Recent Entries Garion born; thinking of doing video logs - 2012-09-01 I'm married, I'm a prospective father, wow I never update - 2012-05-22 Got the job at the NIA; mother complicates wedding plans - 2011-10-13 Scrawl - 2011-08-05 It's never been better - 2011-06-02
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Still searching for jobs, temp and otherwise 2003-01-13 - 6:03 p.m. 
Well the car problem seems fixed, at least. About 6 or 7 years ago, my Gran bought a Ford Probe. She decided to buy a GX3 Focus about a year or two ago, though, so the Probe has literally been sitting in the driveway. Originally it was supposed to be mine after I graduated from college, but then I wasn't sure if it still ran well. All this time I thought the thing was on its last legs, but then Scott, my mom's long-term boyfriend, tells me the other day that it only has a little over 100k miles on it and just need some oil, a transmission fix and maybe a tune-up. I figure I can squeeze another 100k out of the car no problem. I wish he'd told me sooner.So now all I have to focus on is whether or not to get a temp job. See, I have no idea what's expected of a temp at, say, an office building. I mean, could I apply for a position for, say, 3-4 months and then just drop it? I suspect so, but the types of positions available seem to rapidly fluctuate; I don't even know if I have qualifications for that sort of work. Also, I'm not sure what job to temp for. I mean office work is office work and I'm a decent typist, but I'm not sure how to turn my researcher resume into an office slave resume. Have any of you ever made this jump? If so, I could really use your help right now. So far I've mostly focused on finding real jobs. I'm looking overseas again to universities in Aussieland, New Zealand and the British Isles. I already tried Glasgow and a few of the colleges in Oxford, but it's been 3 months since I last tried so what the hell. The problem with my line of work--being a research scientist on the junior level--is that academia doesn't work like the modern job search system. Government lab overseers might regularly post open positions, and even some University profs might regularly advertise, but by and large you have to go directly to the source and ask. Not a paragraph long letter, mind you, but an actual letter of introduction just to see if they even need someone. Academia is after all the last Medieval guild; you need to approach the masters just the right way to be heard. And lately that's been the only thing on my mind, not even writing. I should work on this newest short story and see about revising the one that I sent into Critters, but I've been too worried about finding a job to care much. For some reason I told myself that I absolutely had to have a job at the beginning or middle of January. Now that the time's come, I can't believe I'm still here in California with my relatives, looking. I agree that I don't have a reasonable state of mind about these thoughts, but I haven't worked nearly as hard as I could. To be honest (but not indulge in self-pity), I've felt like a bum for sitting around most of the time in idle conversations (no offense) or playing around. I try staying motivated, but it grinds on and you can only search for jobs just so much a day before you can't concentrate. I hate living like this, not knowing where I'm going. If anything I miss college for the simple fact that it was expected of you; it was a constant goal to succeed, forcing you to live in the present, to be so afraid and confident and focused that you wouldn't worry about whatever became of it. Is it really wrong to miss feeling like you had some definable purpose?I just need to keep looking, despite my self-pity and annoyance. I don't know how good a fit it'll be, but something will come. |
