I love cats, dogs and other animals (sometimes more than people). I love my work too.
OK, so I couldn't think of an applicable title...
This is what's been going on in my life recently:
OK, that's the brief version of what's been going on lately. That's all I really have time for now...
This is probably going to end up being a lengthy post since I haven't written in a while. Also, those of you who visit my site outside of LJ will notice that I'm in the process of changing my layout and design. I think it's at least workable at the moment, but it's not finished by any means. I think I was just ready for a change. So on to what's been going on in my corner of the world...
is going slowly. I've gotten interviews and even second interviews, but seem to ultimately run into the same problem. I always ask what the time frame is for the decision and get told they will call me and let me know within that time frame. Now I already know better than to wait around and sit by the phone. I think a majority of people who say they will call you back very rarely ever do. When the day that I was supposed to hear back comes and goes, at it always seems to do, I pick up the phone and call them. That's after I've written them a thank you note, of course. For the company I got a second interview, I ended up having to leave messages, which of course were never returned. I pretty much knew at that point that I didn't get the job, but it irked me that they couldn't call me back or even email me back and let me know that. I would think they'd rather tell me that they hired someone else than have me calling and leaving messages. I finally found out for sure that they hired someone else. But guess who it was that told me that? It was the new hire, not the company, because they couldn't be bothered to call me back. The odd thing is that I just saw the ad again in the paper for the same position so evidently their new hire didn't work out so well. I already know they don't return phone calls so it would probably be a total waste of my time to try for the job again.
I had an interview last week and it sounded promising as well. The pay sucked and they didn't offer any benefits, but I was willing to take the job to get my foot in the door and besides, it seemed like it would be interesting. They were going to interview the rest of that day and make their decision by the next, or so I thought. I had the interview at 2 p.m. and ended up spending the rest of the afternoon in the library since I had class at 6. I wasn't going to drive all the way home and then back again. After the interview, I grabbed a bite to eat from a drive-thru and sat in the parking lot and ate it. I ended up giving my last 50 cents to some homeless guy that walked up to my window. I told him I only had like 50 cents left and I didn't think that would help him much, but he said "every little bit helps." I knew he was probably trying to get enough money together to buy a six pack of beer, but I guess if I had to sleep outside as cold as it's been, I'd want a six pack of beer, too. Before I left to go to the library, he actually offered to give me one of his beers. I declined and wished him a good day.
The person they were replacing at the job I had interviewed for wasn't coming back this week as Friday was her last day. They were looking for someone to be able to start right away. Again, I didn't receive a phone call and I've left messages. I still haven't gotten a call and I'm fairly pessimistic that I will receive a call. After all, it appears no one will call you if you DIDN'T get the job and I think if I had gotten the job or they were going to do a second round of interviews, then I would have received a call. I really hate this "we'll call you" mentality when you know damn well they aren't going to call you.
I don't know why I'm able to get the interview but not get the job offer. Generally in the past, if I got an interview, I almost always had the job offer too. I've noticed that just about in each one of these cases, I was one of the first ones they called to interview. Maybe I need to try to be one of the last ones they interview. I just don't know. I know it's downright discouraging because I NEED a job and I need it YESTERDAY. Yet you can't go into an interview and act desperate for a job. But I am. I don't know if it's because I'm going to school, because I've been out of work for almost a year now (according to my resume, at least) or what exactly it is that is causing employers to pass me over for job offers.
I'm concentrating more on networking, since I have many classmates that actually do have jobs in law firms. I got my resume into a firm where one of my classmates is working and am hoping it will generate an interview. I also have gotten in touch with the local paralegal association and am going to join it as a student member. I'm hoping that might help generate some leads. I'm just at the point where I may end going to work at Winn-Dixie or whatever place is hiring and will give me a job, no matter what it is or how bad the pay is. It's better than nothing. Hubby got a $3/hr raise, which will be good, but still with $400 being eaten up every month just for him to get back and forth to work, it doesn't go far. We're just always so broke, it seems and every bill is always on the verge of getting shut off, it seems. So I definitely need a job badly.
is going well. I find all my classes interesting and am doing well in all of them. This semester I'm taking Legal Writing, Professional Ethics and Liability, Civil Procedure, and Evidence. Two of the classes are totally online. One is half and half and my Evidence class is a regular class. That's the one that I have a local Judge as my instructor. We're actually getting experience in briefing cases and he's going to use the Socratic method during the semester, which is what they supposedly do a lot of in law school. It ought to be interesting.
On top of all of that, I also have to start studying for the LSAT (Law School Admissions Test) because I would like to take the one they offer in June. I think UCF offers some weekend intensive courses on the LSAT and of course there are some I've found online and also practice books, etc. I've checked out what the questions are like and overall, they are not really difficult. What gets difficult is the time frame you have to answer them in. I just would like to get a halfway decent score on the LSAT because my overall cumulative GPA is not that great. I'm carrying the baggage from the first time I went to college and didn't do so well 15 years ago. Since I've been back, I've had nothing but A's and one B. But even 4.0 for a semester or two doesn't seem to bring the cumulative up very much. I've been told that the fact that I'm doing well now that I've come back to school will be looked at more favorably than the overall GPA, but I will probably have to address it somewhat in my personal statement.
I guess for now I just need to concentrate on my courses and getting prepared for the LSAT in June. It's just another reason why I need a job. Taking LSAT preparation courses or books and even taking the test itself aren't free.
is what I do when I'm not looking for work or working on classwork. I guess it's meditative, in a way. I'm almost done with my second sock of my first pair. The second one already looks better than the first one does. I also have more sock yarn to try out so I've been looking for some new sock patterns. I got this one type of yarn called TOFUtsies and I'm looking for a good men's dress sock pattern to go along with it.
Actually I found a real yarn store that isn't that far away, so naturally I had to go check it out. I bought the sock yarn, 2 balls of Royal Bamboo yarn (so incredibly soft), one ball of Artful Yarns Heroes and some double pointed needles in sizes I didn't have.
Here's a picture of my yarn haul:
It's hard to see the business card, but the store is called Threads of Time and it's a really nice yarn store. It's also probably calling Lorena's name... :biglaugh:
RANDOM
Let us rise up and be thankful,
for if we didn’t learn a lot today,
at least we learned a little,
and if we didn’t learn a little,
at least we didn’t get sick,
and if we got sick,
at least we didn’t die;
so, let us be thankful.
-The Buddha
Well, it appears I will crush in fantasy football this week, easily. That will put me at a 5 game winning streak and hopefully cinch me getting into the playoffs. I have 119 points with Gado still left to play tomorrow night. My opponent has 51 points and has 2 players left to play on Monday night as well. I don't see him closing the gap with 2 players, though. For this being my first year to play fantasy football, I don't seem to be doing too badly. It's kind of funny because the commissioner of the league I'm in wasn't too keen at first about me being in the league not having played fantasy football before. He wanted to make sure he got a group of serious people that would do their homework and be competitive in the league. I only got in because someone else backed out and they needed another person. To be fair, though, I have gotten some help on the side from a friend, who will remain unnamed. I figured it best to ask advice from someone not in my league. The last few weeks I've made more decisions on my own without getting advice and some of my decisions have worked out fairly well. I don't care whether it's good advice from my friend or my own decision making, as long as I keep winning.
I played 3 mini tournaments of Texas hold 'em tonight. I came in 2nd on two of them and won a couple of T-shirts and a couple of free drinks. Originally it was supposed to be a $10 bar tab for 2nd place, but the bar downgraded it since they didn't have many people there. I thought that was kind of lame of them to do that. But I didn't really care, because I just like playing and at least winning something. On the last table I took 4 people out with one hand. Unbelievable. Evidently it's my heads up play that needs a bit of practice now.
Well, I got registered for school last week. I had hoped to take one of the classes online, but by the time I could get registered, all the online classes were taken. I had to go to the college in person on Tuesday just to be able to get 2 of the classes I needed since they haven't finished evaluating my transcripts yet. I couldn't register online because it said I needed to take English Comp I, which I've already taken. I've taken several English courses, so I knew that should transfer, but I just had to go there and show them my unofficial transcript so they would let me register for the 2 classes that needed that as a prerequisite.
So I'm taking Art Appreciation, World Religion and Spanish I. They are all classes I have to take as part of the required core curriculum. The Art Appreciation is the Humanities course I need 3 credit hours in and the World Religion is one of the courses I can take to fulfill my History requirement of 3 credit hours. Then I have to have some foreign language courses, so that's what the Spanish is for. I had a bit of Spanish in high school, but don't know if that will count towards anything or not.
The way my schedule is, I won't be home Monday through Thursday until after 9 p.m. I have Spanish on Monday and Wednesday starting at 7. I can go from work to the college and spend the downtime studying or preparing for class, etc. plus maybe get a bite to eat. I won't have as much time on Tuesday and Thursday between work and class. I'm glad I don't have class on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Still, I'm going to be extremely busy, it appears. I'm taking 10 hours and working full time.
This week is going to be a short week at work. I have Thursday and Friday off. We don't have any plans for Thanksgiving. Last year we cooked, but I'd just as soon eat out and not deal with it this year. It's only the two of us and while sometimes it's nice to have the big dinner (and the leftovers), it's also nice not to have to do the big clean up afterwards. Of course this just reminds me that I still haven't done any Xmas shopping yet. I really am broke too. I've already told most of my family that if they want to get me anything, it would help if it was something that could go toward school. I'd like to get one of those smaller laptops that will be easier to cart around. I don't need the biggest, baddest top of the line. I saw one at Wal-Mart a while back that was about the same price as what we paid for our used laptop. I might be able to find one of those used even cheaper. I'm just going to wait and see because I don't know what financial aid I'm getting and I know some of it can be used for buying something like that, plus the school sometimes has deals with some computer companies for getting a discount. I'm not in dire need at this point, but it would be nice to have something smaller and lighter. I plan to rewrite (or retype) my notes. It helps me learn the material better and frankly my handwriting sucks. Especially if I'm writing stuff in a hurry, like trying to take notes quickly. If I rewrite or retype the notes the same day, I seem to remember it longer.
Well, I'm going to take my shower, so I think I've babbled long enough.
Cats in the Cradle
by Harry Chapin
A child arrived just the other day,
He came to the world in the usual way.
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay.
He learned to walk while I was away.
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew,
He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad.
You know I'm gonna be like you."
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."
My son turned ten just the other day.
He said, "Thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play.
Can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today,
I got a lot to do." He said, "That's ok."
And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed,
Said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah.
You know I'm gonna be like him."
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."
Well, he came from college just the other day,
So much like a man I just had to say,
"Son, I'm proud of you. Can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile,
"What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys.
See you later. Can I have them please?"
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."
I've long since retired and my son's moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind."
He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu,
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad.
It's been sure nice talking to you."
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,
He'd grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."