The moldable clay that is my life

I'm at one of those points in my life right now where anything that I do over the next few days, weeks, months, will shape my life in one of a million ways. Things can turn out anyway that I choose! How often do we get a chance to say that after age 25, and after being married with 3 kids? Well I'm FINALLY realizing that I need to look at the state of my life as a blessed opportunity to go on an adventure and even discover more about myself and this world than I even knew existed! Trust me, it's a lot easier to saunter down the hallway of despair that leads to the never ending road of depression, that takes you...well, I don't even want to know where that takes you. I'd rather sip on the lemonade made from all of these lemons I have received this year. All I had to do was add a little sugary perspective to make it taste sweet! More on that in a minute.

First, I want to update on the job search. Being laid off while pregnant REALLY SUCKS more than you even realize at first. I mean everyone has their opinions about "what you should do". I think most people mean well, but you can tell who HAS and who HASN'T been in this situation before. I've gotten "Just pull from your savings for a while!" and "you can just get unemployment so you should be fine." -or- "Just get that COBRA insurance." But my FAVORITE has been "Well, you will save a lot of daycare expense by being home with your baby anyway." Really? Thanks for summing up and solving my problems for me in 3.4 seconds, I appreciate it a great deal.

(Side note: did you know that you're not eligible to collect unemployment while you're unable to work? So if you're in the hospital for 4 or 5 days including full labor and delivery, and then home with your baby for another few weeks and unable to interview for jobs, you're NOT eligible to collect unemployment...AGAIN, being laid off while pregnant SUCKS)

I have learned that we all are SUCH experts on a subject BEFORE we've actually had to go through it ourselves. We think we can be better managers than our boss. We think we can raise better children than those around us. We think we always have the answer to someone's problem, even when they haven't asked our opinion at all. Maybe if we focused more on being encouraging and reminding people that they have a friend, we'd actually not just be using hot air and actually make a difference to someone who could really use the reminder that everything is going to be okay.



But to sum up the job situation, I've been doing the typical dance with recruiters over the past few months. They tell me that I'm a perfect fit for a job. I get excited and wait on them to call me back and give me the date and time of my interview with the company. I never hear back from them. And bow; curtain drops. The steps of the dance are ALWAYS the same...there's just different attire worn and the stage settings change. This has got to be in the top 5 most frustrating things for a person to go through, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

There's this one job that stood out in the pack, though. I got called about it from a recruiter named Kevin back while I was still pregnant . I had about 64 recruiters call me about this one job, because the details in my resume showed that I was THE perfect candidate for this job!! This was the first time that I actually believed that this was MY job. Even though the location is not particularly ideal based on where I live, the job is located in my FAVORITE part of metro Atlanta to work! The pay is AWESOME. And the job function is almost an exact match to what I have been doing over the past 4 years. The one recruiter that I allowed to submit me for the job told me to let him know once I had the baby, and we'd see if the position was still available. I called him 3 DAYS after having my son only to find out that the position was filled. THAT one hurt, plain and simple. I've had recruiters calling me since then and it's just been really much more of the same.



So on Friday I got a call from Kevin again. He said that a position had opened up at the SAME job that I wanted so badly! I literally began jumping around the room. There was one catch...I would have to take an online Java test. I knew there had to be a catch. You see, for people like me, all we need to do is get into the interview. It's a done deal at that point. When you start picking my brain and quizzing me and stuff, well,...let's just say that this is NOT my forte. So I took the test and scored 48% higher than everyone else that took it. Not good. Even though the results earned me a Java certification from Brainbench and said "Congratulations you passed!". I don't think the hiring manager is looking for passing scores. I think he wants to feel confident that the person they're hiring has enough info about Java to work all by themselves on projects. A score such as this doesn't reflect that. I can program in Java with my eyes closed. Can I take a test on the theory of Java fundamentals? Yes, but not well enough to get a high score!

So for now, I'm not going to fret. I'm going to spend a couple of hours refreshing my memory on some Java tips and tricks and take the test 2 more times this afternoon. I'll take it once more first thing tomorrow morning and whichever is the best of my 4 scores, that's what I'll send. Then I'll sit back and enjoy my life and not worry about whether I ever hear back from this recruiter or not. Life's too short to sit around waiting for something that may not happen. Worse case: I don't get a job and it's closing in on Christmas. Oh well, I'll be a stay at home mom and enjoy my precious son and have more time to keep this house looking amazing (which is does) and continue cooking wonderful dinners for the kids. Best case: I get the job and become gainfully employed with a GREAT company, get that gym membership I've been waiting on, and finally have money to put in savings and invest, and also to buy nice handbags, makeup, perfume, and keep my bi-weekly mani/pedi appts. Oh and most importantly, my bi-weekly salon appts will keep my hair looking pretty. :-) We'll see what life has in store! Either way, I feel blessed, and THAT'S the truth!