The Search Continues!

Applied to another job today, and am continuously making connections and networking! Today I applied to EBSCO Publishing for a Content Editor position. I feel like my cover letters are getting stronger and stronger with each one I send out, and I’m definitely less nervous when I start one now that I have a general template for them. It’s still frustrating knowing that there’s basically a .01% chance I’ll even get called back for these positions — and that I won’t know if they have any interest in me for a few weeks yet! — but all I can do is keep applying! I do worry that no one will give my resume a second glance once they see I’m applying from VA — the explanation for it is in each cover letter I send, but you never know.

I also spoke with my childhood friend Maggie, who works at John Wiley & Sons Publishing. She promised to send my resume to their Boston office and help me keep an eye out for open positions up there. Another friend, Joe from UMW, has suggested a temp-to-hire position writing for a web marketing firm. It’s not my ideal situation, but at this point I’m trying to keep all leads open. Most of them will go absolutely nowhere, I realize, but I only need one!

I need a project, something to do while I sit around doing nothing at home. Something free, ideally. I’ve pulled out good ol’ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I saw something online earlier that made me want to read the last book over, but in order to do that, I’ll want to read the second to last over, but in order to do that, I’ll have to read the third to last . . . . etc. So why not just start at #1, give myself a project, and go from there? Much easier, and more enjoyable, than training for another half marathon, that’s for sure.

Also, not to brag, but Scruffy the Betta fish comes when he’s called. No big deal.

One Wine Night Later . . .

I feel much better today than I did yesterday. I think it’s in large part due to the English team dinner we had last night at my former coworker Kate’s house. Just getting to talk to people who are in the same place as I am was very helpful. Kate, Juli, Stacey, and I talked for hours about what we’ve all been doing over the past few days — there were a lot of admissions of sitting around, watching trashy TV, and feeling guilty. I mentioned to them what my mom recommended to me: Don’t feel guilty for being unemployed! It was a new idea for all of us. So right now, I’m just striving to remember that I don’t have to, and in fact shouldn’t, feel guilty about my lack of employment. As long as I keep working towards future employment, there’s nothing else I can do.

So today I have applied to two jobs (one at Pearson and one at Hachette Book Group), and am working on a third application as well. But in between, I’ve been watching trashy TV and relaxing in my pajamas! I won’t make this my typical day and, in fact, will even get dressed . . . most of the time. Perhaps all of the time? But even more than that, I’ll make an effort to not feel guilty about not having a job. I’m doing all I can do — applying to jobs, reaching out to Boston contacts, and continually searching for new opportunities. There’s nothing to feel guilty about as long as I can keep that up.

Now to work on cleaning the apartment . . .

WordPress Mystery

I don’t at all understand why my posts are showing up in reverse chronological order (meaning, oldest at the top of the page). I’ve never seen a blog that does that, and I can’t figure out how to change it. Is it because of the theme I’m using?

*Okay, now this post is showing up between the other two that I’ve already written! (in other words, 1, 3, 2) What is going on and how can I change it?

*Final edit: figured it out. Thank you, Google.

Having Said All That . . .

Here’s an example of why I feel a little like a POS right now.

The Things I Should Have Done Today (but did not):

• wash the dishes from 2 nights ago
• unload the dishwasher
• clean up after lunch
• look for a job in Boston
• apply to a job in Boston
• call a temp agency here about jobs
• practice the guitar
• clean our room
• clean the “dining room”
• exercise
• update the registration on the car

The Things I Did Instead:

• created this blog
• watched What Not to Wear
• watched Say Yes to the Dress
• watched Katie’s video blog at marriageconfessions.com
• ummmm….
• oh yeah, played Doodle Jump (though my 71,000 record is pretty impressive)

Things I should have done that I did do today include: return a coat to NY&C and get the emissions test done on my car. And drive Andrew to work. And brush my teeth. But besides that, nothing. And so the amount that I did manage to do also feels like nothing. I’m not a slumpy person, but right now I’m in a slump. Because I’m not a slumpy person, I don’t know how to get out of it. I usually just say “Well just do it!” but . . . I can’t seem to make myself.

Whine whine whine whine.

The Unemployment Chronicles

Well, I’ve done it. I’ve made a blog. And like so many before me, I will use these first sentences to acknowledge how inherently narcissistic it is. Because it is! I haven’t started a blog before this because I know that most people who read it would be completely bored by me describing my day-to-day life. Because my life is boring. I could see maybe three people getting any sort of entertainment out of it. Maybe.

But then I lost my job. This past Friday was my last day of work, and since then I’ve spent a lot of time trying not to feel like a waste of a person. I know it’s not hugely unusual to lose one’s job, especially right now, and I know being laid off doesn’t reflect poorly on me personally. But I have, of late, being feeling pretty bad about myself! And what better way to throw a pity party than publicly?

So anyway, this is all to say that I know this blog may be boring but I’m not too sorry about that. I thought about starting blogs back when my life was crazy and exciting — when I moved up to D.C. or when I first got married — but embarrassment stopped me. Ostensibly, I said those blogs were to keep family members informed about our lives hundreds of miles away from them. But deep down, I think I knew: no one really cared. When my grandparents got married 50-some years ago, they immediately moved from Chicago to New Orleans and never felt the need to write a book about their experiences. When you come right down to it, day-to-day life, no matter where it is, is pretty boring when you’re living it.

Why start a blog, then? I guess in the end I’m starting for myself. Writing always makes me feel better, and like I said, I’ve been feeling pretty bad lately. If others read it, cool. If not, that may be preferable! I’m writing this, I have to write this, for me. I don’t know how much longer Andrew will put up with me taking this all out on him!