Guess What???

Posted in Career, Me Me Me! by Marci

For a while I was feeling like this:

But now I’m feeling more like this:

You know why? Because the wildlife museum called me back about the the book I wrote in response to their questionnaire! Woohoo!!! So, I have kind of an “informal” phone call scheduled with them a week from Sunday, just to go over what the job is, living in the Bay Area, answer questions I have, etc. And if it still sounds good to me, I progress to the official phone interview. And after that, the in-person interview up in the Bay Area.

What I think is kind of funny is that I got zero response with the government applications I sent out, but I’ve got somebody interested from the first job I applied for in this new direction I’m headed. So maybe I’m onto something, eh? And even if I don’t get this job, I’m sure there are others out there for me – one that I will get.

Are your fingers still crossed for me? Good!

13Jan2006

Not getting my hopes up…well, maybe a little!

Posted in Career, Friends and Family, Me Me Me!, Updates by Marci

I know it has been a while since I’ve posted, Faithful Readers, but I have truly been very busy. I thought I’d share with you my New Years’ Resolution; I’m usually opposed to making Resolutions because I, of course, am Perfect Just As I Am and there’s usually no need to make such petty improvements. However, I’ve realized something during my Year of Miserableness, otherwise known as 2005 to the rest of you, that my friends are terribly important to me. So how about this:

– My Year of Awesomeness (a.k.a. 2006) New Years’ Resolution –

I will strive to keep in better contact with my friends and loved ones!

This Means You!

Aren’t You LUCKY????

I SURE AM!!!

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I can share with all of you some potential brightness: I’ve applied for another job! I’m pretty excited about this one actually – it’s for an interpretive services manager at a wildlife museum in the Bay Area. I think it would be pretty cool to be there because I already know tons of people, and it would be between Mom and Anne and Paul. I actually made it past the first round of the selection process – that is, they didn’t take just one look at my resume and toss it in the good old circular file. Nope! They actually expressed some interest, and asked me to fill out a questionnaire along with some other hopefuls! So, 16 single-spaced typed pages of text and pictures later (that included a Kiss concert photo, by the way) I was told that I would be contacted “soon” about whether I advance to the phone interview or not. So wish me luck, eh? If I don’t make it – oh well – I’m kind of used to it by now. I’ve got some other fun jobs to apply for anyway.

We’ll chat again soon, no? And by the way, I’m pulling out the tough love on myself with the New Years’ Resolution: this blog does not count as “keeping in contact”. Ouch!

29Dec2005

A Glimpse of Clarity!

Posted in Career, Me Me Me! by Marci

Yesterday, while zoning in the trance-like state I am able to achieve while monitoring recorded phone calls for quality control, I suddenly found myself struck by an odd sense of clarity. This clarity, as you might have guessed, concerns my BIG question, What Should I Do With My Life.

Fortunately for me, Mom had given me a book for Christmas with this very title. I’ve only started reading it this past week, but I’ve been impressed by two points already. First, I’ve been scared that I just don’t want anything, that I have no more passion. That it has been beaten out of me. Not true! I learned that people who struggle always have passion – if they didn’t care about anything, there would be no struggle. So that’s important lesson number one.

The second thing I’ve realized is that I need to have fun. And that it will be possible for me to do this in my career. Basically, in applying for all these government jobs, I’ve been barking up the wrong tree. I’ve always gotten everything I’ve truly wanted, and the reason I’ve been getting NO reponse to these applications is probably due to the fact that I don’t really want these jobs. In the past, I’ve truly enjoyed working – with animals, with writing, with being creative, with interacting with people while educating, with art. And there are jobs out there like this! For me!

So, I’ve decided to pursue a career in conservation education with zoos, museums or aquariums. There are lots of jobs posted on the AZA website, and several sound interesting. A couple even pay pretty well! I’ll be able to educate, entertain, utilize my creative talents, and work for a cause that I believe in. AND, I won’t be abandoning my education (Brett, if you’re reading this, those manuscripts are STILL on my list of things I want to finish – keep the faith!).

Well anyway, it was just a glimpse. Tomorrow the clouds might come in and I might decide to pursue telemarketing from a tiny, dark cubicle for my career. If that happens, either shoot me or point me to this blog entry. Thanks!

7Dec2005

Enough with the recorded phone calls…

Posted in Career, Complainments, Me Me Me! by Marci

Woohoo! They’ve finally decided to expand my duties at work, letting me climb out of the pit known as “listening to recorded phone calls for eight hours per day”. Someone in the department was let go, and they’ve decided to keep me on for a while so that I can pick up the slack. I’ll be trained on monitoring consolidation phone calls (yes, recorded ones…), but I do have a fun project that involves creating an intranet website. Because I’m working in the Quality Assurance/Compliance department, I’ve decided to call the site “QuAC Net” – on the home page there’s a rubber duck, and the whole site has a subtle (or not-so-subtle, as the case may be) duck theme. It’s pretty funny, and the boss likes it a lot!

In the meantime, I’ve applied for a few more jobs – I’m really excited about an application I put in for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife as a communications coordinator. Lots of fun educational, writing, and media projects – I think it will be a good fit, if they decide to consider me. So keep your fingers crossed for me –

Yours truly,
Milto–I mean–Marci 🙂

25Nov2005

Alright Already!!!

Posted in Career, Complainments, Me Me Me!, Updates by Marci

I know, it has been a long time since I posted on my blog. But, seeing as how I’m a regular Joe Blow now with my regular Joe Blow job, I don’t have time for all this fancy high-tech frivolity. Work, tv, sleep. Work, tv, sleep. Work, tv, sleep. Oh yeah, and my internet connection has been on the fritz, too. And it’s still not completely fixed – for one, right now I’m connected with a rather short cable to my DSL modem, which is pretty darn inconvenient when you’re used to being wireless. Plus, my neck gave out this past week – I was essentially immobilized on Tuesday and missed work because I was having sharp unbearable stabbing pains in my neck and shoulders with every fraction of a movement I made. I went to the chiropractor for the first time ever on Tuesday and man, those were some scary sounds my neck made. Cracky, cracky!

Ok, so there’s the short update. I’ll write more when I get some time – I have some pictures to post, but in the meantime, here’s a good one for you, a little something called “I guess I could do worse and have this guy’s job” (compliments of Brenda):

8Nov2005

What, again with the temping?

Posted in Career, Complainments, Me Me Me! by Marci

Sigh. I’m on my lunch break right now, trying to decide if I should let all of my friends with prestigious positions and careers know if I’ve taken a temp job (well, I guess I just decided). Yes, I’m temping again. The same thing I was doing ten years ago (and hating), only this time around I’ve got A LOT more debt under me.

It’s not all bad though – I’m working full time as a “Compliance Quality Control Specialist” at a company that consolidates college loans. You know how when you call a company and you hear the recording “this phone call may be recorded”? Did you know that someone actually has to listen to those calls? Well, that someone be me, at least for now. Basically, I have to analyze calls to see if loan consultants comply with Federal Do Not Call regulations. Fun fun fun. And at least I get to listen to phone calls of some people who have a hell of a lot more debt than I do. But, I will say this: the people that I work with are really cool, and they are amusing to work with. And if you ask me, the people make all the difference in whether you like a temp job or not.

I’m still applying for fishery-aquatic-ecology-biology type jobs, and I’m still getting nowhere. Rejections galore. No interviews, even. What’s going on? Is this some crazy joke that everyone else is in on except for me? Is there a higher power trying to tell me that I’m trying the wrong direction? Should I be focusing on another type of career? Egad! The questions, the questions! I’m open to any kind of advice, folks!

1Nov2005

Tail-End of the Camping Season

Posted in Career, Friends and Family, Me Me Me! by Marci

Saturday night was the last night of the Roar and Snore camping season at the Wild Animal Park. And because it was so close to Halloween, we all decided to wear cat ears and tails (that’s my tail in the middle). And, to end things with a bang, we had probably the rowdiest group of kids of the entire season! Worse than girl scouts, and dare I say it, even cub scouts! It was bittersweet – after an entire summer of giving the same tours over and over again, I think everyone was ready to move on. But, it was sad saying goodbye to my new friends (really, my only friends here in CA) and my employment at the park. I’ll be able to hang onto my employee ID for a little while so that I can continue to visit the park for free, and enjoy the new balloon ride and the Glacier Run simulator and get down to the zoo.

I really hope that we can all stay in touch. My friendships with the people on the night crew are so important to me, and whether or not they realize it, they’ve given me a lot during a rough time in my life. I’ll probably always look back on this job as one of the funnest I’ll ever have; it has given me some great ideas of what I’d like to do with my life, shown me some of my strengths, and given me a boost in confidence. I’m so fortunate to have had this opportunity!

17Oct2005

What a week…

Posted in Career, Friends and Family, Me Me Me!, Updates by Marci

Whew! A lot happened this past week. Ok, first of all, I know you’re all wondering about my job search – my application for the Army Corps job (mentioned in the previous post) fell through, so now I only have two applications out, both of which are long-shots (and not really want I want anyway, truth be told). It’s so much work hunting for jobs that I’m kind of getting discouraged by all this rejection and am wondering if I’ll ever find a job.

In the meantime, I signed up with a temp agency, which will hopefully keep some money rolling in for me while I’m job hunting. I also signed up with Arbonne as an Independent Consultant, so you can look forward to me pestering all you friends and family out there to buy their stuff from me. Seriously though, Arbonne sells really great skin care products (all botanically based, no animal products, no animal testing), and they’re the only products I’ve used so far that have been able to help me with some of my dark spots and fine wrinkles (yes, I’m getting wrinkles!). If you’re curious, ask me about it.

And it’s weird how people come and go in life. I broke up with Bob this week, but also this week, my old childhood chum, Tina Junk, wrote me an email from out of nowhere. It turns out that she lives only about 10 minutes from me! She’s married, and a stay-at-home mom with four kids. We’re going to get together on Wednesday for lunch.

My grandfather (on my mom’s side) went into the hospital yesterday, and was diagnosed with a GI bleed in both his stomach and esophogus. On top of that, he has pneumonia, which isn’t very good. He had surgery earlier this morning to fix his stomach ulcer, and I think he’ll be ok, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed. And Teddy Bear had a cold this week too – he won’t even eat his wet food! But I think he’s getting better.

That’s about it – I have some exciting things planned for this week, so just you wait for the next installment!

6Oct2005

I don’t want to jinx myself but…

Posted in Career, Me Me Me! by Marci

Woo hoo! I looked up my job application status for the Army Corps of Engineers today, and among all the “rejected” notices, there was actually one application that made it to review! This is the first time that I’ve seen this message, so I think I might have made it past an initial hurdle of some sort. The position is for a Fishery Biologist in Portland, which would be great. I might even end up working with my bro!

So, to recap, I have four applications in consideration right now: one for the EPA, two for the USGS, and one for the Corps. Needless to say, keep your fingers crossed for me! Thanks!