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Monday, June 20, 2005

Off like a herd of turtles

This morning I decided to brave the big bad world of job applications in the town of Chico California. As it turns out, I had more luck finding job openings in this town than I have had in Sacramento where I have been looking. Unfortunately, most of the jobs here want you to apply in person. Have I mentioned I HATE looking for a job. The whole fear of rejection thing makes me more than happy to hide from the world behind an e-mail or online application process. With that out of the way I just have to worry and obsess if they end up calling me for an Interview (which I also hate doing). Anyway, we started the morning by getting up around 9 am (pretty early for me)because a repairman was coming to the house and my parents did not want me to be in bed while he was here (don't ask me why, I think it was their way of getting me out of bed). So I hit the internet and made a list of all the jobs that I wanted to apply for. After I did that, I organized the list into ones that I was required to mail a resume (SNAIL MAIL! This is the country you know) and ones that wanted me to come and apply in person (YIKES!) I had four on the list to apply at in person, and added one more when my mom's friend stopped by the house to drop off a movie. Well as the repair man was leaving my darling little kitty trots into the house from the back deck and proceeds to drop something on the ground. My mom yelled at me to come clean it up because she thought it was a hairball. I had not so much as gotten out of my chair before I heard a blood curdling scream from the front room. IT'S A LIZARD! IT'S A LIZARD! Oh mi god, my little city cat had finally caught the lizard she's been chasing for a month and she brought it in to play with it. In all the commotion the cat sits the lizard on the carpet waiting for it to move so she can "play with it" and the lizard sits there stunned for a minute and then takes off into the bedroom. Off shoots the cat after it. The lizard went under my mom's heavy armoire which is almost impossible to move. The cat is pacing in front of the hole, crouching to see underneath it from time to time. My mom is screaming her head off and jumps onto the bed. My dad gets me a flyswatter and lifts one side of the armoire so I can try to "sweep" out the lizard. I manage to get it out and the cat thinks that she is supposed to catch it so she grabs it and holds it in her mouth. My mom screams don't let her eat it and the cat drops it and the lizard ran into the bathroom where I managed to corner it and pick it up. I personally don't care for lizards but I am seeming to be handling things pretty well considering I had a cat die on my lap yesterday and today I carried this blue bellied lizard out to its rock so that it could go back to its family. By this time its almost 1 and we still have to go to Oroville (opposite direction from Chico) to return some cat medicine to the vet that we had taken Chloe to (and mom wanted to go buy them a candy dish and candy to thank the dr. who was an ass to them but thats another story nevermind). By the time we got done in Oroville it was 3 o'clock so we had to haul butt to Chico to try to make it to some of the places to pick up an application. Now this may show my low self esteem but I was greatly relieved when I walked into the Chico Enterprise Record (local newspaper) and found that their receptionist was not an attractive skinny blonde. Pretty people frighten me, and everyone that I spoke to was really nice (even though I was a bumbling moron and forgot to write down which position I was actually applying for!) I was a little more calm. The next stop was Uniprise Healthcare and the receptionist there was very nice and informative. She gave me the business card with the online application (this was the one that my mom's friend had told me to talk to) and told me that they would schedule an assesment test when I filled out the application. Rock on. Next stop Clark Pest Control. This is where it got a little bit hairy. I had a couple calls into the doctor to find out about getting an appointment tomorrow morning and they had called and left me a message while I was inside so I called them back. While I was on the phone with them somebody that I had sent my resume to this morning online called my cell phone. Wow! That's like 4 hours turn around. It looks like the job situation up here might actually be a bit better. Back to Clark. I finished with my phone calls and went in to find out they had already filled the position I was applying for but were taking applications constantly if I wanted to fill one out there. Sorry no time, I REALLY wanted to get to the last place on my list today, Butte Home Health & Hospice. I want to be a nurse, and think that this would be an awesome place to get started working out while I'm trying to get settled up here. They were also very nice. The office was a little disorganized but then again, that is a perfect fit for me. They gave me an application and let me take it home so this evening I am filling out applications and getting ready for my trip to the dr's tomorrow. On top of that my dad wants to leave early so that we can move some more stuff up here (I have to be out of the apartment next week!). All in all a good day. I'll keep you posted on mine and Dorito's "adventures in the country" as they happen.

P.S. Thanks to Cjristina for the title of this post!

8 comments:

jayeofmanyhats said...

Glad to know the job search is going good. I love the lizard story. I knew that little furball was gonna catch that lizard one day.

jayeofmanyhats said...

oh yeah you been tagged

Scarlet Hip said...

Love the title!

Listen, I used to be a recruiter so I know a bit about job interviews. Do not take it personally, any of it. It's the best advice I gave people. Never take any of it personally. It's just about filling the position with the right person. That's all.

Good luck!

Avery's mom said...

you're one tough lady now a day's
I dont know if I could have picked up a lizard the way you did. very independant
best of luck on the job search! I'm sure the best place for you is out there just waiting to be discovered. youll do terrific the way things sound like they are going. I'm very happy for you sweetie. keep the positive attitude and (wake up earlier- 9am is considered late in the day by many)

Shan'Chelle said...

Brooke-Thanks for the advice. I will take that into the interview with me tomorrow.

Robyn-Yeah I learn new things about myself everyday, which is a good thing I think. As far as the getting up earlier, we will see how that goes. I am a die hard night owl but once I go to sleep I just want to stay there. Especially when its sunny out....

Avery's mom said...

Must be the pregnancy because I sleep all the time, but when 5:30 comes in the morning, I'm up and spend some quiet time for myself before the evil sun heats up the day.

Also I think I 'm getting older because I just dont have the drive or stamina to stay up all night like i did a couple years back

Cjristina said...

Dear Shan~
You're welcome to my family's saying, for your title, anyday. In fact it's gotten to the point, recently, where I've shortened it to "turtling"! It always seems like we're in this massive rush to get together and get going but we're going nowhere fast. So, hey, I had to make it a verb... ;-)

Shan'Chelle said...

Robyn-If I get a new job I may be forced to become a morning person :-)

Undies-Yes it was a Taco Bell commercial, I LOVED that dog!

Cjristina-Turtling! I love it. Considering how big your family is it is not a surprise that it takes you FOREVER to get anywhere!