Jobs, Careers, and Writing

[paragraphs]

What a couple of weeks this has been. Per agreement with Nick, I will not think about, discuss, muse over, reflect upon, nor mention my former employer again. I am done. Instead, I will treasure the wonderful friends I made there--Cody, Jeremy, Chris, Leigh Ann, Tommy and Kevin, and the good years we had working together--and forget everything else. Today I had lunch with Cody, Leigh Ann and Tommy, and next week will with Chris, Leigh Ann and Kevin. Kevin is the only one still there, and he has his last interview for a new job in the morning. He predicts giving notice shortly. There will be three left then. Three plus the weasel, who has turned out to be the biggest, most disappointing friendship in my life. They can have it. Oh yeah.

Thankfully, I have enough $$ to get through this month. Next month? I have nothing until my ESOP pays out. I just don't know when it will pay out, and will still have bills that must be paid between the first and whenever. So obviously I need to find a new job, but I have some things I need to do before I can really start pounding the pavement.

1. Write my resume. Wow, I haven't had a resume for 15 years. Haven't needed one, and as I had no idea Hell would descend upon my world, I didn't have one ready. Mistake? Yeah, but I can do it now. The fun part is remembering the dates for what I did Before this 15 year run (which includes 4.5 years with BNSF's contract department--long time w/the railroad, huh). So that is tomorrow's task.

2. Contact UTA to ascertain condition of my degree credits there. Time to graduate. I've no idea what the status is--I have a gazillion hours there, and get Alumni stuff from them, but I don't have an actual degree. Just a hell of alot of hours. I can't get out of this dangerous rut I am in without getting the darn thing, so it is time. Depending on what happens there, I will either finish out at UTA, or...

3. Contact TWU (Texas Women's University) re: their 'Finish Your Degree A Gazillion Years Later' program. It is a good one, but requires 120 credit hours to graduate and only allows up to 84 hours to transfer from elsewhere to do so. I would therefore be back at school for awhile, choosing two areas to get a General Studies degree in: Sociology for sure, my preferred 2nd would be History but I can't do that online. Women's Studies? Could be good. Interesting at the very least.

After finally getting that undergrad degree, I am not done yet. Next up? Graduate school. I am joining the ranks of those pursuing a masters in library science with a particular eye towards archiving and research. In a roundabout way, my 15 years associated with BNSF involved both, and I loved that aspect of my old jobs. Plus I just plain love researching! It is just what I need to do. After I finish that, I can go Anywhere, USA. Work at a university somewhere, or perhaps I will lean toward working in a high school somewhere. Not an unattractive idea--SUMMERS OFF! TRAVEL TIME!

I really hope UTA works out, but if not, so be it. TWU, hello.

4. Write an article about Siberian Huskies for my application for Examiner.com. I want to be the Fort Worth Siberian Husky Examiner! Mostly for fun, and the little bit of money it would bring in. Mostly for fun though. 2-3 articles a week, good fun writing about a fav subject.

5. Start next manuscript for Loose-Id, as I turned in ballet boy today. YUP I DID! I finish the last rewrite this morning and zapped that puppy straight to my editors. HooRAH! GO ME! 100,372 wonderful words of awesomeness. Am VERY happy with the final product, am confident that it will stand up to the test of the reviewers and readers. I hope. LOL!!!

I still have that ms I was rewriting before I got ballet boy out again, but man, the lack of good conflict just really sucks. The couple could happily settle down to life together by 25k, and that just won't work. I will ponder this a few more days, and then may just decide to permanently kill it. :*(

Tomorrow I will be having an early dinner with tx_cronopio, who is also out there pounding for a new job. I hate looking for jobs! Most have fallen into my lap via the legal secretarial world, but not sure I want/should go that route. To be honest, I would just like to be able to go to school, work part-time somewhere, and live off my ESOP, but it wouldn't last that long. Seven, eight months maybe? And, I really must be able to go see Nick once he's got a bit of time under his belt at University of Plymouth. I mean...it will be more than a year since we saw each other last, and that visit too damn short. I am not happy about that. I need more.

What else? Not much else. I am pretty scared about job hunting, because I can see now how I should've gone back to school and done something different long before now. It really really sucks that I didn't, as now that I look at the jobs out there that paid anywhere near what I was making, which wasn't much (just over 16 an hour), well, yeah. Getting that Masters in Library Science will open a huge new world of possibilities, and I know that to get there I will probably have to go backwards for awhile. It sucks, but that is reality. Oddly, that doesn't really upset me that much. I'm pretty used to not having much! LOL. Plus, I have Loose-Id...

Tiff's flying in, finally, from Minneapolis, actually just landed. She's been gone since last week and dammit, I miss her like crazy. She finds out on the 18th whether she got the Teach for America job and I want her too badly, though I will hate it taking her so far away, at least for a couple of years. No, don't like that at all. Oh well! Hello being a parent.

Anyone have suggestions for job hunting, toss them my way. I'll be applying where Cody and Jeremy ended up, which would be awesome...downtown Fort Worth? Perfect. But no guarantees, of course. I can only hope that the job hunt doesn't take too long, and whatever I get doesn't rob my brain of sense. I don't want the job I get now to be my focus in life...I want getting that Masters to be.

Because getting that is what will get me out of here. And I want out.

Comments

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

the only job hunting tip that's worked for me is to put word out with everyone you know, b/c they might know someone who knows someone who knows...etc. etc.

for me, it's either been about luck or timing, or having someone with an IN (uh... bear in mind that i was "technically" unemployed for like the last 2 years until now... you know, not counting quickie under-the-table deals)

GOOD LUCK, C! AND CONGRATS ON BALLET BOY!

[topgeargirl2.livejournal.com]

Congrats on Ballet Boy and good luck with the job hunting.

I hope this year that I will be accepted into the Foundations Course which will help me get into University.

[sanginmychains.livejournal.com]

I can't say I have much advice on job hunting. You can get a hundred Top 10 Tips for Job Hunters lists on the Internet, and many of those tips are somewhat useful, and some of them are crap (at least for a given person in a given situation), you just...do it. And keep doing it until it's done. And monitor your morale, because it's going to take a beating, and being convincing as you audition for the role of Your New Star Employee while depress is, uh, not at all easy.

Good luck. It sounds like you're clear on what you want, and that's a really good thing, that clarity.

[qthelights.livejournal.com]

So does this mean the other job back with the guys from on old isn't happening? That sucks :(

As to job hunting.. I guess, just keep ploughing on and don't get your hopes up too early or you'll run out of steam by the end? I hate job hunting, even if i'm sort of pretend doing it right now..

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

Wow - a lot has happened in the last few weeks!

Congrats on finishing Ballet Boy. *twirls you*

And good luck with the job hunt. I thought you had some job waiting for you with the people from your old company - that didn't work out?

Thinking of you. *hugs*

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the job hunting and congratulations on finishing Ballet Boy.

[alba17.livejournal.com]

Congrats on turning in the manuscript! That's awesome. MLS - you know, I've thought about doing that. Not recently. I looked into programs in the city where I used to live. I hope you can easily get the undergraduate degree.

[caninepawprints.livejournal.com]

Being unemployed sucks. :( Hope you find something soon!

[blue-fjords.livejournal.com]

Late response, I know, but was wondering how the meetings at schools went? What did you find out? How crazy is it going to be?

And what's this about the huskies, eh? Doggies! I'm always telling my dogs and cat that they need to pull their weight around here. They should write articles. Piper already wrote that RPF.

[klgrem.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I thought you had something lined up to go to already. :( Sorry to hear that's not the case.
LJ is not sending me notifications. What else is new.

Congratulations on Ballet Boy! That's great! :^D

I hate job hunting, but you are a great person. You should be snapped up quickly! You can't do anything about the old place, but use the best people for references.