I actually found work. It is unstable, but it’s something. So has my boyfriend (finally!)

I’ll get right back to writing though, as I promised.

———————————-

Finding a job requires that you have a resume ready, and that you have the ability to use a computer. But it is much more than that now. The economy is not getting any better, and there are times when one must accept what is given to them, even if it’s not something that you would like to do.

Now that you have your resume and have been sending it out, and are occupying your time while waiting for calls, let’s continue.

Interviews are extremely hard to tackle. Advice is everywhere online, but how much of it should you follow? Should you be honest, explaining in details, or should you hold back? It depends on the question, really. Questions such as “Where do you see yourself 10 years from now” and “Tell me what you would do for this company” are the kind that require a paragraph answer (in other words, a large one, more than several sentences.) What employers like to see is a thoughtful face, something that tells them you are giving serious consideration to the question.

Example: “What would you do for this company?”

Example Answer: “I would, with knowledge of sociology, attempt to bring in more customers and business by applying what I know to my work requirements. I would sell to people who would be more likely to buy the product, thus increasing sales and helping the company along as they help me gain more skills.”

The questions that have tripped many, including myself, were those such as “What would you say your biggest weakness is?”  It felt like an entrapment question, and it is. But you have to go around it, by saying something to the effect of “Well, my biggest weakness is that I am reserved BUT I am working to overcome this by interacting with more people.” The key to answering this question is to also add what you are doing to counter it. This will show that you are a problem solver and are willing to work on your own weaknesses without hurting the company too much. Once you’ve gone through the interview, you can only wait until they call you.

Some companies like it when you call them first. Give them about two or three days; most are really busy and a lot of people are trying to apply right now. After that, a week. Then start going by the business or company you applied to. Once they see that face contact, they will get why and just how badly you want the job. Most will hire you with persistence.

However, some companies simply will never call you back. This is a sad fact. I’m still getting rejection letters from positions I had applied for over two years ago. The company I now work for on a part time, very limited basis, only called back after two months or so that I had applied. I was hired immediately after the on the phone interview. So, have patience.

In the meantime, you won’t find your dream job right now. People are getting cut back, most jobs that currently are out there have lesser hours and lesser pay. Take them anyway. You need something. You need experience for when the economy finally does come back. Take that to heart and work whatever you can. This isn’t a time for pride.

I am looking for a job myself still, though right now I hold two part time positions. One I will lose in August due to funding issues, and the other probably won’t call me for work for a long time. It’s all right, though. I’m going back to get my Masters of Science, which will hopefully open more doors for me.

Lastly, look to those who love and care about you. They’ll support you and stand by while you find something. You just have to put the effort forward.

I wanted to give up job searching after a month. Not because I was incapable, mind you. I was simply tired of the idiotic attitudes I would get from bosses who would look at my resume, look up back at me, and say, “You have a college degree. How exactly are you jobless?”

Having a college degree doesn’t mean crap in this current economy. I know a girl who dropped out of high school but she can take computers apart and put them back together, in the right order, in the first shot. She has the skills but not the education. I have the education  but not enough skills. What’s messed up is that one goes with the other.

For those considering giving up, don’t. You likely have a family to support, and if you don’t, you might have one in the future. Take it from someone who has sat in the unemployment office so much, it feels like home. Do not give up under any cirumstances. I have done at least 50 or more applications in one week, per week. I am barely getting calls back. Some want an interview, some are offering jobs. But believe me, someone is looking for you. You have to go and find them.

My advice? While you are waiting for someone to call you, take some computer courses. Nothing fancy, just something to learn about Microsoft Word and Excel, and of course, typing. Typing speed has become rather critical. Test your speed online and pratice! Pratice like your life depends on it. Without a job now, it just might later.

Also, if you haven’t got the high school degree, find out about GED classes in the area where you live. Most likely, the unemployment office may have answers for you, or at least some training for you. It is not shameful to go there, only shameful to let yourself go to waste because you are ashamed. Believe me. I’m a college student. This is COMPLETELY humiliating to be in an unemployment office, run into former professors, and watch them question everything you’ve learned simply because you can’t find a job.

However,we are all in hard times right now. Now is not the time for pride, especially if a family depends on you to keep them alive. Now is the time for you to stop feeling sorry for yourself and sharpen your tech skills.

Speaking of tech skills, a good place to pratice your Internet ettiqute is on Facebook or Twitter. If you already have one, IMMEDIATELY set yours to “friends only”. This will not only enable you to see who is looking for you, but this will protect you in case a friend (or you) posted a picture that your grandmother would have a heart attack over. You know what I refer to…the drunken nights, the ex you regret, what have you. Employers do NOT like to see that. Set your privacy settings now before a future boss sees it to friends only. In fact, go set them now and come back when you’re done. I’ll wait.

Set your privacy settings? Good. Now on to the dreaded resume. What’s that? You have one? Good for you. You can skip the rest of this entry. However, you should read the part 2.

If you don’t have one, or haven’t made one since computers were first popular, then listen up. Resume designs have changed. A mistake that people make is putting it on a template in Microsoft Word. While this is helpful for the beginner, this is not helpful for a boss who may not have the same format that you have, and gets a jumbled picture. So, avoid templates unless you plan to print them out. What you should do to max out your space is the following:

1.) Set your margins to .25 all around. Don’t question, just do it.
2.) Gather all your former jobs and education degrees. If you have any certificates of classes you’ve taken (plumbing, medical assistant, etc.) grab those too. You’ll need them.
3.) Gather all contact information. You will need it soon.
4.) On the computer, start off with what you have more of. If your education is higher than your work experience (for example, you went to college more than you worked), put that first. If you’ve worked more than you got an education (you have three jobs but only a high school degree), put your work experience first.
5.) Depending on what you put first, you would then proceed with the second. Try to not have a resume longer than a page. Employers have very small attention spans when it comes to hiring, only because they are so very busy with work, and if you can’t grab their attention, then you may not be considered.
6.) Check that you have nothing execpt education, work, and certification. If you have more than 10 years work experience, cut it off at the 10 year mark, but keep your work experience list on a separate sheet of paper so you can show your interviewer just how much you have done.
7.) Check for spelling, puncuation, and grammar. You would not believe the number of bosses who came back to my college and started telling stories of how many resumes they threw away just because they couldn’t spell correctly. Get someone else to look at it if you are able. (Again, this is not a time for pride. Go to the unemployment office if you must.)
8.) Once you’re happy with your resume, it’s a page long ,and it’s as correct as you can make it, go ahead and print. Print about 10 copies to be exact.
9.) Start looking around for jobs. Career fairs are really helpful, and sometimes colleges allow the public to go to theirs, so check that out as well.

Now, let’s take a breath. You have a resume. You have a digital copy of your resume. I hope you saved it anyway. Now, time to examine some jobs.

Don’t let the lack of a college degree stop you; some employers just want experience, or someone who is trainable. If you have a college degree, don’t let the lack of jobs stop you. Some employers want to know what you do. Tell them that your education wasn’t a waste of time. Explain what classes you took and how good those classes enchanced your skills.

All in all, don’t give up. Keep applying. Sharpen up your skills. And take it from me, you WILL find work. It will take a long while. You will be tired. You will hurt from your hands and legs. But you can, will, and must find work.

Stay tuned for part 2.

~ Dameon

What happened to those romantic words you gave so long ago to your loved one, the ones that made her yours in the first place? Did you just say them to get her to be with you, and then not work for her anymore? Do the words mean anything to you anymore? What happened to meaning what you say, and saying what you meant?

Looking around me, I see friends, family, and even strangers so occupied by technology that words are cast aside and deemed useless. For example, when I asked my boyfriend if he would prefer that I leave him be than to talk to him while he’s questing, he got angry, asked why I always asked him that, and turned back to his screen, enthralled by the graphics on his screen rather than the words that came from my heart.

I was trying to say how much I sincerely loved him even though he was unemployed. Then I noticed he wasn’t listening or looking at me. So I asked if he’d rather be alone. Then he snaps. Then I fall silent for the rest of the day.

Words cannot describe enough how much that hurts.

It cuts so deep when you realize that your boyfriend is in the grip of an electronic addiction; you’ve done so much, but you can’t do what the game does: communication with his friends, lets him be what he wants, and most of all, make him feel like he’s someone. Even if he tells you otherwise…you know the truth.

Words are just so hard to express when you love someone so much that you want to do the right thing, yank the internet away, and tell him how you truly feel, but can you really do that? Do you have the heart to take away his addiction for the better? Do you have the heart to break his for a bit just so he can love you properly and pay attention to you? Is that not selfish? Isn’t that forcing them to love you? Love shouldn’t be forced.

I could hear all the men protesting, saying that their lovers shouldn’t force them into something they can’t, or sometimes won’t, do, that we should just have patience and wait; love will come around when they feel like dishing it out like the dishes you had to do alone with back pain because your lover was on vent trying to coordinate a dungeon.

Let me ask this: Would you feel it in your heart if I left? Would you miss me for five minutes and then turn to your games again for solace? Would you even notice if I left and never returned? Don’t give your false words and sentiments anymore; tell me the quick and honest truth, even if it cuts through my heart.

At least your words wouldn’t hurt me anymore because I’d know the truth.

~ Dameon out for now.

He asked me, “Why are you so pissy in class? I think I know, but I want to hear it from you.”

I replied, “I’m pissy because this book is reflecting me and I’m hating it. I feel like the student searching for a teacher that I won’t find. I hate my fucking life and how I have to be like other people enough to get what I need done, and I feel supressed in class because I don’t get what I’m saying but I want to say things anyway, and the professor knows it, so he cuts me short and won’t let me speak.” Taking another breath, I continued. “I realize the truth of society, but I have yet to accept it.”

My new friend smiled. “I knew it. I was just like you, actually. I had a incurable angst. Until I realized that I could be angry the rest of my life. I could be an anti-hero, always fight the system, never give up, always revolt, or I could go back to how I was with my new knowledge and make tons of money off people. Or, I could do something else.”

“Which is?” I asked curiously as I sipped water from a tankard. (Yes, a tankard. I loved it)

“You can live your life as you want it, with your knowledge, and become a hero by living differently. You don’t have to fight. You can just show others the way, if you want, or you can live your life, have love, get married, and all that good stuff, and live your life differently. Don’t you want to do that?”

I felt so…serene…when he said that. I felt my insanity slowly go away. I don’t….I don’t have to fight….that thought relieved me of anything I had in mind. The rest of the evening I fell silent, even when I got home, I just let people talk, and eventually went to sleep early. I told my boyfriend what had happened, and he hugged me. He’s humored me, dealt with my rants and angry rambling, which is why I stay with him. He would likely be the only one who could hear me speak and still love me just the same. My insanity is still lingering, but it’s not disabling anymore. I realize that my classmate, and my professor, were right. I could be myself, in my own way, and still function in society.

“Still you believe with all your heart and soul / that there is a truth / and it’s worth reaching for /…/ only those who believe in their dreams / have a cross which they always must bear”

Those are pretty much my words to live by from now on. I believe there is a social truth, even if people tell me otherwise, and I’ll chase it til the end. I believe that society is different and can change, but until I know what I have to do from then on, I will just keep living, keeping my own standards, and move on with life.

Just like everyone else.

However, nine years later, I feel the need to just write.

Why did this happen? It’s a question we’ve all attempted to answer. Sure the fingers are pointed at the extremists, and it’s definately them, but…that doesn’t answer the question.

Why?

Why did this group of terrorists get the idea of launching planes into buildings? No doubt the families of victims ask themselves this every day. No doubt the former President is haunted  by the times, the announcements, the what-if questions, and no doubt, the rest of us will remember this for our natural lives. Lest we forget, there will always be someone to remind us of this painful day.

Me? I just stayed quiet. There is a song stuck in my head at the moment; it’s “The Catalyst” by Linkin Park

God bless us everyone
We’re a broken people living under loaded gun
And it can’t be outfought
It can’t be outdone
It can’t be out matched
It can’t be outrun
No

Has one event truly broken this nation? I believe it has. Remembrance is a strength and weakness. It is a strength because it helps us to remember why we are fighting, why we want to protect our ideals and lives so badly. It is a weakness, however, because it blinds us to what could be, to our futures, because we’re always influenced by the past.

This is not to say that remembrance should never be.  I am saying this because the more importance that is put on a date, the more that it means to us, and the more that is, the moire power it has over us as  a nation, and the more power it has over the nation, the more it can be used to tear this nation apart once again. That’s just my reasoning.

As for everyone who has lost a friend, a brother, a mother, a father, a child…anyone….

Forgive us for politicizing this day.

But I agreed.

Why?

When I have prided myself on writing with feeling and intelligence, suddenly I’m supposed to make something bland, unfeeling, and….dry.

I’ll try my best to do this new blog but….I won’t like it.

My boyfriend is currently suffering from a swollen foot along with a staph, and my roommate and I are thinking he needs to see the doctors, and he doesn’t want to. He, in fact, just yelled at me for suggesting I go sleep in the living room so he has space to lay out flat and keep his foot up.  I couldn’t really say anything, and just left.

It’s a different kind of pain, as the song goes, when you have someone yell at you when you’re only thinking of them.

I mean, I want to sleep on the couch, and for him to see the doctor. He says he doesn’t need the room, nor does he need to see the doctor, and the only reason he’s yelling is cause I keep asking.

It was raining today. Very very much. I knew today would be bad for me, but not this bad. I mean, I know I didn’t come to bed as promised yesterday (I was talking with a friend who had come over to crash on our couch), and he said it wasn’t revenge when he stayed up gaming until 8am today, but it felt like it to me when I woke up, and no one was there, just as it had been about 9 hours before.

I came back to apologize before going to work, too. I did what I could to tell him that I loved him. I cuddled with him, hugged him, and the only thing he wanted to do was sleep. He’s sick, but no one sleeps a near 16 hours + even when sick unless it’s really bad. It seems like I’ve done nothing but bother him. He says I haven’t. Who’s right?

*sighs*

I’ll make up whatever I have to, I’ll do anything just for his amusement. I just  want him to quit yelling at me…

*rubs throat* My throat hurts a bit…right in the front. I’ve looked online and they all agree that it’s something to see the doctor for. I am really happy we have a school doctor. Otherwise there might be problems.

I think I’ll have to see the doctor tomorrow, just to play it safe. There are some thyroid issues in my family, so there might be something to that or it could just be a sore throat incoming. We’ll see. Hopefully it’s nothing.

I have felt so much towards the political world that I had to get away from it, if that makes any sense. Those who follow politics like most people follow fashion might understand how I felt. Basically, you get a really cynical feeling by observing so much negative things, and there is only so much negativity that the human heart can take.

Even Obama, someone I had personally seen with my own eyes (he came to our college), and someone I truly believed in, has seemed to lose his drive, and became something that every other politician is becoming.

One of my observations, however, was the silence of nuclear news. There has been low key reports compared to last year. For me, this signals that something is coming. I’m not sure why, but it does.

News also seems to be more focused on celebrities rather than anything critical. This indicates to me loss of interest in world events, and this too is disheartening.

One more thing…troops have been deployed to the US/Mexico border for security. This makes me uneasy for some reason. I mean, if the Border Patrol is so un-knowledgeable (to put it nicely) about digital security that they use Outlook (I’m not kidding. I know someone who works there), and they can’t catch the cartels, then how is the military gonna help? For me, this is just a display to show that the government is actually doing something. This is like applying a tiny band-aid for someone who has a leg severed. It won’t work.

In any case…I would strongly suggest anyone out there who, by chance, happens to read this, that they would learn the steps on what to do in case of national emergency. You’d be surprised how much you’re unaware of. I know I was.

Peace out.

- Dameon.

CNN Political Ticker released a story that discussed how Rep. Virginia Foxx thought that the health care bill was scarier than terrorism. Please, someone slap the stupid out of her. Let’s compare statistics, shall we?

People who die from lack of health insurance every year: about 45,000 people.
People who die from terrorists acts every year: (from 2001-2003): 870 people.

Sooo…what is more deadlier? THE FACT NO ONE CAN AFFORD TO STAY ALIVE!

No one can afford the care needed to be healthy and stay alive, and NO ONE is freaking out. How much sense does that make? I am in a panic right now because I can’t afford to be sick, and here I lie with a middle ear infection. It fucking hurts, but I know if it weren’t for the college providing health services, I’d have no choice but to ride it out. I have a toothache that is gonna kill me in terms of pain because I can’t afford to have it taken care of. I’ll just find my damn pliers and pry my own back tooth out and cry like a little girl for a few hours cause I don’t have pain meds either. -looks inside- Yep, cavity. This is gonna hurt.

I’ll do that later. Moving on…

I believe this appropriately describes what I think of her statement:

What I am doing at the moment...

or maybe this is starting to be true:

I seriously fear for our future of idiots like Foxx stay in the White House any longer. Gah. I am going to go scratch at my ear now…still hurts even with the medication. Or is that my brain hurting from pondering what kind of insanity Foxx has to have in order to even state something like she did?

I dunno.

Dameon out for now. Ow…

You can watch this for yourself, but it’s a extreme example of health care gone wrong. I mean, the poor woman qualified for Medicare AFTER SHE DIED. What the fuck is wrong with this system? Do these congressmen not watch the fucking news? Do they not fucking care? The only reason this family was able to pay anything was because the bills were canceled after her death. Grr…this health care system makes me soo mad. Time to grind the gears of the rulers. I mean, I am freakin in debt myself, about 1k, and it’s stupid that I can’t pay my damn bills.

Another video goes by…”I’m sorry I can’t take care of you,” the husband says to the wife. The wife turns to the camera and says, “You know…it’s like this cause no one will give him a break.”

No one gives people a break…because that would be inconvenient for people in power.

Last thing I saw before I cried was a woman in the street with a coffee can

It said, “I’m not a bum. I’m a mom. Please help.”

I couldn’t watch anymore and turned off the video. I’m still crying as I type, wiping away tears. Someone please save this wreck of a nation before we all die in vain for some spoiled rich idiot to live….I am sure a lot of people in America are crying right now too, for different reasons, or maybe they are like me…waiting for someone to stand up and save them, just like in the cartoons, that justice and good win in the end, that someone somewhere cares enough and has enough power to make a difference….maybe we’re dreaming, maybe we are not.

Please, if someone can save us….please help. I don’t know if the heart of this nation can take much more of this…