To Spring

I'm enjoying this beautiful weather, and am ready for a change of season in more ways than one.

Keep the sunshine coming. Hamlet agrees.

Oh, Mommy! What wondrous smells!

I can has squirrel?

... _ _ _ ...

Why is it so difficult for a smart, educated, young professional to get a job?

I don't like a being a victim. Being on unemployment is embarrassing, and I am tired of letting the world judge my worth and beating me down to believe they are correct.

I am tired of applying for jobs, going on interviews that tell me I have the qualities they are looking for in an ideal candidate, then having them pick someone else. I am tired of getting the stock, "We appreciate your time and talents, but we ultimately went with a candidate who was better qualified." WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? What's worse, is that I've built good rapport with more than one interview and then they just never get back to me...get off your high horses...you were here once, too. A small, insignificant speck before you got the corner office and awesome salary. I'm over you.

In my job hunt, I've been advised against a few things.

1. Don't let on that I'm engaged
2. Don't make it apparent that I'm a recent college graduate

These things upset me for a few reasons. I am naive and idealistic. I don't deny this, nor do I regret it. I still think that people should be judged based on their person, their talents. Isn't refusing a job to someone who would be a great fit in 10 more years even though they meet the requirements now an act of ageism? I'm sorry, but you haven't been answering phones professionally for nearly long enough. Try us again when you're older.

And what does it mean to not let them know I'm engaged? Do I not wear my ring to interviews? Should I buy a cheap sterling band so it looks like I'm already married? I mean, either way, there is going to come a time where I GET MARRIED. Wouldn't it be better to "come clean" from the get go rather than, a month before the wedding, asking for two weeks off?

I'm so sick of looking for a job where the people are just so totally unconcerned with the people with whom they're dealing. I'm sick of jumping through hoops for a room of blind people.

I am running out of time, out of patience, out of respect for myself and out of options.

I'm tried of living every day feeling like the world is trying to kill me, and having gotten to the point where I believe it to be true. I am tired of fighting with my utilities companies, with scrounging for money I don't have. I worked so hard my whole life in school to prepare for me jobs. Why do I feel now like that was a total waste and I'm gonna end up folding shirts anyway?

These last 5 months have totally broken me, and taken away a lot of the joy I found in life. I am jaded beyond jaded, depressed, and pretty much hopeless at this point. I keep thinking it'll get better, and it gets worse. If there's a bottom I'm not at yet, how much further can I possibly fall. That's a scary question...I hope it's not answered.

If anyone out there has any new directions I can take my job search, I'd really appreciate it. I've out CareerBuilt myself, slayed the Monster, and am scouring Craigslist as well as a few smaller job sites.

Consider this my official SOS.

Ladies and Gentlemen, my Friend, Tara

So just a little while ago, I got a text from Tara. It is possibly the best text I have ever received.

From Tara:
"I just cut the tip of my thumb off cutting potatoes and it hurts like a MOFO!!!! It won't stop bleeding--what do you think I should do?"

I, of course, called her immediately, and, when she answered her phone in giggles that must have been part delirium and part embarrassment, I yelled, "YOU TEXTED ME THAT?! REALLY?!" Apparently, by the time she consulted me, the clear medical expert, it had been half an hour of bleeding with no signs of stopping. This, plus holding her arm above her head for 30 minutes explains the delirium. When John and I inquired what kind of knife she was using, she declared, "It was a butcher knife. A really nice one--it was Wolfgang Puck!"

Then I learned the true chain of events.

1. start cutting taters
2. cut finger
3. run to bathroom, where husband is showering, to demand a band aid and help
4. Google search "how do I stop the bleeding after cutting off my thumb"
5. text me

I feel like after step #2, a nice call to a local hospital or doctor's office would have been prudent, but then we'd have no story.

And this, the latest text update from the knife0-wielding wonder herself:

Open Letter to People of Snow-Bound Areas

Dear People of Snow-Bound Areas,

Why do you lose your minds? Why? Yesterday, I needed to pick up some essentials at the food store before the second half of this one-two punch storm came through. Like many of you, I thought it wise to accomplish this in the afternoon before the bad weather arrived in the area. Why this means that the otherwise pleasant aisles of my local Shop Rite turned into a disaster area looting site, I do not know.

Mothers, I saw your carts careening, babies thrown willy-nilly as you played Supermarket Sweep in your head: FORMULA! DIAPERS! MUFFINS! CHOCOLATE! All I could do was pull my cart over and stay the hell out of your way, psychos. And just barely.

Elderly people, you at least maintained the same slow pace, clogged the aisles with your double-parked carts, and blocked entire displays of canned fruit. The problem, of course, in this unique situation is that you also blocked the emergency pull-offs for the rest of us, leaving us at the mercy of the zooming shoppers.

And why do people lose all conception of where things are? I must have seen the same woman pass me like five times going from one end of the store to the other and back again to pick up who knows what. MILK! WHERE IS THE MILK? WHERE IS THE COLD STUFF!

I was so happy to get out of there and come home. I can only imagine what it was like when the 9-to-fivers started filling the stores on their way home, heavy snow imminent. Oy.

And so, People of Snow-Bound Areas, I hope you enjoy your stash of goodies picked up yesterday, and in case you're wondering, that toe you ran over will be just fine.

Kudos

...to Yahoo for being cheeky. This is a response from everyone's favorite bot personality, Mailer Daemon.

Thu, February 4, 2010 3:00:25 PM

From:	"MAILER-DAEMON@yahoo.com"

---

Hi. This is the qmail-send program at yahoo.com.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

Playtime with Kitten

These are videos I had taken before Hammy got sick, but I didn't want to post them until he was feeling all better. So here, without further adieu, is Hamlet VS Toy and Hardwood Floors!

And here are some pics of Hammy checking out the many squirrels that live in our yard. This one is perched on the corner of the chain-link fence in the patch of land John and I hope to garden in come spring.

This is Hammy, post-hospital stay, with his naked tummy.

An Update on our Patient, Hamlet

Hello, all. Sorry I've been MIA the last few days, but as you know, we've been in the middle of kitten drama. We were able to visit him in the kitty hospital last night, and he was discharged into our care while we waited for the results of some cell samples they took from his colon, which was thickened. The concern was/is that it was/is a tumor which was/is the result of lymphoma. Of course, John and I were pretty much inconsolable at that possibility, but we are determined to do what we can to get Hammy feeling better. Another main concern of the vets' was his lack of interest in, and thus lack of intake of, food. He hadn't eaten a real meal since Friday night's dinner, which he vomited up Saturday morning. But he ate pretty well yesterday afternoon while still in the vets' care, and he nibbled some kibble while we visited him. Once we got him home, he perked up and we saw that immediately he was more comfortable and happier. His tail, which had been down and apprehensive popped up like a little periscope--he was curious. And boy was he ready to eat! He gobbled a regular-sized meal of mixed dry and wet food. His personality was pretty much back, though he was sleepy from the anesthesia he had while they were doing the abdominal ultrasound.

So we were very happy to have him home, but also nervous. We are sure to watch him closely, and we have to give him some medicines, an antibiotic as well as an appetite stimulant.

This afternoon Mom came to visit and keep me a little saner, and while we were in Bed Bath and Beyond, I got a call from one of his doctors and she said she had just gotten the lab results from the pathologist and couldn't wait to call me. She said, as suspected, the fine needle asperit test didn't yield very many cells, but it was enough to make a pretty good preliminary call. She said based on what they saw, it doesn't look like lymphoma, but rather a bad inflammation. She said, of course, something more serious can't be ruled out cuz it was a small sample from an isolated part of the colon. But his behavior at home is very encouraging, and he'll have a follow-up exam and new ultrasound in two weeks to see if he's improved, worsened or stayed the same and we'll figure out the next step(s) from there. Some exploratory surgery may still be recommended based on how that goes, and that would include a full-thickness biopsy of the colon, which means major (read: expensive and scary) surgery. So we're just taking it one hurdle at a time and helping our little guy to feel better.

He's currently curled up with me on the couch, snug as a bug in a rug. He snuggled us all night last night, and we can just tell he's overjoyed to be home with him mommy and daddy.

So keep sending good thoughts our way, and hopefully Hammy will keep on the path to recovery. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for all your love, support, and well wishes,

Maureen, John, and Hamlet