The Saga of Ashling (long)

O hear, all ye DUers, the saga of Ashling;
Hear the litany of abuses the Gods showered
On the brave AShling.


Ok, my epic poetry sucks, but I put forth for your pitiable enjoyment the tale of my adventures back home for a job interview:

CAVEAT: This is not for the feint of heart or kidney, as the case may be. I will pause for a moment to allow children and the squeamish to leave the room.

***paws***

Let me give you some background. (for those of you who already already know these details, you may skip ahead.)

About 3 years ago, my wife got a job with the State of Washington which would allow her to advance her experience, etc., so we left our beautiful country home in the Texas hills to seek our fortunes in the Great Northwet. (Those of you who think I have misspelled that word should immediately put on a raincoat)

I had also lined up some good prospects here - or so I thought.

Shortly after we arrived, I started working on a project I got through a temp company. That was finished in about four months. Since that time I worked for about 2 months on the staff of a congressional reelection campaign in 2002, and 2 months in retail last year over the holidays.

The rest of the time has been spent looking for work, being turned down for work, being turned down some more, and going through all of my meager unemployment benefits. Oh, and after that I was turned down some more.

:nopity:


And another thing: it rains all the damn time up here! Well, maybe that is a slight exageration, but the winters are extremely grey, wet, and generally depressing for the whole family.

I have spent the time volunteering with the local Democrats. I am on the County executive committee, do fundraising, etc.

(NOTE: To all of you who skipped ahead, GET BACK WITH THE PROGRAM!)

When we were in Texas in January checking on our place in Llano County, I interviewed with someone over at one of the state hospitals. The interview went very well, but I came in second for the job.

However, the Dept. volunterred that they had some other stuff opening up which she thought I would be good for. When these other positions opened up she called me in Washington. They would require an additional interview because the position was not the same. So I arranged to go back and she held the interviews open for my visit.

We sold one of our vehicles so that we could afford for me to go. I planned a trip for this interview and allowed some time to check on our place and other jobs.

So I flew home last Tuesday and interviewed for the job on Wednesday afternoon. I felt a little under the weather and didn't think I did as well as I could have on some written parts of the interview - however, it was on material that she knew I was strong on, and she was very encouraging. She was going to make her decision the next afternoon.

The next day I did some job stuff on the internet at the library, and posted here. I called her that afternoon - They gave the job to someone else, but I was still in the running for the other position which will be decided in a few weeks.

I tried to stay upbeat and made some telephone calls about other jobs. I was going to make some visit on Friday.

You may recall that I mentioned that I was not feeling tip top. That night I started getting a pain in my gut. I took something and hoped it would pass. It just got worse. I don't recall having EVER been in that much pain.

Fortunately I was staying in town at a place about a block form the hospital. By the time I go to the emergency room I was in some serious pain (did anybody see the episode of West Wing where Jed takes too much medication for his back?)

I was sweating and damn near fainted while I was giving them my insurance information. Fortunately they put me on a morphine drip.

I had a 2 x 5 mm kidney stone.

ASIDE:

The INTENSE pain leads me to ask lady DUers a question: why in #*))% does any woman ever have more than one baby?! Is it some sort of memory blockage? Why would you do that?

Anyway, the rest of my trip was a bust. The morphine took care of the pain, but kept me from being able to do anything else. (I wonder if I can get some more?)

So, there you have it, the pathetic tale of a morphine addict.

Fortunately, Ms. Ashling got an interview with the Texas State Dept. of Housing and Community Affairs re: the program that she works with. She also talked with them in January, but her credentials are much better in that area than mine were at the hospital.

I flew back in Saturday night and she flew out this morning.

So, hope, as they say, springs eternal.

Wish us luck.

Sorry to hear about your interview struggles. Keep after it; something will work out for you soon.

As for the kidney stone, I've heard how dreadfully painful those are. Best of luck!

My wife is there now. Hopefully her interviews go better.