At last...

I finally landed a job this past week. Took me five months and I have to say that I feel very fortunate. I am working in a private dining and catering club here in Seattle. Good stuff. It's a step in a direction. Don't know what that direction is yet...but I have to believe it is a good one.

So now, my blog can focus on my creative endeavors that I am planning. My new website...www.christyarts.com is up and coming. I have been a fiber enthusiast and fiber artist for 9 years now and with all of my teaching and knitting accomplishments, I feel that it is time to focus on something I can feel passionate about and still work with fibers! My creative focus my friends? Me and Pink Martini: Fiber arts and Music. Let me briefly explain.

Pink Martini is a joyously composed band of excellent and talented musicians and singers. I am utterly impressed with each and every album they put out and the inspiration to create something to their music is more than I can contain. So...with their albums, Hang on Little Tomato and their most recent release Hey Eugene! I plan on creating a needle felted art piece for each song suited to hang on any wall. Only the eclectic may apply....

Needle felting is so much fun. I used to teach the technique to students at two local Yarn Shops here in Seattle: Acorn Street Yarns and Village Yarn and Tea Shop. The latter being the shop I currently teach at. (I will also begin posting accomplishments of my lovely students on this blog as well and upcoming classes I am teaching). I plan on taking needle felting to creative new heights and make each represent my inspiration through various songs on both albums. Song by song until I feel all my creative juices have been thoroughly exhausted. My first piece is in production, and only shown below (click on image so that you can really see the detail of the piece. The image doesn't do it justice) to give you some idea of my progress. Needle felting is arduous and can take quite a bit of time to master and complete. It can look like mud...and then Voila! It is a lovely piece worth all the hard work.

I envision the final pieces attached to a lovely wooden rod conducive to hanging on the wall. I am giving myself several months to go through each album, but will for each and every song, post and offer my progress and would love to have comments and enthusiasm from my fiber-loving friends out there in the world!

First Song...Aspettami (Italian for "Wait") See lyrics below...It invokes in me a woman in the middle of floating leaves. A woman who is loved, sought after, almost iconic. She is holding the center of her will and chaos flows around her. Here is the beginning of what this song does to me.... As I will assume, finding out what most of these songs are saying is going to prove challenging. But with my handy-dandy research skills, I will make it happen. Fortunately, the first chosen song is in English with one Italian word: verb-wait. Okay, one down and several more to come. It's going to be a good time for all. So enjoy the art and explore this amazing band that has inspired me to do more than sit on my butt in the coming weeks...



Aspettami
Wait for me
I've been lost
Adrift at sea
In your dreams
Dream my way
Someday I'll find my heart
And come back to stay

Do you miss me
My darling
As I miss you
Take my hand
And pull me near
And never let me go again my dear

There was a time
I was safe in your arms
And the stars fell away like diamonds
Then we were young
And our love was younger still
Was it just an illusion

Aspettami
Wait for me
Close your eyes
And you will see
I'm coming home
Every sky in my heart will be blue
On the day I come back to you

I'm coming home
Every sky in my heart will be blue
On the day I come back to you

Escape

Another week, another ten or so resumes sent out and just one thing; an interview tomorrow morning at a local private catering business. Should be interesting. Their website looks remarkable and it is something I would enjoy doing. So, off tomorrow to "wow" them, hopefully.

This weekend was remarkable. The man of my life took me on another boat trip. This time to Port Townsend. Beautiful weather, quaint and lovely little town and a great bar call The Sirens. They make a mean Long Island Iced Tea. Drunken clowns at the local parade probably helped... Made me start talking about ducks and how well formed they follow each other. Like the drill team of the bird world. Anyway...

Eating chicken and wild rice on the boat getting a bit shnockered drinking some hard cider and playing Crazy 8's produced a night I've been waiting for. Waiting for a long time. Wind storms on both Friday and Saturday night made for a symphony of sounds. Wind blowing through the docks whistling through sail boat lines, knocking metal and wooden rings and fasteners. A cacophony of sound that eerily appealed to my senses. Made for strange dreams, wonderful love and a sincere sense that time could go on like that forever. The dock had a history and it was speaking to me.

Saturday produced what Ron and I coined the "shopper's shuffle." You know what I mean. You go somewhere like Port Townsend and you shuffle in and out of each shop, not really walking, not running, but shuffling. Your posture is shot, your feet ache like nobody's business and you feel exhausted after well, doing nothing but window shopping. Next on the schedule, we patroned The Rose Theatre and saw Julie & Julia. A charming funny movie. A must see if you are a Meryl Streep fan. Finished off at the Mezzaluna Lounge with Clam Chowder and Sourdough bread I could live for. We shuffled...all day. I think I need a chiropractic adjustment.

Now Sunday has rolled around and now almost gone and I made it through the big locks tying to two other boats. It's emotionally exhausting and I couldn't for the life of me understand a single syllable of the man yelling grumpy Gus demands on where we were to go. They need to smile once in a while. A little sunburned later and a new scratch from a barnacle and I feel like I've survived a truly harrowing ordeal.

Another

Liars

Well, you're gonna love this one. Not only is it hard enough to get a job, but company's who are falsely advertising is just wrong and I am going to release their name because it IS wrong and they should suffer for it.

Last week I applied for an Event Coordinator position at a company in Bellevue called North West Marketing Inc. through Careerbuilder.com. I was called for one of those preliminary interviews to see if they even like you before they even access your qualifications. I spent my Friday morning wasting my time driving to Bellevue; wasted my gas only to find out it's actually a Sales position. I would have to traipse all over God's creation selling their crappy idea. Not exactly an Event Coordinator, now is it?

The human condition is getting pretty pathetic when you have to advertise falsely to get someone in your company. I am thinking about reporting them to the Attorney General. It is just wrong. They deserve whatever they get.

So, that's the new news on the job front from last week. Nothing, nothing, and well...nothing.

Still waiting for my federal financial award letter to come back so that I can find out if I'm attending college this Fall. Time is running out. Still in limbo waiting for my future to begin. Off to a low-income (or no income) medical clinic. I've never had to go to one before. I hope it's going to be okay.

Bleak day indeed...

Noticeable things...

I don't know if it's just because I don't have work to think about or if I'm just getting more observant in my age, but I'm noticing so many things lately. The color of toe nail polish, the presence of rings on fingers, the expertise of hair dye jobs. I notice people having 'silent' arguments in coffee shops and grocery stores. I see false smiles a mile away. I can't help but wonder where I fit in to all of this.

It all seems a bit absurd, but I'm noticing all these little things I haven't noticed before. I was having breakfast with my daughter yesterday morning at the Varsity Restaurant on NE 65th (very good french toast) and noticed a man and a woman come in. They were lovey-dovey from the get-go. She was pregnant and they proceeded to seat themselves and faun over each other the entire time. Sweet? Annoying? I'm not sure.

The other day, I'm driving down Lake City Way and this huge boat of a car pulls up along next to me and this elderly man and woman are sitting up front. Man driving, woman smiling. Chatting away, but the odd thing was the man wearing a cap with a large bill, but in addition to this bill, he clipped, with clothes pins, a piece of cardboard to further keep the sun out of his face. Really? It made me smile because at that age I guess who gives a f#@k who see what, right?

So today, I'm on a mission to find fiber-fill for a stuffed toy I'm knitting for my niece and find myself eye-spying a mom and her two rug rats. Cute rug rats...and the boy pipes up and asks..."What if ghosts wore underwear?" I swear, I have material to last me for a lifetime if I were to just keep my ears opened to all that goes on around me. It made me chuckle and hence become blog-worthy.

On the job front, not a single call or email and I'm well into my fifth month. It's hard staying positive. I'm tired, restless and just not very pleasing to be around. My daughter is on the verge of disowning me. See, we live in a 650 square foot apartment with one bedroom. Guess who gets the bedroom? You got it, the 14-year-old. So Mom gets what? A bed stuffed into the living room and absolutely no private time with my thoughts. Forgive me for being a little cranky...

I filled out the FAFSA (financial aid) form online last Friday and sent my app to Seattle Central, so it's just a waiting game for a bit. If I don't get the financial aid to live on and go back to school, I will just have to keep searching for a job and forget the whole Master's Degree. I'm walking in the muck and mire of life right now. I'm making it; but desperation is never pretty.

Another week

Entering my fifth month of unemployment. The time goes by so fast. It's August and panic is definitely setting in. All I can think about it how much money is needed for back-to-school things and upcoming holidays. Money that isn't going to magically appear on the tree outside my window. Nine resumes sent out this week and not one reply. Nothing unusual; but still disappointing to say the least.

So, I am trying to enter Seattle Central Community College to take a few pre-reqs for the program I am looking to start in the Fall of 2010 at SPU. We'll see how it goes. Unfortunately, most of the time, when you start school, unemployment stops. That's a problem because of not earning an income. This whole school thing might not happen because of that. Not giving up that easily. Going to go through the motions and apply and see what happens.

Seattle Pacific University

Today has been a good day. I actually managed to speak to a real person at Seattle Pacific University about the Master of Arts in Teaching program. (MAT) Very positive and user/family friendly program. It was so nice to hear positive and real-life advice from someone who actually cares. On these days, my faith in humanity gets restored.

So If I do get a job, I can still get my degree or if I want to go full-swing, get it done in 5 quarters. A gorgeous campus and very nice people.

My original thought, as it is these days, is to be marketable. So I thought since I love Biology, to go that route. However, my passions exist where there is literature and words to be pondered over. So, I think that is the route I need to pursue because I already have so many pre-reqs completed. I can always add Biology later, thanks to the balanced perspective of my boyfriend. I need balance. What would I do without him?

So, next step is to apply to a community college and get a few courses under my belt, volunteer with some kids and get this thing going. Let's hope it all falls into place. Until then, job searching continues. Still throwing my lines out. Just waiting for a bite.

Getting in shape...inside and out

One positive aspect of being unemployed is that there is no longer an excuse to skip your workouts. Or a perfect excuse to begin one. I used to workout six days a week for an hour and a half. Mind you, that's BEFORE bearing a child and getting bogged down with that thing called marriage (ugghh!) I used to be in great shape. I was in drill team and cheerleading in high school and danced my little tush off every weekend at the local under-21 dance club for teens. Needless to say, I miss shakin' it.

So now, I've decided I need to step up, take accountability for my body and get back into the gym and change some flab into fab!

My boyfriend gifted me a membership to a gym that is literally 120 of my little feet from it's front door to mine...so there it is. I started with a two-week free trial and of course, loved it. So now, I'm taking Zumba! and step classes, and working on my stamina with the elliptical and treadmill. Feeling great. The hardest part is over; now I just have to keep it up.

So when I want to make all those who wont hire me a dart target practice, I just go to the gym, work the tension and stress off and look stunning doing so.

So, seven resumes I sent out today and I get this email from a company based out of California asking me to submit my name and get a "free" credit check so that they can determine if I'm good enough to get an interview. Excuse me? I know employers do credit checks; that's fine, but to be asked to submit my social security number AND credit card information on a website I'm not familiar with seems a little shady to me. No can do. What do I have to do, sell my spleen for an interview now? It may end up being very kosher and all, but I need proof before they steal my identity...

Job searching, in a word, sucks!

On the more positive side, I trotted down to Ol' Schmitz Hall on the UW campus to retrieve my transcript. It is what my daughter would call "bombsauce" of academics. I ruled. Single mother of a toddler, four and a half years, all summers included, and I made out with a 3.5 overall GPA. Nice job, if I do say so myself. Let's see where it gets me with this teaching thing. I may be teaching Biology to hormone-charged high school freshmen in my future. I've checked into the UW and have an appointment with the Biology department in late August (she's on vacation; must be nice) and going to the SPU tomorrow to just get another option. I feel like I have to give my signature in blood every time I go to one of these appointments. Very daunting and scrutinizing.

Sundays

I used to hate Sunday evenings for one reason: work the next day. Now, I dread Sundays for another reason: work I DON'T HAVE the next day. It's one thing to enjoy a weekend before the monotonous work-week hits. It's quite another to be enjoying a weekend knowing there is nothing I'm working toward.

I was on a boat trip this weekend with a wonderful man I'm seeing and I temporarily forgot that I had any responsibilities in the world. Getting taken care of, enjoying the lovely Puget Sound and the quirky little ports we visited. It was an over-due break I needed to get away and for having the best company I could ever ask for. Now, back to reality and...job searching.

I have my resume posted on Northwest Jobs, Jobdango, Monster, Hotjobs and primarily look to craigslist for the majority of work. It's depressing how few jobs are available. I love it when Monster sends me jobs and they actually rate how qualified you are if you were to apply to any of them. Wanna know what mine always says? "Minimal Match." That's great huh? Send me jobs and then tell me the likelihood that I'd ever get it is slim to none. You practically have to have a freakin' PHd to be a secretary. I try to maintain perspective and realize that hey, maybe I'm not unemployable. Our state is almost 10% unemployed; it can't be JUST me, can it? I would like to think not and that may be false hope, but false hope is better than no hope at all, right?

So Monday will start and I'm off to get my transcript from the UW. I have astronomical student loans I can't pay off and what is my next step? Maybe going back to school to become a teacher. Of course, our state lays teachers off, so what am I thinking, right? It's something I've wanted to do now for years; I have the time to investigate and search out options. So what if I'm 75 before my loans are paid off, right? Whatever. It's something to do on a Monday when I need to feel useful.

More to come on that front and where my options will take me.