Being an unemployed bum

So it's a weekday, nearly lunchtime, and I'm at home, in my pyjamas, in bed. I have been up and out, I have to walk the dog after all. But it's awful outside, it's cold and rainy. I took her to the park, put on my gumboots and kicked the ball around till Cher was tired - the park was more like a swamp so she got very wet and muddy. We managed to avoid getting rained on at least. I came home and went straight back to bed, because it's cheaper to be in bed than to put on the heater. While I am not actually completely unemployed, as I have a job at the museum still, that job doesn't give me much work - maybe no more than one day a week. So I am all but unemployed and I am applying for the dole to see me through till I get a job. There is plenty out there for me to apply for but after about 2 months or so of sending in applications I have had no interviews. Clearly my applications are not good enough. I have re-made my CV and am trying to put more effort into my cover letters. Mostly I am looking at government jobs, as a researcher or policy analyst. The fact that I have recently been working in the public sector might help, but probably not so much as to overcome my almost complete lack of work experience. So the vicious cycle continues.

There does not seem to be much other news going on right now. I had a visitor from Australia, that was fun. I went and did Wellington tourist stuff that I hadn't done before, like going to Weta Workshop and the Zealandia wildlife park. Both pretty cool, at Zealandia you can see birds that people thought were extinct until not so long ago, and at Weta Workshop you get to see them making stuff and touch all the costumes and prosthetics. You can't take photos in there though, which was a shame. Luckily the weather was nice for the few days that my friend was here, but now it's shit. It's OK though, because it's been a pretty mild winter so far and we were probably due for some cold. Oh, also, just last week I took my car in to the garage and it got a new WoF without needing anything fixed! That was pretty exciting. Another friend might be coming to visit soon all the way from Wales, I really hope that happens, because it will be such a long time before I can afford to travel all that way again. It's rough leaving your good friends so far behind.

The only other news might be that I have finally got my house full of flatmates again. The new guy is rather loud, has a big personality, and is on the dole, but hopefully it will work out OK. Hopefully at least one of us will get a job real soon, because hanging around the house all day is bad enough, to have to share it with someone else? Not my ideal situation, if I'm going to be an unemployed bum I want to spread out through the living room, watching animated movies and crappy tv shows all day. At least, while it's cold and rainy. If it wasn't so bad outside I really would go find something to do...until I get really lazy that is, and bored, and then I will probably just fall into that trap of doing nothing at all. So fingers crossed that I get a job soon!

Stories

First story. The other week we had a little rat problem. I went outside and heard something rustling. Next thing I know a big shiny brown rat jumped out from behind the rubbish bag and ran off towards the garden. Probably because my horrible flatmates put food in the rubbish bad without wrapping it properly. So I put the rubbish bag into the recycling bin thinking that way the rat wouldn't be able to rip into it. A few nights later, I opened the door and Cher started getting all excited. I crept down the steps and gave the recycling bin a nudge with my foot, then jumped back quick as that big brown rat jumped out of the bin and raced off into the garden again. Cher chased it, which did no good because it had disappeared, and she simply trampled my garden for awhile. I didn't want to put poison out because there are so many cats and dogs around, and I didn't think I could handle getting a trap and then having to deal with a dead rat. On one more occasion I saw the rat - it was one of the first nights that my new flatmate was here (more about that soon) and we heard a noise outside. Again I crept down the steps and gave the recycling bin a nudge. Nothing happened, so I gave the other bin a nudge and out ran the rat - with Cher right after it again. I jumped and screamed a little. And decided that enough was enough. That night I put out rat poison, and I reckon the rat ate some of it because it looked disturbed. I haven't seen it since. But just to be sure we got a proper bin to put the rubbish bag in.

So a second story? OK, Cher and I were at the park because it was horrible and rainy and I didn't feel like going for a proper walk and coming home with wet feet. The park gets sort of muddy and swampy so I stayed on the pavement under the shelter of the veranda (there is a clubhouse/bathrooms sort of building) and I kicked the ball for Cher from there. Which was fun, except just the one time she wouldn't bring it all the way back to me, she stopped about a metre off. So I thought, that's OK, I'll just step onto the grass, my shoes will still stay dry. I stepped onto the grass and kicked the ball, and in the same movement my non-kicking foot slid in the mud and next thing you know I have landed on my butt in the mud, leaving a big muddy patch all over my butt, up my back and down my arms where I tried to catch myself. So that's what I get for trying to be nice to the stupid dog. From now on she can just bring it all the way to me instead.

In other news, I have one new and much better flatmate (have I mentioned that already?) and we have finally found another one to move in next week. Hopefully it will all work out OK. My job at the ministry has pretty much finished and I have not even had any interviews for other jobs yet, let alone an offer. There is always the museum to fall back on, but it is low season and there are no special exhibits on so there will probably not be much work to be had. I have to finish of my course work for the publishing diploma in the next week and I'm way behind because my computer died on me. Plus my PhD publications are up in the air - one is meant to be submitted on Monday but I have no idea if I'm supposed to be submitting it or my supervisor is. Serious lack of communication. And writing some good job applications is way higher on my priority list than that is. They can just make do without me if they must. So now today has been lovely and sunny and I have been very busy because there is so much to get done of the weekend. Yet despite being busy all day I've done no work on my job applications or course work so I best get started on that now. 

Still alive and kicking

Right so I know I haven't bothered to write for ages but it's pretty hard to find a spare moment; in between working, studying, job-hunting, flatmate-hunting, dog-walking and life stuff I mostly only have energy to lie on the couch in an exhausted stupor. Basically life is the same as last time I wrote, except for one big thing, which is my awful flatmates finally left. It got a bit messy in the end but who cares now that it's all over. I have one new flatmate already, a much better one who was keen to make friends with the dog. Now I just need to find a second before covering the rent impoverishes me. What else is new? Let's see. My job will keep on going for about another month. Today my manager finally brought it up, asked how I was doing on my job hunt and said hopefully there will be enough work to see me through until July. The other team members will slowly drop off though. Still, it's good news for me, hopefully a new job will show up but if not, I might be able to get enough work at the museum. And my current job will pay the bills until my TV is paid off and then I will be out of debt. Except last week I had a bit of a scare when my computer half died, right when I'm so bus with study and job applications. Luckily the guy at Noel Leeming actually knew about computers and managed to make it work, and cleaned out all the temporary files which it turned out had been taking up a huge proportion of my hard-drive. Still, it's still a bit dodgy and will probably need to be sent away for fixing soon enough. Plus I dropped my ipod the other morning and now I might need a new one of them too.

It's not all bad though, after all I have started running again, every other morning with the dog. It's rough so early though and it's usually still dark. Cher enjoys it, I think she is still surprised that I run along with her instead of trudging behind. Having a new flatmate makes the entire house much more enjoyable to be in, I wish I could afford the rest of the rent myself so I didn't have to try find a third. It's warmer here now too, because the landlords installed a cool ventilation system, there's a fancy control panel on the wall and everything. The jobs that I have been applying for are all editor positions, I have had no interviews yet but I have some time yet. I found some time to plant bulbs in my garden - my attempts to grow vegetables didn't really work so I've decided to stick to flowers.

While I"m sure interesting and funny things have been going on that would make for a good story, I cannot think of any right now. I am much too tired, getting up at 6.30 every morning is a bit much for me and I wish I didn't have to! It makes the weekend better, but I can't sleep in much because Cher won't let me. Right now she is whining though so I think it might be bedtime.

More of the same

So the last few weeks have been more of the same. I get up super early, I walk the dog and go to work. The weather has turned foul, there has been no blue sky in over a week and one morning was so wet that my clothes got soaked through and the water leaked from my legs into the tops of my shoes, so despite being waterproof they filled with water by the time I got home and I could feel it sloshing around my feet. Luckily the heavy rain stopped after that, and this weekend it has been mostly dry so I finally got washing done. Work is good, I am enjoying what I do, the science I am reading about is very interesting, but the work will only last until June. I came across a good job to apply for earlier this week, at Vic Uni, and when I asked my manager if I could use her as a referee she told me that she had been hoping I would be one of the team members that stayed on till the end in June. However, job security is more important so of course I applied anyway. And almost immediately I got called up and invited for an 'informal chat', before they make the shortlist for the interviews, which are hopefully next week. I think the chat went well, but then everybody's chat might go well so who's to say what the outcome will be. I was supposed be called within a couple of days but considering it was already Thursday, I am not yet ruling out that I will be called tomorrow. But if not, I guess I'll just have to keep looking. Finger's crossed though, would make a short working week even better.

Not much other news in my life right now. Working a proper job makes me appreciate the weekend more. I still haven't got my car back - it's probably ready but I forgot to call on Friday, and the mechanic is not open outside of working hours so I will have to make a special arrangement to pick it up one evening. For the time being, I am terribly poor but I will at least have work at the MBIE long enough to get back on top. Hopefully something to follow on from it soon enough too. Seeing as I didn't win lotto this week a new job is the only hope I'll have to ever live in a better place or drive a better car, or buy all the nice clothes and shoes I see on my bus ride through the city every morning. Actually I might put up with having flatmates and a damp house in order to have more spending money. We'll see. I feel bad for the dog, when I'm working all day; I think she needs a friend.

New Job

Ok so I have been completely busy and exhausted since returning from Invercargill. Being down south was a good break, but not really long enough to do everything I wanted to. When I got back, I went straight to my new job, and have been trying to get there for 8.30 am every weekday morning. Which means I get up at half 6, get out the door as fast as I can so I can take Cher out for nearly an hour. I get home, have a superfast breakfast and shower, then rush out to the bus. Today I had to run the entire way up the hill to the bus stop, and it nearly went without me but someone must have said something to the driver because he stopped after just pulling out from the curb and opened the doors again. Then I was absolutely puffed and couldn't find my bus card, but I think the bus driver forgave me.

My job is nothing more than I can handle, what I find hardest is not having any independence. Even outside of work I have so little, because I have such limited time to get everything else done that my free time isn't really free time at all. The job itself took almost a week to really get started, because our databases weren't up and running - so it's actually not so bad that I took most the first week off! Now what I do is take a research proposal, read the abstract, put some data into one of our computer systems and use it to find reviewers that match the proposal. Then I get them approved. Soon, when the rest of our computer systems are doing what they should be, I will start emailing these potentials and hopefully enough will say yes. Unfortunately, when everyone has said yes my job is over so it wouldn't be so bad if a good number of them said no. On the other hand, when the job finishes I can go back to half days at Te Papa and more free time. Until I run out of money. Soon I will go back to job hunting actually, try to see what I can get lined up.

For now though, I'm at work 8 1/2 hours a day, I walk the dog for nearly 2 hours a day, I have no car for at least another week so every time I need food it's a half hour walk down the hill and back. My housework is lagging so nobody should come to my house. But at least I get to see the sunrise most mornings, and I am walking faster so staying fitter, and I have no time to blow my new paychecks with shopping. This job will last long enough to get my finances under control, despite wasting money by crashing my car. Plus finally tonight I have just a little time to myself and am on the couch watching tv with the dog. Who lets me know how much she doesn't appreciate being left home everyday by jumping in mud puddles like this one:

And now for some good news...

So yesterday morning I was still feeling pretty down and out on account of the whole car crash thing. To make myself feel better I was writing a cover letter for another job and I had just finished it, when I got a phone call. Now did I mention that I had a job interview this Monday just been? Well I did, at the MBIE, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. The job was one of four being offered to assist in the process of finding reviewers for the scientific research proposals that are sent in to try get government funding. So while the interview went well and there were four positions going, I wasn't really thinking about it too much because they had a lot of people to interview (so they said at least) and I didn't want to get my hopes up. But yesterday I got a phone call saying that they would like to offer me one of the positions! It begins in the first week of March, so I was a bit worried when I reminded her that I had said in the interview I will be away that week - but something will be worked out despite my missing the training period. It's only a four month contract, but it's much better than what I currently have and is a big step in the right direction. So I felt pretty good after that. Then, to make things better, I dropped by my local panelbeater and showed him a picture of my poor car, and he reckons it'll only be 500 to fix it, which I can surely do after a couple of months on a better wage. So while it would be better if the car didn't need a new bonnet and bumper, it could be worse. Now all these ups and downs have left me pretty exhausted so it's off to bed for me.

Bad day

Today has been far from a good day. It started well enough, in fact the week in general started pretty well, on account of getting a job interview. Today was hot and after work I was planning on making the most of it, getting home and getting out with the dog. But then I crashed my car and that pretty much spoilt my day, my week, and probably my next few days too. I came out of the work carpark into 5 o'clock traffic, and was trying to change lanes so that I could drive the quiet way home and not on the busy one way system. So I looked over my shoulder to see if there was a gap, and when I saw one I quickly turned into the next lane. Unfortunately I was busy looking at the next lane and didn't see that the line of traffic I was in had stopped, so the left front of my car hit the back right corner of the van in front and shunted it into the car in front. I got such a fright, and then the car didn't really want to drive to the side of the road. I pulled it over as well as I could, and then ran back to get the bit that had fallen off, then rushed to the other drivers to reassure them that I had 3rd party insurance and that I was really sorry. Luckily they were so nice, and tried to make me stop worrying and just take a minute, because I was pretty freaked. Both the other cars were fine, there were some small marks on the back bumper of the van but he didn't care, was on his way to the airport, and the other lady asked for my contact details but only to be able to text me later and make sure I was OK. Both said their cars were fine and not to worry, so there'll be no insurance claim and it's only my car that I have to worry about. Now I don't have insurance because it didn't seem worth it for such a cheap car - considering that I have had a minor crash and now a real one in less than a year, maybe it would have been worth while? Because the car is probably a goner, I doubt I'll be able to fix it, it won't be worth it. So now I have a busted up car parked outside my house (my brother drove it back for me after pushing the fender off of the wheel, lucky he's here), and life will be that much harder for the next while. I have enough to get through the next few weeks, and I can only hope that I get a new job offer within that time. Or win the lotto. The job is more likely I guess.