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Etc. Jobs

My readers may have noticed that I have not posted much on my blogs for a week, and now I am rushing to make up for it.  This is a consequence of my struggles with unemployment and I owe my faithful readers some explanations, and some details of my activities for the week.  

When you are unemployed you struggle against discouragement, irregular schedules, changes in activity and energy levels.  All this last week I have been busy trying to find work on two levels.  On one level there is my full time work job search, the official search which I log for potential reporting to unemployment.  I must do at least three job search each week, but I have been doing usually many more.

The other job search is the search for temporary or one day jobs accompanied with getting other resources, like food, for survival.  Most of this temporary job search I have been doing through a feature on the job section of Craig's list called Etc.  That's all the jobs that don't fit the other sections, and usually they are shot term or one day jobs, which, if I got them, would be reported to unemployment to adjust my payments for that week.  I have been applying to everything from answering research questions to one day flyer posting jobs. I have even been temped, just for the heck of it, to apply for the egg donor jobs. Not that I would actually donate eggs if I could.

My job search has involved many hours on the computer, just as my writing does.  Most positions take about an hour to apply for, not counting checking your email later.  The short term ones are, of course, easier.

Checking my Facebook page and personal emails, reading the daily news, cooking food, going to my mail box,
 cleaning and, praying, reading the Bible going to mass occupy more of my daily schedule.  Because of the variety of task, varying in length and intensity, my schedule gets thrown off.  I get tired some days, or make choices of my time that change things.  I have no obligations expect to apply for three jobs, apply for my benefits fulfill some commitments to activities at church and survive.  Everything else seems optional and yet it is all needed.  My laundry has been piling up for over two weeks, so I am doing it today. Last night I couldn't sleep until late in the night and other days I eat at odd times. I am reminded how much we structure our lives around our jobs.

Last Sunday I taught a class on Catholicism and Poetry at the Adult Education  after church.  I had been preparing for it for weeks and I had several readers, so that I did not have to read each of the poets.  I felt a sense of purpose and fulfillment aside from my employment situation in doing this and in doing work on a film series at Blessed Sacrament parish. Suddenly, after the class was over, I felt exhausted and I tread water all week, doing a lot of job search, but little else.

The restoration of a personal schedule and a positive contribution to society are ongoing concerns for me. Pr4ay for me dear readers, not just for my job search, but for my lifestyle.    I hope to stay on top of my blogging and the CD reviews I am doing for Victory Music in the coming weeks, while finding some work, permanent or temporary.

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