Job adventure

I realized that I have done a lot to look for a job. Right now things are sort of coming together all at once. And we'll see how it shakes out. But how did I get here?

My temp job:
I signed up with a good agency that knew how to place people well. It was seredipity that it was part time, which I needed so I could still keep looking and finish up my contract.  Also seredipity that it was at a very well respected organization.

Which led to...

When I applied for a job at an institution near it, the administrative person who I guess did the initial review of applications saw the name of my temp assignment and pulled my resume out. She used to work there. She biked over one day, and introduced herself to me to tell me that I'd be contacted for an interview.  (Me: um, great!  Which job? What was it for?  I had applied to so many positions there.) BTW, the interview Monday there went really well, I think. Though, they think I'm overqualified. I responded with - I'm just highly qualified.

One day I went to this institution for a a start up event. I talked with a lot of people, got free t shirts and other swag, and handed out my resume to a couple people. One of them I had a good conversation with and followed up with an email. She passed my resume on to her CEO, who called me out of the blue one day to ask about me participating in their project and do some strategic planning (and these are movers and shakers). I'm scared to really continue with that because I think they'll realize how NOT smart I am (there's too many friggin' brilliant people around here!).

And I did a good job at my last job, and was nice to all the people I met. One of whom really respected me, and is a highly intelligent person and well respected. She connected me with a bigwig who had coffee with me a few weeks ago and who now wants to have lunch, though he had to cancel on tomorrow's lunch.

Another person she connected me to was a group that does a lot of consulting. I chatted with the CEO and the sub-CEO. Mentioned also that they needed help with their site. Sent along some free comments. Heard nothing. Then out of the blue they want me to review their website and make recommendations...for money!

And because of all the sessions I have gone to, when I applied to a job in an anonymous system vat of people applying, I knew to mirror all the keywords in the job description, and so got an interview! Had that one only just yesterday and it was a rousing success.  A six person panel interview, and they are a good, tight group and they seemed to like my jokes. So much so that at the end I asked:  do I get a round of applause? And they clapped!  I think that's so funny...  The same day they wrote asking me for references.

So, working diligently in many different avenues pays off. We'll see if any result in anything... I do hope so!  Though I am wishing for the job I interviewed for on Monday...

Endurance

An hour nap in the late afternoon works wonders...

I've been thinking a bit since meeting a new climbing friend this past weekend. My friend R has the amazing ability to connect with ten billion people, and it seems half of them are because he has twins and he meets tons of other people with twins. In this case, it was a friend of a person with twins. G is an ex-cop who used to be a 5.11/5.12 climber (of offwidths!) until he got seriously injured in an accident.  He's starting to get back into it, but taking it slowly by starting with us... Really a great guy - doesn't have twins, but has a 13/16/19 year old.

In any event, he and I had to drive back together because R's car died and he had to be towed. As G has no radio, we got to tell each other stories, though, he told most of the stories since as I mentioned I'm just not that good of a storyteller despite having tons of stories to talk about!  He mentioned one guy who he worked with told him the story of his life, or at least a part. It's common, at least there, for men to have 'other wives'. Well, this one made a mistake and got her pregnant. So for 18 years he paid child support - making it home EVERY week (month?) before his wife to get the mail and the child support payment vouchers, made it over to the other wife's place to visit with the kid, etc.  Until the very last payment was due, and he didn't make it home in time. He got home, and his wife was sitting there with the record of payments.  18 years worth.  She just sat there and asked him questions very calmly, and then finally said, well, seems I need to meet him.  She had been through so much with him over 30+ years (40+?) that she saw no reason to make it the end.

And G himself said that his wife said he's a different person since leaving the force; that he's finally going back to the guy she knew when she met him.  And my friend from back east said that his wife for a while was actually almost scared of him, he was so angry at one job he was at.

And so, my thought is, how easy it is for some people to get up and leave and not wait through these bad periods. Is it right? Is it wrong? How does one keep the faith?  Or is one just too scared to leave? Or doesn't have the energy?  Whatever the reason is, as I sit here and watch another relationship go down the drain, it amazes me.

In My Head

The sparring in my head.

- I don't know how to tell a story (verbally at least)
- I have a flat voice
- I'm not good at in-depth  analytic conversations (current events, politics, and the like)
- I'm not that intelligent
- I'm not energetic
- I'm inconsiderate
- I'm needy
- I'm boring
- I'm too cautious
- I live in a bubble
- I'm not bubbly 
- I must work within established norms
- I'm not athletic enough (skiing I go slow and get scared)
- I'm moody
- I'm inconsistent
- I"m a pessimist
- My initial reaction is usually negative


- I'm loyal
- I'm funny
- I'm intelligent
- I'm considerate
- I have led an interesting life
- I take risks
- I am artistic
- I'm athletic

Enough. I have to work.

Margarinefly?

This would have been a great photo if I had managed to get the butterflies in focus.  Erg to bad cameras. Or bad photographers. There were about 6 sucking something off the rocks. Of course one of the guys I was with said that maybe someone peed there.  Oh well, then I was laying down by pee - I spent at least 20 minutes trying to take as many photos as possible.

Went climbing and had a great day on Saturday.  Beautiful weather.  Two nice guys. Not too crowded. I fell on the first pitch on my friend's brand new rope on only the second piece of gear.  Whoops!  He joked that he almost didn't catch me so he could save his rope. Ha.  ..... Ha.  not.  The new guy was a friend of a friend who is an ex-cop who worked in Oakland. Very much a character, but great. He felt like he was from Brooklyn/Bronx, but he's California born and raised.

Turns out I had a bit of time to spend with him, as my normal climbing partner's car died.  Yosemite has a great towing service/garage.  Responsive and nice. Luckily though my friend had AAA so he towed it out to Modesto.

I had much more to write about, but forget now. I got home late from work/softball, and M's been packing. It just sucks to see boxes piling up. Oh well... next stage in life is coming.  What will it be??

Books

Finished Run by Ann Patchett.  I liked it. I'm hungry so that's all I'll say. 

I will also note that M's starting to pack. Two boxes of books in the living room.

It sucks. Partly because I want to be sure he packed only his books and I didn't watch him! 

It's going to be hell splitting all our stuff. I think we combined stuff more than my ex and I did! 

OK, I'm hungry. 

I know this post has fulfilled all your needs.

Oh, have an interview May 23.  So that's cool...

Cinco

I am less inclined to write here because it looks like crap. And it's way down on my list of things to do to research how to make it look good. [duh, the default is HTML so no automatic formatting]

Wait. Rewind. Good morning! Happy Cinco de Mayo! Si si. I feel like I got drunk last night. I had a radio show yesterday early morning. Slowly working my way through the graves, and since it's coming up on climbing season, and I'm only working part time, I wanted to get some done mid-week. It went really well. Still have stuff to learn of course. I thought for a moment later in the morning that my shift had not been recorded (hence my facebook update - it's as if I didn't exist for 4 hours this morning), but all is well.

Speaking of work, I got a short term 2 month contract to do a specific project. Some money coming in. I didn't turn it over to my highly depressed friend but I'm pulling him into it. I am trying to call him every day until he turns the corner. Of course he has tons of friends and he isn't so depressed he doesn't get out of the house, it's just that he doesn't have money and is one of those that just can't move forward. Of course, there comes a time when I"m feeling like not so great so don't have the energy to call him.  Oh well...  and NO, not a potential boyfriend. Of course I said that about M, but hopefully I've learned my lesson.

I have started telling people.  My sister in law "he's so nice". Yeah well. One climbing friend hints that he needs a climbing partner, but I do still climb with M. Another closer climbing friend just offered to be there if I needed it, which was nice. Trouble is, he kind of brings it up in a nice obtuse way when we're climbing, and I do talk. I so want to not share gory details, because I vomited so much for 9 months. And it's not a simple answer. So much pain but how much was self induced?  Again, I'm trying to learn, be an adult, etc. I've said that it's kinda been like M's finishing school. Not healthy in a relationship for sure. I just see more and more how I'm like my brother who annoys me with his outlook on life and interactions.

Moving on...

Billy's licking his butt right now. 

It's a gorgeous day, an especially gorgeous day, so I'm gonna go as I have a lot to do and M gets back later this afternoon and though I will soon be alone-ish, I have been enjoying my alone time.  As part of that I watched Thor last night.  I do not highly recommend. One would think I would like it for the view of him with no shirt, but honestly, I'm just not that into big, super-cut men.

Cascade

OK, let's see what blogger does when I insert a photo. I wonder if I'll get paragraphs, though I guess I can manually insert paragraphs with HTML. Sigh.

Went to Yosemite to hang out. Did not climb, but did a huge hike up to the top of Nevada Falls, shown in the photo. My legs still hurt today, 3 days after. But it was amazing. Though, actually I did do one boulder problem at the top. Thankfully I chose carefully, since there was no rope, but did a short climb up in my hiking shoes. Good for the tourists - and me... (As I was hiking down one guy commented - nice climbing!).

So, I did not have the interview because the day before, they wrote to say that the job was cancelled. Yeah, sucked but not so badly. That same day or somewhere around then I got an email offering me a small consultancy. I wasn't sure whether to take it, but I have. It helps that a friend is working with me, who desperately needs the work for many reasons. And who knows what's happening with my temp job - no interviews yet!

I have a lot to say, but unfortunately I have to go to bed.