AmeriCorps Blog
Today should be the day I find out if I have a position with Planet Aid or not. I'm very nervous! Right now I feel like this was my best bet to land a job, and if I don't get a position, it lowers my chances for success considerably. But I'm trying to stay optimistic, and trying to get some Habitat work done, although it is a bit hard to concentrate.
Time to change the subject.
I'm really getting into Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. It's so much fun! But, just like when reading If on a winter's night a traveler... I get so immersed in one of the stories that when it jumps to a new one, I'm rather disgruntled for the first few pages of the next one. The two I've most enjoyed are the Sixsmith letters and the thriller novel spoof. I really recommend this book. (Read the Salon.com review.)
Arghh...I want a job!!!
OK, obviously I'm far too distracted right now to write anymore. But I'll write an update as soon as I know anything.
Fingers crossed!
I still haven't heard anything from Planet Aid. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Or maybe I'm a second choice, and they don't want to reject me outright until they hear from their first chioices.
I don't know!
OK, back to work for now, but I'll update as necessary.
You may or may not be suprised, Dear Reader (kidding, I won't start that) to hear that I have not yet heard from Planet Aid. I fear this is not a good sign, and hope is quickly dwindiling away.
Dwindle, dwindle, dwindle...
But, never fear, I am picking up myself up by my metaphorical bootstraps. New jobs I have applied to:
Scholasitc Book Fairs Customer Service Rep: Fairly self-explanetory position, I believe. I fondly remember ordering many a book (thanks for the money, Mom!) from them back in elementary school. Good times.
Development Associate: Helping with fundraising, etc with the Committee to End Elder Homelessness. They're kind of a Habitat for Humanity focused specifically on the elderly population. Because perhaps the only thing sadder than families without a home is someone's grandma without a home. In addition to building housing, they also help provide services for the elderly. They build group housing, mostly, with rooms or studios. The help with cooking, medication, etc, and bring in volunteers to help run activities, etc. It's quite lovely, really, they've won quite a few awards.
Special Assistant to the Executive Director: Strangely enough, they didn't explicityly ask for ten years of experience as an executive assistant, which is what most job postings of this kind ask for. This position is with Harbinger Partners, an organization that helps nonprofits effectively use technology to increase productivity.
Writing Associate: This is another position with the MASSPIRG, but specifically focused on producing the written material. Again, a great job (although not very lucrative, it's still over twice what I earn right now). Quite perfect for me.
Besides looking for future employment, I continue to wrestle with the newsletter (argh!) and also continue the joy of creating mailing lists and preforming mail merges. Good times. I love playing with Microsoft Office.
I just applied for a job at the zoo! No, I wouldn't be feeding monkies or brushing crocodile teeth. I would be in the development office. Raising money for the zoo! I'm the girl who really wanted to adopt a penguin at the Milwaukee Zoo when I was a kid. Hubert the Humboldt penguin. I had him all picked out and named, and I was so disappointed when I found out that you can't adopt a specific penguin. Unlike big animals, which you could adopt--"See that lion over there, she's mine!"--adopting a penguin was a more generic, symbolic gesture, and you weren't adopting one real penguin. Very disappointing. I had Hubert--I named him--all picked out. He had a very distinct personality.
Anyway... working in a zoo would be awesome! :-) We can only hope.
This morning I was "interviewed" by a student from Holy Cross for a project she's working on for her Violence and Conflict class. "Violence" is meant very metaphorically to include issues like the lack of affordable housing. So that was nice. I do so love talking (yes, yes, laugh all you want) about these issues.
OH MY GOSH! I have actual news! I got a call from Swedish Fred at Planet Aid. He asked me to come in for a second interview!
Take a minute and do a dance of joy with me...
I had, as you may have noticed, completely given up on a postion with them. Tra la la! :-)
On the non-job front, I also worked on fixing up my Cafe Press shop. The crazy colorful designs are new and improved. Give 'em a look, will ya?
Tomorrow is my last Saturday with Habitat as an "employee" of sorts. I had planned on a bit of a Habitat hiatus, but then I heard that plans are in the work to build walls inside over the winter. I'm so good at that! The overseeing of such an endeavor, I mean. I spent some of yesterday devising a system of labeling different wall sections and spreadsheets for keeping track. Good times indeed.
Speaking of Habitat, on a whim I went to the Dallas Habitat site, and I looked at pictures from the AmeriCorps Blitz Build they held last spring. Oh it looked like so much fun! And I saw pictures of all my favorite people: Steady Eddy, Trim Jim, Sylvia, B-Chang, Debby. It made me miss Dallas very much. I'm really going to have to get back there.
