Category: Job Hunt/Work

I shouldn’t have drank that whole glass of chocolate milk. I drank it about 2 hours ago and I still feel uncomfortably full *burp*.

Right. So my interview was Friday. I hadn’t even mentioned what I’m being interviewed for. A librarian’s assistant. At a middle school.

I got ready with plenty of time, grabbed my resume, kissed all the kiddos for good luck and was out the door. I didn’t feel nervous till I put the key in the ignition and started backing out of the driveway. Then I felt as if my heart was in my throat.

I left the house about 15 minutes early, since the school I was being interviewed at isn’t far from home at all. I sat in the car for 3 minutes, composing myself, fixing my hair, then decided to get down since I didn’t know exactly what office I was meeting the woman at. I see two different entrances and try both. There’s old, yellowed newspapers at the foot of each door, and both doors are locked. Panic sets in. I curse myself for sitting those extra three minutes in the car, since now I had only 7 minutes to find the correct door. Luckily a lady sees me walking away and asks me what I needed. I told her I had an interview and she points me in the right direction: the “main” door was at the side of the school.

I walk to the front office, am asked to sign in by a cheerful secretary and sit down next to a clammy, nervous-looking young man. And do I mean nervous. He kept sighing, shaking his leg, cracking his knuckles, coughing — he started to make me feel even more nervous than I already was. My heart suddenly started pounding in my chest and then my throat. I was sure everyone in the very quiet lobby could hear me. I caught myself cracking my knuckles and thought ‘What if this guy’s here to get interviewed for the Librarian’s Assistant position, too? I can’t show him I’m nervous!’ So I tried being as calm as possible (boy was that tough) and almost screamed when a woman with black hair called my name.

She’s cheerful, introduces herself and I introduce myself. She gets to talking immediately about the job’s responsibilities and asks if I can handle the workload. I tell her yes, definitely. She tells me about how far the new location will be and asks if I’m still interested. I gulp, because it’s about 7 1/2 miles away from my house, and say yes, I still am. She tells me my hours would be from 6:30 a.m. to about 3:15 p.m. She tells me about the pay and I nonchalantly nod (but in my head I’m screaming ‘YES, PLZ!’). She has me review the questions she was going to ask me while she reviewed (and made tons of notes on) my resume.

She was impressed with my resume, overall. The whole interview lasted 1 hour. Half was discussing the job, my strengths and being questioned about my ability to do the job and the other half was talking about reading, books, our kids and schools. It was pretty interesting and honestly, I felt relaxed and comfortable after 5 minutes of speaking with Mrs. V. I could totally work for that lady.

At the end of the interview she asked if I had any questions and we started talking about how far the school was from my house. She said, if I wanted, that I could take a drive and time myself to see how far it would be, but to keep in mind a few extra minutes for morning traffic. I completely forgot to ask the important question that should always be asked at the end of the interview: ‘When can I contact you about your decision?’

We walked out talking about the school I graduated from and shake hands. I’m feeling pretty chipper and as I’m getting into the Equinox my heart sinks when I realize what I’d done. Or not done. I wasn’t at peace all day until I called to ask her, politely, when I could call back to check on the status of the position. She said there were 9 applicants. She’d submit The Name on Monday, the board would review on Wednesday and I could call by Thursday to find out. Holy shizz, I’m dying to know.

There were 8 other people. I’m competing with 8 others for this job. She told me I could “time myself” to see how “far it was” for me. Did she tell that to everyone? She wouldn’t tell me to go and waste gas and drive all the way over there if she didn’t pick me, would she? Why would someone do something so mean?

If she picks me, I’m not sure how I feel about waking up at 5:30 to get to work on time since Alaethia still isn’t falling asleep before 11, but at least it’s progress. At least it’s not 1am anymore. We’ve (Mario and I) already discussed the drop-off, pick-up situation for the boys and it would work perfectly, although I’m nervous about them riding the bus. Mom would be taking care of Aly and would probably take over making sure the boys are ready on time in the morning once I leave so Mario can drop them off, but I’m nervous as hell about what to do when she has one of her many doctor’s appointments. It’s gonna be a bitch driving down that long road in the dark, on my own, but I would totally do all this, no matter how taxing it’s all going to be. This is a good job, with good pay, benefits and days off when the kids have them off (well, most of them since they’re still in elementary). I get to see them after school for some good hours and still do everything I need to do, like help with their homework, get their showers ready and have dinner on the table by the time Mario gets home. And hey, if I do get this, after a few years I can maybe transfer closer to home? Okay, okay…I’m getting ahead of myself.

We’ll just see what Thursday brings. Right now, I’m sleepy and my lap is sweaty since Alaethia’s on it. Will update with the rest of Friday-Today tomorrow.

It’s Tuesday, before 11pm and I’m done with all my housework — woo! Well, all the “big stuff” anyway. I left a few dishes in the sink, but I’ll do them in the morning while Aly’s asleep. Everything else though, including laundry (plus hanging and folding and putting it away) is all done! We’ve been having lots of company lately so it’s imperative that the house is clean. It would suck before when I’d have the house sparkling and nobody would come over. Then, as soon as the kids would destroy everything there was a knock at the door! So, while Mom’s here I’ve been taking advantage and having her watch Alaethia while I scrub/sweep/dust everything. I got all the junk that was in the hallway thrown out or put away and my next project is getting everything off our computer desk (papers, files, CDs, and everything else), putting it away in the Big Closet and getting rid of the desk. We’re probably not getting a new desktop PC for while so there’s no point in keeping our 7-year-old desk that’s falling apart. (I’m looking at the desk right now and boy does the mess on it look overwhelming!)

I was supposed to go to Target today, but ended up just chilling out, then paying bills online (don’t you love technology?), and then cleaning. I’ll probably get around to doing it tomorrow. I’ve got a 10% off coupon I need to use! And Alaethia really needs more bibs. I just need to prepare myself for tantrums; Mom’s got an all-day appointment at a heart clinic (just precautionary stuff) so I’m braving Target with all three kiddos. Must avoid the toy section and we’ve got to go early so Jaylen isn’t moody because he needs a nap!

My interview was moved to Friday. I called to check the location of the meeting because I couldn’t stop thinking about it and about 2 seconds after calling the place the woman interviewing me called and told me about the change. I’m. So. Nervous. I’ve not had an interview in a few months (about…9?) so it’s incredibly nerve wracking.

I’m watching LA Ink and Kat’s friend, Pixie, I think(?) has Care Bears tattooed on her arm! If I weren’t so afraid of needles I’d totally get a Care Bear on me somewhere…and Rainbow Brite…and Hello Kitty…

Woo I’m tired. Doesn’t even feel like I took a shower.

I unwillingly got up this morning to iron Mario’s clothes and then took a semi-broken nap with Alaethia after serving the boys breakfast. The boys were both awake super early and were being supervised by Mom. Aly and I got up and had breakfast and later on John came by with a proposition: take him to Circuit City and I’d get paid for it. Awesome. I chose the same payment as last week: lunch at Kumori!

Mom offered to watch the kids (thank God! I’m still recovering from yesterday’s embarrassment…). I would have taken Alaethia but I wasn’t sure if Kumori was baby-friendly.

We went to Circuit City first, where he spent almost a hundred bucks on games for his PSP. He loves that thing a little too much. And then we went to have lunch. I love that place. The ambiance is just fantastic and the service is awesome. I wanted the same thing I’ve had the last two times I’ve been there — Fiesta rolls — but this time I was smart and ordered them without the fried salmon skin. I had to poke it out the last time we went and that caused the rolls to fall apart. The salmon skin was too crunchy and it was grossing me out.

I actually got to take pictures! John didn’t let me take any last time because we were out in the open but this time we were in a booth! We had Miso Soup first:

Then Spicy Fried Calamari:

And finally, the best part, my Fiesta Rolls:

God I love those things! That’s my favorite restaurant at the moment. I could totally eat sushi all day. I never in my life thought I’d say that LOL. I have Pete and Sally to thank for introducing me to that place. I’m so glad I’ve got John to accompany me there. Mario’s not too fond of sushi (although he did love the spicy calamari) and Sally’s pregnant so I can’t take her with me!

We had a few more errands to run, like making John’s car payment and then stopping with Mario to talk about the return I needed to make at Home Depot. A drill he’d recently bought went on sale so we needed a price adjustment. We get there and they do the return/price adjustment with no problem. The time comes for me to give them the credit card to do the re-sale and lo and behold, Mario forgot to give it to me. So there we go again, back to Mario’s work, to get the darn card.

We make the return with no problem this time and make our way to the trim and moulding department to buy the trim we need for the kitchen/living room walkway (that we’re finally working on). Turns out the trim was way too long for my little SUV so we left.

I’m fumbling for my keys as we’re nearing the truck when I hear the familiar ringing that my phone makes when someone’s calling from “private”. I debate not answering it at all, because it’s usually some annoying prank-caller, but answer it on time. It was the call I’ve been waiting for all summer: a phone call from the place I most desire employment. I got the details about my interview and fumble around for a pen to write everything down. I’ve been thinking about it all day. So much in fact, that I’m now wondering if I heard everything she said correctly. I’m starting to doubt whether I heard right about where we’ll be meeting. I’m so excited. If I get this…it’ll be the best thing that ever happened this summer. I still have huge reservations about leaving Alaethia while she’s so young, but if I get the job at this place I’ll have a set schedule and I’ll still be able to spend plenty of time with the kids.

I’d been applying to jobs all summer and finally gave up when the only call I got was from a photo place and I just wasn’t interested after all. I actually turned down the interview the day before Alaethia got sick with the Roseola virus. I hope that was a sign; a sign that there was something better in store for me.

Thursday is the day I find out if life will become a bit more perfect.