. It's not a lock, but it's always nice to have the opportunity. Thanks, bud!

After I dropped him off, I went home and found a message from Langdon Promotional Group asking if I could call them to set up an interview. It appears that opportunity comes in bunches.

It's Like I'm Back in High School

So I went ahead and did it. My long hair rebel days are now over and now I'm clean shaven and sporting the same hair cut I wore oh some seven years ago. I hate to admit it, but I kind of like it. Maybe this combined with my unique skills and talents will impress someone enough to get me a job. One can only hope.

Interesting side note to the whole job thing. My girlfriend suggested that I go back to the magazine and ask for my old job back. As tempting as that paycheck is (that is when she bothered to cut it on time), I have no desire to put myself back into that situation again, even if it was only a stop gap measure. Maybe it has a little bit to do with pride, but I left because it wasn't a very good situation for me, and I'm not convinced that the situation has improved since my resignation, especially since the intern that came on after me decided to pursue another job only after a week of working there.

But what do I know? Pride certainly doesn't pay the bills. But I have no guarantee that they would hire me back or be able to make payroll on time. Personally, I like my chances better out here.

Munchkin Be Damned

I taught my girlfriend and my buddy to play the game, and I have yet to win a match since we played. He even swept the four games we played tonight. I feel like a disgrace to the game.

Fighting the Good Fight Against Unemployment

I just fired off another salvo of resumes and cover letters-a total of five this time. I know I say this with every batch, but I have a good feeling about this group. I can't help it. I'm an optimist to a fault. Then again, if I wasn't, I would have quit this existence a long time ago.

Make the Hurting Stop

Damn! My shoulder is still killing me. The good news is at least I know it's not a heart attack. If it was, I'd be dead by now. :) Anywho, I'm going to call the doc on monday to get this thing checked out. Maybe he'll give me happy pills.

It's Too Quiet

Well, my cousin is back in St. Louis. I can't help but feel a bit of the empty nest syndrome. Not that I'm feeling overly domestic, but I've gotten used to having other people in my apartment and now I kind of miss it. Spending time by myself is just leading me to unwanted introspection. Unwanted, but perhaps maybe neccessary.

Mmmm. Pasta

Well, the job search may be slow, but my appetite is not. I'm trying this new pasta sauce I found. I wonder if vodka will work in a spag sauce. Let's find out, shall we?

It's Either a Heart Attack Or....

I'm leaning toward a muscle strain myself. Ever since I woke up, my left shoulder has been killing me. I did sleep on the floor last night, but this kind of stiffness and pain is beyond what I normally get when I sleep there. I've taken a couple of pain killers so hopefully they will kick in in a few minutes. In the meantime, I'm going to prepare brunch for myself and my cousin.