I have a month-old PS3 that I’ve barely played with this month (first because of my exile, now it’s mostly George R.R. Martin’s fault).
It is a mixed bag…
I interviewed for a job way below my skill level the day before Thanksgiving, the Pastry Chef was very impressed with me and wanted me to start right away. But because of the holidays knew that the background check and screening process would be delayed, she ran my paperwork to HR as soon as I left around 4PM. It took me an hour and a half to commute back home and when I got there a message from HR was waiting for me, they wanted me to call them. Of course it was long after 5 PM so of course no one was there… And they took a four day weekend on top of that… 
They finally returned my calls today but I have to wait until the frakking 5th of December to have my drug test, good grief… And my money is running out because my last job paid me under the table and the one before that screwed me out of any hope for unemployment benefits by lying to the DES about how I was let go.
On the other hand at least I have been hired for a job, and it is for a place that is very very busy which means lots of hours. So I don’t have to stress about it going under like so many other places around here, the pay will probably not be all that great but it has benefits which will be nice. It is one hell of a commute which sucks (an hour) but I can listen to my podcasts I guess while commuting, but hey; it is a job. So I guess I should be grateful, and I am. It puts me better off than a quarter of the state which is unemployed. So I need to knuckle down and watch my money closely and hopefully I can hold out until I get my first check.
And since I will be working for a casino maybe perhaps I could get an advance if things look bleak… Heres hoping.
Good luck at the new job Omra. It might not be the best, but it’s a job! If baking makes you feel better, I like chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies. 
I hear you on the commute, Omra, having had an hour commute for three years. But, you can do a lot of listening and if traffic isn’t too bad it can be some much needed “me” time. Hang in there till the fifth. That’s not that far away anymore.
Congrats on the new job Omra!
My grypes for today…a piece of a tooth broke off while eating a sammich on lunch break. I just had a filling put in it 2 months ago…so now I’ll have to get a crown which will cost around $800. And I get home from work to find that someone had tried to break into the back door by busting out the window. Double cylinder deadbolt stopped them from getting in but will have to replace the window insert. FRAK!!!
Hang in there Omra! Dec 5 is right around the corner!
Ouch! A one-two punch. Good luck with the tooth, and hopefully the would-be burglar(s) are discouraged and will not come back. And I would replace the window insert with Plexiglas or Lexan which will not break…
Rough morning on the marriage front today. Feeling like things are headed in an unpleasant direction.
No kidding, double ouchie yesterday. I’m going to go with just the tempered glass again…can’t afford the other when I have that tooth to fix too.
I would totally buy an order of Omra cookies. For real.
True Story:
One of the postings I sent my resume to was a snooty upscale coffee shop in Paradise Valley, they sent me an email saying they liked my resume and looked forward to ‘tasting my stuff’ and asked me to contact them to set up a time. I thought the email was strangely worded but assumed they wanted me to make something on premises. That is not all that unusual for a Pastry Chef position or even an Executive Chef position. But when I talked to one of the contacts on the phone it became clear that what they wanted instead was for me to make something at home and bring it in. I explained to him that such a thing was not possible, I do not have a commercial kitchen in my home, the pans or molds, nor do I keep the ingredients I would need on hand. Not to mention the difficulty in trying to transport temperature sensitive desserts across town in my SUV. (I did not bother telling him I was a diabetic and so therefore making desserts at home for fun or personal consumption would be both suicidal and pointless)
The man was really taken back and befuddled by my answer, he stammered a bit and said, “Oh, I thought that since you were a ‘Pastry Chef’ you would do a lot of baking at home…” I answered, “Do ‘Mailmen’ go for long walks when they get home?” He laughed at my humorous response and explained that they were trying to interview people on the sly because the Pastry Chef they had there now they did not like, he said that they would try and set up a time where I could come in and use the kitchen after he left. And of course I never heard back from them, which suited me fine because they were obviously idiots.
Making pastries is a long laborious process, when I auditioned for my Pastry Chef job at ‘A Different Pointe of View’ it took six hours just to make and bake all of the various components for my desserts, and I had to come back the following day after everything had cooled and set to assemble them, create the garnishes and paint the plates with sauces. There is no way you are going to be able to do something like that IN SECRET. I suppose the morons eventually realized this themselves and that is why I never heard back from them. Just as well; I don’t like working for people who do not realize what they have gotten themselves into…
And yes the ‘Mailmen’ response is very valid. Whenever I Chef’d I tended to bring home take-out a lot, because after working in a kitchen for 8-10 hours the last thing you want to do is cook when you get home. Whereas when I did pastry or Garde Manager work I enjoyed cooking at home, because it was not ‘more-of-the-same’.
I think you’ve just come pretty close to the feeling every programmer gets when some body they just met finds out they’re a ‘computer person’ and expects that you’ll either be able to troubleshoot their random computer problem right then and there or will be willing come over and fix it.
Sigh…
Gaf has Foo Fighter tickets for a concert on Monday night.
Gaf also has a shipment delayed by customs at his home port so he will have to drive 874km to deliver THAT on Monday instead.
An entire year of shipments from my supplier and not one customs check, but NOW the Aussie customs service decides they want to have a look at my incoming 20ft seafreight containers.
Sigh… No Foo Fighters for gaf…
Oh noes!
Here’s hoping you guys can reverse direction. If there’s something I learned from my own recent marital woes it’s that some time for self-reflection and assessment is good, but also very, very scary.
Hang in there. And I’m sure I’m not the only one to say this, but PM me if you need to vent/chat.
My brother-in-law is a chef and for his own meals he subsists almost exclusively on bologna and cheese sandwiches and that kind of simple fare.
But I would’ve been more concerned with the job wanting to interview you on the “sly.” That’s just shitty and sneaky and all kinds of not cool. Who wants to work for someone who might work behind your back to replace you?
Musicians have this happen to us too. Except with us it’s usually more along the lines of, “why do you want to get paid? I thought you did this for LOVE!”
Thanks Armando. Hanging in there.
I got an ingenueTea pot from my secret Santa but I have no tea to put in it!
In the last week two family members (Aunt on my side, Aunt on hubby’s side) have been diagnosed with breast cancer. My mom and MIL are not taking the news well. The weirdest thing is, about 2 weeks ago I had this pervasive sense of dread that something was wrong. I even called my mom and asked her if anyone in the family was sick.
Being actively excluded from something by people who supposedly give a shit about me. Feels good man