Yay, got a Calgary airport hotel booked for semi-reasonable rates, and can leave the car there while we go to Florida. No complimentary continental breakfast, but we can get toast anywhere. Insert digs at tbit in the comments.
Also yay, getting the third step of the interview process at London Drugs, then will likely have the "faceless corporation with less flexibility, slightly higher wage in an area closer, but not exactly, in my area of knowledge" versus "lower paying, but smaller, flexible employer, in completely unfamiliar territory, but feeling like I am learning and actually getting to be valued, and heckuva nice crew to work with" decision to make.
The part of me that jumps to poorly thought out decisions without considering the stretched-too-thin scenario has me thinking, "I wonder if I could do both, at least until the RCMP gets me on board. Or even after."
This is the same part of me that thought delivering the Calagry newspapers here in the Hat would be a great idea for the extra $750 per month it would pay, except for the fact that we did it one morning to try it out, and it took many hours and lots of gas to boot, since the deliveries had to be done by car due to the distance between subscribers.
Needless to say, that was a one-day gig, not to be repeated.
I really appreciate everybody's comments on the last post. Just a few moments of wallowing, and I do know that things will get better. Some of the things I have to remind myself of from time to time are 1) that we did this for a reason, and my instant gratification wasn't one of them, 2) I AM very lucky and fortunate to have what I have in terms of home, love, family and friends. Could my job prospects be better, and would I like to have more local friends, not just "people I know", and family around? Sure, but that's part of the sacrifice we made, waiting for a bigger payoff in the end.
Thanks for your comments, everyone.
My mood really started to slide last week. I was getting steadily more and more miserable with how things have been lately, where I am and what I am doing at the age of 35, and wondering how we ended up like this. Rock bottom came a few nights ago.
Felling better now, though nothing has changed, really. Moods are like that. Sometimes things seem bearable, other times, the same things seem insurmountable.
I know I just have to keep telling myself that everything right now is temporary, and I am not defined by what I am doing right now.
So, with the trip to Florida coming up, here's the deal. We're flying out of Calgary, it was the only way to use air miles for all four seats. We have to drive to Edmonton, drop off the dogs to A's mom, collect my sister and nephew, and drive back to Calgary two or three hours before our 10AM flight.
I've been looking at the airport hotel park and fly deals, like when I went to T.O. in February, so we don't have to leave Edmonton at 5AM or earlier on the day of the trip. Since we'd have to pay a park and fly to park the car anyways, for a few bucks more, why not stay the night? Worked before.
Only thing is, the hotel I stayed at in February was about $70. Same hotel for the dates I checked in July is $150 or more. Trust me, it wasn't that nice..it wasn't even worth $70.
Just figured out why it and every other hotel I've checked so far is so bloody expensive. We are park-and-flying during the good old Calgary Stampede.
Grr.
I don't know what's worse..the idea of William Shatner in a love scene, or a description from James Spader on the way Shatner smells. I didn't want to know that.
Saw Episode 3. It was good, much better than the first two. the same things bugged me about it that bugged me about the others, though. Overuse of CGI, etc. I found the ships to have more "mass" and believability this time around, but dammit, if I wanted to go see a CGI cartoon, I'd go see a CGI cartoon.
Still, it had more substance and left me more fulfilled than the first two put together. Now, if George is so keen on the premise that his films are all "works in progress", now that he's done with (for now) tinkering on the original trilogy, maybe he could go back and re-do the first two episodes, and make them suck less?
I really should get cracking again on:
1) My Psych course. Have only finished the first unit. Got sidetracked by job hunting and mood. I am not a good correspondence student. I need a classroom with a good instructor.
2) My Medicine Hat College application. I applied..got the "Thank you, now send us your transcripts and talk to a counsellor." Went online to the ol' AB gov and tried to send my transcripts..after jumping through all their hoops, verifying my identity, something doesn't add up and they won't let me log in to the final stage of the request. Told me to call the help desk. Haven't done that yet.
The job thing has me a bit derailed about starting school full-time this September. I want to, I really do, but I don't think it will be financially possible. Leaning towards working for a year to pay off debts and be semi-ready to go at it next fall, as I am not geting any younger, and full-time, my current educational plan will be six years, at least. Hence my delay..I kinda think "why bother right now?"
3) Writing. These screenplays I have half-formed in my head aren't going to wrtie themselves, at least not until I sit down and try to get them out. All the ups and downs and uncertainty of things for me this past year have not put me in a writing mood. I always feel I should be doing something else, yet I never really do anything else. As the Psych course efforts will attest to, I have no discipline for such things, either.
4) Drawing and Painting- see Writing.
Hypothetically speaking, if one had downloaded a recently released, box-office-record-setting sci-fi epic, before having seen it in the theatre, really wanting to see it in the theatre because of the quality of picture and sound, having tried once to go see it but leaving becuase of crowds, it is very hard to resist temptation.
Did I say it is hard? I mean it would be hard. Hypotheticaly speaking. If I had downloaded it. Which I haven't. Honest.
Third day in at the Co-op, I guess it is going OK. Basically, the first day was a write off, and the actual training began yesterday, continuing today. Sales techniques and such. Again, not sure if it's for me, but I am giving it a try and we'll see what happens. I didn't want to go in yesterday..I was really in the "no customers will come in, and if they do, I won't be able to sell them anything yet, so why am I wasting my time?"
Now, I was right, there were no customers, but the learning process has begun. On the way there today, I realized that it is still better than sitting at home doing nothing. Actual interaction with other humans, allowing me to excercise my atrophying communications skills. I felt like I was soon about to revert back to grunting and pointing.
Oh yeah, I had Tuesday and Wednesday off. Wednesday, went to Calgary and had an evaluative eye exam, to see if I was a candidate for Lasik MD's "special pricing" for laser eye surgery, to be rid of the glasses once an for all. When I think of laser surgery, I always think of the old $2500 per eye that used to be the standard price. So when I heard about $490 per eye, I was intrigued anough to check it out. They did say that less than 20 percent of their patients qualify for that rate, and with my prescription and astigmatism, I was prepared for them to tell me that I didn't qualify at all.
As it turns out, I do qualify, my eyes are fine and healthy, I have small pupils and lots of corneal tissue, making me a good candidate. Not for $490 per eye, mind you, but for $890 per eye. Still cheaper than their standard price of $1200 per eye, but more than I was hoping for.
With a need for new glasses in the near future, I am still very tempted to go ahead and rack it up on the card, as I'm really getting sick of glasses and am very intigued by the possibility of not needing them anymore. I know all about the potential drawbacks, the risks, etc. that come with this or any other elective surgery. But man, I haven't spent shit on myself since we moved. I wanted a laptop, desperately, but resisted. I've made mortgage payments, bought groceries, and paid for tree removal. I know we have an expensive holiday coming up, but I can only dream of how nice it would be to not have to mess around with glasses for the first time while on a vacation. This would be something just for me. I want to do it.
Helll, if someone we know here in town can borrow $12,000 to have surgery to remove excess skin from losing 80 pounds, why should I feel bad for wanting to spend $890 on each eye?
I'm thinking I was right, and that furnture sales in this environment is not for me.
What do you think of when you think "furniture sales in the Medicine Hat Co-op"? I think cheap, geared towrds older/working class folks.
Wrong. They actually have fairly high-end, expensive stuff. Not high-high end, but defintely compares with the Brick's higher end, and a few steps up from that. Now, place this in the Co-op mall, which has an older, retired client base, and I'm not seeing a lot of potential here. On my first six hour shift, I think the store sold one washer/dryer pair. That's it. I jumped in and tried to assist a few people, and got requests for cheap stuff, and a lot of "Wow, that's more than I'm prepared to pay." The location (cramped section of a dead mall) with flourescent lighting, doesn't match the products, which in turn, don't fit their walk-through clients. Add to that the fact that everything appears disorganized, and in one day, my training was haphazard to say the least, I'm not seeing a long-term stay here. Not at the low rate plus commission structure they have. I'd take a still-low, but stable hourly rate in a more comfortable environment in a heartbeat, but I'm prepared to wait, as the trip to Florida approaches, until after that trip is complete.
I'll hang in there unless something I can't resist falls into my lap, until July, anyways, and make the best of the experience.
Trust first impressions...trust instincts.
When it rains, it pours..isn't it always the way?
I hadn't planned on actively searching for that second part-time job to supplement the RCMP gig quite yet. I was planning to get settled in there first. Alas, who called me for an interview but the Medicine Hat Co-op, responding to an ad I had answered literally the day before I found out the RC's wanted me.
It was for a full time furniture/appliance/electronics sales position. Now, you know that certainly wasn't my first choice in types of jobs, but with the Esplanade installation thing not working out, I was ready to try anything. Well, even though they were looking for a full-time person, they really liked what I seemed to bring to the table, and after two interviews in one day, one with their HR person and another with the furniture store manager, I was hired. It's your basic low wage plus commission gig, but I'm willing to try anything to get out of the house and meet people.
They were willing to accomodate the job's hours to what I believe I will be available with the RCMP job taking priority, which is great. And, with the RCMP needing me to fill out a 25 page security clearance form, and I'm sure they'll have to verify all the names and numbers on it, I have no idea when I'll actually start the job. The Co-op, I start Monday, so at least I'll start getting a paycheck again soon, however small.
Of course, if the RCMP hours don't match up with the Co-op schedule, or if a better PT job comes up, the Co-op will have to go, but it is defintely worth a try. For that matter, if a good full-time job comes up, I'll weigh it versus the RCMP very carefully.
As always, I'll keep all y'all posted on the developments.
When I didn't hear from the RCMP right away, I was expecting a letter within the next couple of weeks, thanking me for my interest and wishing me the best in my future endeavours. When the letter never came, I thought, geez, not even a PFO.
Today I got a phone call.
I'm hired.
Half-time position, pro rated from around $35,000, so basically 1/2 of what I made at the college. Flexible hours, leaves me room to find a supplemental job.
I am loopy, I feel so good about this right now. This is the one I wanted, the one I felt I had a real shot at.
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers on that one.
Now, what else has been going on? Paper route is rolling along. Collecting is a bitch, but thankfully, most are paid in the office, so very few to try and shake down for their $7.40 every two weeks. Meeting all kinds of characters, likeable and not.
Remember our leather funriture? (Refresher- it was purchased under the false pretense that it was so durable, that trimmed cat claws wouldn't damage it, which we found out to be completely false. Also the wood underneath the armrests crunched and cracked every time you put weight on them.)
Well, we returned it, and waffled between getting more furniture or maybe just a couch and buying a new washer and dryer, since ours were in the nighbourhood of 30-40 years old, and occasionally sounding pretty bad during cycles, especially the washer. We opted for the furniture, thinking, we need something to sit on now, and why replace the appliances while they still work. We'll wait for them to conk out.
One conked out. The washer decided that one must go through much frustation and knob-wiggling (no, not that kind, though we were ready to try anything) in order to get the tub to drain after the wash cycle. So we got a new washer and dryer, and due to our basement being finished around the already sitting-there appliances, we almost had them dropped on the main floor, and I was wondering how much it was going to cost to convert our back porch into a main-floor laundry room.
Luckily, the delivery guys from the Brick here in the Hat were totally awesome at what they do, and they managed to get the new ones down our narrow stairs and into the laundry room, with no room to spare. The doorway was 27" wide, the appliances were the same. Barely squeaked through. The main floor laundry can wait a few years.
Life goes on..now we have to try to figure out what to do with our back yard.
So much for installing at the Esplanade. My back and knee were killing me on that last day, and I knew it was just going to get worse from there. My worst fear was that with the back being weak, tired and sore, I would end up doing too much one time too often and actually injure myself, so I packed it in. It is just not my line of work. Maybe if it had come along six months ago when I was still in a little better shape, maybe if I had been going to the gym regularly since that time, maybe maybe maybe.
Adding to it is that I just don't feel like I know what I'm doing there. I can do assigned tasks, but it's so disporganized, communication isn't always very good, and I hate feeling like I don't know what I'm doing. It isn't for me.
The last thing I need right now is an actual injury..soreness I can get over (and it has been sore..worrisome sore, but I figure it will pass in a few days).
So, back to the job hunt, stooping ever lower just to be doing something. More retail applications, here I come. Keep the end in sight. Don't lose sight of the goal. This is just for now.
Holy crap, pulling massive amounts of cable through little conduits is hard work in a theatre that size, and even more so when one has been a lazy bastard for nine months.
It's going OK..it really isn't my line of work though, and will be happy to find something else. Was supposed to work 7 days in a row, but they offered me Sunday off, since I'm the only one on the crew from Medicine Hat and actually have a family to spend time with on the weekend. I took it, I need the rest! I ache..everywhere.
So, starting work tomorrow. Why aren't I very happy? I think it's the uncertainty of it all. I'm sure after a few days, when I know whether I like it or not, whether I'm good at it or not, I'll feel better. I hate the unknown. I hate knowing what I want to be doing, but not doing it. I hate not knowing what I'll be doing a week from now. Being on EI certainly took the pressure off having to do exactly what I'm doing now, applying, interviewing, and fretting about jobs I normally wouldn't even want.
But I'm here now, so trying to make the best of it.
I am so looking forward to Florida..you have no idea.
Duran Duran will be in Orlando at the same time we are (July 18th). I wonder if that's enough to convince Mukey and wife to come too?
Let's try this again..I am supposed to start with All Star at the Esplanade on Thursday at noon, and work for at least a week. Also had an interview at a satellite/cellular/two way radio shop down the road from our house, about either sales, or even a management position. The work with All Star will be welcome, but if a FT well-paying opportunity is presented, I will go with the stability. No matter what, I'm looking forward to the change of pace. I'll keep up the papers as long as I can, but I can see 4Am getting old even sooner than expected if I have a real job to do as well. We'll see.
Confirmed for the Florida trip are:
Allie & myself
Sis Dorothy Anne & son Jamie
Sis Theresa, hubby Randy, daughter Chrissy, son Sean and gf Angela
Sis Patti, hubby Calvin
Bro Daryll, wife Joanna, daughter Shayla
Awesome, awesome! We'll all be arriving and departing at different times due to schedules and such, but for a space of two or three days, we'll all be there. Just have to work on my other brother (no, not my other brother Daryll..only one of those)
yep, 4:15 AM on Monday did indeed suck.
