Job Search Blues

My friend and recent MLS graduate Erin (who seems to give me writing "prompts" via her posts) wrote a blog post dealing with her job search and some of the frustrations she is encountering.

I've been fighting the same dispirited feelings. I lucked into the position I have now. I got it through a friend, its not a full time position and its barely a "professional position," but it is ina library and I am able to get experience at the university level on a reference desk. I'm lucky I'm in the field of employment I went to school for and trained for. Some of my classmates who graduated with me haven't been so lucky. One of them, last time I'd talked to had just quit his job as a car insurance salesman. That was about a year ago, I haven't seen him since, but that's how it seems to be going.

I am rarebird, maybe, in that you'd be hardpressed to find a male who wanted to be a librarian since he was little. Many librarians I know will say the "fell into it by accident" or just kind of meandered into the profession, I on the other hand have wanted to be a librarian since roughly the age of 12. When I got out of college I started working for a bookstore because that was the closest thing I could find to library work. I've stuck with it for almost ten years and balanced that with the librarian gig I have.

This last year has been a bear. Last July my hour at the library I work at were cut drastically. I was lucky to have the bookstore job after all, but I perservered and most of the hours that were cut last year have been returned to me this year, starting this July.

I haven't gotten as much in class Library Instruction as I'd like, but on the flipside, I have gotten a tremendous amount of reference desk experience and can work over a database like no one's business, I actually surprise myself sometimes. I have been able to refine my reference interview techniques and trust on the college level that is important particularly when a student or faculty member has an off the wall topic, there are times that I have to struggle to understand what it is they want, but that is for another post someother time.

In this economic climate it is tough to be a librarian, sadly the first thing cut from budgets are things like libraries (who needs libraries, right?) They still are important, public, school, and university alike. I could go into that, too, but if you've read newspapers, watched the news or even just seen Yahoo news, etc, you'd see that libraries are playing a more important roll than ever before.

I, like Erin have sent sent out application after application, resume after resume and heard nothing from most of the potential employers. That's just rude, first off all and, to my way of thinking very unprofessional. If I'm lucky I'll get an email saying "thanks, but no thanks." I don't like those, either, but at least its contact. I, like Erin, have had my resume looked over, repeatedly. My cover letter reviewed and have been mock interviewed at least once. The process is frustrating and, at times, can be disheartening, but I continue to search and apply and hope for the great break.

Doc Lit

For some reason, 2010 has been a difficult year for me in one big way: reading. It was almost the end of March before I finally read a book all the way through. That's unusual for me. I usually read a lot. I don't read hundreds of books a year, but I do better than the average. I usually read somewhere between 45-60 books a year. I figure a book a week is pretty good. For some reason, though, the "new year" rolled around and my reading took a nose dive. I blame a good portion of it on my facebook addiction. I also can point to, sadly, my sudden interest in vapid tv such as The Apprentice and The Biggest Loser. I don't know why I got sucked into them, but I did, for shame.

Lately, though, my reading has increased. I think part of it is because the guilt was starting to mount. Doesn't that sound silly? That and I've found some books that have caught my interest. I read a young adult (YA)novel that was just this side of awful and made me lose a little respect for one of the authors, who I heretofor thought was amazing (I'm looking at you John Green). But that might have been enough to prime the pump as they say. Suddenly, I'm picking up all kinds of books and trying to put them in an order that I can read.

Probably my favorite kind of literature to read is what I call documentary literature which is essentially nonfiction, but kind of quirky. For example, I've read books about people who did the and I've read books about over-the-top Scrabble players. I also read a lot of biography, not so much autobiography, but biography. I recently read this amazing bio. I churned through it in less than three days. Right now, I'm reading this little nugget about Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOL).

I particularly enjoy reading about hobbies, particularly hobbists that are "all in" to use a poker term. I enjoy quirky things like that. If nothing else, I'm just amazed at the amount of money those folks will spend on their "passion."

It feels good to get back into books. Its nice to feel the page under my fingers as opposed to a keyboard. The subtle scent of the page. I could wax poetic on the physicalness of reading all day long...

You Like Me, Really?

I don't think I'll ever quite get used to the ease in which the internet works. I stopped by this here little blog and clicked on the counter. It seems that yesterday I had six people stop and poke around. That's kind of a big deal to me, I'm not a huge blogger, I don't post very often, something I keep meaning to fix, but never seem to really get around to. My counter usually tells me that one or two people visited, but six in one day? Wow.
The search terms people use to find my blog are intriquing and, at times, a tad weird. For example:

male gas pedal pumping
disgruntled world citizen
pictures of the full colts team
blogger male pedal pumping
wiseblood pttm blogspot
give the ball to calhoon
pedal pumping male
ipz chaplain
fullthrottle landline
gas tank for church
udhayanesan,raji
how to drain petrol tank
work to empty a tank
pedal on the metal phrase
poem dying with gas tank empty
pedal pumping scenes from tamil movies
male pedal pumping
Pedal to the Metal
rev udhayanesan raji
gas tank words

I know that somewhere along the line I've blogged about many of those topics, except for the "pedal pushing." I have discovered through prior "research" (that is I've Googled those very words because they kept appearing in the section of my counter that tells me what keywords people have used to find my blog) that "pedal pushing" is actually a fetish. Who knew? I certainly didn't. The most interesting thing about the keywords is the "rev udhayanesan raji" he is a pastor at the church I attend. He is part of a mission outreach to the Indian community here in Indianapolis (Indian, meaning from India). I also get a kick out of folks that find my blog because they are wondering what "happens when the gas tank is empty" or "what happens when sugar is put into a gastank" or "how do you know your gastank is empty?"

I started reading a book the other day, This Book is Overdue, a brandnew book about librarianship. The author writes about how librarians took to the web, particularly "younger" ones. She write extensively about librarians and their blogs many of the ones she wrote about can be found here. I don't read them as much as I should, or have in the past, but they are still worth checking out from time to time. Its been an interesting book to read and I've learned a lot. It'll probably end up in my personal library before long.

I don't write much about librarianship in this blog, come to think of it I don't blog much about anything anymore. But I'm not sure if I did blog on librarianship I'd be able to add much that hasn't already been said. I do think it is important for librarians to blog and discuss what's going on. We need to make a lot of noise and chatter. Librarians are on the vanguard, whether they like it or not.

Thoughts on the Situation

I would have posted some pictures I took at the pep rally, but for two reasons. The first is they were kind of boring and second was more important, I can't get my camera to download, there seems to be a problem with the connecting wire, or the port that said wire goes into. Either way the boring pictures are still on the camera and will probably end up in a pixulated-picture graveyard, eventually.

I'm so tired of this economy. I'm trying my hardest not to, as Dave Ramsey says, "participate in the recession," but it gets harder and harder every day to keep my focus, my optimism, and my head above the proverbial waters. I am coming to the conclusion that I am in a career crisis, more than an economic one. But the former is being followed oh so quickly by the latter. Here's my problem, essentially, in a nut shell: I am doing what I've always wanted to do: librarian, but its only a parttime gig. I also work parttime at a bookstore and that is very parttime. I have learned some things thing about parttime work, its good when you can get it, but it can be farily unreliable and you work just as hard, if not harder than fulltimers, and get none of the benefits (insurance, etc). To a degree that is unfair, but I guess that's what I signed up for.

I am optimistic that things will get better. Its just seems so far away. I am frustrated, but not to the point of giving up. If anything I am becoming more determined, but my determination is not making the employment appear any faster or in greater quantity. I am hamstringing myself and I must be fair about that-- I want to stay in the area. I'm not all that interested in moving. There are jobs out there, but I don't want, nor can I really afford to, move to places like Idaho and California.

If nothing else, this experience has taught me to lean heavily on prayer and my faith and that is an important thing to be reminded of. I am also lucky that I have people that are rooting for me, my mother, and most importantly, my girlfriend. Its a little frightening right now, okay a lot frightening, but I'll get through this. The valley, as they say, may be deep, but you know something, it isn't unsurmountable.

Pep Rally

I'm going to the Colts' Pep rally today after work. The pep rally is in anticipation of the Colts playoff game against the New York Jets I've never been to Lucas Oil Stadium aka "The Luke", I drive by it everyday on my way home from work, but I've been inside it. I'm kind of curious to see what my raised food/drink taxes have gone. And since the Colts are the "hometown" team, as it were so I'll support them. I have my blue Joseph Addai jersey in my car.

Its going to be a cold and wet walk. I'll leave my car in the IUPUI parking lot and walk the mile or so, maybe its that far, to the stadium. I'm sure it'll be a fun walking with other Colts' fans. When the Colts won Super Bowl XLI I had the opportunity to go to the celebration in the RCA Dome, you can read about that here.

It'll be a good time. I'll take pictures and post them.

a blog of note

I just "rediscovered" a blog written by a friend of mine. Well, its not so much a resdiscovery as a going back and rereading it. But now that I think about it and reread the preceeding sentence I guess it is, in fact, a rediscovery. Never mind. Really, I'm just prattering on. This blank box does that to me. I feel like I need fill the box up with words; words that in reality are don't mean much. Ah, I digress. Can one digress when one hasn't even made an inche of verbal progress? No, probably not. So to use the word digression is in fact a falacy. See what happens when I rediscover the joys of blogging? I become like a little boy, perhaps like Randy from A Christmas Story bouncing around a brightly lit Christmas tree... never mind. I'll stop trying to be cute and witty; I'm neither.

Okay, honestly, though, I'm trying to be like Jeremy. Really, I am. Trying to be bring in cinemagraphic references. Jeremy's blog is the blog of note I am referring to in the above title. He's a learned fellow, steeped in cinema. He knows his stuff. Me? I'm a neophyte. Hardly worth listening to. So, go ahead. Read Jeremy's blog. You'll be glad you did. Honest.

Hi, remember me?

I haven't abandonded this blog, really, I haven't. I will admit to neglecting it. The weeds seem to have sprouted and the hinges to the doors are a bit rusty, and the floorboard creek a bit when I walk around. I haven't forgotten, really, i've just been a neglectful owner. An absent landlord if you will.

Has it really been 2 1/2 months, maybe more, since I last updated this blog? Yes, I guess it has been. Amazing. My girlfriend and I are still going strong and are getting serious, this is a blessing in and of itself. We "celebrated" our third month anniversary recently and we are well into our fourth. Funny, that.

My job search continues. I am employed, but "underemployed" is the term used now-a-days, i think. But, somehow, I'm making it. I am reminded of the scripture that talks about the lillies in the field being clothed and the foxes having places to sleep. I'm concerned, but not worried. Maybe I should be more worried, but worrying has never done me any good, except make me sick and lose sleep. i am optimistic about the future and i'm ready to see what it, the future, has in store.