ilex_aquifolium

I've got an interview!!

It's for the museum job I mentioned a few days ago - so excited! Had to phone to arrange a time, and the woman told me to go to the 'entrance on Mushroom Lane'. I love Mushroom Lane, I used to walk down it everyday because, well, who wouldn't want to walk down a road with that name? I used to peek in their staff room. They have a Doctor Who poster up in there.

The museum used to have bees, but they suffered the Great Bee Death... now they have empty hives. And they store my favourite type of rock (mica - it's a rock you can peel) in the kind of trays we had in first school. And the have the most adorable little bug costumes for children to dress up in. And this kitchen area where you can open the drawers and it has all the insects where they might be hiding in your own kitchen. I could rave about it for ages.

This is one of the few times when I can be excited about the specific job and the company, and not just be excited because it's a job in general.

So anyway, it's on 17th November and I literally Can Not Wait.

I can't quite face the possibility that I might not get it, I just have to.

Will have to make sure I don't shout something like 'Oh no! Your poor bees!'... I talk about them every time I go in there usually.

In other news my Nano-ing is going terribly... I've made a start at least, but it'll need some serious work over the next few days for me to not get too far behind.

Feeling a bit better about things today. Applied to three 'proper' jobs today. Proper meaning full time and in Sheffield. Doesn't take that much to impress me, but apparently it's still too much for me to succeed.

One of the jobs was for Sheffield Museums & Galleries and I would love it, so I have all of my fingers crossed, and most other body parts too.

Had a couple of vague ideas about what to write for NaNo, but nothing that would really go anywhere. Actually, I did have a decent horror idea, but I don't want to write horror... I think I would be awful at it, and the whole thing is enough of a challenge already!

Will spend more time thinking about it tomorrow. Poetry captures my imagination in a way that often gets me wondering about 'what happens next', so I think I'll get out my giant Pablo Neruda book (and crayons, the thought of that book makes me want to colour in) tomorrow and hope it inspires me.

Off to watch Defying Gravity now. Although I guess it might not be as good watching it at home on my own as it was lying in bed with my boyfriend. Oh, and job emails are coming in, must go and investigate them.

Yesterday's trip to the dentist did not involve being told I need a filling. Yay! Having told him I'd had toothache though, he said I was probably grinding my teeth because I'm stressed. Oh joy, even my teeth are stressed. Do I get to have a job now please? Can't complain too much though, if you're on Job Seekers' Allowance you don't have to pay for a checkup.

New laptop is all set up and on the go! It's lovely being able to use the laptop's own keyboard, not have to worry about it being plugged in the whole time, and most of all, not have the screen half hanging off.

Took me ages to copy over all my music and photos etc, but now I have room for lots and lot more!

Job search update for the day: Started on Casework Assistant application. That is it. Oops. Also emailed boyfriend (he sent me a postcard from his brief trip to Whitby which arrived this morning, "Dear beloved, so far away...") with some jobs so he can get applying too.
Got job centre tomorrow, and I do believe they're going to ask me to come every week for a while from now on. Rubbish. Really hoped I'd have a job before it got to this stage.

Finally: Gordon Ramsey got plastic surgery on his face. I am both shocked and amused.

Finally finally: What will I do for subject lines when I no longer have (...days to go)? Oh, and I could really do with a userpic or two.

Success! Well, not to get to excited, no major developments in the life of me, but today I completed two applications, so I'm pretty pleased with myself.

Finished the nhs one that I've been working on for a few days, then completed another for an admin job that I think is to do with student accommodation, but the advert was pretty vague so I'm not to sure. If anyone contacted me about that one I'd definitely need more info before taking it any further (although whatever they said it's highly unlikely I'd turn down an interview!)

For once I've run out of jobs to apply for so I'm going to have to do some searching tomorrow... although a couple with probably have turned up in my inbox by morning anyway.

Anyway, that is all. One day I hope to have a life and have something more exciting to update about.

Well, I didn't update yesterday, and that's mostly because I didn't do anything productive yesterday.

And I haven't done much today... the easy part of a 'supporting information' section of an application, but nothing that couldn't be done in ten minutes. Oh dear.

I think I'm suffering lack of motivation because I've been trying hard for the past few weeks, but haven't heard anything from anyone. Still, giving up isn't going to help matters, so must get back into it again.

In better job news, my boyfriend had a telephone interview this afternoon. He'll find out how it went on Monday, and if he gets through then he'll have a face-to-face interview.

Off to the pub tomorrow with my parents. Tis one in the village my nan lived in, and it closed for a while, but has reopened so we're going for a visit. Havent been for years. Going to go for a walk up the hill as well if it isn't raining. All sounds like more distractions to me, but will find time to be good... hopefully.

Quick update because the internet has been playing up so I'm not sure how long I've got.

Today I applied for 3 jobs. Yay.

1. The civil servant job I have been preparing for the past couple of days.

2&3. Two jobs that I found out about in emails I'd signed up for from jobsites. Both admin things, sound pretty similar but weren't very descriptive, so I'm not actually entirely sure what I've applied for!

Also went to the jobcentre and that was boring, but apparently they do help with the cost of college courses, so that could be useful.

Going to the boyfriend's house tomorrow so there'll be no further updates for a while. We did just have an argument over the medium of text messages though, which is a stupid thing to do at the best of times, but even more so because he was angry that I'll be leaving on Monday even though I told him that days ago. Whatever. Sorted now, he's visiting me on Tuesday, but not coming back with me on Monday because I'm seeing my best friend that night and I think he has a problem with the fact that I'm coming home 'early' to see her rather than staying at his for the night. All very ridiculous because, as I mentioned, I'd been planning on coming back Monday anyway, he was the only one who ever mentioned Tuesday. Just because I want to come home so I can apply for more jobs so I can move up there permanently and make myself happier, and he doesn't understand that because he doesn't seem to have any motivation to get a job and leave home.

Yeah, there are some issues there. It may or may not work out, but his lack of motivation in this and my utter determination are where we differ most I think. I get a lot of satisfaction from working hard and achieving things, and that's what I want from a boyfriend as well, so I guess I'm just going to have to encourage and hope for the best.

Well, today I discovered that a 'numerate' degree means one in which at least 50% of the modules were in some way mathematical. I knew psychology would be a stretch, but if that's how they decide it, then I'd have no chance. Not to worry though, I'd investigated government departments based in Sheffield earlier in the day and have already got another application up to the point at which I abandoned the other.

Also found out about an admin job at Sheffield College, which for some reason made me feel all funny when I discovered it. The job itself appears quite dull, and I don't really hold much stock by that kind of intuition. After all, the same people told me they had a 'good feeling' about both of the interviews I've had so far and that didn't exactly turn out to be accurate.

My goal of sending off a civil service application on Wednesday remains, and following that I'll print off the job description/person specification for the college admin job to take on the train with me when I go to visit my boyfriend. Would be good to have some notes ready for when I get back so completing the form won't be too bad.

Other activities of the day:
- Very, very nearly finished knitting my very first fingerless glove. In fact, I'm just sewing up the last seam. The finger holes are a little small, and I think the wrist will be a little too big, but it's wearable. Wearable in public in fact!
- Bought my first Christmas present of the year: the sequel to Dracula for my boyfriend. Now I just have to hope he/his parents don't see it and buy it for him... and think of however many other things to get him.

Jobwise, today I've applied to a child protection admin job (similar to the position I had an interview for a few weeks back, but this time requiring a qualification I don't have). Pretty much had the application sorted from before though, so that was very little effort.

Also worked on the application questions for the GORS (Government Operational Research Service) position, but considering that asks for a 'numerate degree', and I did psychology, it would be a bit of a stretch for me to get that. Not that psychology is without it's maths, we did endless statistics.

Not bad, but not great. Will have to find jobs I'm actually qualified for... even though I'm sure I'm perfectly able to do both of the above.

Other goings on of the day included the progression of learning to knit, and watching Strictly Come Dancing. Poor Lilia.

Oh, to have a life again.