Throwing Hands

          There is a difference between a job and a career.  Career oriented people will put themselves out there.  They have a desire to advance.  They want to change things.  They want to set goals whether it is to make money or better the community, environment, what have you.  Some are so focused on their careers that nothing else is a priority.  Some balance their careers with other things that may have meaning in their lives – such as family or community. 

Job people are those who need a paycheck just to make ends meet – or sometimes just to have an extra amount of cash.  These people don’t necessarily wish to make a career out of whatever they’re doing.  It is there just to get buy.  They are not married to their job or at least don’t want to be.  Often people have resentments about their situations on the job – or others that they work with.  Some feel used and abused and struggle financially while others do it for extra pocket change.  Some are even happy with their jobs but are also aware that it’s not necessarily something that they wish to do for the rest of their lives. 

https://www.mihnati.com/blog/2017/12/job-vs-career-whats-the-difference/

I think Linkedin was designed for career oriented people who know how to utilize the site to the fullest while others create an account either out of curiosity or like me, do for a grade requirement.  I’m sure I could use it to my advantage if I had the right frame of mind, but I don’t.  I don’t have the right frame of mind that anyone reading this would even want to hire me.   

I am a good employee – always have been.  But I don’t wish to be married to my job nor do I wish to spend so much time getting to a location where said job might be.  I’ve already done that as a single person.  Time is more precious to me than money.  Roland doesn’t understand that.  He wants me to work full time.  He wants me to find a job that will offer benefits.  I do get where he’s coming from.  I really do.  He wants Jenna and I to be covered should our health be jeopardized or I am unable to work further and his social security will not be enough to carry us through.

        I loathe job hunting.  I have been in a number of dead end jobs biting time because I wasn’t willing to play the job hunting game of filling out applications and interviewing.  

We went to a job fair while Randy and Carrie were visiting.  Roland had dropped everyone off at Stewart Park except for me.  I put my resume with three companies who were there to represent themselves. I may have received a call from one but unsure as the caller had a thick Asian accent that I didn’t understand.  She called the day after I had put in my application to the school district the day after the job fair.  I would like that position as it will require less travel.

Holidays and Brain Out

          Valentines Day is a non-Federal holiday full of traditions and legends which may or may not be true.  There were at least two, perhaps three, patron saints who bore the name St. Valentine.  Their lives ended in tragic massacres; perhaps it was the way they lived that got the Valentine’s celebration started.  There are many websites to choose from when “Valentines” is the subject entered into a search engine such as Google.  I have never been much into the Valentine spirit.  The concept behind Valentine’s Day seems noble enough, but the commercialism is what keeps the holiday alive and I could do without that.  No one gets off of work or school in honor of Valentines.

https://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day

           President’s Day was created in honor of George Washington, first president of the United States.  President’s Day was initially established on February 22, 1885 in honor of his birthday.  President's Day is a Federal holiday - which means most governement businesses, banks, and schools are closed on Presidents day.  In 1971 the date was changed to the third Monday in February.  This was done as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act (see here) 

https://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0219/calvert-county-presidents-day-schedule-.html 

I had accepted an assignment that put me with kindergartners and first graders on Valentine’s Day.  The first graders surprised the aides when we were invited to play a trivia game to test our knowledge of George Washington.  Each time we answered correctly, we would get a point.  If we answered wrong, the children would get the points.  I thought it fairly easy as all of the questions had multiple choice – though I either hadn’t been aware or agreed with the answers as being correct – like the cherry tree incident I learned to be a myth.  Or that his teeth were not made out of wood but ivory – however ivory was not one of the listed choices.

I don’t remember how many questions there were.  Two of us answered all of our questions correctly.  One answered a couple incorrectly and one I think got only one right.  The aides won.  Later on that day I helped set up for the Valentine party.  I passed out the punch.

We had a three day weekend and did not return to school until today.  I had picked up an assignment to work today as well as Thursday and Friday.  I had accepted the assignment yesterday.  Oh my word, I was soooooooo sleepy.  The fact that I was sitting in a middle school math class was not helping in the least.

A snail travels 0.029 miles in an hour.  How much will he travel in 10 minutes?

saved from Emma Portel Pinterest file

Way too early for my brain to convert anything.  So glad NOT to be a student today.  The second class was more of the X Y chart but now introducing Z.  My brain hurt.  The instructor played this YouTube video.

Next was a prep class.  The instructor wrote a paragraph about a blizzard in the “maintain” and some other misspelled word – no punctuation.  I didn’t know if it was intentional so that the class would correct whatever they happened to write.  But they had to have three paragraphs.  It was definitely interesting. 

Only one recess was required with the schedule I had done on Friday, but the schedule I am doing this week has me outside three different parts of the day.  Though recess is not my favorite, I do enjoy this schedule overall.  But today was fricken cold and I never did get warm or felt awake.  I think I’ll be going to bed early.

The word STRESS

What causes stress?

            Moving causes stress – especially when the moving date has changed and you are not prepared as you believe you have more time to pack everything.

            It is stressful looking for a house to move into.

            A job can be stressful – especially one that lays on the pressure for an academic advisor to reach the unreasonable goal of ten starts each month.  How can an academic advisor seriously be accountable for a student changing his or her mind?  Especially when the referrals given come from people who were searching for jobs and filled out a school interest on accident as they believed it was a part of the job application?

            Stress is trying to fill out a job application online or take a test for school when the Wi-Fi seems to have troubles staying connected. The very words “Blackboard Collaboration” give me stress.

            Stress is dealing with unreliable transportation.  Perhaps you were in an accident or you need a transmission and finances are tight.  You take public transportation but get stuck waiting for the bus that doesn’t arrive on time because it’s been rerouted.

            Bomb threats, fire drills, lockdowns.  Trying to believe it isn’t real but just a routine. But what if it’s not?

            Finances.

            Stress is dealing with a parent who used to have an active mind have distorted memories and her reality is quite different from your own.

            It is also stressful to have another parent who needs 24/7 care and sleeps while you’re awake and vice-versa.  You become stressed because you feel weak because you have lost sleep with worry.

           It is stressful to watch your children make poor choices and live soap opera lives.  It hurts when you don’t even know them.

            Cell phone provider.  Cell phone itself.

            A court-happy Ex-spouse           

            I can also stress something that I feel is important.  To stress something is very different than to feel stress or be stressed.