the Dalaverse

The good: I has a job! For the next month, at least.

Hokay, so: last month I signed up with a temp agency after a few failed attempts at finding low-key, part-time jobs to go along with thesis-writing. The first job I got through them was with the county government, working with a program for at-risk and developmentally delayed infants and toddlers. I filled in for their receptionist for four days while she was on vacation. The six women in the office really liked me, so much so that three of them asked if I'd be willing to work full-time. This was several weeks ago so I said I couldn't commit to full-time quite yet, but I would definitely be interested. At the time it wasn't entirely clear what exactly they wanted me to do - if they were, like, going to fire the girl I was filling in for or what - but they were supposed to call me. To my great distress, three weeks passed with no word. I called a couple of times and left messages for the director, but no one called me back. I've never worked for a temp agency before, so I was a bit confused over the procedure - whether I should be going through them or what. Anyway, point is, I gave up waiting and was pretty grumpy over the whole thing.

Then today, the temp office calls me and said they've asked for me for the next month. Woot! So I start on Tuesday. And again, I don't really know how this works - if they really only need me for a month or if it's a sort of month-long period where I go through Kelly Services instead of being hired directly by the county. I should've asked, but I was too excited. If any of you guys have insight, please share!

Aside from YAY JOB, I'm feeling pretty excited about this particular job. I really liked everyone in the office, and the fact that I'd be doing something pretty meaningful. Mostly my duties consisted of dealing with mail/invoices and answering the phones - I took down basic info from families who want their children evaluated. It was right before they were set to have a conference, so I helped with name tags and stuff (artaxastra might be amused to know that it gave me flashbacks). Plus, the location can't be beat. I don't know when Rville got so cool, but I appreciate it. The office building is right across the street from the movie theater complex (which used to be the only cool thing in that part of town - AND you had to pay for parking), which now boasts a pizza place, Potbellys, California Tortilla and Ben & Jerry's - plus this is a Cosi a bit further down the street ::salivates:: Obviously, lunch will never be a problem. I loved working in DC, but the travel time really sucked - this is so much better. It's also right next to the Metro station and about five minutes from my mother's office, so she shouldn't grumble too much about having to drive me until oh my GOD they get a new car and I can have my Cheese back. The bloody car is seriously the cause of most of the strife in our house right now. Of course they can get its brakework done first. And fix the massive crack in the windshield that MY DAD got on the highway two years ago when I wasn't even in the country.

So I'm set for at least a good thirty days. I can look for work in my field while stashing away a steady paycheck every week. American Student Assistance called yesterday and for some reason think that my undergraduate loans (about 40% of my loan total) are subject to in-school deferment until May 2010. ...Does it make me a bad person that I didn't correct them? I don't have any idea HOW they got that date, and obviously I don't want them to start racking up major interest, but I'm perfectly okay with sitting on them for a few months while I get my shit together.

The Bad: I don't do this often, but I'm asking for good thoughts/vibes for my Uncle Bob. He lives in Galveston and Hurricane Ike is set to blow right through there later today. They say it's gonna be bad. I'm ashamed to admit that the whole situation sort of just caught up to my mother and me - she's calling him from work right now. We don't know if he's evacuated or not. I hope so, because his health is not good - and if that is the case I hope the evacuation isn't stressing him out. God, it is kind of awful that we don't know this.

Anyway, good luck and love to my uncle and to those of you who live in the area or have family in the area ::hugs::

The Ugly: my thesis. I don't want to talk about it. All I want to do is come on here and post that it's finished and edited and printed and bound and in the mail, and I can't do that any of those things yet.


ETA: OH MY GOD THERE IS A FRACTURED PRUNE IN RVILLE. For those of you not blessed to live in a handful of MD zip codes, The Fractured Prune makes the best donuts in existence. They are plain, then dipped in one of many glazes, then covered with some of many toppings. It is sort of like Fractured Prune:donuts::Coldstone:ice cream. Except it is ten thousand times more delicious than Coldstone. You think I'm overusing hyperbole in this ETA, but that's because you've never had one. MD peeps, a. back me up or b. come over so we can go get one.

ETA2: My uncle is at a hotel in Houston. Whew.