(The above is French for "My time will come." I reworked it from something Anne Boleyn wrote in her prayer book. I'm thinking of making it a secondary heraldic motto. Maybe work in an armillary sphere somehow, seeing as she doodled it next to the note...)

So Lauren got a job yesterday. Shannon used to be a courtesy clerk at the grocery store down the street, and she got promoted, which left an opening, so Lauren applied. She ended up getting hired at the location across town, though.

I'm being supportive and happy for her, but still a little bitter. We're all hard workers (that good old German/Protestant work ethic), but I've been trying for 2 years to get a steady job, and Lauren nails it on her first try.

Of course, the difference is that I'm getting labelled "overqualified" for the kinds of jobs Lauren's perfect for (being a college student and with little experience), and I have to resort to "playing for higher stakes," aka most likely an office job. As in, the people who aren't hiring right now. So, yeah, I've been temping for two months straight, but this most recent temp job has been a week at a time, and I'd like a little more job security. (Actually, it's a little aggravating, since the workload is dwindling, and I assumed this would be my last week, but nope - one more week. At least.) Plus the three of us have all decided to save up for a trip to London. I would be so much more bitter if they got to go and I couldn't. (I'm the rampant Anglophile in the family. My room's decor theme is London.)

Hence the Anne Boleyn paraphrase. Last year was such an annus horribilis, to borrow the term (meaning "horrible year," possibly coined by Queen Elizabeth II when she described 1992, in which three of her children's marriages dissoved - the fourth not being married yet - and Windsor Castle burned down), and I was hoping 2010 would be its opposite, annus mirabilis ("wondeful year," which EIIR did not coin). The year so far has been great - lots of temp work and grand adventures - but I really want that last cog in the wheel: a steady job.

But I have hope. My time is coming. I mean, with the other four people in my house now constantly employed, it's gotta be my turn sometime! I was getting frustrated with the whole job hunt thing. But now I'm determined.

Mon temps viendra.

***
On a completely unrelated note, I have to go to a family reunion tomorrow all centered around the one crazy branch of my family aka the one with all the fighting - the one where we can go down the list and say "Yeah, she definitely won't be coming." Poor Nana - I don't think she sees her relatives much, but it's not her fault her side of the family is all crazy. Shannon and I will most likely be the only twenty-somethings there (My dad's favorite cousin has two kids our age, but they're married now and not coming. They were smart.) I'm hoping to sneak out to Old Navy at some point during the day. If I don't survive, tell 'em I went down fighting. And I took as many of them down with me as I could.

Sigh.

And I'm going to bed now, I swear.

Mood tired Tags: argh, job hunt, late night musings, things i can't say on facebook, work

Well, I was thinking I'd post a little quick note mentioning my birthday present: a new puppy. We got him this morning, and to be honest, I was slightly ambivalent towards the idea of getting a new dog, but Westley (yes, we named him after The Princess Bride) is a cutie and a sweetie. I think I'm still at the point where I don't love him yet, but I do like him, and he makes everybody else happy, so sure I would have liked something else for my birthday, but whatever. (Before you think I'm giving up my birthday present for the sake of family, my sisters and I all have June birthdays, and Westley was a gift for all of us. So I'm giving up my 1/3 of a present for the sake of family. I might make it up to myself later.)

Then Mom and Armine woke me up from a nap (I've been up late editing my video review for Android Karenina, and I lost all my work last night, so I was up extra late) to tell me that the upset stomach we thought he had wasn't stopping, and that the vet thought it was parvo. So I was going to post about how I really couldn't do this again after I lost Sammie back in August. How this is a really sucky thing to happen to a birthday present and sure I don't coo over him and hold him like everybody else does, but that doesn't mean I want him to die, and I'm going to have to apologize to my sisters but I don't think I can just pick another puppy out of a lineup to replace this one. (Long run-on sentence is long.) But apparently we just got word from Dad and Hrayr that the vet says it's not parvo, but the vet hasn't seen him yet to know what it is. So now we're back to the point where I do like him, and I'm sure he'll grow on me, but he still isn't allowed in my room. (For the record, neither is Zoe, who hates the new interloper.)

I think this is what the TV Tropes site calls "mood whiplash."

It's an innocuous enough question on its own, right?

What about when the person asking the question is your mom?

Mom, I love you, but you know that I don't have money to spend on gifts. You know what I was planning on doing instead: good old-fashioned manual labor (I mean, when was the last time I offered to do anything like that?). This should not have been a surprise to you tonight, and to be honest, I didn't appreciate that slow nod. Again, I wish I could do more, but you heard the words "Great Depression Christmas" straight from me.

And on top of that, you taught me that a) it was rude and unladylike to ask for/expect presents, and b) that it's okay to spend gift money on yourself. How many times did that birthday/Christmas money go to groceries or bills? Probably more than we girls know, but you always seemed to compartmentalize that money and spend it on new clothes or something.

So why is it that you chimed in right after Grandpa asked me what I was going to do with the money he gave me?

Mood irritated Music Shattered Dreams - Johnny Hates Jazz Tags: christmas, parental units, seriously?!?, things i can't say on facebook