TUESDAY MORNING CHECK IN

Who else is out there this lovely morning...

Im here :) but am at 3:30pm

England?

Duh... hence the co.uk next to your email addy.

What a surprise... I'm here :)

Yes indeed i am in England :)

I'm here trying to avoid working on my resume and finding a freakin job! urg! Dana

Neither in England, nor unemployed, rather in Jamaica, slaving for the man. But, i'm here, in and out, back and forth, as usual. It's the day of Mars, the most underappreciated day of the week. Have a great one!

You and me both Dana. Just got a letter from AFLAC (you know, the quacking duck, supplemental insurance company) God I just wish I could work full time.

Yeah, looking for a job just sucks. I'm trying to actually find a job working in my field of study...after 6 years of school and plenty of hands on experience hopefully something will happen. It's just a long and frustrating process. I am sooo ready to work full time and actually get paid to do what I was trained in! Good luck with your looking Saiyge! Dana

What is your field of study? :)

I'm an art therapist...just graduated in May. I want to start another art therapy program in hospice. I love my field! Dana

What does that involve?? :)

It's basically a psychologist who uses art in conjunction with and sometimes instead of words to help people in whatever way they need. So in hospice, I take a bunch of different art materials to a person's house or nursing home, or whereve they live, and we talk about what they want to get out of art therapy. Some people just want to explore the art materials, to play; some people want to use the art materials to express emotions they don't have the words for, some people can't speak due to brain tumors and things like that so the art can act as a way to communicate, some people use the art to leave behind a legacy, to review their life, to deal with dying, to have some control over something and feel a sense of accomplishment, using art materials can help to distract or diminish their physical and emotional pain, and the list goes on. It's very rewarding work. It's amazing how out of touch people get with art and then how exciting and full of energy they get when they finally get to explore art materials again. It's also nice for their family members to see that their loved one is still a person and not completely consumed by the disease. That's just a general idea...it's more complex obviously and art therapy is used in tons of different settings...I just choose to work with the dying and bereaved. Thanks for asking! What do you do? Dana

Wow thats ounds interesting, very rewarding, and good on you for doing it. Im an Event Registration Executive.....Basically i organise events for huge coporate companies, from beginning to end all registering, operations, production, flight, venue search all that could be needed in a single event to run it from start to finish. Its rewarding in a very different way. People use events for different reasons and to know that you made the event potray what the client wants is rewarding in its own little way :)

Yeah, Melissa that does sound very interesting! I bet it is rewarding to see all of your plans actually come to life! I don't think I'm that organized! My husband and I are actually having our wedding in a couple of weeks (he's an Aussie so we got married a few years earlier than planned so we could be together, and now for some ridiculous reason we agreed to have a wedding!) and planning that has been hell! There are just so many little details when planning a big event. It's nice to know that there are so many different people out there doing comletely different jobs and loving it! Dana

Im so lucky to have found the job i love at 20yrs old... Trust me i wont be organised when it comes to my wedding, i will want everything so perfect that its probably not humanley possible..however still have a few more years to think about that. Am having a 6yr engagement...have done 2 of them so far :)

Wow, 6 year engagement! Everyone is so different! Ki (that's my hubby) and I only knew each other for 2 years before he moved here and we were married within 6 months. Of course we probably would have waited a little longer if we didn't have to worry about him getting deported. Gotta do what you gotta do you know! I think it sounds like you're in the right field to prepare you for planning a wedding though! Dana

I also feel ridiculously lucky to have found a job that I'm excited and look forward to doing everyday and a wonderful man at age 24. Very lucky Dana! And I try to never take either for granted!

well...I haven't found the actual job yet, but I know what I want to do...it's just a matter of time till the job comes!

Well we got engaged after 9 months. He took me to Mexico we were both 18....My conditions for the engagement were...that i ahd finished education which was 3 yrs which took me to around 21/22 then we had to have lived together for atleast 2 years which took us to 24...so 6 years engagement was agreed. I dropped out of university in January of this year and got the job that i was studying to get....but we are still going to wait until we are 24....we will have known each other about 7 years :)

Seems to make sense. Finishing my education was actually why he came here instead of me moving to Australia. We probably would have gotten married this year anyway as I just finished up my masters. Thank god that is done! Dana

Ahhh now I remember :) I still think thats such a cool job :) I have a whole list of woulda/shoulda/coulda's I was supposed to go right from High school into my apprenticeship.... Stupid car accidents have a way of ... interupting ones plans :) I'd kill for a telecommuter position with a reliable source of income. I just dont think there are any reliable sources one can work for anymore with that kind of freedom. My entire situation becomes more frustrating by the day. It's starting to look like I'll have to settle for something most teenagers dont want to do in order to pay the bills.

Saiyge, I know how you feel. I really want to get hired as an art therapist in hospice, there is just so much freedom and it's so rewarding. However, not a lot of people know about art therapy since it's only been around like 40 years and mostly because the fucking insurance companies won't pay for it. So I might end up waitressing again until I get the job I want. Which sucks. Gotta pay off my tons of loans though. Dana

I've been submitting my information to insane amounts of temp agencies and different job sites. Had a great meltdown today too. Boy am I productive~ I can't help but think sometimes, it would be nicer and much easier to be less mentally stable, and less ethical. Blargh. Have you tried looking at medically targeted job banks hon?

Nah, trust me you don't want to be less mentally stable...I've worked with those people...not a happy bunch. Right now I'm just trying to apply direct to hospices that I think look like their philosophy matches mine. I'm not a big fan of the medical model...a lot of hospitals and such end up treating people like they aren't people but diseases, and I have a big problem with that. Plus, most medically oriented companies wouldn't even give me a second glance because they think art therapy is just arts and crafts. And most web searches don't come up with any matches for art therapy. Unless I work with drug and alcohol or eating disorders not many art therapy positions are posted online. I kind of have to make my own position. My friend went through a temp agency, it took a little while but it worked out well for her...she ended up at the Discovery Channel. Hang in there and I'm sure they'll come up with something good. And if you're tired of waiting just start calling up companies you're interested in and sell yourself! Dana

-insert emoticon of Mr. Yuck- lol I got my last job with my desperation Cover letter :) And when they would ask me what my weakness were, I'd tell them... "I write a terrible cover letter and resume" -snerk- Have you considered looking for places that work with Children primarilly? That might be an idea.

There would be jobs working with children...but i'm not a big fan of kids at this point in my life. I love the elderly! They move more at my pace! I'm just waaaaaay to slow moving to keep up with kids! I've work with kids here and there, I just don't want to do it everyday. Hey, companies like honesty! You tell you suck at something they're more likely to believe you when you tell them what you're good at! Dana