Monday, March 30, 2009

A blog, a badge, and a BIG problem

So, I'll start off with the guy I met last week. No, it was not a romantic meeting. He is only 17, which is FAR too young for me. If he is interested in me (cause he keeps sending me messages) I will find a polite way to let him know that I do not care to go to jail. I did not give him my blog name. In fact, I completely disregarded the question all together. He didn't ask again, so either he forgot or got the hint.

I did go today to get my badge and parking permit from my new job. It begins Wednesday and I'm super excited. I must confess that all the details are still fuzzy. It feels like it happened so fast. Last Wednesday I was suffering through having to have a spontaneous conversation in Spanish over the phone, now I'm having to prepare myself to work in the IT headquarters of Globally recognized company. Trust me, after dealing with security I had to go through to get a badge, I understand the magnitude of this. A friend actually pointed out that I start of the 1st of April. I told her that I would be the ultimate bad joke if I was being 'Punked' or something.

The thought of me receiving my badge and parking permit made me aware of the fact that I have no car. This is my current BIG problem. I did not know that I would be working at a building on the opposite side of town from where I thought I was going to start. I'm absolutely mortified because I have to work this out within the next 24 hours. I have to be at work super early for the next 12 weeks and I can't allow myself to fumble this opportunity. AHHHHH!!! Tiffany and I are going tomorrow to see if we can find prospects. But I don't know what to do, and with little money and even less time I feel like my unexpected blessing is slipping away before it even fully gets here.

Any suggestions?!

Friday, March 27, 2009

I wasn't a morning person until this week!!!

I was gonna post this yesterday, but when you read you will understand the massive amount of things that I had going on....

So, I had my interview on Thursday. At the end of the interview she told me that there weren't any positions within her department. She did say that she would let me know if something opened up. It was a stock response for an interview. I admittedly was kinda down.

I ended up calling the hiring lady who called me two weeks ago to invite me to test for this company. We discussed my results and me coming in to complete some other assessments. She had told me that I had done really well and that the results were impressive. This was Wednesday.

On Friday I received ANOTHER call. It was from the lady who had administered my Spanish interview. She told me that she mentioned me to a colleague who expressed interested. I spoke with this lady and she wanted me to go to a building and complete registration the same day @ 2:30! I went and had to complete a BUNCH of long docs that required much signing. Then, in an effort to knock out everything in one day, I ran over to do my drug screening.

By the end of the day I was offered a job that starts NEXT WEEK!!! I was kind of dumbstruck. A week ago I was told that I might have to wait several weeks, if not months for the job I originally wanted to begin! Now, I have a one [that pays well] to start the middle of next week?!?! What tripped me out later was that I never completed a face to face interview with this lady. We had a brief conversation on the phone that morning and again that afternoon. She decided that she was going to hire me, despite the fact that she has never even met me!!

Isn't amazing what God will do?! He has engineered a situation for me that just defies all logic. I was so excited I had to tell someone. I phone David and we talked, at length, about this whole experience, and all the things that haven't been going so well for me in the last year. There is something to be said for maintaining faith. It is the sustenance of the weary, the quintessential component of hope, and the highest mitigating factor of doubt.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

But you've got all the skills....

I went to school today; thought I'd drop by the room where I began learning how to play piano a few years back. A young guy was in there. He was playing, but stopped and got up to leave when I arrived. I encouraged him to keep going because he sounded good.

He played for a bit, @ 5 years in he is pretty good. I love listening to people play. I concentrate so hard when I play that I don't get to really enjoy hearing it. So, it was fun listening to his style.

He asked if I played, and of course I was modest and told him that I could, but that I hadn't been playing as long as he had. I sat down and kinda just slowly played a few chords, basically fooled around for a bit as I let the progressions get more and more advanced. The look on his face meant that I had accomplished my mission. He was impressed. I asked him to teach me something since he was the more tenured player. He laughed and said that he might have more years, but I had more skill.

Before I left he asked for my phone number. I gave it to him, and we've been kinda texting back and forth since. He then asks for my facebook, so I give it to him. If figured it wouldn't kill me to be his friend. Then he actually hit me while I was writing this post to ask me what I was doing. I told him that I was writing in my blog and that I had mentioned him. He proceeds to ask where I blog, so I told him. Then he asked for the blog name.........

I Have To

go in again and test at the place that I went to last week. This time I get to do the English scenario, so it should be less anxiety involved. I also completed the phone portion today. Whew. She actually did most of the talking, which was FINE by me. It went ok. I'm not overjoyed, yet not disappointed. I rarely get nervous, but this was one of those times. Hopefully I'll see her in person and get to talk face to face to cement my candidacy.

8am

That's what time the lady from my potential new job called this morning. I was soooo freaked out. I had just barely rolled over and my phone began to ring. Now, I called her last Friday, but she was leaving the office and she told me that she would call me this past Monday. Monday came and went and I received no call. I thought that it would be polite to give her another day before calling her, as I'm sure she had plenty on her plate.

Yesterday I was all planned to call her. My boss asked me to stay later at work and I straight up just forgot to call. So, I dedicated today to ensuring that I spoke to someone in that dang building about this job. Lo and behold my phone rings 15 minutes ago. Since I programmed her number into my phone, the company name pops up on my caller ID. I was trying to clear my throat and pretend to have been awake, but I'm not sure how well that worked.

Anyway, I got good news...and bad news. I've been cleared for the grammatical/writing portion for my bilingual portion. Now I have to speak to someone on the phone...in Spanish. I'm nervous, but excited. I haven't had to USE my Spanish since I lived in Florida, so we'll see how this works out.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Now, tell me one more time....

Spoke with the hiring agent Friday and she said that she would giving me back a call on Monday to confirm my interview. I'm really anxious, usually the weekend zooms by, but these last few days have gone so slow. I did have fun at work.

I was standing in the center of the store behind our Main marquee when a tall, blond woman and an older female companion walk up to me. I politely asked them if they needed help, to which the blond replies in a strong British accent: "I'm looking for a short dark denim jacket." I was in love. Not with her. She was a bit too old for me, and blond (unless he surfs and has abs) usually doesn't suit my taste. Her accent was bloody beautiful though.

So, I tried to pretend as if I did not hear her and asked her again, but she saw right through me! I was sure that we did not have exactly what she was looking for, but I thought that I'd treat myself to just a bit more of her accent. I radioed another associate preparing to ask for the item's availablity, but paused and pretended to forget the question. So she humored me as I asked her to tell me one more time what she was looking for.

Though we didn't have a short jacket, we did manage to find one that she favored and I was rewarded with the story of how the woman and her husband met the Brit and her husband 11 years ago. Then I met her husband who thanked me for helping his wife and lessening the torture of having to shop. His accent wasn't quite as stunning, but I enjoyed hearing it all the same.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Long Day

Thanks for all the support!!! I arrived waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay early. I was the damn building at 6:45am, so basically had over two hours to blow. I was excited and disappointed because they tricked me just a bit.

My interview was preliminary testing. I had to pass some skills tests, and basically display my foreign language proficiency. The lady who presided over the "talent acquisition" had us all [about 8 other people] go into a room and log onto a computer. We had different scenarios to assess dealing with the possible positions we would go into. Then the bilingual testers [this woman and me (yes, that's grammatically correct)] had to do a listening portion in Spanish and then a grammar portion on paper.

I finished first, which kind of worried me because I usually take longer with these kind of things. But the lady told me that I had done exceptionally well and that I passed the prelim and everyone who passed that portion would have an interview! So, that was a great relief to know that I would be invited back.

I was really encouraged because she seemed to be pleased with my results. I hope that they are strong enough to mitigate my lack of experience. I'm really looking forward to snagging this job. I've been praying and trying to be patient for months, so this was a very welcome surprise.

So, after three and a half hours of testing I jumped on two more buses and went to my regular job and was tortured for six hours. It was a trip. Long Day.

5am

That's when I have to wake up; because I have an important job interview in the morning. In fact by the time most of you get to read this I will have been there and back!

The actual interview isn't until 9am, but I have to take two buses to get there and the public transit system here kind of bites. So, in the spirit of getting there early [and maybe snagging breakfast on the way] I'm waking @ 5 in the morning just to make sure there are no mishaps, mistakes, incidents, or anything that could ruin this.