Tag Archives: job

Productive One Way And Slacking In Another (or Working On Finding Time)

Posted on May 28, 2015 | Comments Off on Productive One Way And Slacking In Another (or Working On Finding Time)

Ok, I might have been over-scheduling myself lately.

Only a few weeks ago I was trying to find ways to fill time in my life. I only had one main day job and I was hoping to find something to do while doing my job to keep me busy between customers. And I wasn’t doing as much as I wanted toward my acting career.

Then I got a new day job and found a wonderful online acting class. And sadly, I think I took too much on at one time.

Obviously, the priorities in my life are work and my health. So I need to make sure I work all the hours I need to each day. That’s pretty easy for my box office job since I’ve been doing that for almost a year now and they are set hours (although occasionally I work early hours to make up for hours I might miss due to auditions or other conflicts).

The new day job is much more fluid in terms of when I work. I’m supposed to mainly work during standard business hours, but that’s not necessary because much of the work I’m researching is online. And I’m getting ok with working both jobs at once. It’s not easy, but I’m finding ways to work between 3-4 hours each day during a 5 hour shift at my day job.

And I think it’s pretty obvious by my weekly workout posts that I’m not having trouble fitting in my 3-4 workouts each week. I schedule them up to a month in advance and having them on my calendar (and having friends in my class who I look forward to seeing each time) has helped make workouts a habit and not a chore.

But with all that productivity, my online acting class has slipped. As I’m typing this post, I’ve only completed the first class. That’s exactly what I had done last week when I blogged about it. My plan was to try to watch a class each night. But on nights that I work out, by the time I’m home and showered all I want to do is read or watch tv for a bit before bed. And on days I’m not working out, I’ve been scheduling lots of things to do.

I know that I need to schedule this class the way I schedule work and my workouts. I need to find a good time a few times a week that I can set aside about an hour to watch the class and work on the homework.

The problem is finding consistent time available. Maybe I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself because I want to keep up with everyone who started the same time I did. Dustin Hoffman will be doing office hours and critiques of online scene reads soon and if I was on schedule with the class I would have those ready for the due date. But where I am right now, I’m not. And I don’t want to rush doing them because hopefully there will be another office hours/critique time in the future and I’ll have more time to prepare and make sure that I submit the best video I can.

Adding so much to my schedule at one time is very overwhelming for me. It’s not the amount of hours it requires, it’s just changing my schedule so much at one time when it’s been like the way it was for almost a year. It’s almost like when I was on temporary unemployment at my old box office job. It took a week or two to adjust to the change in schedule.

For now, I’m hoping to find time once or twice a week to work on the online class. If I don’t do that, I’m not going to be so tough on myself. Yes, it would be best if I could do the class sooner rather than later. But if I do it this month or next month won’t make or break my career. And hopefully within a week or so the 2 day job life will feel like normal and I’ll find that hour or so each day where I can focus on the class.

I have to just keep reminding myself that this class (like life, fitness, my weight loss journey, and recovery from my eating disorder) is a marathon and not a sprint. Eventually I will complete it and I will be proud of myself for sticking with it and following through.

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Default ThumbnailMissing Out On Some Fun (or Flexible Time Management) Default ThumbnailHolding Out For Perfection (or Maybe I’m Too Picky) Default ThumbnailPositive Thinking And Putting It Out There Worked (or Working For Another Old Boss) Default ThumbnailFinding A Work/Life Balance (or Preparing to Not Be Unemployed) Default ThumbnailJob Hunt Time Again (or I Guess I Was Slacking On This) Default ThumbnailFeeling Useful Feels Good (or I Need To Be Productive)

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Work

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Positive Thinking And Putting It Out There Worked (or Working For Another Old Boss)

Posted on May 14, 2015 | 2 comments

I guess my slacking on job hunting wasn’t really me slacking but me waiting for the right job to come my way! Because now I have added another day job to my life and it’s exactly what I wanted to find.

I’ve been sharing on here and on various social media sites how I’ve been looking for a job and I’ve been asking for help finding something. While several friends sent me leads, none of them panned out or they were jobs that didn’t work with what I have already. I had started to get frustrated and worried that I wouldn’t find something, but I had to just keep looking and putting it out there how I’m looking for additional work.

Last week an old boss of mine got in touch with me. I had met this old boss years ago when she and I both worked out with Richard Simmons. She had a job opening back then for a company that she worked for, I interviewed and got the job. That was a credit card dispute job that I worked for over a year before going to my telesales job.

I had stayed in touch with this boss over Facebook, mainly discussing our mutual love for select reality shows. But last week she sent me a message saying that she might have a perfect job for me. And once she shared the details of the job with me, I knew it was perfect. I had interviewed over a year ago for this company for a different position but hadn’t gotten that job. But since I had done that and had worked for my boss before, I pretty much was just offered the job that day.

Basically, I’m now working as a research assistant for a social/health resource non-profit for LA County. I try to find events and services that are in the cities I’ve been assigned to and will be helping to create a calendar for the community.

It’s a little tough to explain and I’ve only been working at it for a few days. But basically it is doing research that can almost be done at any time (I do have phone calls at times that I need to make during business hours). I’m only allowed to work a certain number of hours (it averages to 12 hours a week), but the pay is much better than my other job. So even with limited hours this new job is allowing me to make almost the same amount I make at my box office job!

So far, it’s going pretty great. I’m able to get a lot of work done between customers. I need to work on balancing my time better with taking breaks, but I think that once I’m more set up in knowing what I need to do it will be better.

I can’t express how grateful I am to my old/new boss for considering me for this job. And it proves to me that it is so important to never burn any bridges. While there are some people who I’m not on good terms with at past jobs, it’s usually due to an extreme circumstance (like with one of my old bosses who called me fat and said that nobody would ever want to date me). I try to always leave any day job as positively as possible. You never know when someone who you’ve worked with in the past will be in a position to hire you again. This is the second time this year where that’s happened to me.

This new job is a contract job that technically ends in September, but there is a contact for another year after that as well. And after that second contract ends, who knows. I might not need a day job anymore at that point or there might be another day job that I can take.

But for now, I’m just so grateful that somehow things have worked out for me again. They always do and I just need to trust that it will happen at the right time.

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Default ThumbnailStaying Super Busy (or Another Job) Default ThumbnailJob Hunting (or You Never Know Unless You Ask) Default ThumbnailDouble Shift Days (or Hoping To Make Enough Money By Payday) Default ThumbnailAnother Time A Friend Found Me A Job (or It Really Is About Who Knows You) Default ThumbnailStill Working Through The Pain (or I’m Going To Stay Positive About This) Default ThumbnailProductive One Way And Slacking In Another (or Working On Finding Time)

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Getting My Butt In Gear (or Missing Out On Fun Stuff To Work)

Posted on May 1, 2015 | Comments Off on Getting My Butt In Gear (or Missing Out On Fun Stuff To Work)

I wrote recently about how I needed to get back into the job hunt more seriously. It’s never easy to find day jobs (or additional day jobs), but it is a necessary evil of life.

My unemployment ended recently. And even though I was only getting about $90 a week from it, that money really did help me out. And while I could reapply for unemployment, I don’t think I earned enough W2 money recently to qualify for enough unemployment to get money after taking in consideration how much I make at my at home box office job. I also don’t want to have to keep depending on unemployment.

After my WIF meeting, I was really feeling motivated. I had to really plan time every day to apply for new jobs and to expand what my job searches were like.

In the past, I really just tried to find data entry/virtual assistant type work that I could do in-between my clients at my current job. I like my hours and was hoping to keep my work hours similar to what they are like now.

But I’ve now expanded my search to include evening and weekend work. This might mean that I would end up working 50-60 hours in a week when you add up the time between the two jobs. While this isn’t what I want, this might be what I need.

And since I’m getting serious about looking for a job, I’m starting to turn down social events in order to spend that time job searching. I was supposed to go to a really fun event by AJ, who hosts the podcast I work for, this week. I had been looking forward to it because AJ was in town and wouldn’t really have other time to hang out. But because of other things, the only time I could dedicate to job hunting would be during the event.

I had to let him know that I couldn’t go, and while it made me pretty mad about the situation, I did manage to find 7 day jobs that would be perfect for me and sent my cover letter and resume to all of them. So the missed event was worth it for my job hunt.

I’m probably going to have to miss another event tonight that I wanted to go to because I need to spend more time searching and applying for more jobs and I already have a busy afternoon with work and then my workout.

Even with canceling a couple of events, I’m still living a very social life. I just have to keep reminding myself that I need to pick and choose what I go to and that missing these events will benefit me in the long run. And once I get another day job, I’ll have more money to go to better social events.

Let’s just hope that this job hunt ends soon (and successfully)!

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Work Time Family Visit (or Already Preparing To Renew My Disneyland Pass)

Posted on April 24, 2015 | Comments Off on Work Time Family Visit (or Already Preparing To Renew My Disneyland Pass)

My parents have been in San Diego again recently helping my grandma. They drove back yesterday. And since my house is on the way, they stopped by.

They usually don’t stop when they are doing that drive. Their preferred method of driving down goes around LA, so it would be tough for them to make the detour. But this time, there was a reason they drove through LA.

First of all, my mom still had the wine that I bought in Napa. I couldn’t fly it back with me (since I only had a carry on), so the plan was always for my mom to drive it down for me. I was originally going to try to meet them in San Diego while there were down this time, but that didn’t quite work out.

Also, I had gotten my dad his Hanukkah present insanely early this year. I knew exactly what I wanted to get him in January, so I didn’t think I would want to wait until Thanksgiving to give it to him. And I knew that he would want to use it, so their detour to my house was also for my dad to get a gift.

And as always, I had a few things I wanted to fix in my house and my dad is a pretty awesome handyman.

So yesterday during my work shift, my parents (and dog) came over for about 45 minutes. Fortunately, my job was pretty quiet while they were here so I could focus on them.

The projects in my house were pretty simple. There was a drawer that was broken that needed a new screw and my toilet paper holder was falling out of the wall. Both of those things were done within minutes.

Then it was time for me to give my dad his Hanukkah present. I had been giving him hints for a while, but he had no idea that I got him a TRX Strap system! My dad had used TRX straps when he worked out with me at Orangetheory before, but the gym that my parents belong to don’t have straps that can be used without an appointment with a personal trainer. So now he has his own set of straps that he can use at the house (my mom has already said that she wants to use them too).

But one of the coolest things was something my parents brought me.

Recycling Ink

They brought me ink to recycle! As I mentioned before, I use the money I get from recycling ink to help pay for my Disneyland pass! This will definitely help me when I renew my pass next year. And I’m sure I’ll get more ink from my parents over the year as well (my mom just saves them all for me).

While this visit was only 45 minutes, we really did get a lot done. And since I had just seen my parents a few weeks ago, there wasn’t too much to catch up on (plus, I talk to my mom pretty much every day on the phone). I’ll probably see them again in a few weeks when they come back down to San Diego too.

Even though this visit was super quick, I’m so glad that my parents were able to stop by. Any distractions during my work day are appreciated and this was a really nice distraction.

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Job Hunt Time Again (or I Guess I Was Slacking On This)

Posted on April 17, 2015 | 1 comment

With so much going on in my life lately (workouts, eating right, family stuff, the 5K), my life has almost felt like it was on autopilot lately. I know when I need to do things and when I have to get in my car to drive to something. And of course I know when I need to focus on work.

For a long time, between customers at my day job I was applying for another part-time job. I know that this job isn’t enough to support myself on and I need to find something else to do either around my work hours or between customers at work.

The past two weeks, my between customers or before/after work time have been filled with other things. I kind of forgot about my job search. It just wasn’t the focus of my day and whenever I thought about it, it was when I was already in bed or while I was working and then I got a customer that needed a lot of help. It’s not that I was avoiding it, it’s just that life took over.

But I need to get back into that ASAP. While I’m doing ok for now with bills and things, my savings are getting smaller and smaller. And I am still collecting a little unemployment now (I’m technically underemployed and make less with my job than my unemployment claim is worth so I get the difference), but that is going to end in the next few weeks.

It’s not easy job hunting. Not only do I need something flexible, I want something to work around my current job because I don’t want to leave this job. Something like writing, editing text, data entry, or virtual assistant work would be perfect because most of those things can be done around my own hours.

So I’m back to searching online and trying to search through all the “work-from-home” scams out there (and there are a ton!). I’m also back to asking friends if they know anything that would work for me (just like how I’m asking on here if you all know something). I know that I will find something eventually, but this in-between time of waiting to find that perfect second job is tough and making me nervous.

So if any of you know of any good and flexible jobs (either based in LA or work from home), please share them with me. I really need to expand my searching and asking for help is one way to get more eyes out there on the job search for me. Thanks in advance for any of you who comment or contact me with any job ideas!

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Temp Job Time (or Feeling Like It’s An Old Job Again)

Posted on March 3, 2015 | 4 comments

I finally started my new temp job last week. And it’s definitely a temp job. I’ll probably will only work 4 shifts for the job, but anything is better than nothing.

I like working for my old boss. We had a good working relationship at my old job and he gets how I need to have my things organized. And I’m the only person working on this particular job, so it’s nice that I don’t have to worry about who is dealing with which customer.

The job itself is pretty basic. It’s much simpler than my old telesales job and even simpler than my current box office job. I’m just following up on invitations for a gala event that is happening in a few weeks.

I’m actually very grateful that the job is basic. There isn’t much time for me to learn or get used to things, so I had to jump in right away. And I only need to know a few points of information to make my job successful, so I worked on those for the beginning of the first shift.

It’s a little nerve-racking starting to make calls again. But after the first few, I got right back into the swing of things. It was such an old habit that I started to do things that I had to do at my old job. I was dialing 7 to dial out (but at this new job I have to dial 9 so there were a couple of unsuccessful calls). And I was taking notes the way I had to before with tracking my name on the callers (but since I’m the only caller, that doesn’t matter anymore).

I’m working in 4.5 hour shifts, which is a nice amount of time. I don’t really have to take too significant of a break. Which is a little downside because I’ve gotten in such a routine with my eating. My shifts at this job are from 4-8:30pm. I ate a snack before work and was hoping that I could make it until 8:30/9pm before eating dinner.

It’s wasn’t too horrible, but I was starving by the time I got home. And I don’t like feeling that hungry. But since I only have 3 more shifts I might just have to deal with that. Or maybe bring a snack that is easy enough to eat between calls. But again, since it’s such a temporary thing I don’t know if it’s worth worrying about.

But honestly, right now I’m just super happy to have another job even if it is only for a little bit. Extra money is good, and because there are commissions at this temp job, there is potential to make some nice money. I didn’t make a ton of sales on my first shift, but I think that that is to be expected.

But at least for now, I’m making more than I was last week.

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Having Water At A Wine Bar (or Getting A Temporary Job)

Posted on January 28, 2015 | 1 comment

Continuing my attempts to not become a hermit during the cleanse, I went out to Bottle Rock, one of my favorite wine bars this week.

While everything on the menu is amazing (I love their mac and cheese), because of my limitations on the cleanse, all I could have was water. While staring at the menu drinking my water, I did decide that Bottle Rock will be a place I go to for happy hour soon after my cleanse ends.

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My reason for going to Bottle Rock was a good one (not just to drink water). I was meeting my old boss from my last telesales job. He is now working at a new theater company and had something to discuss with me.

It turns out, they need someone to work for a few weeks to help sell tickets for their gala this year. It’s a similar job to what I did for this boss before, but instead of selling show tickets, it would be gala tickets. And I would be the only person doing this, so all the commissions would be mine!

Of course, I said I’d take the job! It should start in a week or two and the job will probably only last a few weeks, but anything for extra money is great right now! And since it’s another commission job, there’s no limit to how much I can make in those few weeks.

And if I do a good job selling gala tickets (which I think I will) there might be another opportunity for me toward the end of spring to work for that theater company again and help them work on their renewals for their ticket holders.

The best thing about this new job is that since I am the only person working and it’s my old boss running things, he’s super cool about my current schedule. I’m probably going to work for him in the evening when I don’t work my current box office job and only on evenings when I don’t go to Orangetheory.

This is exactly what I need right now. While I wish that it was a longer job than a few weeks, anything that I can get right now will help. I feel so grateful that of all the telesales staff that worked at that old job with me, my boss chose me to come and work with him on this campaign. It proves to me that I am a good salesperson and that I will always be able to use this boss as a job reference if needed.

Since it doesn’t start for a few weeks, I’m still looking for other jobs that I can do either while I’m working my box office job or outside of my work and workout hours. I’m going to meet someone who is a friend of a friend who needs some organizing work done in their house. That might turn into something, but they are about an hour drive away from my house, so I have to see if I can devote enough time to it to make a 2 hour commute each time worth it.

I don’t want to get too optimistic and think that my job situation is getting to where I need it to be, because it isn’t. But these are all steps in the right direction and gives me hope that it won’t be long until it all works out.

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Being On Hold With A Job (or Not Quite A Quitter)

Posted on January 16, 2015 | 1 comment

I’ve talked about my day job situation a lot in the past. I’ve got my main day job doing the box office work and that’s the only one with regular hours. Everything else is as-needed status and nobody seems to need me right now.

For babysitting, personal organizing, and substitute teaching; I don’t mind that I don’t work right now. I know that clients for babysitting and personal organizing will come and it’s a situation where I am my own boss and I don’t feel guilty when I’m not working.

And for substitute teaching, I’ve spoken to my boss there about how right now I don’t have the time to work but I wanted to stay on the roster since they aren’t hiring. I’d be scared if I left the roster and then needed the work and couldn’t get my job back. So I’ve been honest and they know my situation. That’s fine with me.

But for my data entry/survey coding job it’s been a different situation. I worked a lot for them at first, but once I started my box office job, I could no longer do graveyard shifts (or I could, but I found out that my body does require sleep so I don’t want to do them). And while I thought at first I could do the work from home in between my customers for the box office job, I never knew what to list as my availability. I didn’t want to say that I was available the entire time because they might assign me a job that takes 5 hours when I only have 3 hours in chunks.

And because my availability was so limited, the company wasn’t using me for work. In the past few months, I worked about 2 or 3 hours for them. And while some money is better than no money, I felt like I was leading the company on.

So yesterday, I sent an email to my 2 bosses at that job. I explained my situation and gave them the two options that seemed right to me. Either they could keep me on as an employee and understand that I have extremely limited availability and perhaps one day that would change and they could use me again. Or we could end our work relationship.

I don’t want to quit, but at the same time I felt so guilty about not being honest to my bosses about my situation. I don’t want to quit, but I would understand if they didn’t want to keep someone on staff who couldn’t work as much as they would like.

I heard back from one of my bosses within an hour of sending the email. She thanked me for my honesty and decided that she’d like to keep me on in case my schedule changes and I become more available for her.

I’m so grateful that that is what her decision was. It was exactly what I was hoping for by sending that email. I haven’t heard back from my other boss, but he is the one who runs the graveyard shifts and technically I’m only on that schedule as a backup (my main job is the work from home part).

I still need to find something else to do, but at least some of my guilt that was associated with this job is gone. And hopefully with less guilt, I will be able to focus more on finding the perfect job to fit into my schedule.

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What I Plan To Do This Year (or 2015 Goals)

Posted on January 1, 2015 | 5 comments

Now that I’ve reflected back on my 2014 goals and how well I accomplished them, I really thought hard about what I want my 2015 goals to be. I think I’ve got a good list going for this year and I’m excited to see how well I get them done over the next year.

My first goal is workout related. I want to get 175 workouts done in 2015. That’s pretty much 3-4 workouts every week of the year. I’m not allowing myself workout vacation time (even though my dad did suggest it). I’m sure a majority of the 175 workouts will be at Orangetheory. I have every intention of going at least 3 times a week (and trying to add in a 4th day every other week). But I’m also going to include any 5Ks that I chose to do this year as well as other fitness classes (SoulCycle and maybe trying yoga again). I will also consider including hiking, but I don’t think I’ll have a lot of hiking days except when I get to Tahoe in the summer.

My next goal is a food goal. I want to have home cooked dinners at least 4 times a week. Since I started bulk cooking, I’ve been eating something home cooked most weeknights. I usually prepare food for 4 nights and then on weekends I’m out. And many times on Tuesdays or Thursdays (when I don’t workout after my day job) I don’t necessarily eat dinner. I’ll have a big late breakfast (since my shift doesn’t start until 10am) and then have another bigger meal around 4 or 5pm. Both of those meals are home cooked, but I don’t know if it counts as dinner. So I’m saying home cooked dinners 4 nights a week. If I do more than that, all the better for me.

Next is a day job goal. I want to be down to 2 main day jobs (not counting babysitting or running the film festival). Right now, I have 1 main day job and 6 sporadic jobs. I don’t make enough each week (to the point that I’m still collecting unemployment to make up for the fact that I don’t make enough to not be eligible anymore) and this needs to end. I’m enjoying my box office from home job and if I made enough doing that job I’d be so happy. But I don’t think that will be a reality even with the raise we are supposed to get this year. And while I love being able to make some extra money babysitting, I don’t see that as something that will make enough to make up for what I’m lacking. So I need to find one more steady day job that has regular hours to help me make enough to pay all my bills comfortably. There is a chance to make the film festival another main day job, but there is no guarantee with that.

And I’ve made this a goal in the past, but I really want to get into an improv class this year. I think that now that I feel secure with my day job and have a steady schedule with it, I will be able to pick out a class time that will work for me. I’m working on saving up the money for the class right now.

Again, another repeat goal from last year, but I’d like to travel again this year. I have a trip to Napa planned in 2 months and I’m really looking forward to that. And there is a possibility of another New York trip in the fall this year. I don’t know if I’ll have any other trips (besides visiting my parents or grandparents) but 2 trips in one year sounds wonderful to me!

And my final goal which is a goal every year is to keep blogging. Not just on here, but on other sites as well. I freelance on two blogs and I’ve written a few guest posts on other sites. I had no idea when I started this blog how important and therapeutic writing would become for me. It’s an amazing journal of the past few years of my life and I love going back and reading some of my old posts to remind me how far I’ve come. And I can’t wait to track 2015 the same way.

So those are my main goals for 2015. And in a year, I’ll let you all know how I did with them.

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Travel, Weight Loss, Work

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Getting Too Comfortable (or Getting Ready To Quit)

Posted on November 19, 2014 | 2 comments

I’m in a very comfortable spot right now with my day jobs. The national box office job is going really well and I just got a raise. While customers are still mean to me all the time, I’m getting used to that, and my co-workers experience the same things so I know it’s not just me.

I’m getting babysitting jobs most weekends now too. While I don’t make a ton of money all the time babysitting, ever little bit helps. So many of the jobs I get are only 3 or 4 hours, so it’s not too hard and many times the kids are already sleep when I get there so I spend my evening reading on someone else’s couch.

The survey coding job is the weird spot in my life right now. I put in my availability every week, but I’m averaging 1 hour of work a month for them right now. That’s nothing (especially since that pay seems to be cut in half by taxes).

Obviously, I need to move on from the survey coding job. They don’t need me when I can work and some of the emails they’ve sent to us employees have been pretty rude and condescending.

My boss had asked me if I could work an overnight shift on a particular evening. I said that I was only available until 11pm because I had to be up early the next morning. The next email was a mini-rant from him about how he never asks for overnight shifts unless he’s desperate and I better have a good excuse why I can’t work. I sent another email explaining that I had to work early the next morning and I would be willing to come in until 11pm. I never got another email back after that and I didn’t show up for that shift because I was never told that I was scheduled.

They are using me so few hours each month that I could probably quit that job now and not see a financial hit in my life. I’m still struggling because I make very little money, but that extra $8 a month isn’t going to affect me too much. But I’m choosing not to leave that job until I have another one lined up.

What that other one might be is the issue. I have no clue what types of jobs to look for next. I know when I can work and how my jobs are structured, so I have some idea of the time that I can devote to another job.

It’s just too bad that this survey coding job isn’t going to work out for me unless something major happens. I really thought that it would be a great match for me, but it turns out that either they are not getting the amount of work that they were expecting or they don’t need work done when I’m available.

The one thing that irks me about eventually leaving this job is that this will be the second time I have left work with this company. It’s the same company that did the movie recruiting, and I quit doing that pretty quickly as I realized that it was not the right job for me. I’m not going to leave this job this time because it’s not a good match for me, but I need a job that will give me work. And I can’t keep keeping hours free for a job that doesn’t use me.

My time is worth more than that and I know that there is another job that will fit into my schedule that will be just right for me.

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Posted in Tough Stuff, Work

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