Answering the burning question I know you all have...
I've been in and out of lj these days; sorry about that! I've just gotten back into the habit of checking my friendslist regularly, so regular posts are sure to follow soon enough. For now, though, I know there's a question that begs to be answered. It's your lucky day, friends, because I am here to answer it for you.
What have I been doing with my time, now that I'm searching for a new job?
Since I'm unemployed at the moment, this is a fair question. While I haven't been working, I have been doing an awful lot. Let me approach this topic in bullet-point format.
1) Writing.
As you'll know if we are lj friends, I have been working on some short stories since I got back from England earlier this summer. Thank you to the intrepid souls who volunteered to beta-read the one I've finished so far; I'm hoping to get a draft out to you in another week and a half or so. Since I've been so busy with college and work up to this point, I haven't been writing in a professional capacity, and most of what I wrote was completed in one burst of inspiration and posted with minimal revision. The opportunity to delve deeply into an idea and work on it for months at a time, making it absolutely perfect, has been great fun.
2) Exploring.
Let's face it, folks: I'm a city girl at heart. I've lived in St. Mary's City and Cambridge, MD for the last six years, and both are lovely rural shore towns- but I need the stimulation of city life to really feel balanced. I could do without it in St. Mary's because college campuses are filled with exciting activities, but the primary reason for my leaving my job on the Eastern Shore (where Cambridge is located) was the loneliness I felt in such an isolated environment. Since I came back to my hometown, I've been making frequent trips into Washington, D.C. Sometimes they are to visit museums, sometimes for special events (I went to the National Book Festival for the first time, which was awesome- pictures to follow soon), and sometimes they're just to walk around. Even when I do these trips alone, I feel much better than when I would be alone out in the country. I'll have to make sure to blog more about these excursions when I get the chance.
3) Studying.
This part started after I came back from the Sunday portion of the National Book Festival. Thrilled from the day and even more invigorated than usual about reading, I glanced at my bookshelf and noticed the copy of the Cliff's Notes for To Kill a Mockingbird that my parents got me when I thought I'd be teaching it last year. I spontaneously decided to read the book over again for the first time since I was in 9th grade, using the Cliff's Notes as a study guide. I'm halfway through now, and I definitely enjoy it more this time than I did when I was 14. I'm even doing the response questions at the end. :) (Yep, that's me- literature geek.) While I have this free time, I might as well work my way through some of the academic stuff on my shelf.
4) Downsizing.
Normally, when my church has its yearly yard sale to benefit the youth group's activities, I give away a few things. This year, I gave about half my clothing (I am outgrowing, wearing out, or no longer interested in most of my clothes), as well as a bunch of other things that were lying around. This has led to a rapid increase in sorting through stuff. I'm a pretty serious packrat, but I'm enjoying the process of clearing space for myself at the moment.
5) Reading.
In addition to To Kill a Mockingbird, I've also been picking up the pace on my normal reading, which is usually slowed to nearly a standstill when I'm working. I'm finally getting around to finishing Twilight, which I said I'd read a year ago and have not been able to commit to until now. (This is partially because I've been busy, and partially because it's not particularly interesting to me. More thoughts on that in a week or so, when I've finished it.) I also am notorious for taking forever to read magazines, but I've been tearing through them lately.
6) Cutting down my Netflix list.
My Netflix list, if you didn't know, is a ridiculous thing. The fact that I have recently managed to cut it down to under 200 films is an achievement of epic proportions. Being unemployed has given me plenty of time to watch movies, so I've been working through my Netflix list pretty quickly. I also realized that if I check movies from my queue out of the library, I can see more of them per week than if I just get them through the mail. The most recent one I watched was a Russian sci-fi/horror film called Night Watch, which was excellent, and the next one coming is another sci-fi one called City of Ember.
7) Watching TV shows on DVD.
I'm currently working through The Wire on DVD from Netflix, and Skins (the UK version) on DVD with my parents. (Not typical family-friendly subject matter, I know- but my dad is the one who got me into both OZ and Queer as Folk, so it's actually a logical choice for us to watch together.) Watching these two simultaneously is like watching the deterioration of society with their combined bleakness, but it's not bad. I'm at the end of Season 2 of The Wire and finally starting to enjoy it on more than an objective, I-appreciate-it-because-it's-masterful-but-I'm-not-hooked sort of way; I'll do a post when I've finished all 5 seasons exploring my reactions to this series in greater detail. My parents and I are halfway through Series 3 of Skins, and I am addicted to this show in a powerful way. I'd love to do a post spamming you with all the details on that, but I won't until I do a rewatch on my own when I rent the DVDs again. Suffice it to say, I love it.
And, of course...
8) Applying for jobs.
This one is last on the list, but much higher up in importance. I applied for teaching positions up until the first week of school, and then took a break for a week and a half or so to change gears when nothing came through. (I think my parents thought I'd given up applying for jobs, but I was just developing a new plan of action.) Since then I've been applying for substitute teaching positions, as well as office-type jobs in the D.C. area. My primary targets in terms of areas to apply in are Montgomery County/D.C., Carroll County/Westminster, and Howard/Prince George's Counties, because each of those places has at least one person who would be willing to room with me when I get a job. (They are my friend Caitlin, my sister, and my college roommate, respectively.) It's slow going, but I'm working on it. Something will eventually come through.
More entries soon- hopefully with pictures!
What have I been doing with my time, now that I'm searching for a new job?
Since I'm unemployed at the moment, this is a fair question. While I haven't been working, I have been doing an awful lot. Let me approach this topic in bullet-point format.
1) Writing.
As you'll know if we are lj friends, I have been working on some short stories since I got back from England earlier this summer. Thank you to the intrepid souls who volunteered to beta-read the one I've finished so far; I'm hoping to get a draft out to you in another week and a half or so. Since I've been so busy with college and work up to this point, I haven't been writing in a professional capacity, and most of what I wrote was completed in one burst of inspiration and posted with minimal revision. The opportunity to delve deeply into an idea and work on it for months at a time, making it absolutely perfect, has been great fun.
2) Exploring.
Let's face it, folks: I'm a city girl at heart. I've lived in St. Mary's City and Cambridge, MD for the last six years, and both are lovely rural shore towns- but I need the stimulation of city life to really feel balanced. I could do without it in St. Mary's because college campuses are filled with exciting activities, but the primary reason for my leaving my job on the Eastern Shore (where Cambridge is located) was the loneliness I felt in such an isolated environment. Since I came back to my hometown, I've been making frequent trips into Washington, D.C. Sometimes they are to visit museums, sometimes for special events (I went to the National Book Festival for the first time, which was awesome- pictures to follow soon), and sometimes they're just to walk around. Even when I do these trips alone, I feel much better than when I would be alone out in the country. I'll have to make sure to blog more about these excursions when I get the chance.
3) Studying.
This part started after I came back from the Sunday portion of the National Book Festival. Thrilled from the day and even more invigorated than usual about reading, I glanced at my bookshelf and noticed the copy of the Cliff's Notes for To Kill a Mockingbird that my parents got me when I thought I'd be teaching it last year. I spontaneously decided to read the book over again for the first time since I was in 9th grade, using the Cliff's Notes as a study guide. I'm halfway through now, and I definitely enjoy it more this time than I did when I was 14. I'm even doing the response questions at the end. :) (Yep, that's me- literature geek.) While I have this free time, I might as well work my way through some of the academic stuff on my shelf.
4) Downsizing.
Normally, when my church has its yearly yard sale to benefit the youth group's activities, I give away a few things. This year, I gave about half my clothing (I am outgrowing, wearing out, or no longer interested in most of my clothes), as well as a bunch of other things that were lying around. This has led to a rapid increase in sorting through stuff. I'm a pretty serious packrat, but I'm enjoying the process of clearing space for myself at the moment.
5) Reading.
In addition to To Kill a Mockingbird, I've also been picking up the pace on my normal reading, which is usually slowed to nearly a standstill when I'm working. I'm finally getting around to finishing Twilight, which I said I'd read a year ago and have not been able to commit to until now. (This is partially because I've been busy, and partially because it's not particularly interesting to me. More thoughts on that in a week or so, when I've finished it.) I also am notorious for taking forever to read magazines, but I've been tearing through them lately.
6) Cutting down my Netflix list.
My Netflix list, if you didn't know, is a ridiculous thing. The fact that I have recently managed to cut it down to under 200 films is an achievement of epic proportions. Being unemployed has given me plenty of time to watch movies, so I've been working through my Netflix list pretty quickly. I also realized that if I check movies from my queue out of the library, I can see more of them per week than if I just get them through the mail. The most recent one I watched was a Russian sci-fi/horror film called Night Watch, which was excellent, and the next one coming is another sci-fi one called City of Ember.
7) Watching TV shows on DVD.
I'm currently working through The Wire on DVD from Netflix, and Skins (the UK version) on DVD with my parents. (Not typical family-friendly subject matter, I know- but my dad is the one who got me into both OZ and Queer as Folk, so it's actually a logical choice for us to watch together.) Watching these two simultaneously is like watching the deterioration of society with their combined bleakness, but it's not bad. I'm at the end of Season 2 of The Wire and finally starting to enjoy it on more than an objective, I-appreciate-it-because-it's-masterful-but-I'm-not-hooked sort of way; I'll do a post when I've finished all 5 seasons exploring my reactions to this series in greater detail. My parents and I are halfway through Series 3 of Skins, and I am addicted to this show in a powerful way. I'd love to do a post spamming you with all the details on that, but I won't until I do a rewatch on my own when I rent the DVDs again. Suffice it to say, I love it.
And, of course...
8) Applying for jobs.
This one is last on the list, but much higher up in importance. I applied for teaching positions up until the first week of school, and then took a break for a week and a half or so to change gears when nothing came through. (I think my parents thought I'd given up applying for jobs, but I was just developing a new plan of action.) Since then I've been applying for substitute teaching positions, as well as office-type jobs in the D.C. area. My primary targets in terms of areas to apply in are Montgomery County/D.C., Carroll County/Westminster, and Howard/Prince George's Counties, because each of those places has at least one person who would be willing to room with me when I get a job. (They are my friend Caitlin, my sister, and my college roommate, respectively.) It's slow going, but I'm working on it. Something will eventually come through.
More entries soon- hopefully with pictures!