Miss Me?

Listening to: "Stressed Out" Twenty One Pilots
Watching: Judge Judy owning peeps in small claims court 

Where has Manders been? 

The short answer: working. 

It turned out, not all was fields of milk and honey once I came to Rexburg and all of the jobs I was promised would be available during the 7 week break were nowhere to be found. At least, for me. 

At first, I tried to be a stickler for not working on the Sabbath but every interview I went to, that was one of the first things they asked and my answer disqualified me. Who knew, living in a community of Mormons would have a drawback? But the demand for Sunday workers is very high, especially for national franchises that simply cannot close on Sundays. 

Then I started to waver on how much desperation to exude during each interview. Too much? Too little? I don't want to say anything bad about Broulim's because like a battered girlfriend, I'm still hoping they call me back. But seriously. 3 interviews for 2 different departments and look! Still no grocery store job for Manders! You're a tease, Broulim's! 

I finally got a job at SSI, a call center, and I'm not sure if I told you about it already(that's okay, either way, this is a reintroduction of sorts) at the end of July. They still demanded weekend shifts but at least they compromised with taking my Saturdays and just one of my Sundays each month. 

Still, after that, I felt a lot of pressure to get a second job. I've never worked 2 jobs before and since the whole point of it was to make as much money as possible(~35 hours/week with $900/month from SSI was not enough) when I got my surprise call back from the Super 8 hotel, I took it and kept my 30+ hours at SSI. Lucky for me, the schedule for Super 8 fit right in, 9-2 every day, with days off if they feel like you deserve it. 

They were desperate to hire me the week before the eclipse, so, I started not having to work on Sundays, even though everybody else had to. Now, a little over a month later, and after losing 6 employees, I not only was working every Sunday but going on almost 3 weeks without a day off. I won't talk bad about the people there. Suffice it to say, that it's the place desperate people, who don't get call backs from Broulim's, end up working. Vague promises were made of a seasonal "slow down" period and a day off for "someone" this past Wednesday(who deserves it? Me? Or the other 2 girls who haven't had a day off in forever?).  

But once I got my track assignment(Winter-Spring), I was no longer fooling around. Learning of the FASFA deadline on the first, less than a week before it was due, I needed that day off sooner rather than later. I asked to be allowed to go take care of my business a day earlier than the mythical Wednesday. Yet, even with 3 new hires within the past 3 weeks, and all the girls who have selective work days for school, present, we were still so desperate, I needed to be there, for some reason. They wanted to make compromises I didn't know I could make at this point. How much time did I need to get my financial aid? Was 2 hours in the middle of the afternoon(the bone they threw me) going to cut it? What about other deadlines I had to meet? Would I have to bargain and beg for every day that I needed to rush to get important things done for? 

I was at a crossroads and I had to make a choice. As I walked away from the Super 8, I thought of every thing that it had forced me to set aside in favor of the pursuit of money. I am grateful for the time I got to work at Super 8 and add so quickly to my savings. But I am also grateful I no longer have to miss sacrament meeting at MY church building, nor do I have to work 65 hours/week anymore. 

My weight loss has been coming along alright. I have a hard time managing funds or meals during the day because of my long absences outside of the house. A protein bar or a fruit drink don't actually give you a whole lot of satisfaction and in my desperate hunger, I often spend money on different eateries close by. Some good for me(Subway, sort of), and others not(New Fongs, Chik-fil-A, Taco Bell, grilled cheese sandwiches at Great Scotts). I'm not really sure what to do about it and I'm a little frustrated. I tried making sandwiches and bringing them with me but leaving so early in the mornings and staying gone so long, "when" to eat it becomes a tricky question. Eating it for lunch, ends up too early and as I walk home at 8:30 at night, I have stomach pains. Yet there has to be something in the middle of the day, otherwise, I will eat the frigging sandwich, or if there is none, then I'll buy a sandwich(both trying to save money and not eat bad sandwiches). 

Even still, I've lost almost 40lbs. Since we moved here and all from walking 4+ miles each day, give or take, and reducing my weekly calorie intake. As soon as I finish getting things for school figured out, I hope to use the campus facilities to exercise, like either the pool or find out if I can participate in a net sport before my semester starts, or even use the treadmill in the gym. I love walking, it's my favorite thing to do and even with my heavy bookbag some days, it is a joy to me to put one foot in front of the other. I love the freedom of it, the ease of it, the quiet solace of it. Even with the colder weather, I enjoyed walking in my new winter coat today, feeling like Iron Man as the cold nipped my cheeks and hands but the rest of me felt impervious to it. 

Back to SSI, I love working at the call center. Some days it can be a little bit of a drag, the monotony getting to me, but most of the time, it's just like working at Price Chopper as a cashier. Sometimes people talk to you, sometimes people don't. Sometimes people are rude and you wonder who taught them that it is okay to talk to someone like that under ANY circumstance, let alone a slightly inconvenient situation. And then there are the majority, the ones you connect with. You'll never talk to them again, probably, but I can't help whispering under my breath as the call ends, "Best friend!" 

Not all surveys are like that but my favorite is Thrivent. If they put me on Thrivent every day I dial, I would sing to work and sing on the way home. My favorite version of it is the one where people talk about all of the neat community projects and charities they do. These people are just truly inspiring examples of Christian brotherhood and Christ-like service, truly enjoying helping others and spending time with their friends doing things for a good cause. It reminds me of the LDS church in some ways and I like getting to see that aspect of this survey project. 

Finally, what I'm focusing on for the next couple of weeks, is getting my school stuff in order. I did visit with a course schedule advisor last Tuesday when I walked out of Super 8 but she explained the courses I'd need to take for my English Major with a focus on creative writing, gave me the list of all possible courses I could take, and sent me home with a link to the Grad Planner. And....I fiddled with it and quickly grew frustrated by prerequisite courses. I didn't know how to funnel and focus it to gear it towards what I want to do for a living: writing and publishing novels, working for a publishing company.  

So, I made an appointment for today and came in and sat down and in an hour, even with the Grad Planner occasionally misbehaving, was able to finish my Grad Plan. So, I'm feeling good! One thing finished!  

I missed the deadline for the BYU Scholarship and even though I got the Pell Grant with FASFA, I am not sure I want to take out a loan if I don't have to. So, all day today and yesterday, I've been filling out applications for non-BYU scholarships.  

Tomorrow's agenda: figure out housing. I would like to get cost and things figured out so that I know how much money I will need. And more scholarships. There are hundreds and thousands of them and just filling them out is no guarantee, so, I'm going to try to get as many filled out as I can. Then also, if I can, I want to figure out if I was supposed to receive a student card. When I first got my track assignment, even though I tried to change my address on my application, it was still listed as my old address on my student profile, so, I'm wondering how much they sent to Pennsylvania. No matter, I'll probably never see any of it.