(no subject)

Yesterday, at my second appointement with a temporary service this week,
they actually tested me on various office programs and skills. (I have a
second appointment with the first agency tomorrow to do testing.)
I was pleasantly surprised to find that I now type at approximately 58
words per minute (adjusted for errors) and that, though I'm a little rusty with
Microsoft Word (and can't find my copy; my server is busy trying to
download one even as I type), they think that I have good prospects for finding
employment in a clerical or data entry capacity. I also, upon the person who was interviewing me saying something about not being sure why the page was printing oddly, told her that the print cartridge was out of alignment and told her how to fix it. *smirk* Now if I could just get paid to do that kind of troubleshooting... But all in good time.

I had the opportunity to take another light industrial assembly sort of
job through Kelly Services yesterday, but after much deliberation on my part
and consultation with the raccoon girl, I decided to pass in favor of
something with better hours (it was another 7 to 3:30 job) and, hopefully, a
non-labor position. I was angsty for a long while anyway, simply for having passed up a job. Though Andrea tells me it was the right choice, I still feel terrible about not being in a better position to take care of her.

I should state that my current state of employment is, very likely, entirely my fault. I explain to all the services I'm signing up with that I was let go for several reasons; that the strenuous repetitive motion aggravated my wrist injury resulting in too much time out, that the hours were difficult to reconcile with my newly begun schooling, and other semi-valid reasons that come to mind. In the end, the truth is that I was late too often and took too much time off.

I'd never really had a 'real' job before, and I was stupid and/or naive about the environment of one. If you recall, one of my last few entrys was about my deciding that I wasn't going to go in to work that day, that I 'really needed' a day to work on stuff at home and get it together. That was the day I got, to use the wonderfully colorful British term, sacked.

I've learned from this. I've learned that my system of priority was not quite in line with real world expectation. I have changed that. I still value my beloved and my family above any job I might have. I just need to lower the priority of myself a bit. I'll do better next time. That doesn't mean that I feel better about having lost my job though, nor should I. I actually feel very sleazy and contemptible. I keep having mental images of the stereotypical drunken slacker, laying on the couch watching TV and telling his wife 'That one was just driving me crazy. I'll keep the next job.'

My beloved has been amazingly supportive of me and my attempt to look for work of the non shop-rat nature. Even while she's stayed home sick the last two days and worried about losing her job due to the time out, she's been so caring and reassuring and really seems to believe in me. All I can do to repay such a blessing is to work as hard as I can at being worthy.

School is going pretty well. I finally got my practice exams on CD on Monday evening. I took the A+ hardware one last night; the full exam with all two hundred and forty something questions, with no reviewing. I passed it. I sent email to the school just an hour or so ago asking for information on sitting for the exam. I am pretty confident that it won't be a problem, especially if I brush up on the couple of things I missed. In the OS portion classes, I'm learning a lot more that I didn't know before, so the exam will be harder. Still, I'm pretty sure I can manage that one too. As I told Andrea, I knew about 90-95% of the hardware before I sat down in class; for OS, it's only about 60%. But I have time to study these days, and I'm damn sure going to use it. In two weeks' time, I will have my A+ cert, and I'm going to start putting resumes in everywhere I can think of; from anything online that looks vaguely possible to Best Buy and the like, to all the little computer stores you see sitting in strip malls. I will find something, and I will take care of my 'coon girl.

I worry about her. She went to a walk-in clinic, paying cash for the visit (she still doesn't have insurace through her job after not being on Darren's anymore), because of her terrible congestion and sinus issues. Though they told her there was no sign of infection (that's what she was worried about) and that it's just allergies, she doesn't feel that that's the case. She's going to work today only out of fear of losing her job if she's out too much. Please send good energy her way, in whatever fashion you prefer to do so in. Thank you. *hugs*

Oww. My left arm is still messed up from factory work. I can't reach up to scratch my back without this nasty pain in my shoulder... *sigh*

I signed up for unemployment today. I was told on the phone that they 'don't have an office I can come in to.' *shrug* That's odd, as my sweetie told me she's been to the unemployment office. Maybe the've changed things. Still, I prefer not leaving the house if I have to (I've wasted so much time driving the last week or so). It seems I'll be getting upwards of $150 a week. That'd be wonderful! It's enough to pay my bills and have a little bit left over for stuff like gas. That's assuming I'm elligible. I'm worried about my manner of dismissal from Clark Brothers. I may try to fight a denial and say that my out time was unavoidable due to automobile and health issues. Does anyone have any experience with that? In any case, I have enough money to pay bills for a few months anyway, and that's without even dipping into savings. I'm still stressed though. I want to be able to buy my obsolete gadgets and computer games at thrift store without worrying about money. I'm going to find something. I will find a job. Things will work out. That's just the way the universe works.

In the meantime, I'm going to do some studying and some cleaning up around here.