What I've been up to

A sleepy raccoon in Vancouver

Sunday acquaintances have the tendency to ask me what I've been "up to." I'm not close enough to these people that I keep them updated when things happen in my life, but are "acquainted" enough that they are comfortable asking this difficult to answer question.

I just wish that I had better answers for them.

Depending on the person, I'll focus on the more productive activities. Job finding. Working out. Part-time job. Hoping that these responses will paint a picture of me working diligently despite my jobless state. These are usually friends of my parents-- the older folk. I think to myself, "Have their children found jobs yet?" Not that it matters. Well, it does matter a little to me when as soon as someone finds a job, I hear it from my mother who heard it from her friend who heard it from that someone's mother.

Anyway, if I feel the need for some confession, I'll include the more time-wasting activities, with the hope that my listener will offer some encouragement or motivation to kick my ass into high gear. The hours that I've spent watching the stupidest movie ever (aka "Bride Wars") can never be taken back.

Mostly people want to know if I've found a job yet.

I usually tell them I've job searching, varying my response time by how interested they seem in what I'm really up to.

"Yeah, you know, job searching. How about you?" are my typical short responses.

"Yeah, you know, job searching. I've applied to 7 hospitals. I've slowly gotten rejected by at least two. Job searching is so hard! I am even considering palliative care. Can you believe that? It's gotten to the point where I would take a job where I would have to watch, up close, as people die slow and painful deaths. "

The list of things I've been up to:

Caught up on movies from the past four years.

Ditto with TV. Dang Kyle XY is good. Also repeats from the Beijing Olympics. Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals!

Studied for NCLEX.

Passed the NCLEX. (yesssssssssss)

Hung with my Jr. High girls

Aforementioned part-time job.

I've been feeling like this lately:

That's Blue dealing with the summer heat. We both have a lot to look forward to come October.

On August 5th, I got an email stating that I could call to schedule an interview with a NYC hospital I applied to in March and have been following up on. The email came the day that a two and a half week vacation from my job started and a day after a fabulous day at the beach with a friend who also has been job searching.

Five days later I was headed to my first post-graduation interview. I met with the recruiter (HR rep) who told me about the units with open positions. I told her the ones I was interested in, and she sent me to meet the Nurse manager of one of the units right away.

She ushered me into the steamy bathtub sized office she occupied on the unit and slid the door shut. I've never had a job interview in a closet before. The manager was nice, but disinterested. It was bizarre and short and gave me a bad feeling as I shook her hand and left.

I didn't get the job. I found out about an hour after my interview via an email sent to my blackberry. It was the proverbial band-aid getting ripped off quickly.

Rejection sucks balls.

The email also told me that I should schedule another interview with another manager, so I did that right away. I was a wreck for the next three days. Every 15 minutes for three days anxiety would grip my heart as I felt the pressure of needing to nail this interview.

Come Friday, I met with the manager. The interview lasted an hour. During the course of the interview, the motion-sensor light turned off four times. It was like a reminder to not take myself so seriously as I stood in the dark and waved at the light to turn it back on.

Tuesday, in the morning with friends at my house, I got a call from HR telling me that I got the job.

It starts at the end of October. Time to prepare myself and figure out my and Blue's moving situation. I'm thankful for people who have cared enough to ask after me, for people who have prayed for my success, for people who have supported me and to God, for blessing me in spite of my inadequacies and tendencies to compartmentalize Him.