Time Flies When You're Having Fun... And Have Stopped Worrying So Much

This week has been surprisingly busy! In a small way, I'm kinda glad I haven't had work this week. And by small way I mean the only reason I'm not glad is because of the fact that I cry at my ever dwindling bank account. But seriously, this week has been full of stuff I've had to do... Monday is too far back to remember what I had to do during the day, but I had night class in the evening; Tuesday I had an interview with the staffing agency and had to print out my resume before I went and then wasted 2 hours doing their computer testing in house; yesterday I went to the library to finish my assignment for tonight, then cleaned the house when I got home; today I'm working from 12-5 and then going to my class in the evening; and then tomorrow I have 2 interviews (yet another staffing agency called me this morning to book an interview) at which I have to do in house testing for both, and then in the evening I have to go to the youth organization that I work with. And for the 2nd week in a row we shall be short staffed because the majority of our staff members have been in Mexico since last Thursday, and we have asked them to stay home so that they don't spread the swine flu in case they've picked it up.
Speaking of swine flu, I'm a little it scared about contracting it. My friend/landlord whose basement I rent is one of the guys who are in Mexico. We share a house. How am I not supposed to get it??? I've been battling a sore throat since last Monday and today is the first day that I've woken up without one. I need to do interviews, and somehow get a job before the end of next month or else my savings will be SERIOUSLY tapped into. I've got trips I've got to save up for, people! I just bought my Vancouver Olympic flight tickets yesterday!
Oh! By the way! Plane tickets to the Olympics are booked! I may not have a penny to my name when I go, but I've got a seat on a plane there and back, and a seat in a hockey game and a place to sleep at my uncle's place. Who needs to eat? Actually, we've got a change jar going, and the last time I counted we had $178 in there. So that will at least feed 2 people for 10 days. So I'm good to go!

Actually, I've been feeling a lot calmer about this whole not having a job thing, and I know something will eventually happen for me and it will be greater than what I previously had. And since I started having this mindset, things have been happening for me. I mean, this week alone I'll have 3 interviews! Plus I'm working a few hours here and there, so things are starting to turn up. It's always happened for me and my family that right when we're not sure how we're going to make it to next month, something happens and we've made it through.

School and Work and Play! ...I mean Driving!

Had an interview with a new staffing agency yesterday, and I guess it went okay... she seemed very rushed with me and then I had to spend 2 hours doing their MS Office testing because the computer took 5 minutes to load each question for the PowerPoint and Excel ones. I was so irritated I wanted to yell but figured this would be a bad impression to make.
I had my first class of HR Administration on Monday, and had a minor heart attack when I read on the course outline "prerequisite: course Lil S has yet to take." I emailed them and they said it was a prerequisite for the HR Management program, so as long as I complete it or get exempt before I complete the program, I'm good to go. I should probably get on that fairly soon though... but I've actually been quite busy this week.
Today I went to the library and read what I needed to for my class tomorrow night. I have no money to buy textbooks (there are more imminent things like rent and student loan repayment. Oh yeah and groceries... I like to eat) so I am forced to read the outdated editions at the Reference Library downtown. I hope it works out, cuz I don't plan on buying the books unless I get hooked up with a job. I'm just praying we don't have to use the texts in class!
I've got another interview with yet another staffing agency on Friday morning, so hopefully all goes well with that one. I got a call today from Staffing Agency #3 saying that she hadn't heard back about my resume, but that there was a reception position available today from 12-5. Then she realized it had already been filled, which was good news for me because I could make it seem like I would have jumped on it (thereby making myself look like a good candidate for the next time this happened) when really I couldn't have accepted because I needed to go to the library today since I am working tomorrow at some place from 12-5, and my class is tomorrow night.

Have I mentioned that I've been driving?? I got my G1 in the summer but since neither myself or the BF own a car, it has been quite difficult to a) find the time and b) find a vehicle so he can teach me to drive. But our landlord (who lives upstairs and is a good friend of ours) has been in Mexico this past week for a wedding, which has left us free to use the car (don't worry, we're allowed to use it on a regular basis, but now we don't have to see if someone else needs it instead). I'm actually getting quite good! I can drive 40 km/h now without shitting myself, and am less afraid of hitting parked cars' side mirrors as I pass them.

Downtown Adventures With Good Weather = A Great Day

I had a fabulous day yesterday, and the weather was fabulous too! My boyfriend took the day off from school because his brain was going to explode (from knowledge... not from some sort of medical emergency) and we went downtown to get him a pair of sunglasses he's been eyeing since the summer. After that we got some lunch at the new Poutinerie and Burrito Boys and boy did we feel disgusting after. Not that the food tasted bad, it was far from it, actually... but it's definitely not the healthiest stuff out there! So we walked around for a bit and made our way to the skydome and CN Tower, and the bf took some pictures with our awesome new camera. While we were there I pointed out the Steam Whistle Brewery which we had both never been to, and since we had some time to spare we decided to go and take a tour.
It was AWESOME!! We walked in the doors and they were like "do you want a sample?" and then poured us a half-pint of beer. And then handed us a ticket for a free sample. A tour was starting just as we got there so we tagged along and after the tour, we got another free sample of beer. Without giving in our ticket that we were given before, so now we've got 2 free sample tickets and totally plan on going back to take advantage of those!
It was really nice just to spend time together without thinking about external things. This past week has been kinda rough between his insane schedule of tests and labs at school and me being sick and still not having a job, so it was nice to forget about all that and just hang out.

Tonight we're hosting a bbq and we're having a few friends over for food and drinks. We've got a pork tenderloin all rubbed up and I've finished a pasta salad, so it's just a few appetizers to go and we'll be all set!

Gonna Attempt To Make Me Some Money... Again

So the interview last week went really well, I walked out of it feeling like I could conquer the world! But here's what went down: Basically, I am overqualified for the position I had sent in my resume to them for. It was strictly reception and quite honestly both me and the interviewer knew that I would be bored out of my skull. I've done a lot of different contracts and have a lot of different skills thanks to my BMus education and my experience with a youth organization I work with. The interviewer told me straight out that he would place me in a position that I wasn't qualified for, because I would become qualified for it while in the position. Great compliment, except that NOBODY ELSE IN THE WORLD IS WILLING TO DO THAT. For example, I have an interview with another staffing agency this afternoon and applied for an HR admin assistant position through them, which is EXACTLY what I want. Over the phone, the lady told me that the client is "looking for someone who already has an HR certification." Great. Then again, maybe she'll meet with me and realize the same thing my first interviewer did.
My interview last week really gave me the confidence to not settle for just anything. Yeah I have bills to pay, but I want to enjoy my life. Doing reception at my old job I wanted to stab my eyes out everyday and felt totally under-used. I have an Honors degree, I was on the Dean's List... I just feel like I should be so much more than I am right now and the right job will come around, I just have to be patient and hope it doesn't take longer than how long it will take for my savings to run out!
I just wish I hadn't woken up with a sore throat this morning. I feel like crap but I've gotta get a move on with this job finding process. And I wish it wasn't raining because now I have to worry about avoiding getting myself and my resume/references wet. And at some point I need to clean my whole place... maintaining such a small space is surprisingly difficult.
Oh! And we also got our computer fixed - a friend of ours who is taking computer engineering (or something like that) wiped our hard drive and reformatted the whole thing. I'm so glad we didn't have to buy a new computer... We want to get a second one, just not right now!

Never Download Illegal Crap

My boyfriend likes to download things for free. And then download code generators so that the programs work without having to pay for them.
This is a bad plan. A very bad plan. I have not updated recently because our computer refuses to boot up.

Thank goodness for friends who are studying to become IT technicians.

Will update more on the job front when the computer's fixed.

Gonna Make Me Some Money!

Huzzah! There is finally progress on the job hunt!!
In the past 2 days, I've probably sent out between 30-35 resumes and harrassed all my friends who have jobs to find me something, and last night I had a mini break down. I know, I know, it was just 2 days since I started seriously searching, but I have been off work for a week now and I HATE the idea that I'm not making money. Because of my tax return I have enough in my account to pay for my student loan payment for this month and next month's rent, but after that I'm going to have to start going into my savings. And with a Northern Ontario roadtrip planned for the end of the summer and tickets to the Olympics next year, I have quite a bit I need to save up for. And that's not to mention general saving up for things like a downpayment for a house.
But I have an interview tomorrow! Granted, it's with a staffing agency, but it's for a reception position downtown and judging by the job description, it seems exactly the same thing as I was doing at my last reception job. So they can't not hire me on the basis that I am not experienced! Take THAT, bitches!

I mean, wont you please hire me on permanent so that I can stop this job search crap every month?

10 bucks says I start on Monday.

Paranormally Paranoid

I have this thing about ghost shows. You know, the kind of shows where people go into a haunted place and they get a medium or psychic to talk about what they're sensing and stuff.
So last night I'm watching tv and see that Paranormal State is on. Now, I've only watched one other episode, and have to say that of all the ghost shows I've watched, Paranormal is the SCARIEST I have ever seen. The episode I saw was about this family who was complaining of a demonic presence in their house that kept attacking their daughter, and then they find out that the demonic presence is attached to the daughter and they have to do an exorcism. Anyway, the episode I watched last night was about this couple and the wife's sister had moved in with them when they first bought the house, and the first night the sister sees this figure with a Ram's head standing in the doorway and tells the couple about it and how it said it came from the river and then a week later she commits suicide by wandering in the Mississippi River nearby. So the people are investigating the house, and the psychic guy says that he keeps getting the name of something they had dealt with before, and it was 6, which was the demon thing I had seen in the last episode! And THEN, they get a call from the girl from that episode saying that things had gotten worse and the exorcism didn't work, so then they drive the 5 hours to go see her and try and help her. So then while they're there, they figure out that the 2 cases are related and it's a combination of 6 different demons and the connection was the Mississippi River because it was nearby the girl that had to have the exorcism! The whole time I was watching I was so freaked out and I've never been more glad to switch to baseball in the middle of a show. And of course by the time the show ended it was midnight and I was heading to bed, but I had to hang out in the bathroom while my boyfriend took a shower so that I wasn't alone. And even when I was in bed, I had to have the covers in front of my eyes so that I couldn't see the doorframe for fear of seeing the Ram-man.

Apparently I have issues.

It's crazy how even though I was scared shitless, I want to watch more of it but have decided not to because I am home alone. And considering how freaked out I was even this morning, I believe it is a bad, bad plan to watch scary things alone.

K, I don`t know what I did to this laptop, but for some reason my question marks are now É`s and my apostrophes are all weird (seeÉ see themÉ Gah I just want question marks!!) There`s like 4 characters for every key and some are red and some are blue, and I know that by pressing the red Alt buttons you get the characters, but there`s no magic blue button that makes the blue characters, which are all the normal ones.

Maybe the keyboard`s possessed. I like that theory, so I`m running with it.

Paying Attention Is Overrated - I'd Rather Eat

Ugh... I HATE applying for jobs. I always screw up SOMETHING on each application, which narrows the amount of people who will probably contact me back. Things like forgetting to attach my resume, or forgetting to change the contact name on the cover letter, or the position name or take out certain parts of the cover letter that pertained to the previous job but has absolutely nothing to do with the one I was working on. Like right now, someone at a property management company is going to be reading my cover letter meant to be for an admin assistant, but instead is focused towards an office admin position. And says office admin position in it. And mentions how I'm taking HR courses which will be useful for assisting the HR manager which is not part of the job description. Gah... I guess I'll just try to be more careful. That way I'll be telling the truth when I say I am detail-oriented.

In other news, I marked yesterday as The Beginning Of The Time When Lil S Stops Eating Crap And Starts Exercising Again. Last spring I ran every day and then in the summer I worked out every day and was really active while I was working at camp. Since then, I have been working office jobs and eating whatever I wanted, far too frequently. Needless to say that especially over the past week, my weight has... inflated. What can I say, I come from a family that eats when we're sad, stressed, celebrating something... so basically all the time. And it's not even that I think I'm fat or anything, I just don't feel as healthy as I did last summer. So I went for a run yesterday (stamina? I had that once? Really?? Could swear that I have NO idea what that is now...) and made shit loads of tea rather than eating cheese and crackers as per the norm so that I would feel full. Helped a little, I guess. But the major issue now is that I'm unemployed so I'm home all day, and that means I have access to my wonderful fridge of yummy surprises all day long. Here's hoping I can resist the urge to shove my face full of food!

Excuse me whilst I make a pot of tea.

Death and Life

This week has been a long week. I managed to get 5 1/2 hours of work this week filling in as a last minute receptionist and could have even worked again yesterday, but being at work on Wednesday was tough. My grandfather passed away on Monday and we've been spending all week trying to get things organized for his memorial service tomorrow. I think that's all I'll mention about that here - I HATE it when people announce personal stuff like that on facebook or in their msn name. It's like, if I really want you to know about it because you're a good friend to me, I'll call you or send you a message personally. I'm not out there to be looking for sympathy. I just mentioned it because it's why I haven't written more frequently.
Anyways...
Yesterday was also my 2 year anniversary with my boyfriend. In typical us style, we celebrated with food at an asian place that was AWESOME - and between the both of us, getting a roll of sushi, dim sum and a main course each, it only cost $50!! So then we went to a nearby pub and split a pitcher :) It was a really good night and a nice break to focus on life and the present.

I Watch The Watchmen

Will this day ever end?! I actually almost got some work to do this morning, and the whole time as my manager was explaining it to me I was thinking, Well geez, thanks... my LAST day here and you finally decide to give me some work to do! And then 2 seconds later she tells me the guy doesn't need the thing done after all, so I am left to my own devices again, as per usual. Got a lot of online job searching done, that's for sure! But seriously, I don't know how much more Bubble Town I can play.

In more important news, finally saw The Watchmen last night. I wanted to read the graphic novel before I saw the movie, and I've been finished the book for a good three weeks now. Which in retrospect was probably a good thing that there was a break between when I read the book and saw the movie because I read Memoirs of a Geisha and then saw the movie like a day after I read the book, and now have the two co-mingled in my mind as one giant super movie-novel. Although now that I really think about it, I don't remember the book or the movie that well at all... I dunno, I have this thing where I have difficulty remembering details in movies or books. I'll come straight out of a movie and my fellow movie-goers will be all like "Omg remember when ____ happened? That was HILARIOUS!!!" and then we'll all laugh and I'll be thinking "when the F did that happen????" And then by that time they're already on to part number three that they enjoyed so thoroughly and I'll still be racking my brains over part number one so now i just keep laughing if everyone else is laughing or look thoughtful if everyone else looks thoughtful.

I digress.

I really enjoyed the film. Of course they left a few storylines out, but otherwise I thought they did a really good job of casting and interpreting the novel. But I wonder a little bit if I would have understood as much from the film if I didn't already know what happened. I found that I picked up on a lot of the little details, and I'm not sure that I would have if I didn't read the novel.

Oh, and I got there just in time to see the trailers (anyone who says the trailers for upcoming movies are NOT the best part of the movie-going experience can rot in hell. Too harsh? Whoops.) and I secretly want to see the Star Trek film. I have been boycotting all online trailers and conversations about the film because of the traumatic experience as a child of being forced to watch Star Trek every Sunday night. My family was OBSESSED with it. Did I say was? I mean still is. And my sisters and mother have been planning on seeing this film since the idea of it's conception and I have refused to take part in it. But the trailer made it look so GOOD!!! So I shall probably secretly and (il)legally download the film and watch it in the privacy of my own home.

Just don't tell my fam.

Have I Mentioned That I Love This Recession?

Well probably not to you, considering this is my first post. But I am sure I have mentioned it to many people that I actually know. This recession is quite unkind to the recent grads of '08... I've been out of University for almost a year now, and have had 4 semi-long term temp jobs to show for it. The latest of which will be ending after tomorrow.
I just texted my mom to let her know, and her response: "Oh i guess u must of expected it." Umm, thanks for the sympathy?? In all fairness though, I was wondering when they were going to let me go... in the past 5-6 weeks that I've been working here, I've probably done about 1 1/2 weeks worth of work. The rest of the time they tell me they have nothing for me, so I check my email a million times and check my bank account a million times, then read msnbc.com and fmylife.com (GREAT site by the way!) til I've read all the stories and then drink lots of water so that I have to pee 10 times so that I have an excuse to get up and DO something. So I guess I'm lucky I wasn't let go earlier.
At least the weather is nice-ish now. Maybe I'll take up running again in my spare time. That should kill what, 30 minutes each day?? *stabs eyes out with dried up bamboo stick left from the lady she's replacing who is available to come back in to work when they periodically need her which is causing lil S to be unemployed*

Think happy employment thoughts for me, okay?? And for the record, this first post is not a fair representation of me. I swear, I'm a happy child!! But having no job makes me bitchy, apparently.