[Elennare]

Well, The Doom(TM) has finally arrived.

 

I've been given a lay off notice and only have a job through the end of June.  So, priority #1 is finding new employment.  But, I'm also a busy parent, coach, and athlete, so I can't let any of that stuff fall by the wayside either.  This is going to suck.

 

In light of the Teetering Tavern theme, I'm going to have some counters running for my goals this challenge!

 

Goal one: apply for jobs!  One point for each job applied for, aiming for as many as I can, until someone hires me.

Goal two: eat more healthy meals than junk food.  My definitions are a little fuzzy, but generally healthy meals will have lots of veggies and protein, and junk is everything that doesn't.

 

Obviously I am going to keep exercising every day, at least a little bit, but at this point I think it's safe to say that's just something I do not a challenge, so I'm not going to track it here.

 

My tally counters, for easy copy/paste for future updates:

Jobs applied for: 0

Food goal met: 0  (Healthy meals: 0/junk meals: 0)

 

 

[Everstorm]

Good luck with the job hunt!

[Elennare]

Midway through zero week update (but I'm not starting my trackers until the challenge actually starts)!

I have applied for 5 jobs.  One at my current company earlier this week, and 4 tonight.  I actually applied for two positions at my current company, but one of them I did last week.

Food has been meh, and I think at least trending in the direction of more healthy than not, but I haven't been doing the best job tracking it this week.

Tuesday and Wednesday were derby practice.  Tonight would have been derby practice but Little Bug had a band concert, so I went to that instead.  Think I'm going to do some yoga tonight.  Was going to do the May yoga challenge from Down Dog, but I completely forgot that yesterday was the first day of May and didn't do anything, so I lost out on that before I even knew it started.

 

But check out this awesome bruise I got at practice on Tuesday!

 

It's a lot more purple today, but I don't have another picture of it yet.  I went down in the middle of a pile up and landed on the edge of someone's skate wheel.  And then rolled down my leg, while pretty much all my weight was on it.

 

It doesn't hurt, unless something presses on it.  Which isn't great, especially since I have a game on Sunday.  So, I ordered some shin guards which should get here tomorrow to attempt to prevent causing further injury to it.

[Elennare]

Finished out zero week decently.  Didn't apply for any more jobs, but got a meeting scheduled for today to discuss a potential opportunity with my current company, so I guess that's progress?  Didn't really track my food, but made a bit of an effort to eat healthy stuff.

 

And I had a game on Sunday!  It was a close game, with multiple lead changes, but we didn't quite manage to pull off the win this time.  I honestly think the super sticky floor was a big part of that.  No one could stop properly on it, and we got a lot of penalties that cost us, many of them a direct result of not being able to stop properly.  It was also stupid humid in the venue, which wasn't great.  All that said, it was also a really fun game!  I think I played really well for the most part.  There were a couple times I came off the track and was thinking "what the heck did I do that for?," but overall I feel like I played really well.  I was also the pivot for my line, which means I could end up being the jammer.  My line has a really good jammer, so I didn't think I'd need to take over, but I did once.  And then proceeded to do things, without thinking about them, that if you had told me a year ago that I would do in a game I would have told you there was no way.  So that was pretty cool too!

[Elennare]

I have put gifs in the first post!

 

This one was a very close runner up for closing it out:

 

I may need to do a 5th Element themed challenge next time...

[Everstorm]

26 minutes ago, Elennare said:

5th Element themed challenge next time

Do eeeeet!!!

[Elennare]

Day 1 summary:

Jobs applied for: 1

Food goal met: 1  (Healthy meals: 2/junk meals: 1)

 

Found and applied for another job.  Definitely didn't eat great, but I had more healthy food than not today, so it counts!  Plus 40 minutes of yin yoga, which felt amazing after yesterday's bout.

 

The potential job opportunity I had a meeting about today is not going to work for me, if they decide to offer it.  It's only for 9 months, not a regular position.  Which would almost certainly put me in the same position I am in now, only several months further in the future and without the layoff benefits.  So, pass.  Also my manager, who set this up and was in the call while we talked about it (which made trying to talk myself up awkward, since she and I have a very different view of my abilities and what I've done, and I didn't want to risk her deciding to call me a liar or something in the middle of all that) , apparently didn't realize it was a temporary gig, even after I asked for clarification of that and they explicitly said they were looking for a temporary loan-in person! 😮 I don't even know how to react to that.  I guess I didn't need to worry about trying to talk myself up, since she clearly wasn't actually listening!

[Everstorm]

I almost suspect that woman of setting you up to lose your layoff benefits.

[Elennare]

1 hour ago, Everstorm said:

I almost suspect that woman of setting you up to lose your layoff benefits.

Well, given that I am 95% sure she knew layoffs were coming and set me up to be first on the list to go (with the added "benefit" of making sure I didn't get my bonus), it would not surprise me in the slightest.  I also strongly suspect that if they do offer me the position I will be pressured to accept it.  I don't think they're going to offer it to me, because they went out of their way to let me know they were also talking to other people about the opening and that me being in Ohio would make things...complicated.

[Elennare]

Day 2 summary:

Jobs applied for: 1 (no change)

Food goal met: 2  (Healthy meals: 3/junk meals: 1)

 

A note to help make sense of how I'm running my tracker: the main goals are a running tally, so they'll go up every time I hit the goal (job applied for, or a day where I ate more healthy meals than junk meals), but the sub-tracker for healthy vs not meals resets for every day.  I may decide to drop that, since I'm not actively updating during the day and I have my planner I'm tracking my meals in.

 

Yesterday I ended up in a bit of a funk, because I am currently super stressed out, worried about a lot of things, and buried under a mountain of things I need to do, and I had a phone call with my mom where she kept telling me all the things she thought I needed to be doing, right now.  And, while I'm sure she was right, I wasn't in the right mental state to deal with it, nor did I want someone else trying to solve everything for me.  Blergh.  But I still went to practice, and it was a really good practice. 

 

I still wanted ice cream real bad afterwards.  And I was going to the store, because Little One is sick and I needed to pick up more medicine.  But I chose a salted caramel chocolate protein shake instead.  It was really good, and I did not want ice cream after that.

[Elennare]

Day 3 summary:

Jobs applied for: 2

Food goal met: 2

 

Technically I didn't apply for any jobs, but I did talk to multiple people about multiple potential openings at my current company, so I think that counts for at least 1 point.  Unfortunately, I also got 2 rejection emails as well.  But I'm not taking points away. 😜

 

Food was a wash.  I had 2 healthy and 2 junk meals, so no points there.

 

I also ended up staying late at the office waiting for my lead to send me an updated document that we needed to get reviewed that day, so I didn't manage to plan anything for derby practice.  It certainly wasn't the most put together, well planned out, teach a specific thing practice I've ever run, but we got some skill work in, some game-play type practice in, and a fair bit of endurance with some of it disguised as just having fun.  The kids all stayed focused, which was great.  Given that I was winging it the entire time, I'd say practice was a success!

 

And then I had to review the document, because it had not arrived by the time I needed to leave.  But that took all of 10 minutes, including turning on my computer, so that wasn't too bad.  Plus, now I get to leave a bit early today.

[Everstorm]

Well done choosing protein shack over ice cream shake when you were stressed.

[Elennare]

Day 4 summary:

Jobs applied for: 2

Food goal met: 2

 

Yesterday was an equal split on meals, so no points.  I didn't apply for any more jobs,  but I did get a screening interview set up for a position I previously applied for, so that's cool.

[Elennare]

Days 5-7 summary:

Jobs applied for: 2

Food goal met: 3

 

I have not been doing great on my eating this week, and unfortunately, the scale shows it.  I am for real going to do better this week.  Because I definitely won't meet my goals if I don't.

 

Did not apply for more jobs, but did have that call on Friday.  I was not the person they were looking for.  I guess they thought maybe, because I had used a little tiny bit in the past a program they use a lot and had it listed on my resume?  But, I did not have the experience in their area that they needed for the position they were hiring for.  So, no luck there, but he also said he was going to pass my resume on to a few other people, so I guess there's still a possibility something will come from it?

 

Mother's Day was very nice.  I got breakfast in bed, and we went roller skating.  I also found Little One's watch!  Both boys have fancy Garmin kid's watches, that among other things, let them send messages to me and Husband.  They're very nice (and expensive - they were the big Christmas gift a few years ago), though slightly large, watches.  Little One has been getting bothered by the size of it, I think, and not wearing his too much lately.  And then, at the start of April, he lost it!  The last place it pinged it's location was at home, so we were 99% sure it was in the house, but of course the battery had died so we couldn't get it to make any noise or anything to help us find it. 😡  Cue weeks of us tearing the house apart with no luck.  He said he was fairly sure he left it in his brother's room, but we checked everywhere, and couldn't find it.  I was going crazy, because my stressed out brain had latched on to locating the watch as The Thing That MUST Be Done, and I couldn't do it.  I finally admitted defeat like a week ago, because clearly we weren't going to find it until we pulled out and went through literally everything.  Well, last night I was helping Little Bug look for his earplugs, in case the music at the rink was too loud, and I checked on his desk.  Didn't find the earplugs, but I lifted up a piece of paper and there was the watch!  Huzzah, my stress level has gone down a bit because The Thing is done!

 

Also, on Friday evening, I had not yet exercised.  I was tired and didn't wanna, and even walking around (or in place) for 20 minutes felt like too much work.  So I went and grabbed my pair of 10lb dumbbells and did upper body weight lifting for half an hour, because I could do that sitting on the floor and that wasn't too much work!  I'm still trying to wrap my brain around how lifting weights for half an hour was less work than walking for 20 minutes, but however that worked, it's a huge win.

[Everstorm]

16 minutes ago, Elennare said:

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around how lifting weights for half an hour was less work than walking for 20 minutes, but however that worked, it's a huge win.

Brains are weird.  Congrats on the win

[Elennare]

Day 8 summary:

Jobs applied for: 3

Food goal met: 4

 

After some consideration, I am expanding what counts in the "jobs applied for" category to include concrete actions to secure new employment.  Thus, responding to the questions from the recruiter to set up an interview for another position counts.   It is not actually a position I thought I would get an interview for, because I only have 8ish months working on the subject area they wanted years of experience in, but then, I did have pretty much all the other "required" and a fair few of the "desired" qualifications plus *some* experience in the subject area (that not a lot of people do), so, I guess that's at least enough that they want to talk to me!

 

I still had probably a few more treats than I should have yesterday, but on the whole I ate more healthy food, so check that one off as well!

[Elennare]

Day 9 summary:

Jobs applied for: 4

Food goal met: 5

 

Did better on my food today, though I definitely didn't drink enough.

 

Found another job to apply for...and also am coming to the realization that there aren't a lot of jobs I am qualified for in places I want to live left to apply for.  Like, I looked at the listings of a couple companies that had very small lists of openings, and one I've looked at before that now has significantly fewer postings (and none currently I'm qualified for).  I really hope something I've got in work now ends up working out, because it's starting to look like my options are disappearing. 😬

[Elennare]

Day 10 summary:

Jobs applied for: 4

Food goal met: 5

 

I did not eat very healthily yesterday.  But, I also didn't go overboard on anything, so I guess that's a win.

 

I also apparently need to change my first goal, because it's kind of become a moot point.  I got an email yesterday morning welcoming me to the new team, with a start date of Friday!  So, while that came out of the blue, and I'm pretty sure my manager did not follow the correct process for transferring me (and absolutely did not communicate anything), I have a new job.  I also did not get the 2 weeks to ensure a smooth hand off of my current position I had requested, but at least I'm not going to be unemployed.  I think the new position will be a good fit.  And, we'll be relocating to the Seattle area this summer.

 

I guess I can pivot the "jobs applied for" goal to "days doing something to facilitate an easy move"?  Going to think about that for a bit, so I can pick something useful but also concrete.

[Shello]

Awesome news!  Congratulations!   Was this one of the jobs you had hoped to get transferred to?   and hopefully it's under a new boss.  our current/ex boss sounds like a real treat.  

[Elennare]

12 hours ago, Shello said:

Awesome news!  Congratulations!   Was this one of the jobs you had hoped to get transferred to?   and hopefully it's under a new boss.  our current/ex boss sounds like a real treat.  

Yes, it's the position I thought would be the best fit of the ones discussed. Not only a new boss, but a completely different division of the company (commercial rather than space). So as of now, I do not have to deal with the shitty manager anymore! 😁

[Elennare]

 Day 11 - 14 summary: 

Jobs applied for: 4 

Food goal met: 5

 

No further progress on my goals during week 2.

 

First day with the new job was fine. Lots of training.

 

Saturday was junior roller derby. Drove down to Kentucky to coach. 4 hours one way. We did not win, but we now have enough sanctioned games to qualify for Regionals. So that's good. Not so great, we had another kid get a concussion. Which makes me think we coaches have been failing these kids with proper conditioning. Definitely something to work on for next season, but also trying to start now, because we've got a month before regionals.

 

Sunday I tried to get up early enough to go to church and then scrimmage, but there was no way it was happening. So, I slept in a bit, went to church later, and mostly took it easy. We also took the boys out for ice cream, and told them about the upcoming move. That went about as well as expected (which is to say, not great). I may have ruined going out for ice cream. 😕