Ps

I was feeling spring like, hence the new fancy colours.

Stoopid Hard Drive

I blame the fact that the hard drive died on my brand new computer 3 weeks after I received it for Christmas - and that I sent it away to be repaired and have since been waiting for it to return for the past THREE WEEKS - for my not updating my blog.

In this day when everyone has their own this-and-that communication device, it really throws a wrench in the mix. I can't just lounge by the pc and surf the internet because there's always that feeling like you're being timed. I'm using the father-in-law figure's laptop right now, and only feel able to write because it's 9am and he's at work. This is the computer I often end up using because of the whole "it's free till three" type thing...but I do feel a pang of guilt when the drop down bar's first two links are to perezhilton.com and cocoperez.com (Perez's fashion blog). Oops.

Doesn't that feel odd sometimes, though? That moment when you realize that each member of your family is in a different room, using a different computer? Or, in the same room, each using a different computer, and not talking. Sometimes they're not talking, but cyber chatting? That's a really weird moment. Do you remember having only one computer, and everyone had to share it? It seems crazy now.

Anything else on my horizon? Maybe. I have some very promising news, but I hesitate to talk about it until the deal is sealed. But I'll let you all know when it's ripe!

Things haven't been all that happy for me lately, but with this news, I'm feeling a lot better. I was feeling like my soul was being sucked out by the two minimum-wage paying jobs I'm working, but with the knowledge that things will change has made me so much more happy. There is absolutely no worse feeling than the feelings you get from being unemployed, carless, penniless(in the red, actually, with the credit card and student loan payments), living like a gypsy in two homes (so I never quite feel permanent in anything), and feeling glowered at because you sleep till noon. You'd sleep till noon too if you had nothing else to do for 5 months. And what's worse, I couldn't even incorporate in the things I loved to do (dancing or swimming, or example) because they often involve ca$h-ola - money I didn't have to spend on non vital things. The whole situation was ruining me. What's worse, my fiancee was in exactly the same situation (only with no debt). So we've both been feeling pretty useless.

Today, though, I woke up at 8am...without an alarm. I've done that three days in a row now. That's a really good sign. I have something to look forward to. It's a real good thing, and we both feel like it's our turn to have something go right in our lives. I even dressed up all pretty and we went out for Indian on Valentines. Real nice. mmm.

Old Friends

I've been sending plenty of snail mail lately, and not to too many people. I've got 4 or 5 people I send mail to, and I realized I might be bombarding some of them. So, I thought to myself "Who can I send mail to?"

Then I remembered someone I went to elementary school with. She was a truly wonderful friend who moved to Port Moody in 1998 (far away at time time, because we both lived in Ontario). Since moving to BC myself, I'd only seen her once - the same year I came. So, through the magic of the internet I found my friend's home phone number, not knowing whether she still even lived there or not.

Today I called the number....

Her mum answered, and she certainly remembered me! We had a short chat to bring each other up to speed, and gave me my friend's email address. I would have liked snail mail, but this might be faster for initial contact since she's living in London England. (not surprising. Her mum's English, and still has ties). Too bad I didn't know this before because she was living in this large (shared) home right in London when the Fiance and I travelled through it in the fall! Ships passing in the night.

So, I've got her email address, and we'll see if she writes back!

(Also, took the resume to the dairy today. The meeting went really well, and she says she'll know by next week. cross the fingers!)

New Job

Worked my first shift at my new job today. A little yawn worthy since I spent the 4 hours watching the training videos, but I was told that tomorrow I'll actually get to don my apron and hit the floor. Could be interesting. We'll see.

I'm not sure how I feel about working retail yet. The big "thing" is that we're supposed to really push sales and 'offer new ideas' for a person to buy until 'she says stop.' What if I don't think they should buy it? Who cares? I'm supposed to ring in every sale that I'm responsible for, and I key in a number to show that it was 'my' sale. Who cares if it was my sale, especially if I'm not being paid commission? Just some of my musings.

There's one more place that I'm going to apply to tomorrow. A dairy. It's close to home, so it would be really convenient. Actually, I thought that if I could get this job and a shift or two at a local yarn shop (which could happen - we'll see) I would be happy. I'd have one job which involves physical labour, and one job that I get to be involved with something I really have a passion for. But, we'll see.

In the meantime, I'm fending off some respiratory bug. I finally went to see a doctor (at the request of the fiancee because my coughing was keeping him up at night) and he put me on some antibiotics. Hopefully I'll be rid of the most socially unacceptable symptoms of illness in the very near future. Although, my abs feel tight from all the coughing! Haha.

Oh, and along the way today I made an appointment to try on real actual dresses at a local bridal shop on Saturday. That'll be a real pick-me-up after all the stress and self-doubt I've had lately on account of the no-nursing-work situation. If I can take photos, I will! And I'll post some of 'em!

The Added Incentive...

Oh, and I decided what I was going to give to myself as the 'prize' for finally getting a real nursing job.

I saved and saved and saved up my shopper's drug mart points. For Christmas, mom and dad gave me 9000 of them, which was 8000 more than I needed. Now, I have 75 000 points, and can use them to get $150 worth of stuff from Shoppers and only pay the tax. That's about $18. When I finally get my nursing job, I'll allow myself to cash in on those points.

I'm thinking I might just toss all of my makeup (minus the really new stuff, or fancy brushes I already have) and get a new set. I'm sure most of it should be tossed anyway since most of it is old. But it's a (n almost) free shopping spree which I'll be more than happy to go on to celebrate.

I'll tell you all about my loot when the time comes.

adventures in .... where?

This blog was intended to chronicle my adventures as a nurse, but as of late, I'm not doing much of it. It would seem like I should maybe call this blog "Sarah's adventures getting into nursing land." I have faith that eventually it will work out, but I'll tell you it's pretty discouraging sometimes.

I was able to speak to a recruiter at one Vancouver hospital that seemed really nice and offered to keep tabs on my application. She said that they foresaw being able to hire again in March. I'll call her then to make sure.

I went to chat with an old professor of mine last Friday, who helped me do some brainstorming. She suggested I apply for jobs within Public health in Vancouver and Victoria. I'm working on that.

This week, though, my main focus has been on applying for jobs that will pay the bills. Where have I applied?

The Verse
Movie Gallery
Tony Roma's
Milestones
Chapters
Cineplex Odeon
Aldo shoes
Duffy's Pub
On the Rocks
Reitmans
Pier 1
Warehouse One Jeans
Montana's
White Spot
Boston Pizza
London Drugs
Jysk
Winners
Shoppers Drug Mart
the Keg
Value Village
A Twist of Fate Yarns

And I still have plans (and a cover letter for)

Tumbleweeds Pub

So, These last two days I've been busy send out the resumes. Today I had an open-call interview for the White Spot opening in the Holiday Inn on the North Shore that's just about to open up. I also had an interview at BP yesterday (the interviewer seemed to like me, but I don't have any experience, so we'll see how it goes). I also have an interview scheduled for tomorrow at Pier One. Mike got at call this morning for an interview at Jysk. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

What's been interesting is to see how potential employers react when they realize that I'm not a nursing student, but an actual, real live nurse. When I explain why I'm not working in my field, they're quite understanding, but their first reactions are usually pretty interesting. It usually starts with "OH!...wow...huh..."
Even though I needed money anyway, what really got me on the kick this week was the realization that I couldn't even pay for the courses to keep me up-to-date (nursing-wise). If I let my CPR + first aid courses lap, what kind of nurse would I be? It would also be nice to know that I could pay my cell phone bill, or put more than the minimum payment onto my credit card every month. Or get a gym pass so I could at least feel like I had something valuable to do with my time outside of the house. Basically, I wanted to be able to earn money for a little bit of independence. Being unemployed without a little nest egg of some sort really blows and I wouldn't advise it.

To my credit, I am definitely not the only nurse (or degree holding professional) without a job. In speaking with that professor of mine, we discussed how when I was in school, everything was "Jobs here! Come to us! 1000's of jobs!" and then within 6 months of my graduation, government funding for jobs dried up. Now the teachers are telling nursing students that jobs are very few, and they should likely take whatever job they can get, because there isn't room for picking and choosing. So I at least have that going for me - that I'm not the only one.

In the meantime, wish me uber-luck!

NEW 'PUTER

aaah, yes.

After some meddling, buying the wrong product, more meddling, and then some fiddling, my new computer (with thanks to a certain fiancee) has Internet! So my gift to you for the New Year is a new blog post...with many more to follow!

Since the last time I wrote, I was let down by the hospital I was pursuing. It was the Friday before Christmas, so it was like an early 'eat shit and die' Christmas present. not really, but for those few hours after I got the email, that's sort of how it felt. The worst part was how I got the email letting me down in the first place. It went like this:

Email #1: Thank you for blah blah blah...unfortunately, we cannot blah blah...

Email #2: Please disregard the previous email.

(Pause. Wait....so what does this mean? Did they not mean to send this to me? They were letting others down and I ended up on the wrong mailing list? what?)

Email #3: Thank you for blah blah blah...unfortunately, we cannot blah blah blah....but we would like to encourage you to contact --- on the --- unit, as they may have a position available to you.

F%$&!

It was pretty effing lame. Why not just send an additional email to the let down one, rather than giving me an afternoon of doubt and hope and confusion? And since I was dead broke, I couldn't even go anywhere or buy anything (including junk food, which may or may not have been a good thing) to make things feel better.

and the best part? They'd waited three week to tell me this, and there wasn't anything I could do after that because you know that every other hospital nursing recruiter was going to be on holiday starting from the moment I got the third email. Although, one of them did manage to send me a reply email just to let me know that after that day, she was no longer working for that hospital, and that she'd forward my correspondence to the next recruiter in her position. *yawn*. sure.

But enough of the griping and moping. That was weeks ago now!

Christmas turned out to be quite lovely. I managed to get in tons of baking, and cooking and knitting and crafting. As it turns out, if you only have a can of cherry and a can of blueberry pie filling left in your cupboard, blueberry-cherry pie tastes great! I did my very best to do Christmas on a dime, and that turned out o.k. too. Most people understood that I haven't been in any position to go shopping for anything, but I tried my best to turn out handmade items that really meant something. I still have an item or two to churn out, but I don't feel like anyone felt like they were jipped. On the other side, I felt like those around me were particularly generous. Somehow I ended up with a new kitchen! Sort of. Come Christmas Dinner, I'd been outfitted with a bread maker, two crock-pots (one has been returned and since transformed into some new cookie sheets), dish towels, cook books, and an assortment of other items. The bread maker turns out some lovely loaves, and although I've only made glorified BBQ cocktail weenies in my crock pot, I feel some excellent recipes coming on.

I managed to pack in at least two Christmas dinners and a New Year's feast with both mine and M's family in attendance...so I feel like this Christmas I was well fed for both body and soul. Yum.

My New Year's Resolution? I really want to turn this year into something even better than 2009. 2009 was amazing. living in Vancouver, flying in a Cessna for 2 weeks, living in Ontario (and gorging on theatre), travelling to Europe, getting engaged...If I remember any year, it'll be this past one. I would love if I could make 2010 even more amazing.

But I'll save writing about New Years for Tomorrow.

Cookalong

I'm still waiting. sigh.

But there isn't much more I can do. In writing an email to my potential employer indicating that I'd changed my primary contact phone number, she replied (at the time, which was last week) that they were "making their decisions this week, and will be letting people know next week." It's next week now. Tuesday. If I don't hear anything by Friday night, well, I'll know I didn't get the job. But I'm trying to think positively. THINK POSITIVELY.

In the meantime, I was watching the movie Julie and Julia yesterday. Later, I saw a commercial for Gordon Ramsay's Cookalong Live. A three course meal that you will make along with him on tv, and will be totally done in an hour. So, with a couple of friends (in lieu of a fancy dinner out for Christmas) we're going to make this meal. Pasta for the appetizer, steak and potatoes with peas for the main, and tiramisu for dessert. Wish us luck! I'll let you know how it goes!

The show's on tonight, but there will be a couple of repeats. If you're interested, go to globaltv.com, or follow THE LINK

Happy eating!

Waiting Takes So Long!

In my last post, I commented on how I feel like the waiting period between my interview and a potential call back has been terribly nail-biting.

But I wasn't sure exactly how long I'd been waiting. So I went into my "sent" mailbox so see which day I sent BCCH my references. That was the 25th of Nov. Today is Dec the 9th. It's been 14 days. Minus the 4 weekend days, There have only been 10 eligible days in which to contact and interview my references. I had been thinking I'd waited at LEAST three weeks. Turns out it's only been 10 days. Oh, how the days roll on like dark molasses having been in my freezer!

So I suppose I'm still within normal range. Hopefully, I'll hear something by the end of this week. Truly, it would be the bestest Christmas gift of all!

Pause

I'm just waiting.

I did my BC Children's Hospital interview some time ago, sent them my references, and now I'm waiting to hear something (anything) back from them. This whole process has taken so much longer than I had originally expected, but it's this last bit that has me concerned. I started in on this in October, spoke with a recruiter in early November, did the interview late November, and now it's December. I suppose I didn't mind so much that all that other stuff took so long because I knew at least things were moving forward. But now I'm at the end of the process, and each day I wait I start to have more and more doubts. Will they call me? Would I have had the job in the bag if I'd done a better interview (even though I've already worked on that unit before!)? Did one of my references not give me a good reference?

Of course, once you get onto that train, you start to have lots of crazy thoughts. What if I don't get this job? I won't have worked as a nurse since May. What if nobody hires me because of this? I won't have enough RN hours to renew my nursing membership! What if I'm just not cut out for this? What if this is all a sign and I should just do something different?

Not really healthy. But one gets antsy after sitting around for months - literally- without any firm prospects or guarantees of work. Knowing (through the magic of social network sites) that all of your peers are working and being successful doesn't help either. Just makes you feel less competent.

And at least my significant other has an excuse. With the economic downturn, there just aren't as many jobs for engineers. Companies aren't hiring because there isn't money for new projects. So he knows it could be a while before he's gainfully employed.

What's my excuse? There isn't one.

but if I don't hear anything from BCCH by the end of this week, I'm going to make a call. I'd at least like to know if they've struck me off the list, or if they're just getting their ducks in a row before they hire me.

So, I'll wait.