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1. Job Hunting Is Absolutely Soul-Sapping
Doing interviews is not the problem, mind. I don't mind those; I even find them kind of energising, to the point where it takes me about 6 hours to wind back down after doing one. But the putting in of applications, the writing of yet another cover letter to say exactly the same thing ("I am applying for this job. Here is my CV. I have all the experience you want, plus some more. I can cope perfectly well with what you think is difficult, because I have been doing this for a decade, and I'm good at it. Hire me.", except more diplomatic), the ticking of the boxes, and on the really fun ones, the seven pages of textboxes that duplicate what's on the attached CV. One application wanted me to upload a photograph. I don't know why. Anyway, it eats spoons, or spell slots, or whatever your metaphor for ability-to-do-stuff is.
2. Lockdowns Provoke Weird Dreams
I don't know if it's some sort of akashic dream-space, where everyone in the country is under this weird pressure at once, or if it's just a human response to being in the one place day after day, but I - and plenty of other people - have been having really strange dreams. Mine are notable mostly for the level of detail; I've always had spectacularly weird dreams, even if they're (mostly) no longer lucid. But being able to recall the design of a carpet that went up the three-story stone stairs in the cathedral-like space where an SFF convention was taking place a week after the dream ain't natural. I have, in the last few nights, had conversations with panthers, several trees, a waterfall, a giant creature made of wet towels strung together with electrical wire, an animated candlestick (but not a nice Disney one, this was some sort of dire beast of a candlestick that spat hot wax), my grandmother (who I only barely remember while awake, but who was pretty clear in the dream), a thing that was going to great lengths to tell me it wasn't a dinosaur (it totally was), a thing that was casually claiming to be a dinosaur (it wasn't, as I discovered when I looked it up; Andrewsarchus was a large mammal), and a graphic designer colleague from my first job, who I haven't laid eyes on in 20 years. None of the conversations were particularly edifying or useful, but they were all really vivid.
3. Cooking Helps Keep Me Sane
I am finding that putting food together, and cooking - not entirely the same thing - is doing a lot to keep me going. Planning food is hard work, but once the plan for the week is in place, cooking is mostly a very pleasurable thing, a way to settle my head and provide a broad sense of comfort. This is particularly the case with slow-cooked autumn foods; soups and stews and such. I made a chicken and chorizo soup on Monday that worked out really well; apart from the meats it had four kinds of tomato, onions, haricot beans and a few bits and pieces of seasoning that all just resolved into one excellent, thick, chunky soup. It was very satisfying.
Doing interviews is not the problem, mind. I don't mind those; I even find them kind of energising, to the point where it takes me about 6 hours to wind back down after doing one. But the putting in of applications, the writing of yet another cover letter to say exactly the same thing ("I am applying for this job. Here is my CV. I have all the experience you want, plus some more. I can cope perfectly well with what you think is difficult, because I have been doing this for a decade, and I'm good at it. Hire me.", except more diplomatic), the ticking of the boxes, and on the really fun ones, the seven pages of textboxes that duplicate what's on the attached CV. One application wanted me to upload a photograph. I don't know why. Anyway, it eats spoons, or spell slots, or whatever your metaphor for ability-to-do-stuff is.
2. Lockdowns Provoke Weird Dreams
I don't know if it's some sort of akashic dream-space, where everyone in the country is under this weird pressure at once, or if it's just a human response to being in the one place day after day, but I - and plenty of other people - have been having really strange dreams. Mine are notable mostly for the level of detail; I've always had spectacularly weird dreams, even if they're (mostly) no longer lucid. But being able to recall the design of a carpet that went up the three-story stone stairs in the cathedral-like space where an SFF convention was taking place a week after the dream ain't natural. I have, in the last few nights, had conversations with panthers, several trees, a waterfall, a giant creature made of wet towels strung together with electrical wire, an animated candlestick (but not a nice Disney one, this was some sort of dire beast of a candlestick that spat hot wax), my grandmother (who I only barely remember while awake, but who was pretty clear in the dream), a thing that was going to great lengths to tell me it wasn't a dinosaur (it totally was), a thing that was casually claiming to be a dinosaur (it wasn't, as I discovered when I looked it up; Andrewsarchus was a large mammal), and a graphic designer colleague from my first job, who I haven't laid eyes on in 20 years. None of the conversations were particularly edifying or useful, but they were all really vivid.
3. Cooking Helps Keep Me Sane
I am finding that putting food together, and cooking - not entirely the same thing - is doing a lot to keep me going. Planning food is hard work, but once the plan for the week is in place, cooking is mostly a very pleasurable thing, a way to settle my head and provide a broad sense of comfort. This is particularly the case with slow-cooked autumn foods; soups and stews and such. I made a chicken and chorizo soup on Monday that worked out really well; apart from the meats it had four kinds of tomato, onions, haricot beans and a few bits and pieces of seasoning that all just resolved into one excellent, thick, chunky soup. It was very satisfying.
From:
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* Get a daily job alert email for anything with the word "manager" or "I.T." vaguely near it. So literally everything from "Phlebotomy Nurse Manager" to "Trainee Assistant Data Entry Clerk". Reject 98% without a second look.
* Click through the link to the publicjobs page on the others. See no mention whatsoever of grade-equivalent, location (usually), or salary. Click through to the organisation to download a booklet, where the salary will be listed on page 14 and find it's for my grade, or a grade below (but you still need a degree and 5 years' experience).
* Occasionally find something worth applying for. Download the weirdass pdf application form that has American English set as default and can't be changed, and is written in some weirder version of Acrobat such that I can't open it on my home PC, only my work one. Find the one slightly differently worded question to last time round, meaning I can't reuse a previous application. Tediously copy and paste every. single. entry. from the old form to the new form, field by field.
* Get shortlisted. Get told I need to upload a scanned copy of photo ID. Again. For the third time this year.
And so on...
Frustrating. And this me coming from the privilege of being in secure employment - I can only imagine the added stress when you're seriously jobhunting.
From:
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Job hunting to me is soul-destroying, fingers crossed something pops soon.
I got nothing regarding the dream.