Adventures in Employment and Wow! I can do that.

So. I went to the temp agency today and I feel good about myself, as they WILL have a job for me. After almost a year and a half without a job or really any promises, you don't know how great that feels.

However, while it was a positive experience and I have not felt this positive, happy, yeah me since God knows when, it was an interesting, foreign experience.

I applied to teach pre-school. Sure, it was my first job ever, at 19, as a summer job. So I would have done every bit of education, training, money spent, jobs performed, just to go back to doing what I did, not needing all that I, well, did. But it turns out I need 24 ECE (Early Childhood) units, of which I'm shy some. Heck, sure, I have a freaking Master's degree in education, a credential that authorizes me to teach Pre-K (plus two more) and experience buuuuut without those units, since it is federally funded pre-school, too bad. Not qualified.

So anyways, I walk in and some kid in line (ok probably in his early 20s. Kids these days! Get off my lawn you whippersnapper). His interview is before mine. Good luck, dude, with your backwards baseball cap and pot-leaf t-shirt. Really? Seriously?


I took some competency tests and felt like one of my students, taking some "stressful test" along with students....weird...I was suddenly 18 again, felt weird suddenly doing stuff my past students do, along with them. I took an excel software test and got very frustrated and wanted to shake the pc violently because it allowed one way to do something. In excel, there is almost always more way than one to some something, so a program that only accepts one way is annoying, I got a crappy score but know I can do what it asked me, just differently. Grr.

I impressed the heck out of the staffing agency, but it was kind of depressing too..they said, "wow...a BA? Oh, my and a MA degree?" Yes. Yes and I am looking at jobs that do not pay $50 an hour or what have you because I need a job and, well, my ideas of education do not go well with the education industry since I go against the grain, think outside the box, to help kids.

Then they asked these confusing questions like, "do you want full time, part time, temporary fill-in or temp to hire?" Umm, all. All. Because jobs are awesome. Experience is awesome. And "do you want a job that is casual, business casual, semi professional or professional?" Umm, again, check all. But they wanted just to check one box. Having only really worked in the bubble world of education (minus 4 days at a restaurant, the only job I was ever fired from, 5-8 hours a week for a year as a secretary/archivist in college, and a few weeks, here and there hours stocking books...) its like, I don't know what I want. I'm a quick learner and want to see what the world has to offer.

So we will see. It takes about a week to find out anything. I can accept or decline any job they suggest, but of course it is best to not decline a bunch.

I liked the staffing organization and felt so good about myself.

I do not want to leave my sweet little boy in day care, but he is nearly 2 years old and I'm ready to be a grown up in the world of work again.

Oh and today I  learned I can type 58 wpm if I really try, and walk/jog 5k, in 44 min, without having done any exercise for 5 years. I mean 44 min isn't that great but with no prep? No exercise really, for 5 years? 44 min is darned good. I don't really even want to set a goal, "5k in 25 minutes" or whatever cause I despise running and really, my goal was, can I do it? Not, "how fast?". It's more..a baseline....okay I can do it in 44 minutes, can I do that at least once a week? That's the kind of goal I'm going for. I just want to tone some had-a-kid-gravity-after-30 flab (girl, you are not flabby, you look like you never had a kid! Well, what, a skinny0ish girl can't want to be fit and healthy?) and for cardio (I mean, cardio is good for you). I also need to do some weight training crap to strengthen my chest and back to help with my scoliosis and asthma. I am NOT looking forward to that. The treadmill was kind of fin. Lifting weights is soo boring, it feels like...doing laundry....too methodical or something, I dunno.... I can space out, rock out to music, whatever on the treadmill. Lifting weights, I have to focus on counting reps and breathing through the pain and standing correctly and I can't rock out or space out which removes any bit of pleasure or motivation.
But never the less, Go me! Today is a good day.