Meh

Nothing new.

Shun. Shunnnnnnnnnnnn

Never heard back from HR. Even sent an email saying please send a status update. There is a tiny piece hoping that means the paperwork just hasn't gone through, yet, so there is no response available. But I know it's another rejection by avoidance.

Waiting for Good News

Wednesday I had a phone interview with a consulting firm. I thought it went very well. There are several more steps before a job offer, but crossing the first hurdle would be the biggest step forward. The guy I spoke with, Marc, said that he would forward the file with his notes and my resume to his boss for approval. Once approved, HR will send me a background/credit check form to submit. So, I am waiting for that form to show up in my email. Of course, HR could send one saying the job-hunt equivalent of "ewwwww cooties" (which I've gotten many many more times than I like), but here's hoping it is good news for once!

Wouldn't It Be Nice!

I have a phone interview scheduled for Wednesday. Trying not to get over-excited, yet, but it would be practically the perfect job. If all goes well, I will share more later, but for now, just keep your fingers crossed.

Align

Not much happened this week. Still sending out resumes. Hoping the Stars Align one of these days and I actually get a job.

Speaking of alignment, here are a couple camera-angle pics:

Sigh

I'm in a bit of a funk. Life has been so stagnant for so long that I feel like I will never find a job, lose weight, enjoy life again... I have no money to spend, so don't like shopping or traveling right now. That makes Nauber unhappy, which makes the relationship feel unfulfilling. It's like a big downward spiral. I've been hanging all the "change" on "when I get a job" that 3.5 years of complete rejection from every employer on the face of the planet is wearing me down.

In honor of my foul mood, here's the most uncharacteristic choice I could find in my collection:

and Happy New Year!

Christmas was nice. I didn't go home, for the first time ever. (No Money) Had a midnight dinner Christmas Eve (Brazilian tradition). Nauber hasn't gotten anyone gifts, yet, because he is waiting for the clearance sales (so he says).

So far, we're just having a couple close friends over for NYE. It's a simpler party, so I told everyone we're just having snacks. Ronny keeps trying to add dinner to the menu because "Brazilians don't like DIPS". Mind you, other than those two, the only Brazilian that will be here is Liliani, and the artichoke dip is specifically something she requests. Similar to Nauber freaking about a poppyseed cake that he then loved and requested more of, or the horror with which I was told "Brazilians don't like SANDWICHES" for my grad party, but they gobbled up the shredded beef anyway.

This is a Spaniard (David Barral), which is similar to Latino, but he's clearly much less selfish!

Merry Christmas

I didn't have any pics that were particularly Christmas themed, but this one's at least got some bright red!

Follow-up

I sent an email to the manager (see last week) saying I really did want the job, please keep me in consideration. She replied that they didn't hire me because I lack finance experience. Which they knew ALL ALONG - even before the two rounds of interviews, during which she herself said "I know you can do the job" and "we will have to train no matter who we hire" because their system is somewhat unique.

That means back to fruitlessly applying to job after job that never replies. I applied to one this week that is local. Quality Manager at a metals processing company (small, family owned business). It is exactly what I have qualifications for, despite being what I really want to get away from (thanks, TJX!). But even they have not responded.

To distract from the WTF, here's some scrumptiousness:

Of course not

Nish called. They are not going to hire me at TJX. His boss doesn't believe I would want to give up a lucrative engineering career path for one in business. Which is so many versions of incorrect that it hurts. So, I officially got rejected for a job I really wanted because they didn't think I really wanted it.

Waiting

This week was my second round interview at TJX. Met with the Assistant VP and the Divisional CFO. They both seemed to go really well. Now I just have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully having Nish on the inside pulling for me will help!

At this rate, if I don't get the job, Ronny and Nauber will make me move to Las Vegas anyway!

Thanks

This week was Thanksgiving. I did dinner again. We had a good turnout this year. Ronny, Nauber, and I of course. Nauber's friends Liliani and Darrell. Ronny's friend Dulci and her two daughters. My friend Shaun and her husband Ian. Nauber's coworker Nick. Ronny's kind-of-sort-of boyfriend also showed up later in the evening and ate the second drumstick, which Nauber was NOT happy about.

My turkey turned out good, as always. Also did a ham this year, turned out fabulous. Served it with an apple cranberry chutney (no cran sauce). Giblet stuffing, smoked gouda mashed potatoes, roasted beets, yams, roasted zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower with crumb topping, and gravy were the sides. The gravy didn't turn out well at all, but that was partly due to Liliani (who offered to help, so came early) trying to tell me I was 'doing it wrong' and taking over. She tried to change the beets, too, but I stopped her on that one, so they did turn out right (which I pointed out to her!). For dessert I did pumpkin cheesecake, mixed berry pie, and a black forest pie. Both Liliani and Dulci brought pave (a Brazilian pudding torte), though one was peach and one was pineapple. I like peach more than I like pineapple, so I liked the pave de pessago (the peach one) better.

My stove schedule was also messed up a bit because Liliani brought a jug of cider and wanted to mull it, so we had a pot with spiced cider, too. I had bought egg-nog, but it got sidelined by the cider.

Nick ended up staying over that night, and we watched Another Gay Movie 'cause he hadn't seen it before (if you watch it, make sure to get the "uncut" version - it's so much more raunchy!). Darryl Stephens is one of my all-time favorites:

Can I Has Careerpath?

Three interviews this past week! All will need a second round before any decisions. On Monday interviewed with HR for QA Director at a med device manufacturer in Holliston MA. Round two would be with the hiring manager, the owner. Small, family-owned business. It would add title and med device to my resume, but small fam-own manufacture SUCKS. And the commute to Holliston would be annoying. Tuesday was phone interview with QA Manager for QA Engineer position at electronics manufacturer in Woburn MA. Round two would be the in-person. Low position, still manufacturing, and the commute would be hellacious. This is the 'safety school' option. Wednesday was an interview with HR/Supervisor/Manager for a financial analyst job at TJX in Framingham. Low level, but huge up-side potential, and adding financial analyst to my skill-set! The second round would add in Asst VP and CFO, since I will be the sole dept representative sent to the distribution center in Las Vegas. That's right - relocation to Vegas, baby! The only real downside here is leaving my social network behind, tho both Brazilians are currently in "yeah we're going with you!" mode.
The other issue is that every single person I interviewed with came across as loving me except the Manager at TJX, and that's actually the job I want. The irony is that her issue is that she's not sure I really want This career, since it is so different from the trajectory my resume illustrated. I've said what I can, and sent her a thank-you message that same day to try to keep the interest level evident.
I will probably hear back next week from all three when they want to see me again for the next interview. I hope this all turns out Right!

Older

The birthday party last weekend was a success. Too much food, of course, and I didn't care for the brazilian snacks. Cris' friend Ney offered to do them. The kibbe and the coxinha were slightly better than Cleuza's, but I like her bolinhos and pastel much better. The bolinhos (fried little balls of cheese) had big green chunks of herbs in them - no idea which herb, but rather overpowered the yummy cheesiness. The pastel I prefer are the cheese and corn ones, he only made beef. Liliani did another Torta de pao (chicken cake!), and we rolled out dozens of docinhos. Most of them were new variations. Added pecans to the chocolate ones (yum!), rolled a strawberry piece inside, or added a bunch of pineapple to coconut ones.

Everyone also liked the porn star calendar in Nauber's room (I gave it to him earlier this year). November is a particularly good choice, Dario beck. The calendar is full nudity, but here's a more modest shot of him:

Festa dos Brasilieros

Nauber has been much better this week. Even accommodated a request of mine! Did make a snarky reply about paying me back when he gets a new boyfriend after I mentioned how he hasn't paid me for any bills since his mom was here.

But it is his birthday this weekend. As well as Cris. As well as Sergio. We are doing a joint party for Cris and Nauber together on Saturday at our place. Sergio was invited, but I have no idea if he will show up (Ronny invited him).

And yes, these three are Brazilian, too:

Cave

Well, we had plans last Sunday, so we had to start talking again, just because... But he still just as selfish as always, and still treating me like I'm irrelevant. It's sort of like physical therapy, though. Lots of work for slow progress.

Mood Swing

So, two weeks ago, Oct 7, Nauber calls from work at like 10:30pm to ask permission to go out to the bar with a group of coworkers when they are done. He has gone out after work countless times, and never felt the need to call me first, so I thought it was odd, but really sweet. He then included an "I love you" in the sign-off. It was sort of tossed out casually, so I breezily said "I love you, too" in reply. But it was the second time he has said it ever, and the first since Christmas Eve two years ago when I was stranded alone in DC for the night. It made my heart happy!

This morning (like 4am) I drifted awake and tossed his stuffed bear to the floor. For the past month he has been sleeping with the damn thing, and it too large to make it comfortable, so it's hard for me to fall asleep. I have complained, but he doesn't care. Anyway, just as it hit the floor, Nauber woke up and had to go pee. He comes back and says "Why is Tifum on the floor?" crawls in bed, and yanks the blanket over to cover the poor bear. This leaves me uncovered, so I pull on the blankets, but again, the bear is in the way. I grab the bear, chuck it on the floor and say something akin to "enough with the damn bear"! He gets huffy and says "what are you doing!?!" to which I reply that "I should be able to sleep better than that stupid f&%#ing bear". He grabs his pillow and the bear, says "that's why I have my own bed" and storms off. Sooo nice to know I mean less to him than a stuffed toy he found on the side of the street (aka trash).

Today is a not-speaking day. I never win those, however, since he is perfectly fine with me leaving him alone, and it drives me nuts. We had just started plans and invites for his birthday party (Nov 5, our house!), so he'll need to ask me to do stuff for him. Not that there will be remorse or an apology. Ugghhhhh...

And this one is just for Amy...

Heat Wave

We had some unseasonably warm weather for the Coumbus Day weekend. Darryl was visiting; the first time since about May. We went to the churrascaria Sunday, then to the other one on Monday for the pizza buffet. Nauber called in to work to say he had to take me to the hospital, so he got to go along. Both nights we went for walks along the beach (Sunday in Revere and Monday in Quincy). Coming down off a cold in the fall, and walking along low-tide seems to have done a number on my allergies, so I was not feeling too hot Monday and Tuesday.

Ehh

Another quiet week. Unemployed. Unemployable...

Job hunting is so depressing. Need to figure out how to find the job that will want me.

Welcome back...

It has been a while since I've posted. With Nauber's mother here, I was responsible for hosting a lot of the time, so posting was low priority. We had a little trip to Salem, and a 5-day in NYC. It was a nice 6-week visit for Nauber, but it ended up being 'work' for me. It was hard to communicate, and I spent SOOOOOO much time at Marshall's it was getting scary. She was more distant and stoic than I would have expected, based on Nauber telling stories about how she loves taking care of everyone and all his friends love her to death. And she did almost no cooking. Nauber claims she made him dinner every day, but I never saw any of it, so she was cooking for one or two, if she was. I of course had to make cake all the time. Even showed her how to do Olhos de Sogra.

Cafe Belo is no more, but the big one in Everett is now under new ownership and open as Brava Cafe. Two dollars more, but the meat did taste like somewhat better cuts. The garlic beef is really weak on the garlic, though!

And, still job hunting. Sigh...