Jen, The Crocheting-Almost Jobless-Sorority Nerd

Hell-llo. :) Just posting a quick lil' blurb to say hello and to catch everyone up on "The Life And Times Of Jen." Hope that you're all doing well. Hard to believe that we're coming up on the start of July already. It still feels like Christmas was just yesterday.

It's been an interesting week. Mostly good, I'm happy to say. As you know, our agency is closing because of the Base Realignment and Closure (we call it "BRAC"), and it has really thrown all of us into a tizzy. I have said to you many times that the stress of losing your job and the familiarity of your surroundings has been exceptionally difficult on all of us. Although the sadness and shock diminish as time goes forward, the worry about what's-to-come is still ever-present. I had what I consider a set-back this week in my ongoing quest to become a professional adult capable of surviving outside my current agency. Back in March, I interviewed with another Federal agency who will remain nameless, but I will say that these are the very senior folks who are looked to by the others in my field to set the example for how to conduct professional business...does that help you figure out who they are? Anyway, I did very well, or so I thought. I also wrote for them an excellent essay (or, um, so I thought). Yes, they put me in front of a computer and made me type out an essay after they interviewed me. I did what they told me to do (which was to send an EMAIL one week afterward to follow-up), and after what's now been three months of occasional follow-ups (me to them) and little to no response from them, I finally learned that I was not hired. So much about that entire situation upset me. I was an excellent candidate, and I really wanted to work there. And that ugly, vicious voice at the back of my mind still occasionally hisses at me that I won't beat the BRAC...that I'll be there until the end and until they close the door after forcefully kicking my rumpus through it. This agency had previously made it abundantly clear, both to my boss and to me, that they wanted to move out immediately on non-competitive hires (i.e., reassignments from other agencies, etc.), and yet they waited and kept me deliberately ignorant and hopeful only to lower a boom on me. A boom, might I mention, that I had to ask for....I'd still be "deliberately ignorant and hopeful" had I not sent yet another follow-up EMAIL this week. That's the part, I think, that makes me the angriest. In truth, I really want the job I interviewed for earlier this month. It's in the same building and is also a Federal job, but it's with a totally different agency. So, truthfully, perhaps the first agency's done me a favor by not hiring me. But it's absolutely awful to be kept "deliberately ignorant and hopeful" and to receive absolutely no feedback regarding a potential position...period. Especially when they knew I wanted the job there so badly...and that I am losing my job because of the BRAC.

Not two seconds after I read the "thanks-but-no-thanks" EMAIL from that agency, I took the "phone call of death" in my office. This week, our clerical assistant has been on vacation, so the four specialists are all taking turns answering the phone. Well, whoo-the-hell-hoo, am I glad I took this call. I'll spare you the gory details, but I'll say that more than once, she'd been talked to and helped by my colleagues. Apparently, she was displeased with their assistance, and chose me as her scapegoat. After thirty minutes of her continual interruptions (as I'd try to explain things to her) and her never-ending cruel remarks about my colleagues, I raised my voice to her and said, "NameDeleted, this conversation is over," and I hung up the phone. I was furious. And she called back, believe it or not....TWICE! And she got hung up on AGAIN. Later, we laughed about it as an office and it really helped to diffuse the situation, but good grief, I was mad. Perhaps had her timing been somewhat different, I wouldn't have been so pissed off by the way she behaved. But boy, was I mad. And when I get angry like that, it just exhausts me. It took me all the energy I had just to stay awake and make it through the day.

This weekend, I'm doing a ton of "sorority adviser" stuff. Housemom interviews yesterday and meetings today. I'm keeping busy and becoming more active in this new role. It's exciting. I'm telling you, most of the people I knew from high school would probably be absolutely astonished if they knew that I joined a sorority. I just really wasn't the "type." I'm extroverted, sure, but not rail-skinny and supermodel-gorgeous like the stereotypical sorority girl. It's been a wonderful experience and I am so, so glad I did it. And I'm excited to have this new opportunity to work with collegians and help them and support them in their endeavors. Jen, the sorority nerd.

Two other reasons I've not been online as much lately involve a new blanket I'm crocheting and a new series of books I've discovered. Most of my office is addicted to the Janet Evanovich series about Stephanie Plum, a young female bounty hunter who seemingly has interesting experience after interesting experience. The girls at work have gotten me hooked on these books! Hooked, I tell you! And on the topic of "hook"-ed, I'm working furiously on another Beth's Little Star Afghan in the hopes of having it ready for an early July baby shower for a sorority sister. I'll post photos as soon as it's done.

Off to get ready for my sorority meeting. Have a great day, folks.