Opportunities

Today I had a job interview for an entry level research role at the offices of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. It is probably the most perfect sort of job for me and I didn't even apply for it. What happened is that I applied for another role, one that was clearly not an entry-level job, but the applications are being sorted by a recruitment agency. So the recruitment agent emailed me last week to ask if I would be interested in this other role, which is the same thing in the same team but at entry level. I went in for an interview with just the agent, and the great thing about recruitment agents (or at least this one because I have never worked with one before) is that you are kept so informed about the process. He immediately told me that I would go through to the next stage, which was an interview with the panel from the PCE. And that if it went well I would have to go through psychometric testing. He even told me what to expect in the interview. Today, he chatted to me before the interview, then called this afternoon to say that I am going through to the next stage! There were five people in the running and now there are three of us, and there are two positions going. So now I have to do well in the psychometric testing. which is scary. It will involve the usual personality test type thing, which will probably be multi-choice or true/false questions. Then there is numerical critical thinking and I think he said another type of critical thinking, perhaps it was verbal or something? Plus a face-to-face with a psychologist. It's all done through a specialised consultancy company and will happen over the next few days, with the psychologist interview on Monday. So big day!

So in terms of other opportunities, funnily enough after my tupperware party the ladies in charge have talked me into having a go at it myself. I let myself be talked into it because I really do need more than what I have now. Whether it ends up being my backup for if this new job doesn't end up being the opportunity for me, or whether I have a go at it on the weekends to bring in some extra fun money. Truth be told, I am quite greedy and they do make it sound good, with all the extra income and prizes and freebies. And if it doesn't pan out or is too much trouble, well I'll take my pile of virtually free tupperware and call it a day. Whatever happens, I am very ready to leave the museum. Speaking of the museum, the new exhibit is pretty good (it's about tyrannosaurs), but it's really loud, with lots of sound effects. We have some new managers, which is nice. But it's mostly the same old. In other news, I am still down a flatmate (another reason that I need to be earning more) but it is nice with just the two of us here for awhile. Plus the dog of course. She has had a red tummy recently, and the skin under her arm got all puffy. It's better now but I think I will have to take her to the vet when I can to make sure she's OK and not allergic to anything. Right now she's tired because we went on two long walks and it's a warm sunny day today, so she's sleeping under a blanket at my feet.

Still jobless

Well the past few weeks have been more of the same. In a nutshell, my job-hunting has still come to no fruition, I am on a WINZ benefit, thought I still get some work at the museum, and I am once again struggling to find a new flatmate (the last one that moved in was the most loud, obnoxious person I've ever met, with some sort of personality disorder added into the mix, and we had to ask him to leave). I did manage to get one interview, which is good, but I need more of them because you certainly can't expect to get the perfect job from a single interview. However, it's not like there are a lot of jobs that are suitable going right now, so that was pretty much it. I am waiting to hear about the graduate development programme that the Ministry of Primary Industries runs. If I get into that, I will just need to find something to keep me busy and the bills paid till February. Plus I actually really want to work in that Ministry so hopefully I get in.

So to take my mind off work, or more accurately, my lack of work, I have spent the last weekend throwing a tupperware party. It gave me an excuse to bake yummy food, have people over (not that many in the end, everyone was sick) and I managed to find enough people to buy stuff that I will get a nice little pile of free stuff. This coming weekend, I guess I should make an effort to search for  job and catch up on my coursework. And my distraction for the next weekend? I am going to be an election day worker. It will be a long day, at least 12 hours, most of which will be spent giving people their voting papers, with some counting thrown in at the end.

I don't think Cher will be happy about me getting a full-time job again. Today I had a full day of work, and despite a long walk in the morning and a long walk after work, she is still full of energy. She needs a treadmill. Yesterday I took her to the beach, where she went for a swim, got knocked over by a wave, and half-attempted to bury stuff.

I went to a Tupperware party

So being unemployed is pretty boring most of the time. I am applying for jobs as often as they come up and trying to find things to keep myself busy and off the couch. However, it is tempting to lie around and watch movies all day. One answer is to try to have a social life, which I am already doing quite well with this week. I went to visit a friend in Paraparaumu (turns out to be a pretty long drive away!), there is a pub quiz I go to almost every week with friends from my last job, and yesterday I went to my first ever tupperware party. If you have never been before you get a present, but they are just little things. I got a melon baller. If I ever get into the habit of eating melon, I will be able to serve it as pretty little balls. Then there was another opportunity for some small freebies - a game of bingo. Only this was really brutal bingo, where you get to choose from a box of prizes to begin with, but then when they are all take, if your number is called you choose someone else's prize. So people take your winnings! I managed to grab a cute mini spatula and it got take from me!

Anyway, now I'm all but convinced to throw my own tupperware party. As the host I would hopefully get free stuff, and with nothing else to do, surely I can spend some time convincing people to come along, or at least to order stuff? And it would be an excuse to have the type of party that I like, full of girls with good food and maybe some drinks, lots of talking, hopefully everything that will make the incredibly obnoxious male flatmate stay well away and go somewhere else to get his super loud heavy metal fix for the day. Perhaps I'll just put invites in all the neighbours' mailboxes and maybe get to know them finally after a whole year of living here... On the other hand, I don't really know that many people and the ones I know are mostly like me and have no money. And tupperware is really expensive! It might be really good quality but still, I dunno.

Well that's all that's been happening in my life lately. I bought an overlocker with my credit card, so I guess I should start sewing. I have actually done some useful things around the place, liking gardening and making Cher a new bed and finally getting through my mending pile. The weather's been shocking so that was my excuse to stay on the couch or in bed. It's better now though so no excuses. Perhaps when my movie is over I'll get up and do something.

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.