Similarities

With the pending government shutdown, it feels like I'm losing my job twice. I can't believe that actual adults are compelled to let the government shut down so they can posture themselves into a better political position. I didn't think it would happen, but here we are on the day, and no budget. I only hope now that I will be able to enjoy myself on this involuntary furlough, as it's out of my hands.

We're not going to starve, and indeed today is payday, so we'll be OK for a few days while it gets sorted out. Did you know the shutdown of 1996 was 21 days? That's a little scary. I don't remember much about it.

Have you seen the Decorah Eagle webcam? I observed eagles for my MS, and while some say it's like watching paint dry, I find it fascinating. More like watching a fish in a tank. The little ones were just born in the last week or so, they come out from under the mom relatively frequently.

OK, back to the job stuff. So I've been putting my resume up on Monster, and the federal job site, and Career Builder. I've heard from several recruiters for things like selling insurance and being an analyst in WI, but nothing serious there. Which is fine, I guess I don't really expect to have a future employer find me in that way, I'd just like to be ready to tweak a resume that's on the site and send it along as an application.

But there is a similarity to posting one's resume online, and posting an online personal ad. I didn't realize this until I went onto Monster and saw that my resume had been viewed by two "potential employers". And I felt that little rush I felt when people looked at my profile. That's so freaky. Look at me! Look at me! To what end, I have no idea. I need to expand my search and submit resumes for some positions that I sort of qualify for.

I can see that attitude is a big driver in this. If I feel down in the dumps about it, that's going to come through when I'm deciding what to say in a cover letter. Nothing's really changed in my search for a new job, the openings just aren't moving fast enough. That's another similarity between this search and my search for a partner. Oh, why, Universe!? Why do I have to learn this lesson over and over?! Enjoying the ride in the meantime is so very difficult.

This segues me into the other thing that is going on. The person I was in the long distance relationship with is in CO working this week and next. We're going to eventually get together for a visit at the end of his tour, and I'm looking forward to seeing him. It has made me remember, though, how hard it was to do the long distance thing. "Waiting gracefully" was the term I used for being able to live my life between visits, and it was something I was never able to master.

So, as life will go, I have an opportunity to put my money where my mouth is today. I don't feel like going out and having fun, but my son's class needed a chaperone for a field trip to a park today, and I'm going. I'll go into work for a few hours in the afternoon to prepare for the shutdown, but am going to concentrate on just being with my kid today. He's really looking forward to it, and I felt (but covered it up) sort of ho-hum last night. Today we will have a nice time, it's supposed to be a nice day and those kids are always a lot of fun.

It will work out, and I'm doing what I can about the things I can do something about.