Freelance

I've really gotten into freelance writing over the past several months, and have taken quite a few jobs. In fact, I finally decided to take the plunge and quit my part-time job at the Office Supply Superstore. I know, I am crazier than a shithouse rat, but what the hell? It's a gamble, because Staples was a steady paycheck, no matter how small, I knew I was getting it every week. With freelancing, you never know where or when your next job is coming.

So I would like to take this opportunity to thank the County of Bergen for making my life so miserable that I had to quit. Oh, and I didn't just give two weeks notice and leave, oh no. I went home at lunch and never went back. My resignation letter, office key and id badge was thumbtacked to my office door. I've got style, 'ya know?

Anyway, fool that I was, I thought I'd have no problem finding another job. Hell, anyone can get a job in retail, right? Yeah, but have you ever filled out a retail application? They seriously want to know your previous salaries and such and when they saw $70,000 they were like, "and you want to work for $8 an hour?" Yeah, I had a hard time. Luckily my best friend is a store manager at the Office supply superstore and she hired me. I guess she would categorize me as a pity hire, but damn it, I did work pretty hard...some day...hee hee.

Rejection

I know that I simply need to develop thicker skin, but getting rejection after rejection from literary agents is tough. Writing the book was the easy part, but finding someone to represent me is proving to be even more difficult than I had imagined.

The worst part is that the rejection letters are pretty much generic. Each literary agent had their own set of rules to follow. Most merely wanted a query letter and no sample chapter, so that is really frustrating. They haven't even read the first chapter of my novel and they aren't interested.

Maybe it is hitting me so hard because I was turned down by yet another prospective employer. I am getting interviews, and I am getting second and third interviews, but I am not getting the job. The funny thing is that these aren't even fantastic jobs or anything, but when I find out that they didn't want me, it hurts.

Really, this type of rejection is becoming a bit of a bore. I am ready for an acceptance of some sort. Anyone? Buehler? Buehler? Anyone?

Anemic

This is what I look like as of yesterday March 12, 2008. I'm blond again. Cute, huh?


Went to the doctor last week for my 15 month check up. I am down 88 pounds! Very pleased with my progress. The not so good news is that I am incredibly deficient in iron. He said I am one point away from being anemic. The doctor advised me to take an iron pill three times a day! Yikes!!! If you know anything about iron supplements you know that they can constipate you. He advised three times a day so that my body can catch up and so I bought iron pills at GNC that claim to be non-constipating...we'll see about that. I will also step up my fiber intake as I think I am going to need it.

I know part of the problem is that I do NOT take my vitamins every day. I know it is silly, but on some level I resent having to take these pills. I mean, I'm not 70 years old and yet I have this ridiculous pill box laid out with all my vitamins in it. How can I forget when the pill box is right there on the table, right? So I think there is some deep-rooted psychological reason for my "forgetting" to take my meds every day. I'm hoping that the doctor visit will be the wake up call that I need.

Oh, and of course he told me to exercise more because, as he put it, "you can still lose more weight." Ouch! Yeah, I know! I want to lose 30 more pounds and it has been hard the last 10 pounds or so. Hubby and I joined a gym together and I think we went about 10 times at 5 am together. After that we split up and go on our own time. Still, I haven't been going often enough and I need to. Yeah, there were some good excuses I've had recently for not going, but even if it is just for a practical reason. I'm paying for this so I better get my fat ass over there! hee hee.

Not Another Blog!

Okay, I admit that when I first started blogging that I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I started off writing my adoption blog about my trip to China to adopt my daughter. Then I wanted to write about my chihuahuas, so I started another blog to write about them. Then I started a third blog about my fat surgery. Attempting to keep up with all three was nutso, but even more nutso was that I was contemplating a fourth blog to blog about my dissatisfaction with my job and my life. I knew it had to stop so I decided to create one blog that will encopass all of them. This way I have just one place to go to and I can blog away. If you only wanna read about my fat surgery, just do a seach on fat to pull up those posts. If you only care about my chihuahua antics, search chihuahuas. Okay?

Pinky is Home

Pinky is home and resting comfortably. Actually, she isn't resting at all! She is back to her normal self and is chasing Chi-Chi all over the house. Chi-Chi chasing is one of Pinky's favorite games. Chi-Chi is so happy to have her big sister home that she doesn't mind a bit.

The second that Pinky walked through the door, Chi-Chi was all over her. The hospital gave her a bath and she smells wonderful, but I think that Chi-Chi doesn't like the new Pinky scent. She's looking for her old smelly self. Just wait a few days Chi-Chi and she'll be back!

Pinky is in the Hospital

Poor girl. She woke up two weeks ago and the left side of her face was swollen so much that she looked like an Akita! I took her to the hospital for an emergency vet visit on a Sunday morning. She was in SO much pain that she would not even let the vet look inside her mouth. The vet suspected an abscessed tooth was the culprit.

We were sent home with pain killers and anti-biotic. The swelling went down after a few days and I made an appointment to go back so that they could get a look at her mouth. It appeared to be an tooth abscess, so Pinky was scheduled for dental surgery. They were pretty booked, but we managed to squeeze in. I didn't want to wait until the end of March which was when they originally booked her appointment.

I brought her in early this morning and she was not happy. She was not happy that she could not eat her normal breakfast (but she was absolutely gleeful when I gave her a bonus meal last night at 10:30 pm!). She conveniently forgot about the bonus meal. I thought it would make skipping breakfast less devastating, but I was wrong. However, Chi-Chi was able to gloat that she was eating a meal that Pinky had to skip!

The vet called and told me that Pinky was already awake. They had to pull five teeth, one of them was here canine (the big fang) that was the one with the abscess. She is resting and they will try to feed her later tonight. I won't be able to take her home until tomorrow sometime. They want to monitor her overnight and I think that is a