random thoughts – Day 1,877 – (Wednesday) –cloudy and fair

Pollen painted view.

The rain fell and blew overnight and the storm door and windows on the front of the house were plastered with a coating of splattered pollen. As a look for the house, not great, but moderately interesting as a filter for the view outside, adding a painterly effect and also a clear depiction of why everyone is sneezing lately.

There was a job fair at work today for those of us who will be released on the merger date. The morning was spent racing around the house gathering things that would have been collected days ago had I not been flattened with the stomach crud. I needed to find the padfolio I haven’t used for nine years and the business cards done years ago to use for writing applications and freelance work.

As I put on my favorite Calvin Klein suit jacket with my favorite Banana Republic black trousers and a black, green, and yellow silk blouse, I noticed the fabric on the elbows of the jacket was shiny with wear. Ugh. Hopefully nobody would be looking at my elbows.

The job fair was pretty good. Twenty-five companies were on the list including some staffing agencies. Tables were arranged all over the Community Room and a training room, each one bearing a logo tablecloth, jars filled with candy, and lots of branded giveaway items like pens, notepads, and what seemed to be popular, the lip balm that comes in a ball that unscrews. I took one chocolate square in a logo-bearing gold foil wrapper. The last thing I need is more stuff. I already have approximately 5,000 pens of various pedigree and branding.

My plan was to talk with the staffing agencies and then get back to my department, but I ended up also talking with several banks. It was the same conversation at every bank table and it went like this: Them: “What department are you with?” Me: “I with marketing.” Them: “yeah, we don’t have anything available in marketing.” This wasn’t a surprise, I had already visited the careers website section of every bank on the list. But things change and just because there’s nothing today, doesn’t mean that is a permanent situation, although many reps said their people tend to stay a long time. I get it, there has been no turnover with my current team for years.

Wearing a suit jacket in a mildly stressful situation in a room full of people was a bit warm. I was sweating, and when I’m warm, it usually means everyone else is close to heatstroke. One of the HR officers was trying to get the A/C to catch up with the crowd. All the talking was tiring, and when I thought I had run out of resumes, I cut out of there quick.

Back at the office, I discovered there were more resumes in my padfolio, they were just buried under the handouts the MassHire office had provided. Oops. Part of the afternoon was spent cleaning out desk drawers in between setting up ad reviews and checking emails and all the regular work. This winding down process is a lot of work.

Afternoon cover.

By 3:30, the clouds were heavy and low, and it seemed like it might rain again like Tuesday night. It seems that there has been more than enough rain already, and I wouldn’t be at all sad if it stopped. Thanks to all the rain, the back yard has turned into a lush jungle over the past few days, and now I need to figure out how to squeeze a mow in with all the painting and decluttering and other labor that needs to be done. 

Where is my clone? It's 2025, and I still have not been issued my clone, Rosie the Robot maid, personal jet pack, I Dream of Jeannie or Bewitched magic pack or any other technology we were promised was possible back in the 60s and 70s. Reality can be so disappointing.