unable to stay jobless

Well I'm not even done working at the place that I'm quitting from, and already, out of the blue, I have a new job. This is cool though: it's at the SPCA!!

What's not so very cool is that I'm supposed to work at the accounting firm until the end of tax season (beginning of May), which is going to be VERY busy and a lot of overtime. Now, on top of that, I'll likely be at the SPCA every Saturday and who knows when else, because I told them I'd work anytime I wasn't doing my regular job if they needed me to. It's gonna be a lot of work. There's an end in sight though. If I can survive the next eight weeks it'll all be good, and hopefully I'll pick up enough shifts at the SPCA so that I won't have to ever go temping. It's supposed to be a casual position, but the shelter has been recently renovated and is a lot bigger, and thus holds a lot more animals, so they are absolutely swamped with work and hurting for extra employees A LOT. So I think chances are fairly decent that I'll get a lot of hours there. I know this is going to be a stressful job sometimes, but it's something I completely believe in so I'm really happy about it.

AND, being a casual position, I'll still have the flexibility to do all the things we have planned this summer and fall.

Spanish lessons were over last weekend. Mark couldn't make it to the last class - he was busy falling into Fairy Lake in the rain and catching a cold. I'm not sure if we can do the level 3 Spanish class - it looks like not enough students are going to sign up for it, and now I'll be working on Saturdays. It's a shame too, because I think we're on the edge of a Spanish breakthrough. Ah well.

Julie gives notice

Well that was more anti-climactic than I thought it would be. I told my bosses I was quitting as soon as tax season is over and they said "oh, okay". And then nothing. They didn't ask why; they didn't say ANYTHING. So there was an uncomfortable pause, and I said it was a personal decision due to the direction my life was taking and didn't reflect on the company, and again they were like "oh, okay". Another uncomfortable pause. I gave them my little letter I had typed out, and they didn't even look at it. In fact, neither of them would actually take it - I had to put it on the desk in front of them after I held it out and nobody moved to take it from my hand.

Anyway that's done. Here's where I work:













K, here's another cool quote from Megan Lyles' Travelogue. This is from an intense hiking/camping journey she went on to Machu Picchu, where she was REALLY COLD at night in her tent at a high elevation, after a day of difficult hiking:

"I tried my usual test of whether something is really bad or not. I asked myself, "Would you rather be here or at work?" Usually the answer is "here" and I feel better. Today the answer was "work, work, I'd rather be in a nice, warm, stationary cubicle!" so that was not so good."

I like that test. I think I'll have to use it when I become a jobless bum.

Are you wondering why I quit so early? We've got lots of plans for the summer and I would require too much time off to accomplish everything. My work is very restrictive about vacation days. We're having lots of company in from out of town, and there are two courses we want to take over the summer. One is a cob building course from cobworks.com, and the other is a carpentry course at a local college. We are also planning on taking a trip to the Yukon, and that will be at least two to three weeks; probably more like a month.

I plan on temping when all that is not happening, and I'd LOVE to get some actual writing done. I find that working at a job I don't like directly affects my ability to be creative, even when I'm not at work. Yuk!

As for Mark, he can post his own employment plans for your reading pleasure. Nah, that'll never happen - he never posts. He's not sure when he's going to quit yet. Seeing as how he has unlimited vacation days and he actually doesn't mind his job 90% of the time, it's not as pressing an issue for him as it has been for me. Also, it takes him 20 minutes to WALK to work, and it takes me about an hour to commute on the bus. In the cold rain. With my stupid work clothes on that always manage to get full of mud. Uphill both ways.

Boo hoo.

;)