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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Teaching & Me

Post #8 - Tuesday May 26, 2009

I will be teaching a Creative Writing class in the Fall
@ Stamford Adult & Continuing Education
The on-line catalog will be available on August 4, 2009
http://www.stamfordadulted.org/CourseCatalog/default.asp

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

The Other Shoe Dropped & Preparing for my Vacay

Post #7 – Wednesday – May 13, 2009

Well the other shoe dropped --- I didn’t get the job that I wrote about in Post #4. You know the position that I called about and the interviewer seemed to have forgotten who I was – picture that but she seemed to be grasping to recall me. To see how I felt about that read Post #4. And again the interviewer used too many words to say no. See for yourself:

Dear Valerie,

It was a pleasure meeting with you to discuss the Customer Service Associate position with Blah Blah.

I believe our interview provided me the opportunity to gain a better understanding of your skills and work experience, while hopefully providing you with a clearer perspective of the role and expectations of the CSA position.

While I cannot extend an offer of employment to you for this position at this time, please know that our needs for qualified candidates are ever changing and that new opportunities present themselves routinely. I encourage you to periodically check our website at blahblah.com to stay current with our job openings. Also, I will keep your resume in my active file in the event I have any future openings.

I thank you for your interest in Blah Blah and wish you well in your career search.

I do apologize for the delay in contacting you. The process took longer than anticipated.

Interviewer’s Name
Address
City, State Zip
E-mail
Telephone #
Cellular #
Fax #

Too many words people – too many words. And way too much contact information. I know we are supposed to network and follow-up with people but I am not in the mood to do that with this particular interviewer. She was nice enough but…..

So you can imagine I was a little bummed – okay, okay - I was very, very bummed over not being hired….I didn’t even want to talk about it. And those who know me know not much stops me from talking ~ LOL. I think I had 1 or 2 days of stewing but I got over it because I know that, that job was not for me. I just want my job to show up and show up soon – breathe Valerie breathe --- so I will do just that: wait for my job to show up.

In the meantime I am readying for my trip to Jamaica --- hey no hating or snarling. Vacay is like my massages, a necessity. I can’t wait to touch down in Montego Bay, take the ride to Negril and begin my vacation of 9 days/8 nights in the Jamaican sun, surf and sand. I think you know I will be having a good time --- oh yeah!

Of course I will be getting a massage at my hotel the Negril Treehouse http://negril-treehouse.com/ which, is a located on Negril’s famous seven-mile beach. People who remember Negril from back in the day like say the ‘70’s or ‘80’s think that the seven-mile beach is too touristy with hotels up and down the coastline. We actually met a guy, probably one of the many hippies from the States, who used to live down there many moons ago; well he was beyond despondent that there were so many hotels now.

To me Negril is perfect. It does have hotels up and down the beach but not one high-rise since no hotel in Negril can be higher than the highest tree. I’ve never been a high-rise hotel person….well there is one in Aruba that I want to try but that is another post for the future after I try it out. Aruba is wonderful but I am talking about Jamaica now so I will get back to that.

Negril is a perfect slice of heaven to me because you can party all night every night if you want, chill on the beach all day long (Ding Ding Ding!!!), take a tour to another part of the island, take a ride on the glass bottom boat, jump on a booze cruise, horseback ride or partake in any of the many other options that abound. You can make your Negril vacation whatever you want it to be.

I discovered Negril on a day trip from Montego Bay. A driver took us to the Treehouse so we could swim and chill all day long and then we had dinner later that night at Rick’s CafĂ© where we sipped drinks and watched the sun set as cliff divers plunged off the 40 to 70 feet high cliffs. While most cliff divers are native Jamaicans there are always some inebriated tourists willing to take their chances plummeting off a ledge. We have seen some folks get smashed up pretty good. The first time I was there some man didn’t jump out far enough and cracked his face on the rocks on the way down. I do believe teeth were missing by the time he hit the water. I DO NOT play with my dental work – hello I don’t think so.

The Treehouse is located in the middle of the seven-mile beach and the only bad thing about that is: hurricane season. Every hurricane that hits Negril hits the Treehouse’s beach, which has shrunk from its former vastness but it’s still great. My vacation crew and I usually stay in one of the hotel’s ocean-front suites, which sleeps four, has AC, small refrigerator & stove (you know that stove gets no use when I’m in the house) and 2 yes 2 bathrooms! You know 2 bathrooms is like gold when you have four women in a room – hello~

So if you are ever in the area make sure you stop by the Treehouse and sit awhile, soak up the sun, breath in the sea air, and get a burger and a drink at the beach bar. I’m sure if you get a taste of the place you will want to come back and spend some time there. Oops I almost forgot they have room specials like 2 for 1: you reserve one room and get one free. You have to call down to the front desk (876-957-4287)to find out when the specials are in place. Yes my rooms are on special!

I’ll tell you all about my trip when I get back~

As always Tasty and Informative like Cupcakes & Travel Magazines!
Love Your Life!

Friday, May 1, 2009

Swine Flu, Regular Old Flu or Plain Old Stomach Virus

Post #6 – Friday – May 1, 2009

Yesterday, I thought I might be a victim of the swine flu that is sweeping the world. But it turns out all I have is a regular old stomach virus, which is nothing to sneeze at, no pun intended. Flu symptoms are as follows:

1-Fever (usually high) – Nope
2-Headache – Nope
3-Tiredness (can be extreme) – Slightly
4-Cough – Nope
5-Sore throat – Nope
6-Runny or stuffy nose – Yes but I attributed that to my case of slight allergies
7-Body aches – Nope
8a & 8b – Diarrhea & vomiting (more common among children than adults) – Yes to the first symptom and I felt like I was going to vomit but it never materialized

I was getting ready to head off to meet my writing mentor when symptom #8A starting calling my name – no details necessary I am sure – and wouldn’t stop calling me. Well needless to say I had to cancel my meeting, which I was disappointed about because I like meeting with Pete (Duval) of Fairfield University and talking about writing, my writing, and the craft of writing.

Of course when I started to feel yucky earlier in the day I did not immediately make the flu connection: swine or regular. So of course when I did make the connection I went from 0 to 60 in 10 seconds! But all is getting better now. I will take it easy this weekend.

Make sure you all review the above symptoms and determine if you have the flu, swine flu or regular old stomach virus. Hopefully you won’t have any of the symptoms.

Wash those hands and don’t overdo it on the hand sanitizer because we all need a certain amount of germs in our lives~

Not so Tasty today but still Informative like Cupcakes & Travel Magazines!

Love Your Life!