Where Jessica actually uses her blog to update about her life.
Okay, so I haven't posted anything in three months because I honestly haven't wanted to talk to anyone about my life for three months. Um . . . sorry about that? Basically I've had nothing to say - I spent three months unemployed, freaking out about getting a job, applying for hundreds of jobs (no, seriously, hundreds, I counted), panicking about my thesis, my income, my relationship with Sarah, my future in general . . . and there was a fair amount of depression thrown in there, as well.
So yeah, now you can all consider yourselves caught up.
The last month of that period, however, things actually started to turn around, so here I am again. At the beginning of the month, I had an interview for an admin coordinator position at a research institute at Northeastern University in Boston. I tried not to get too excited about it - I'd only had one other interview at that point, and that one went nowhere - but in the interview, their chief administrator told me, point-blank, that I was her first choice, but that they had a very long HR process as dictated by the university. As it turns out, both of those things proved relevant - I had another interview and met with most of the institute, which all went well, and the administrator kept implying that she wanted to hire me, but there were more steps.
It all finally got sorted out this week - they do want to hire me, but probably can't make an offer for several more weeks, and in order to do so, they need a crap-load of info from me - three references (who all produced letters with mere days warning, because they're all saints!), all of my official transcripts, and they need to check my last seven years' worth of employment details. So all of that is going to take a while. However, in the meantime, they're hiring me as a temp, in order to start training me for the position they will eventually offer me.
It's a slightly odd solution (although the hiring process has still been twelve times more sensible than OFA! Yay not moving with five days' notice!), and requires that I trust them that they will, indeed, make me an offer, but since the administrator has said from the start that she wants to hire me, I'm willing to take that risk.
It also means I'm moving to Boston, or really, moving there permanently - I've actually been there for the better part of the last month, but was trying to keep quiet about it because I'm broke. I'm in Phoenix at the moment, and have spent this week packing up everything I own, again. Because Boston is rather a bit farther than Vegas, I'll be flying out there, and shipping my stuff after I have a place, which means living out of suitcases again, but at my sister's place, which is pretty well supplied (and by that, I mean she has internet and an xbox). Having my sister living there makes moving infinitely easier, and Boston means access to the Harvard library, probably the second best place to work on my thesis, after Oxford (with the added bonus that I can have an income in Boston, not really an option in Oxford).
I do worry that this is the second time in a year that I'm up and moving for a job, especially since the last time didn't exactly go as expected, but I'm at least less freaked out about this job - I've met my coworkers, I've seen the office, and I have a pretty specific job description and list of objectives for the post (to any OFA people who might be reading this: I love you all to death, but seriously, just up and moving to Vegas and starting at a job without meeting *anyone* I'd be directly working with is not exactly HR101). Also, this job doesn't involve knocking on doors in the Nevada heat, so there is that (one of the questions in one of the interviews was 'have you ever had to work with difficult or antagonistic people?', and my answer was, 'well, yes, I did door-to-door canvassing, so yes, I've met difficult people. I've been screamed at. I've had doors slammed in my face. I had one guy shout at me through his window how I was part of the military-industrial complex. It's a great way to teach yourself to let things roll of your back.')
It's also hard not to get freaked out that this seems to solve so many of my problems - I have an income, I'm not living at home, I have a job that should last for more than six months (presuming they do make me a permanent offer), I can work on my thesis, living with Sarah is a possibility again . . . it's all a bit . . . too perfect. I know that's the panic and depression talking, that this was precisely why I came up with this idea of working in Boston in the first place, but having it all actually work out sets off every crazy voice in my head.
I fly back on Monday (by way of LA, because that's what the airline gods demand!), I start work on Wednesday. I've asked my supervisor for a letter of introduction to Harvard, which she says she's sent off (she also mentioned that she should have some time some afternoon in the coming weeks to 'come to terms' with the notes from my examiners regarding my thesis! Now that's some fine supervising!), so I can get access to their library. If I ever plan to work in academia in the US, I probably should plan to attend Kazoo and the AAR this year (aka the International Medieval Studies conference at Kalamazoo and the conference of the American Academy of Religion), possibly even present a paper at one or the other.
It's all remarkably similar to having a life again, and it's hard not to be completely freaked out by that.
Being back in the States, employed, and and on the East Coast also opens up the possibility of visiting people, which is pretty awesome. There are loads of people I haven't seen in ages, and loads more that I'd like to be able to see more than once or twice a year. So yeah, if anyone wants me to come visit, or wants to come visit me in Boston, let me know!
So yeah, now you can all consider yourselves caught up.
The last month of that period, however, things actually started to turn around, so here I am again. At the beginning of the month, I had an interview for an admin coordinator position at a research institute at Northeastern University in Boston. I tried not to get too excited about it - I'd only had one other interview at that point, and that one went nowhere - but in the interview, their chief administrator told me, point-blank, that I was her first choice, but that they had a very long HR process as dictated by the university. As it turns out, both of those things proved relevant - I had another interview and met with most of the institute, which all went well, and the administrator kept implying that she wanted to hire me, but there were more steps.
It all finally got sorted out this week - they do want to hire me, but probably can't make an offer for several more weeks, and in order to do so, they need a crap-load of info from me - three references (who all produced letters with mere days warning, because they're all saints!), all of my official transcripts, and they need to check my last seven years' worth of employment details. So all of that is going to take a while. However, in the meantime, they're hiring me as a temp, in order to start training me for the position they will eventually offer me.
It's a slightly odd solution (although the hiring process has still been twelve times more sensible than OFA! Yay not moving with five days' notice!), and requires that I trust them that they will, indeed, make me an offer, but since the administrator has said from the start that she wants to hire me, I'm willing to take that risk.
It also means I'm moving to Boston, or really, moving there permanently - I've actually been there for the better part of the last month, but was trying to keep quiet about it because I'm broke. I'm in Phoenix at the moment, and have spent this week packing up everything I own, again. Because Boston is rather a bit farther than Vegas, I'll be flying out there, and shipping my stuff after I have a place, which means living out of suitcases again, but at my sister's place, which is pretty well supplied (and by that, I mean she has internet and an xbox). Having my sister living there makes moving infinitely easier, and Boston means access to the Harvard library, probably the second best place to work on my thesis, after Oxford (with the added bonus that I can have an income in Boston, not really an option in Oxford).
I do worry that this is the second time in a year that I'm up and moving for a job, especially since the last time didn't exactly go as expected, but I'm at least less freaked out about this job - I've met my coworkers, I've seen the office, and I have a pretty specific job description and list of objectives for the post (to any OFA people who might be reading this: I love you all to death, but seriously, just up and moving to Vegas and starting at a job without meeting *anyone* I'd be directly working with is not exactly HR101). Also, this job doesn't involve knocking on doors in the Nevada heat, so there is that (one of the questions in one of the interviews was 'have you ever had to work with difficult or antagonistic people?', and my answer was, 'well, yes, I did door-to-door canvassing, so yes, I've met difficult people. I've been screamed at. I've had doors slammed in my face. I had one guy shout at me through his window how I was part of the military-industrial complex. It's a great way to teach yourself to let things roll of your back.')
It's also hard not to get freaked out that this seems to solve so many of my problems - I have an income, I'm not living at home, I have a job that should last for more than six months (presuming they do make me a permanent offer), I can work on my thesis, living with Sarah is a possibility again . . . it's all a bit . . . too perfect. I know that's the panic and depression talking, that this was precisely why I came up with this idea of working in Boston in the first place, but having it all actually work out sets off every crazy voice in my head.
I fly back on Monday (by way of LA, because that's what the airline gods demand!), I start work on Wednesday. I've asked my supervisor for a letter of introduction to Harvard, which she says she's sent off (she also mentioned that she should have some time some afternoon in the coming weeks to 'come to terms' with the notes from my examiners regarding my thesis! Now that's some fine supervising!), so I can get access to their library. If I ever plan to work in academia in the US, I probably should plan to attend Kazoo and the AAR this year (aka the International Medieval Studies conference at Kalamazoo and the conference of the American Academy of Religion), possibly even present a paper at one or the other.
It's all remarkably similar to having a life again, and it's hard not to be completely freaked out by that.
Being back in the States, employed, and and on the East Coast also opens up the possibility of visiting people, which is pretty awesome. There are loads of people I haven't seen in ages, and loads more that I'd like to be able to see more than once or twice a year. So yeah, if anyone wants me to come visit, or wants to come visit me in Boston, let me know!