Lost in the Stacks

I decided to really crack down on some reading for the Archive. I hope to eventually learn enough (and have enough experience) to take the Certification exam. Today's reading list is the first of SAA's Archival Fundamentals Series: Understanding Archives and Manuscripts.

I got my 6-month contract renewed for another 6 months! Hurrah! And I am moving into a very nice apartment. Things are looking up for me!

Kinda bored today since I don't have to spend all morning looking for a job. But I am tiding the house in anticipation of being out on my first day of work on Monday. I'll be a consultant for the NO Jazz and Heritage Foundation working away in their archives. I'm so glad that I am working in the librarian field and not at a McDonald's!

Hurray! I finally got a job! I am still kind of stunned and confused by the whole situation but I am glad. I immediately went out and bought some chocolate glazed donuts to celebrate.

Starting Monday I will be a Records Management Consultant for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Foundation. Whee!

Raining today and I am waiting for a package from my friend Tina, so I thought I would give the Job Center a miss today. The Internet is not stable so I may have to venture out to the library to do some basic job searching. Basic searching includes Craigslist, the local newspaper online, and email alerts from Careerbuilder. More in-depth searching includes looking at the websites of each University in town, library jobs across the country, and local businesses that are nearby.

Internet came back so I applied to a few jobs on craigslist. Two file clerks, proof operator and mail clerk. I got a call back about a part-time job but they wanted me to be permanent part-time and I just couldn’t lie to them that I was looking for a full-time job. It was from a temp agency so I might sign up with them to get some office job.

Today’s applications – 4 jobs (one already shot down)

Well I’m back from the job center and they have been so overwhelmed that I have to return at 8 am tomorrow to register. So, I wandered down to the Family Services Center and applied for Food Stamps. That went smoothly so hopefully I will get some food stamps. On the way back I saw a McDonald's and a Burger King. When I got home I applied on-line for a McDonald's near to where I live.

Monday’s job applications: 1

Mondays used to be my favorite day of the week. Returning to work to get going on all the stuff I had to do was always a pleasure. Even in the sewer pit of a job I had here in New Orleans. But now Mondays are my least favorite days. Nothing reminds me of the pain of not having a job more than watching all my neighbors go off to their jobs. The offices across the street are suddenly teeming with life. Smoking ladies loiter outside, probably complaining about how tough their jobs are and how little they make.

Today I am off to register at a job center so I might be able to get unemployment. Apparently my unemployment benefits are being contested by the jerks I worked for because I didn’t meet their employment requirements. Honestly I am beginning to think that they want me dead. It was bad enough when they destroyed my fragile self-confidence and then eventually fired me for some bogus reason (if I am so unqualified to do the job, why is my job now being done by someone who is even less qualified than I am?) Now, they want to make sure I don’t have a place to live or food to eat. Charming.

It’s been a while since I wrote about being a librarian but that’s because I’m not really one. But then I thought about it for a second and decided that I do some things to keep my spirits up. But it doesn’t really work because being unemployed is the most depressing thing that has happened to me. Sometimes I have difficulty breathing especially when I’m crying. It’s unbearable.

Volunteering at the National World War II museum: This is a very busy and crowded place but I volunteer a few hours every week in the archives department where I get to mess about with some interesting stuff. Personal items from people who served during the Second World War are constantly being donated to the museum and I get to sort through them and create finding aids. I suppose it comes as no surprise that this doesn’t keep my spirits up at all. No one talks to me because they are so very busy, busy, busy with their jobs. I am eager to be busy, busy, busy with a job. But I’m not.

Today’s job applications are:

1. NOA-TV --- a public access TV station. I saw it as I was biking around so I sent a random letter and resume to them. I don’t think this should count as a whole application; maybe this counts as one-half.
2. FOX8 – another TV station that is nearby. I was going to send a random letter to them too but they actually had a job available! Production Assistant.
3. Our Lady of the Lake college --- clerk
4. office help in a law firm
5. ghost writer for a book on New Orleans architecture

So that makes 4 ½ today.