The Daily Grind
My routine has been pretty much unaltered for weeks, and it's starting to wear on me in a big way. Here's what a typical day looks like:
Get up late, around 9 or 10. Watch a couple of hours of morning television (I've probably watched a dozen hours worth of cooking and crafting segments between the Today Show and Martha Stewart, though I can't say that I've actually absorbed any of it). Take a shower (a long one). Around 1, hop into the car and find myself some lunch (regular destinations include Panera, Quizno's, McDonald's). A couple of times a week, I make plans for lunch with various friends who are still around. Afterwards, around 2 or 3, I might start watching an On Demand movie or a few episodes of Arrested Development or Lost on DVD. Dinner is at my mom's house several nights a week, otherwise it's take-out sushi from the one Japanese restaurant in town. Some evenings I've got a regular show to watch (current seasons of Arrested Development and Lost, mostly. Even my TV watching habits are redundant). Sometimes I'll go to a movie. (Since September started I've seen 'Red Eye' twice, 'March of the Penguins,' 'Flightplan,' 'Corpse Bride,' 'Proof,' 'A History of Violence,' 'The Squid and the Whale,' 'Good Night, and Good Luck' and a special screening of 'A Clockwork Orange'). Late night, it's usually back to the TV for some VH1 or MTV reruns, or I'll watch C-SPAN or MSNBC if there's anything interesting going on. Bedtime is around 1 or 2. Sounds like a stimulating existence, doesn't it?
Perhaps you've noticed that the description above fails to include any activity that might be construed as relating to my job hunt. The reason for this is simple: my search for a job is not merely an activity; rather, it is a lifestyle. I don't pencil it in for this or that hour of the day. Instead, every unoccupied minute, and even many a seemingly-occupied minute, is filled up with some sort of job hunt-related activity. While flickering images of Martha carving pumpkins and baking cakes are lighting up my television set, I'm scouring Craigslist for any sign of an employment opportunity. While I'm popping spicy tuna rolls into my mouth, I'm tweaking my cover letter to the specifics of the job I'm planning to send it to.
And then there's my habitual email checking. Ten or twenty (or more) times a day, my email account delivers a crushing blow to my spirit and self-esteem. The majority of my job-related correspondence is electronic, as almost all of my applications (resumes, cover letters writing samples) are sent as email attachments. Consistently since the beginning of September I've had at least a dozen "pending" job applications at any given time. (I tread lightly on the word "pending" because it might seem to suggest that some form of closure is imminent. As far as I can tell, many companies that post job listings don't feel the slightest obligation to enage in any sort of correspondence with applicants unless they intend to hire them). So in my mind, every time I log onto Gmail, there's a chance that I might have a job offer (!) or an offer for an interview. Even a simple acknowledgement that XYZ Company has received my materials, any tangible scrap of communication, no matter how insignificant, would be something to cheer about. But 99% of the times that I check my email, I'm confronted with cold, cruel electronic silence. I've come to loathe the sight of Gmail's stock empty-Inbox message: "No new mail! There's always Google News if you're looking for something to read!" Innocuous as it may have been intended to be, it's a punch in the gut. What's worse, when I do actually have a new email, most of the time it's because someone wrote something on my Wall on the Facebook. Umphf.
It's been two months and nothing but dashed hopes, broken dreams and melancholy hyperbole. I don't know how much more of it I, or my sense of aesthetic integrity, can take.
Get up late, around 9 or 10. Watch a couple of hours of morning television (I've probably watched a dozen hours worth of cooking and crafting segments between the Today Show and Martha Stewart, though I can't say that I've actually absorbed any of it). Take a shower (a long one). Around 1, hop into the car and find myself some lunch (regular destinations include Panera, Quizno's, McDonald's). A couple of times a week, I make plans for lunch with various friends who are still around. Afterwards, around 2 or 3, I might start watching an On Demand movie or a few episodes of Arrested Development or Lost on DVD. Dinner is at my mom's house several nights a week, otherwise it's take-out sushi from the one Japanese restaurant in town. Some evenings I've got a regular show to watch (current seasons of Arrested Development and Lost, mostly. Even my TV watching habits are redundant). Sometimes I'll go to a movie. (Since September started I've seen 'Red Eye' twice, 'March of the Penguins,' 'Flightplan,' 'Corpse Bride,' 'Proof,' 'A History of Violence,' 'The Squid and the Whale,' 'Good Night, and Good Luck' and a special screening of 'A Clockwork Orange'). Late night, it's usually back to the TV for some VH1 or MTV reruns, or I'll watch C-SPAN or MSNBC if there's anything interesting going on. Bedtime is around 1 or 2. Sounds like a stimulating existence, doesn't it?
Perhaps you've noticed that the description above fails to include any activity that might be construed as relating to my job hunt. The reason for this is simple: my search for a job is not merely an activity; rather, it is a lifestyle. I don't pencil it in for this or that hour of the day. Instead, every unoccupied minute, and even many a seemingly-occupied minute, is filled up with some sort of job hunt-related activity. While flickering images of Martha carving pumpkins and baking cakes are lighting up my television set, I'm scouring Craigslist for any sign of an employment opportunity. While I'm popping spicy tuna rolls into my mouth, I'm tweaking my cover letter to the specifics of the job I'm planning to send it to.
And then there's my habitual email checking. Ten or twenty (or more) times a day, my email account delivers a crushing blow to my spirit and self-esteem. The majority of my job-related correspondence is electronic, as almost all of my applications (resumes, cover letters writing samples) are sent as email attachments. Consistently since the beginning of September I've had at least a dozen "pending" job applications at any given time. (I tread lightly on the word "pending" because it might seem to suggest that some form of closure is imminent. As far as I can tell, many companies that post job listings don't feel the slightest obligation to enage in any sort of correspondence with applicants unless they intend to hire them). So in my mind, every time I log onto Gmail, there's a chance that I might have a job offer (!) or an offer for an interview. Even a simple acknowledgement that XYZ Company has received my materials, any tangible scrap of communication, no matter how insignificant, would be something to cheer about. But 99% of the times that I check my email, I'm confronted with cold, cruel electronic silence. I've come to loathe the sight of Gmail's stock empty-Inbox message: "No new mail! There's always Google News if you're looking for something to read!" Innocuous as it may have been intended to be, it's a punch in the gut. What's worse, when I do actually have a new email, most of the time it's because someone wrote something on my Wall on the Facebook. Umphf.
It's been two months and nothing but dashed hopes, broken dreams and melancholy hyperbole. I don't know how much more of it I, or my sense of aesthetic integrity, can take.
posted by temporarily unemployed at 14:06
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