Beyond pissed.

So I had heard it through the internet grapevine that the Federal Agency Everyone Hates was going to do another posting today for the job that I failed to get back in July. They hire twice a year, this posting would be for the Spring hire. The grapevine was correct, I checked this morning to find a new posting. As I read it, I noticed something was wrong.

My city was not listed on there. Neither was any city in a 200 mile radius of me. I have been applying to these things for over two years now, ever since I started at the Big Firm and figured out that I wasn't going to make it there. This has never happened before. The cities listed are all in a distant part of the state, or cities in other parts of the country. So I can forget all about that. There's supposed to be another posting for a different job in about a month, guess we'll see what happens with that. I will not have another shot at this particular job until April, and who knows, they may just do the same thing again. So much for all those agents they supposedly needed.

I am extremely disappointed right now. I know I'm in the running for another job with them, but I had hoped to have more than one iron in the fire. Oh well, at least I no longer have to be in a rush to get my CPA license reactivated.

In other news, I got turned down for the job I interviewed for earlier this month. I knew by now that I was no longer in consideration for it just due to the lack of response, but it's still never fun to learn for sure that yet again, I have been deemed not good enough.

A dry spell

I'm having a lot of trouble putting together enough things to apply to for this two week period. The job vacancies just don't seem to be there, but I will persevere.
Going to have to re-apply to some things that were reposted. Obviously I am not what they're looking for [even though I really would be a fit for some of them even according to their criteria] but at least it's something to put on the UE form.

I completed an assessment today for yet another job with the Federal Agency Everyone Hates. This job is a particularly unpopular one, which is saying something. Still has very tight competition. I don't particularly care one way or another about it, but it starts in January, and that is around the time that my unemployment will probably be ending for good.

I'm a little over a hundred pages into FREEDOM. Pretty good, actually easier for me to get into than THE CORRECTIONS, probably because it is from a single point of view and so there aren't a bunch of shifting narratives which can sometimes suck the energy out of a book.

Sweet freedom....

Picked up Jonathan Franzen's FREEDOM today, barely got started but it's good so far. I had a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. Starbucks....I never used to go there, now I go there at least once a week, more if I'm waiting around when travelling with my wife.
I try to cut costs in other ways in order to justify going there, like letting my car go without being washed for an extra week or two, getting one less gallon of gas, etc.
I'll be happy when I have a job again, assuming that ever happens, so I can indulge guilt free.

I also checked out the latest Jo Nesbo [the "o" in Nesbo should be some kind of weird Scandinavian "O" but I am not ASCII proficient enough to be able to use that.] He is a Norwegian mystery writer, known mainly for his series involving the alcoholic detective Harry Hole [okay, I know it sounds funny.] I prefer his stuff to the Stieg Larson books [GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, etc.,] I read the first one of those and also saw the first film and remain unimpressed.

I am caffeinated so I am hoping for a good rest of the day. Maybe I will hit Starbucks again this afternoon just in case I have a letdown.

I am irritated by the board of accountancy, apparently I have to finish a ton of CPE to get my license active again, I will have to look for some kind of low-cost option and will most likely have to spend an hour or two at the library each day in order to take the courses since we still have dial-up and will continue to have it for the near future. I really dropped the ball on that, but that is par for the course. Well, I guess I am mixing metaphors, never mind. "I really sliced the ball but that is par for the course..." doesn't make much sense. I hate golf. Could my failure to get established in public accounting be due to my hatred of and refusal to play golf? One wonders.

Book stuff....

I still read a lot, although many times it is a losing battle. I've given up on a few books lately [I did finish THE PASSAGE only to find it is book one of a trilogy.]
I tried to read THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET and gave up. Just had other books to move on to, couldn't be helped. I gave up on the Harry Truman biography that I'd checked out from the library only to wind up buying it at a thrift store. I do that a lot with books that I know I cannot read within a month. I have yet to revisit it. A lot of time I spend reading THE BEST AMERICAN SPORTS WRITING series, I have two copies from 2000 and 2001 that I bought in thrift stores. They don't require the same level of commitment of a novel.

Just finished the third Larry McMurtry memoir, HOLLYWOOD. It's a good deal shorter than the prior two, but still has interesting stories about his screenwriting career, which he admits has more or less financed his bookseller and novelist careers which were covered in the prior two volumes. My favorite story is how they were expecting protesters galore at the Oscars when they were up for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, but were disappointed to see nothing but a lone figure with a sign that read "NO HOMOS ON THE RANGE."

I am gearing up for Jonathan Franzen's FREEDOM. Sounds right up my alley, and I really enjoyed THE CORRECTIONS, although it was one of those books that I finished only on the second attempt.

Reading Norwegian writer Per Petterson's I CURSE THE RIVER OF TIME. I love his books, but not for the usual reasons. I can rarely explain the plot behind any of his novels. He tends to have main solitary characters who spend most of the book thinking about the past, with most of the novel usually being a bunch of flashbacks. Usually the main character has experienced some kind of trauma, usually the loss of a family member or members. And many times the flashbacks involve World War Two, which apparently many older people in Norway feel highly conflicted about. This time the character is a bit younger so WWII isn't that big a part of it. The books always put a spell on me, and even though I can't usually remember much about what they are about, that makes it easier to re-read them.

Where was I....

Despite a ton of coffee, I'm extremely tired today.

The interview went pretty well, very casual and one-on-one. I *think* I will probably be invited back for a second interview. One good thing about it would be that it would allow a transition out of accounting, which doesn't appear to be working out for me. Also, the job is much better than I had thought, it is not "hardcore collections" as the interviewer put it, and it involves dealing with international customers so almost all of the communication is done via e-mail [my territory is far enough away to where they would be major time zone differences that make phone calls impractical.]

It is hard to avoid sounding like a stuck record, but I guess it's one of those things where I can't change my focus until the problem of my joblessness is either solved or given up on. I am too tired to think about it right now. I could barely function well enough to grocery shop this morning and I'm afraid I may have to go again later.

I am so depressed that I had an unemployment check I'd gotten a few weeks ago [my initial claim expired and I had to wait for a while to see if they had gotten anything mixed up] and I only now deposited it. And even that was difficult.

Should eat something I guess.

I know the drill....

Got a call today regarding one of my job applications, and I supposedly have an interview tomorrow. I'm waiting to get some kind of "e-mail invite" with more info, but have yet to receive it. I'll probably call later today if I don't receive it.

This is allegedly accounting but is more of a credit/collections type job. It will be a lot of phone work, but it won't be any worse than working for the Federal Agency Everyone Hates, and I was willing to do that.

I'm going in with a pretty nonchalant mindset, I will do my best, but be relaxed. I'm actually more interested in another job that I'm about to send the application for. Unfortunately I may need to cancel travel plans for next week with my wife until this all gets sorted out. The other job I'm more interested in involves work I would probably rather do, but it is a bit of a drive.

Just glad that I'm getting responses. I have a feeling that time is short as far as getting a job this year, if last winter is any indication. I've been let down too much before to get too hopeful. All I can do is control my own performance, and remember that I'm interviewing them as much as they are interviewing me. I do think that those horrible government interviews of the spring and summer are good preparation, it makes more casual, traditional interviews a lot easier to handle.

What would the Bear say?

Looks like I did not exactly set the blogosphere on fire last month. It was a busy month, as was July, although I guess it wasn't my all time low for posts.

Last month I had my monthly failed job interview. I'm not optimistic that I will even get an interview this month, I don't have much on the horizon. I guess the two interviews I had in July can make up for not having one this month. Last week I finally got a rejection letter for the county interview I had back in early July.

I don't talk about books as much as I used to. I'm finishing up a biography of Bear Bryant called THE LAST COACH. Believe it or not, I am a big fan of college football.
It's about the only sport I follow. I wonder what Bear Bryant would say to me. Probably to get off my ass and do something. Not sure what that something would be.

My problem is really that my "skill set" such as it is, is not really something that is in much demand. I'm always a "poor fit" at most jobs, and I'm starting to think maybe I should go back to the factory/unskilled type jobs I worked during my 20s. Of course, those opportunities are gone now.

I feel I'm an intelligent enough person, but that I can't ever seem to do anything with that intelligence. I don't know how much of it is the economy and how much of it is, well, me.