Not a pirate killer

Okay, so I didn't get the pirate-killer job either.  I have had a few phone calls and interviews and tests and stuff for other jobs (one of which involved a HORRIBLE incident getting lost in downtown Denver where I wandered around for an hour and a half trying to find the testing location, you would think that the city would employ people who knew how to give directions or who at least spoke English as their native tongue if they were in an information booth, RIGHT?!?) but so far no calls.  I got my results back from my downtown Denver testing, and I got a 94.  Considering how upset I was at the time, I suppose that was better than nothing.  (You had to have 70 to pass.)  It was supposed to be a 2 hour test, but I finished in half an hour so I thought maybe I had done something wrong.  Apparently not.

I consider this "no job yet" a mixed blessing.  I am pretty satisfied with my life and staying home. Okay, to be more accurate, I feel positively spoiled rotten.  I love my life.  I get to keep the house clean and all the laundry done and cook as much or as little as I like. (Most of the time there is good stuff to eat around here.)  I get to bail Bridget out when she needs a ride to school and when that happens I kidnap Gary for a bonus date lunch (almost always Cafe Rio).  When friends call and want to do something I can do it.  I can help out when there is a need, like when a friend had to move with almost no notice.

For the most part, my day is as follows:  Get up, make bed, tidy room, and shower/dress.  Go downstairs, fix something to eat if I feel hungry, clean kitchen.  Do whatever chores I have decided I want to do, whether it's cleaning closets, experimenting with various ways to get carpeting cleaned, doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms, dusting, vacuuming (I love my dyson), and whatever else I think needs to be done.  After that I crochet while I watch something that I've recorded on TV or run errands or whatever.  Sometimes during the day Bridget might need a ride to school.  Occasionally Gary will have me do an errand or a job for him (typing up a resume for someone in the ward, something like that.)  The point is, the house gets cleaned often enough that if something comes up and I have to postpone working on it, it's okay because it's been done recently enough that it's not a disaster.  Oh, and in the summertime I add some outdoor jobs like watering flowers and vegetables, and mowing the front lawn.  I tried keeping up with the back lawn but that was too much for me last year.  I might give it a try again this year, though.  (I'm going to miss having my little watering buddy, Aidan, around.)

I am still getting unemployment.  I got six months' worth from the state and then the feds kicked in as an extension.  I don't know how much longer I'll get that.  In order to continue to get it, I have to have a minimum of five job contacts a week.  These can be interviews, applications, second contacts, etc.  I usually have more than five, but there are weeks when it's hard to find even five, so I'm glad that's all that is required.  When I was laid off last time (after 9/11) jobs were so scarce that the required contacts were reduced to 3.

So since I love my life so much, why do I consider it a mixed blessing that I have not yet found a job?  Well, I guess it's because I wonder why, if I am such a darn good secretary, no one wants me?  How come if I am as good as Gary seems to think I am (and whenever he compares me to someone his company has hired, he assures me that I could work circles around them) no one has jumped at the chance to employ me?  Whenever I get one of these "thanks, but no thanks" emails or letters, I breathe a sigh of relief, but I also think, "I wonder what's wrong with me."  Yeah, I also miss the paycheck, but it's not like we're starving to death.

I saw a job posting on United's web site for an admin position in Orlando.  It sounded like it was made for me but I wasn't eligible to put in for it because I am not yet technically retired (I can't be rehired till three months after my retirement) or else I would have applied.  Bummer.  Oh, and the fact that we still haven't finalized that  townhome.  :::sigh:::

Oh well.  Life goes on.