I guess I'm not crossposting to LJ anymore because I didn't accept the new ToS. Sorry...anyone who may have been left over there, but this was where I'd been headed for a while, really. What will this mean come Yuletide? I guess well see...

I officially accepted the offer for my job today. I am actually making sliiiightly less than I did there before, but otoh I get benefits and vacation, so I guess that probably works out. I am all excited and also wary. I start on April 18, after I get back from visiting Nary

Longpig and I took the dogs for a long walk this afternoonto the petstore, where I bought a harness for JOla. She is getting worse and worse about pulling, and I am afraid she is going to hurt her throat. This is a J Walker harness, which is a Canadian company, and it is already magical! It clips at either side, and has two martingale things, so basically when she pulls, she turns. They also tried to clip her toenails, which went as well as I expected (poorly). I finished them this evening, though, much to her dismay.

Other than that - I'm almost done the wiki entry! Also I watched some more Rebels with Nary and did some work on my shawl. I ought to shower and go to sleep - this pressure system is killin' me.

I feel like I can think of actually intersting things to post about, but never when I'm acually writing an entry, or have any time to do the same.

Today has been A Day. On the one hand -I have been offered the museum job!!!!

On the other hand my 'exchange' laptop wound up being way more expensive than I'd planned/expected/hoped.

The new job will certainly help but it is annoying in the short term.

On the upside, it is just annoying and not financially devastating.

More when I'm not on my phone!

Despite being awake and staring at my computer until almost 3 AM yesterday, I somehow managed not to make an entry. I am really bad at making and keeping habits. I am totally the person who will do something everyday for a year and then just miss it one day with no reason. I wonder about my brain sometimes :p Sometimes I wish you could just get brain scans or whatever without having a specific need, just to have a baseline for comparison. But that would be pointlessly expensive. And there are people in my life who need them for more legit reasons :/ I admit I am sometimes paranoid that there is something wrong and it just hasn't been noticed yet, but I know that is not really rational. If there was a real problem, I would know by now, not just wonder. Everyone's body does weird things from time to time, so I shouldn't get all hypochondriac, especially when I have seen what more serious symptoms look like.

Anyway.

Yesterday was decently interesting. I didn't get to scan anything, but I did compile exit surveys from the VR exhibit. It gave me surprising feels! Partly to see the number of older women (over 40 and over 60) who'd tried it and loved it. They said a range of heartening things, like that ii was immersive, that if gave them a sense of emotional and spiritual connection to the history, that they were pleased to be able to participate in this wave of new technology, and so forth. I am also amused at the mid-twenties dudes complaining that the vive headset was too heavy when women old enough to be their grandmothers were all 'no complaints, it felt fine!' It was nice to be even tangentially involved in the project, anyway. And I did a minor bit of tech supporting for the equipment while I was there as well.

Then last night, among other things, I was knitting, and managed to work the tip off one of my Karbonz, because of course I did. I'm pretty sure these are the ones I already had to replace (my US 4's). But maybe I'm using my 5's? Anyway, this is a new issue, but also a resolvable one. I just superglued it back on. Luckily I was near the end of the row. If I didn't love everything else about these needles so much I would probably stop buying them. But honestly I think the problem is me :p Meanwhile, have a pic of my work in progress on this scarf!

( Pic! )

This morning I got dinner in the crock pot, then has my "post-board review" with the HR person from PC. It was informative, mostly in the sense that it confirmed a lot of stuff for me that I suspected. i am terrible at having examples, and need to elaborate more on my answers, and take more cues from the questions. In these kinds of interviews, they aren't allowed to prompt for further explanations, so it is all on me and how I answer things. It seems like on some of the most-relevant questions I did quite well, but fell down in a few key areas. Part of having not great examples is a matter of experience, and part of it is not being vicious enough to past employers, and part of it is not being able to explain myself well when I do. As I said, it was helpful, if a little depressing. They interviewed less than ten people, though and since it was an open call I know that to make it that far I had to pass a lot of benchmarks. But in the end, I didn't even make it into the hiring pool, let alone make it to the top. Ugh. He was very encouraging though, and aid I should definitely continue to apply for other collections type positions with the agency. I'll keep an eye out, but they don't come up that often :p Meanwhile, I hope I didn't screw up my SA interview as badly. Ugh. At least they *know* I'm awesome. Right?

There than that I managed to get some laundry started, change the sheets on my bed, and do some general room tidying. I might try to put up the poster I got from the art show on my wall... I have the print tacked up just to get it out of the way, but I'd really like to get it framed. I'll keep an eye out for something nice for it. karanguni asked my for a pic, and I took one - it isn't super great, because the print is in a plastic sleeve and there is some glare, but it gives a pretty good idea!

( The Cat by Justin Erickson )

I have a bunch of other things I'd like to do today - mostly writing stuff, at this point. I did my EI report and subsequent phone call, but was only on hold for about 15 min this time, so not too bad. And I should go switch the laundry too... But I want to touch up my chocolate box, and work on the Thirteen story and maybe do some other little chocolate box thing? We'll see how my afternoon/evening goes, I guess.

I heard that today's owl was *surprisingly* superb! Wooh!

Thirteen was excellent. My poor character is hemorrhaging sanity though ;p He has a lower threshold for it than everyone else - serves me right for laying a stat-balanced character in a game like this :p Though tbf, I didn't build him. But I can get him an animal companion now, and I'm hoping I can convince the GM to work out something with that to help compensate.

It was lovely having nary here - and I will hopefully get to see her a bit tomorrow as well, on her way back.

During game I tried a short row heel again. I admit that it was maybe not the best time to try it, as my attention was somewhat divided, but this is my second time giving up and just doing a heel flap. I can't get it to come out without holes where I pick up the wraps, and that's half the point of a short row (especially since I don't mind gussets).

I have posted my chocolate box fic. I want to look it over in more detail nd maybe add some stuff, but for the moment it passes the bus test and that's really all I can ask.

I am not really 'prepared' for my interview tomorrow, since I only heard about it Friday. I had hoped to have a chance to look some stuff over, but I'm not really going to get that. I need to shower now to get up tomorrow. I'm hoping to get there early, at least, but we'll see how it goes. Also hopefully, I'll be okay on buses and make it to my dentist appointment okay! I should be fine, as there are two routes I can potentially take, but we'll see!

Today I got the official word that I didn't get the job with Parks Canada I'd applied for. that took.... almost a year. 10 months. A really long time. I emailed to ask why I wasn't selected, and apparently the hiring manager will send me something, so I might at least learn something from the experience.

I did get together everything I need to apply to the local job, at least, including securing references. I am going to get one from the curator at the museum, as she knows me and has a general sense, at least, of what all I was doing at SA. I also learned today that people are using my workflows and are pleased to do so, so I'm super happy about that. I kind of worried that once I left no one would pay any attention to them :3

Today was also the day that we got a box in the mail of Things that used to belong to Balthcat. Not a lot of things - but he used to collect cat figurines, and the friend who was helping his mother asked if she could send some to his close friends. In a few cases, they were ones we had given him... I got back a miniature venetian mast shaped like a kitty face that I'd bought him when I was in Venice in....2002? I also asked if I could have his fountain pens if no one in the family wanted them, which apparently was the case. One of them leaked in transit, and now I am covered in black ink. I also made, when I first moved away from my hometown friends, little 'tokens' to give them, and I gave one to cat. Since they found it, I asked if I could have it back rather than it getting tossed away. It is the sort of thing that wouldn't have any value to anyone else. Also, now it is spattered with black ink. I'm okay with that; it was his ink after all.

Today was not that interesting. I was awake before ten, but got *out* of bed slighty before 11. I blame Sierra, who seemed quite content to sleep on my bed rather than making me get up to walk her.

I walked to the petstore and back to get pet stuff (cat food, dog poop bags, little rawhides as dognail trimming rewards). Mostly because I wanted the extra exercie after taking the dogs out annnnd, if I'm being onest, because one of the two close Pokemon gyms was only at lvl 3 and I wanted to level it up and stick a guy in there so I could claim the extra coins, and hopefully keep it a few days.

Other than that, I... tidied the kitchen a little bit, I did some knitting. I did email Parks Canada, and though they responded quickly they didn't really have anything to tell me. It's in the hands of the board at the moment, so who knows how long it will take to get a decisions. The other job hasn't actually been posted yet, so I thought about the cover letter but didn't start it yet since I'm not 100% sure what to include.

I'm almost done the socks I'm working on - I'll be into the toe tonight. So I wound the yarn for two more projects - a(nother) shawls (really a large wide scarf), and a pair of simple gloves.

In less nice knitting news, the pair of socks I finished knitting in august have already worn through in the heel. Ugh! I need to reconsider knitting socks with 100% wool. I think I'm going to try and do an afterthought heel in these, and maybe reinforce the ball of the foot? I have another pair need to do the same with. Meanwhile, the pain I changed into afterthat sad discovery are ones I've had for at least 5 years, and maybe longer. They're a really sturdy wool/nylon blend. I think the easiest solution for the future is to only use similar belnds for socks :p

Well, my current job ends on Friday. I am traveling most of August, which will hopefully be a nice break and not the onset of a lot of money stress. I have a decent savings, at least, and I am in a secure position as long as I stay where I am.

I have started applying for jobs more seriously....which really means 'at all' as I basically haven't been. That doesn't mean I haven't been looking - there were some jobs that looked really great that I only found as they were closing and didn't have a chance to put anything together for them. I've been looking at jobs-that-are-close where I wouldn't have to move, and jobs with a wider range that area more closely aligned with my field. My qualifications are stupid. I'm overeducated and not in the right things.

Anyway!

I have been making a lot of ice cream lately! And by a lot I mean I have made four kinds, though i think they were all pretty great successes:
Coconut lime with hibiscus swirl
Cherry with cinnamon candied pecans
Peanut butter with peanut butter cup chunks
Rhubarb crumble

All but one of those were just me throwing stuff I thought would be tasty in a vanilla base. We have (Longpig and wererogue have) a Cuisinart ice cream maker, which makes this all pretty simple. Also the Ontario fruit season has been really good this year! The cherry and rhubarb were both local.

I'm also still knitting - I have a sock and a shawl on the go currently.

But I haven't been doing much knitting, because mostly I have been playing Pokemon Go on my commute, because I can grab a lot of pokeballs along my bus route, plus fodder Pokemon to beef up my better guys (top ones are a hatched Magmar and a hatched Scyther). My better guys are not all that great though, really, so hey (I'm lvl 18, my Magmar is only ~1160 CP and the Scyther is 1010). But I can do all the parts of the game okay, and I am learning more skills and more game knowledge. Very exciting. Go team Mystic!

So.... that's my life. I am open to suggestions on more ice creams to make!

Megan the Cruel, a.k.a. tethys123, asked me to talk about job searching and my feeling on it.

I haven't really been actively pursuing my jobsearch since I landed the position I have now. This is a little foolish of me, since this position ends in June. Probably. I mean maybe they will get more money and want to keep me? But there is absolutely no certainty in that regard, and I am really not counting on it.

While I haven't been *searching*, I have heard of a few jobs that I could be applying for, and I have been doing a very minimal amount of work towards preparing to do so. I should be doing more.

There are reasons for this, as follows (this is the feels part):

I really like my living situation, on the whole. While I wish I had better access to my things, and I especially wish we could manage better pet integration because I miss having Maze around all the time, I love living with my family, I love being so close to naryrising (Oh and forthright, him too ;), and I like the town I'm living in. My sister and BiL may complain it is Montreal, but it is also no College Station, and in a good way ;p I am reluctant to hurry away fro that towards a career I feel ambivalent about. Especially when I can feel ambivalent about my career right here ;p

The other thing is that one of the jobs I mentioned is academic. I have a lot of ~feelings~ about my degree, the value of my education, my ability to perform in that kind of environment, and if I am being completely honest with myself, my desire to do so. I think I could do it an do well at it, but I feel very ambivalent about some aspects of it. Some of if is probably just impostor syndrome. But I don't think that's it entirely. I think there were actually serious flaws with my education :p There are aspects that are very appealing. It would be a good cool job in a location that is in some regards extremely appealing. Less in others :p Part of me is really excited and part of me wants to just hide forever. I will definitely apply, but even then I think it will be fairly competitive, so we'll see.

And the other job is at the sister institution to my current job, with a lot more responsibility (but maybe also a lot more power, I dunno), but farther away from everyone, so I dunno. I probably have a leg up there, at this point...

Ambivalent. That is my feels. I don't know how to get over my issues surrounding my degree, but if I could figure that out I think it would help a lot :p

A very timely question today from chairman_mat! The full version is: If you had to (decided to) leave where you live now (for whatever reason), where would you like to move to and why?

My visa actually runs out at the... beginning of may? June? I need to double check that. My employers here are not planning to renew it - unless I find some miraculous local job, I *am* going to have to leave where I'm living currently, and I have given a lot of thought as to where I would like to go.

The most basic answer is: wherever I can get a job. Ideally somewhere in Canada, but my visa is transferable is someone else were to renew it, up to 6 weeks before it expires, so that's still a possibility.

If Canada, I would like to wind up somewhere I already have some kind of social network, or someplace where I have an attachment of some kind: Windsor where naryrising lives, or London (Ontario) near longpig and wererogue. I have clusters of friend in Edmonton and could be quite happy there, an a quite large cluster in Ottawa as well. The other day I found a job posting for a job that is in Oromocto, which is right near my hometown, and I would love to go back there if I could as well. Tomorrow, in fact, is for writing cover letters!