15-06.01.105 in Book Two: The Fifteenth Year of the Third Millennium of the Common Era

I awoke today from another employment-based nightmare. This one involved my own history and some tripyness. Things to note: (1) I once worked for Kum & Go, a chain of convenience stores; (2) I once worked as a Corporate Telemarketer calling businesses and trying to sell them batteries… over the phone… it is the only job I have ever hated so much that, after 3 months, I quit with nothing else lined up.
The Dream has me hanging out with friends next to a Kum & Go store, eating fast food. I was supposed to head to work at 5:00 pm; but when I asked my friend Clark what time it was- he said it was 8:51. I dropped my food and we all raced to The Office. As we all climbed the stairs, I realized that I was in the Telemarketing Job’s office, but I wasn’t a telemarketer this time. We climbed the stairs and ran to my desk. A note was angrily scribbled on a pad of paper saying “CK- your lateness will be deducted from your pay!” I sorted through the new hire paperwork that was on my desk and started filling it out when the Head of the Business stopped in to check up on me. He was friendly and supportive, but cautioned me not to be so late again and that, per policy, I had to leave the building at 9 pm. I took the new hire paperwork with me and realized that the job I had accepted was Data Entry on an outmoded MS-DOS system as a “support tech” for the telemarketers. In the dream, I could feel a panic attack coming on.

Then, I woke up to start my day. Took the trash out, walked to Liberty Tax to try to finally finish our tax return (we had to file an extension for paper work reasons)… only to find out that, even though the office says its hours are M/W 10 am to 2 pm… there is nobody in the building. The office is closed. I wait until 10:30 am, then turn around and walk back home. Not happy.

At home, I keep playing Prosebox catch up. As I see many of you as friends, I do catch up like one might expect a conversation with a long-departed friend… information dump, all at once. So when I do catch up… it isn’t “reading a few entries from a few people”… it is “start at the last read entry for someone, and read until you’re caught up.” Which means… I still have quite a few to catch up on. Though, honestly, I think I’ll make it today. As it sits right now around Noon; the only things I have left to do today are (1) cook; (2) apply to a few jobs; (3) pick up RX/dry cleaning; (4) call Liberty Tax home office to demand that the location that still physically has all of my information do their damned job. So… I’m hoping/expecting that I can finish catch up today.

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After considerable amounts of reading, it was time to run errands and do some “work”… the quotation marks denoting that is isn’t work but merely… actions I am required to undertake. First to pick up Dry Cleaning and hit Liberty Tax again. Of course, this time they were open but it was a few scant minutes before closing time. Blargh! This better get sorted on Wednesday. I also picked up my Rx and ate a spot of lunch before shifting into Application Mode. :( Of course I’m going to apply and work towards getting a job… but I also don’t blame me for not being enthusiastic. I mean… yes, I am trying for an Assistant County Attorney position (sort of) but today is a lot of simply “Someone, anyone, hire me” and I hate being in a position of “I don’t care if I’ll hate the job, I just need something.” I applied to the Louisa County Attorney Office. Not awesome, but at least a practice area that I want.

Then I looked at the other job opportunities I can/should/will apply for.
(1) A Tribal Court Administrator that would oversee all Clerk of Court operations within Tribal Judicial Proceedings. Unqualified for that for a number of reasons.
(2) ACT in-house Attorney specializing in transactional and corporate law. Minimum 5 years experience required with 3 years experience in secured transactions. Very unqualified for that.
(3) University of Northern Iowa Associate Counsel. Minimum 3 years of experience in Labor Law required. I’d love to apply to this job due to location; but it would be a waste of everyone’s time after looking at the detailed requirements.
(4) Telpner Peterson Smith, Ruesch, Thomas & Simpson, LLP Associate Position. This job would suck on every level. We wouldn’t move out of Omaha, I don’t know if it is a paying gig, and it is purely financial bullshit. As much as I need to build up legal experience… I’m not this desperate yet. This is more of a “Apply in July” position!
(5) Kids First Law Center out of Cedar Rapids. The job would be a nightmare but a necessary one. Low pay, shit hours, handling high-risk kids. But it is a job that needs doing.
(6) Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLP… this firm is out of Wisconsin but has an office in my hometown. Nothing about this job, the hiring process, or the training process sounds appealing… but all of that can be swallowed if it lets me come back home.
(7) Prichard Law Office, PC from Charles City. This one flat out makes me nervous. It isn’t requesting experienced applicants, quite the opposite. City population is just over 7k and I’m not thrilled with relative location. But definitely need to/will apply.
(8) Iowa Realty In House Counsel Position. Required 5+ years experience and admitted to Federal Bar. NOT qualified.
(9) Holland Law Office in Iowa City. Attorney is looking to retire and wants to train his replacement. It looks like he isn’t looking for someone with my lack of experience, but I will apply to this one anyway. Maybe I can convince him that training someone with no experience will be easier than training someone who thinks they know-it-all already.

So… ten opportunities, including Louisa. How many do I even maybe qualify for or at least qualify enough to apply? Five, including Louisa. So after I send all of these out… I’ll have applied to 10 jobs. I hate this feeling… decidedly not wanting to get called back for any of these jobs but definitely wanting a job, money, and a place to move to.

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So… I applied to five jobs today. I did errands. I read ProseBox entries for 5 hours; and I even cooked a beef/salad monstrosity. But I didn’t work out like I wanted to. And I didn’t get enough reading done. And the applications… really not sure how to feel about them!

Food Journal

1 Banana
3 Glasses of Gatorade
1 Piece Hot Tamale Pie
1 Glass Orange Juice
AND a fancy salad I made: