(no subject)
Be prepared for a long entry...
I've been back in Florida for almost 5 weeks. I've applied to 44 jobs. I got a 10-hour a wqeek, $8/hr landscaping job. I like it, and I like the people I work with, but the pay is crap for doing manual labor, and it's definately not enough hours to live on. And it's taxed! If I had my own trailer and my own equipment, I think I could do a decent business on my own- pretty much every day on craigslist people are looking for landscapers to work for for them. Unfortunately, I can't afford a trialer hitch, trailer, mower, and the necessary equipment, and I don't know enough about Florida plant identification and care. The work that I do for this landscaping compant is much different than the work I did at home- mostly just in terms of quality. We use pretty much all gas powered equipment, which I only did occassionaly at home. And the object of the job seems to be do as much work as possible in as little time as possible- it doesn't really matter if you do a good job or not, so long as it gets done. It seems like there are a lot of companies that do this type of job, and a lot of people willing to do the work, which means the companies don't have to pay you very much.
The one perspective job I have is a full-time job at Aldis. The only reaason I applied is because it pays $10/hr, and I would get 40 hours a week and benefits. But it would be incredibly boring. I went to an Aldis job fair because they are opening like 25 new stores, and there must have been hundreds of people there throughout the day, so I was pretty surprised when they called me for an interview. Obviously I would be a good worker, but they probably see that based on my education and background if I found a better job I would definately take it. So they may or may not call me back on Monday.
I found a SCUBA job cleaning the shark tank at Typhoon Lagoon for $8/hr w/ benefits, but the first month was overnight, and then it was 5am-3pm. And they found someone else for the position anyway.
It seems that I'm underqualified for the aquaculture jobs or state/gov jobs that I apply for, and overqualified for just about everything else because I have a college degree. I can't find a job that pays more than $8 an hour or that actually wants someone with an education. Some days I get very depressed and don't want to get out of bed, and other days things are okay. I just keep trying, that's all I can do.
Mike is sick of his job because his managers are retarded. They tell him he can't go over budget on chemicals and can't do overtime, but then they complain when people's lakes look like crap (because they weren't allowed to treat them properly or they would go over budget). You can't have it both ways. So the combintation of Mike hating his job and me not having a real job has made things kind of tense between us. And we're bored a lot because doing pretty much anything fun involves spending money, which we don't have. Or we could do things like walk or go to the beach, but the (healing) hole in my leg has prevented me from doing that kind of stuff for the last 2.5 weeks because I don't want to re-open it or risk infection, and it was hard to even walk right for a while. Now it's healing pretty well though. In a couple weeks Florida citrus season will begin, and I'm looking forward to picking oranges, grape fruits, and limes on a citrus farm.
My Grandparents had to go into assisted living about 2 months ago, but they are still in seperate rooms. They are supposed to go into what is two rooms with a door cut into the wall, so one will be a bedroom and one will be a living room, but the process has been VERY slow. In the past week, I've had 3 dreams about my grandparents. One was that they were living at home, and Ifound my Grandma a few miles away in the middle of the road. The second one was about a Halloween party at their house with all of the family. The third one was this morning, and it started out nice- all of the family was together at their house; we decorated the back yard and were having a party, but at the same time were cleaning out their house because they had to go to assisted living. But then it turned into 3 wasps attacking me, and so I put on my down winter jacket and tried to squish one between my arms, but it layed a larva into the sleeve, and I super gross-ed out. Anyway, I miss them and I miss helping out my family. My Dad continues to run himself ragged trying to do everything for them; my sister continues to have trouble with other kids and teachers at school, and my Mom continues to search for a job in hopes that if she gets a job, we won't lose out house. These past coulpe of years have been pretty hard on me and my family, and I'm wondering if things will ever break and get better.
Mike and I are going to one of his co-worker's houses this afternoon to I guess go tubing (which I've never done) and hang out and drink and stuff. We're bringing the dogs so that we can stay longer because it's about an hour away, and they can't be left alone for more than about 6 hours. I guess they have an English bulldog, and I'm always worried about Sapphire getting along with other dogs- sometimes she loves to play, and sometimes she's just a jerk. But she does LOVE the water.
It's pretty sad that this Christmas I won't be able to be with my family. I told them that maybe instead of buying eachother and me presents, they could just use the money to fly down here- but holiday flights are just too expensive. And who knows what job I will have by then, but I doubt it will allow me to travel, and there won't be anyone to watch the dogs anyway. I wish I had more friends here so that I could have someone to watch the dogs and not have to pay a lot of money. Right now on my $80 taxed a week, I can't afford a dog walker, so the dogs have to be alone for about 7 hours without being let out. They've gone longer before, but really they shouldn't have to wait more than 6 hours. A couple of weeks ago Mike and I were both really stressed, and he told me he didn't like living with dogs, and I was ready to pack my bags and drive back to NY, because I would never give up my dogs for anything and it would be unfair of him to ask me to do that. It really made me angry. But he said all this stuff like I'm the love of his life and his best friend, and the best thing that's ever happened to him, and I started washing the bedding every week so he won't be itchy and making him a take a shower after work (I think that's really why he's itchy- because he sweats all day then doesn't take a shower- gross). We've always made a habit of being open and honest with eachother, but the dogs are a big factor. So anyway I guess we worked things out, and things have been better. I just wish I could get a freaking job!!!!!
I've been back in Florida for almost 5 weeks. I've applied to 44 jobs. I got a 10-hour a wqeek, $8/hr landscaping job. I like it, and I like the people I work with, but the pay is crap for doing manual labor, and it's definately not enough hours to live on. And it's taxed! If I had my own trailer and my own equipment, I think I could do a decent business on my own- pretty much every day on craigslist people are looking for landscapers to work for for them. Unfortunately, I can't afford a trialer hitch, trailer, mower, and the necessary equipment, and I don't know enough about Florida plant identification and care. The work that I do for this landscaping compant is much different than the work I did at home- mostly just in terms of quality. We use pretty much all gas powered equipment, which I only did occassionaly at home. And the object of the job seems to be do as much work as possible in as little time as possible- it doesn't really matter if you do a good job or not, so long as it gets done. It seems like there are a lot of companies that do this type of job, and a lot of people willing to do the work, which means the companies don't have to pay you very much.
The one perspective job I have is a full-time job at Aldis. The only reaason I applied is because it pays $10/hr, and I would get 40 hours a week and benefits. But it would be incredibly boring. I went to an Aldis job fair because they are opening like 25 new stores, and there must have been hundreds of people there throughout the day, so I was pretty surprised when they called me for an interview. Obviously I would be a good worker, but they probably see that based on my education and background if I found a better job I would definately take it. So they may or may not call me back on Monday.
I found a SCUBA job cleaning the shark tank at Typhoon Lagoon for $8/hr w/ benefits, but the first month was overnight, and then it was 5am-3pm. And they found someone else for the position anyway.
It seems that I'm underqualified for the aquaculture jobs or state/gov jobs that I apply for, and overqualified for just about everything else because I have a college degree. I can't find a job that pays more than $8 an hour or that actually wants someone with an education. Some days I get very depressed and don't want to get out of bed, and other days things are okay. I just keep trying, that's all I can do.
Mike is sick of his job because his managers are retarded. They tell him he can't go over budget on chemicals and can't do overtime, but then they complain when people's lakes look like crap (because they weren't allowed to treat them properly or they would go over budget). You can't have it both ways. So the combintation of Mike hating his job and me not having a real job has made things kind of tense between us. And we're bored a lot because doing pretty much anything fun involves spending money, which we don't have. Or we could do things like walk or go to the beach, but the (healing) hole in my leg has prevented me from doing that kind of stuff for the last 2.5 weeks because I don't want to re-open it or risk infection, and it was hard to even walk right for a while. Now it's healing pretty well though. In a couple weeks Florida citrus season will begin, and I'm looking forward to picking oranges, grape fruits, and limes on a citrus farm.
My Grandparents had to go into assisted living about 2 months ago, but they are still in seperate rooms. They are supposed to go into what is two rooms with a door cut into the wall, so one will be a bedroom and one will be a living room, but the process has been VERY slow. In the past week, I've had 3 dreams about my grandparents. One was that they were living at home, and Ifound my Grandma a few miles away in the middle of the road. The second one was about a Halloween party at their house with all of the family. The third one was this morning, and it started out nice- all of the family was together at their house; we decorated the back yard and were having a party, but at the same time were cleaning out their house because they had to go to assisted living. But then it turned into 3 wasps attacking me, and so I put on my down winter jacket and tried to squish one between my arms, but it layed a larva into the sleeve, and I super gross-ed out. Anyway, I miss them and I miss helping out my family. My Dad continues to run himself ragged trying to do everything for them; my sister continues to have trouble with other kids and teachers at school, and my Mom continues to search for a job in hopes that if she gets a job, we won't lose out house. These past coulpe of years have been pretty hard on me and my family, and I'm wondering if things will ever break and get better.
Mike and I are going to one of his co-worker's houses this afternoon to I guess go tubing (which I've never done) and hang out and drink and stuff. We're bringing the dogs so that we can stay longer because it's about an hour away, and they can't be left alone for more than about 6 hours. I guess they have an English bulldog, and I'm always worried about Sapphire getting along with other dogs- sometimes she loves to play, and sometimes she's just a jerk. But she does LOVE the water.
It's pretty sad that this Christmas I won't be able to be with my family. I told them that maybe instead of buying eachother and me presents, they could just use the money to fly down here- but holiday flights are just too expensive. And who knows what job I will have by then, but I doubt it will allow me to travel, and there won't be anyone to watch the dogs anyway. I wish I had more friends here so that I could have someone to watch the dogs and not have to pay a lot of money. Right now on my $80 taxed a week, I can't afford a dog walker, so the dogs have to be alone for about 7 hours without being let out. They've gone longer before, but really they shouldn't have to wait more than 6 hours. A couple of weeks ago Mike and I were both really stressed, and he told me he didn't like living with dogs, and I was ready to pack my bags and drive back to NY, because I would never give up my dogs for anything and it would be unfair of him to ask me to do that. It really made me angry. But he said all this stuff like I'm the love of his life and his best friend, and the best thing that's ever happened to him, and I started washing the bedding every week so he won't be itchy and making him a take a shower after work (I think that's really why he's itchy- because he sweats all day then doesn't take a shower- gross). We've always made a habit of being open and honest with eachother, but the dogs are a big factor. So anyway I guess we worked things out, and things have been better. I just wish I could get a freaking job!!!!!