The Mono

My mom got tapped for the Special Election, as a voting precinct inspector. I didn't.

I didn't hear anything from the Elections Department, in fact, until my mom said that they were still running ads in the paper looking for clerks. So I called them up and said I'd be willing to work as a clerk, if they didn't want me running the precinct. They said okay, and asked where I'd be willing to go. Oh, out as far as Lafayette/Orinda/Antioch.

They called back this morning to say that I had been assigned as an inspector to a precinct in Antioch. Yay! I get to set up the nifty new ballot-counting machine!

I really like working elections. God knows why, as the day runs from 6am to 9 or 10pm, and I vividly remember the recall election where we had a 45-minute wait for something like four full hours -- no breaks, no time to catch my breath. Still, it pays okay, and my love of procedure makes things run smoothly. And voting is important. Well worth missing OChem for a day.

I have gone to one job interview so far, and haven't gotten any other calls yet. It's early still, but I'm looking at filling out another wave of apps to go out.

I looked at the Kinkos app for "Center Production Operator" (aka counter drone) and suddenly felt really depressed. I don't want to do this sort of work. I've always hated it, and here I am applying for it. Again.

The interview was with See's, and upon reflection I'm going to turn them down. It's a union shop, and they want a few hundred (paid over six months) to start, plus they expect to take $30 in union dues a month. Given that the starting wage is $9.90 an hour, I have visions of being enslaved for six months while I pay off the initiation fees, in a job which I may or may not like. Then I have to fork over $30 a month from my $1000-1500 a month job, where they're only going to guarantee me 20 hours a week between three stores. Doesn't seem worth it, somehow.

But that does leave me without any other bites. I'm starting to lose my resolve again.

On a more conventional note... I'm looking for work doing things that involve basic chemistry and the plant side of biology, such as water quality and other testing (air, soil, etc). I'd like a summer job at least, and if things work out I might take a semester off school to build up some financial resources. I am falling deeper and deeper into debt, and something has to be done... my mom, bless her heart, countered my moan of "I have no saleable skills, I have to get a McJob" with the suggestion that I get work in my field of study. Um, wait, I've had three semesters of chemistry and one of organismic biology, doesn't that grant some skills? Hmm...

What I'm looking for: basic labwork, sampling, and fieldwork, in the environmental and agronomic fields. What I have to offer: a year and a half of inorganic chemistry with skills in titration, devising and performing simple experiments, and stoichiometry (I can even pronounce it!) and equilibrium calculations. I've done water-quality testing with Delta Diablo Sanitation Plant and volunteered at DOW wetlands. I also have had a semester of biology which focused on evolution, taxonomy, and ecology (as opposed to cellular bio). Oh, and I'm headed into a career in plant pathology, so plant diseases are interesting to me. :)

If you see anything in the East Bay job listings, or know anyone in the field, let me know... I'm based out of Concord, so anything in Contra Costa is great, and anything a half-hour out is workable. I'm guessing that the utilities, the sewage-treatment plants, the park districts, and the Air Board are good places to look, but these jobs crop up in surprising places...

I called in this morning to say I wouldn't be coming to work. My stated reason was that I couldn't put my shoes on because my feet hurt too much, which is true enough. It had more to do with the fact that all it would take would be one cranky driver and I'd walk off the four-way, find a quiet corner, and cry hysterically for the next hour. I thought that would be a bad thing.

( Long rant about work. )

It's going to be another one of those weekends. Work tomorrow (and I have acupuncture scheduled too, which I'm loath to cancel considering my state of health); Nick's family holiday party Saturday afternoon and Gaskell's in the evening; work Sunday. I may not be in to work on Monday, but by Tuesday I expect to be in, scheduled or not.

Which means if I'm going to make and can more soup, do bills, do the last of my holiday shopping, and bake anything, I have today to do it. Whee. I have beans soaking on the stove, since bean soup is the easiest to put together -- much as I want more chicken soup, I'll have to make do with cock-a-leekie and any chicken/wild rice I didn't give to knaveofhearts. The beef with barley will have to wait until after Christmas, I guess.

I'm not looking forward to work, though I normally do. Saturday is still lingering in my mind, and I'm sure the shoppers will get more dollops of stupid as we get closer to Christmas. I just hope I can get somebody to relieve me before I start screaming at the sixth car in ten minutes that decides that I'm too slow and dashes into cross-traffic.

I'm a little draggy today, must stay focused. At least my neck isn't giving me as much grief as I expected... sleeping on knaveofhearts' floor was several magnitudes better (and warmer) than if I had slept in the car. Thanks, boyo... I know you feel like leaving me out there wasn't an option, but I'm still grateful. Dealing with me when I'm unable to talk isn't fun or easy, and makes many people uncomfortable if not downright helpless; you handled it quite well.

Now I have to convince my dad that just because I wasn't able to drive home last night does not mean I'm about to keel over and die. I'm okay now. Really.

I feel like I've had a tetanus shot in both shoulders. The right is worse than the left, no surprise there.

( The good news is that it's not as bad as last year. )

God, I love this job. :)