Random Rambling Tidbits

Well, it's official. I sat for my state board exam on August 9th and passed! All I have to do is wait for the veterinarian board to finish processing the paperwork (estimate date is September 19th) and pay the fees and I will officially be a certified veterinary technician!

I didn't get the results till the end of August because it was a scan tron test (compared to nationals where it was computerized so you get an immediate answer) so I was on pins and needles fearing that I failed. Now helping matters was that I kept going to job interviews after job interview, getting my hopes up and then being told they went with someone else. There was a point where I was really down and was wondering what the point was. I felt that nobody would ever hire me.

But then, the day after I got my state results, I actually got a job offer! It was a place I liked and was hoping would want me. I'm going to start next Monday and am so excited!

In the meantime, I moved out of my studio apartment that I was living in for the last semester of school. I'm living with my parents for now until I can save up enough to get my own place. I'm hoping that things go better now than the last time I lived with them, and I am being cautiously optimistic. It is kind of cute how my mom keeps seeing if there are vet shows on animal planet for us to watch together; she often asks me to explain things, such as why animals have that tube in their mouth. And it is great that they let me bring my mice with me.

I had my desktop packed up in anticipation for a move since...the end of May so I didn't have access to my drawing tablet or my steam games. I did have my table with a keyboard, so I did a lot of fanfiction writing...or at least what I think is a lot. I haven't published fanfiction before, so even one was a lot. It was a good outlet for when I need a distraction from my failed interviews, and it was kind of great to be able to interact with fandoms after being such a lurker. I even got an Archive of Our Own account! I'm RamblingAcara there!

It really feels like a new season of my life. I'm in a new field, in a new job, with my new pets, and I'm trying new things in the fan space. 

( Blah Blah Acara's Emotional Issue )
Anyway, during my hiatus I was working on my original content. I was thinking of posting some things here for feedback, but with my parents going on about how I never share art with them, I'm feeling so guilty over posting things for people other them to see. But they've made it clear that they don't like the genre or themes I like to use in my writing, which is why I want to share it with others who do.

ARGH! Our power went out again! Ever since we had those serial blackouts back in August, it seems that every other month they go around trying to fix things, but just end up cutting us off again!

Anyway, I held the first meeting of my Anime and Manga Club at my school yesterday. Considering that I passed out the permission slips for it on Thursday (Friday was no school for the students) and everything was basically word of mouth, the turn out of nine kids wasn't bad; certainly was a more manageable number for me to begin with as I get use to this. I had another kid turn in a permission slip to me and several others express interest once an announcement was formally made, so more might be coming.

But it was fun yesterday. The kids all call me 'senshi' or 'senpai' :D And while they were disappointed that I put an end to any ideas about having shipping wars, but we found more stuff to talk about. They were already talking about club activities like "Cosplay for Charity" or doing White Day grams. I also did a presentation about Valentine Day in Japan and gave them a 'creative challenge'; since so many of them tell me how anime and manga inspire them to draw, write, make AMVs, etc., they for the month of February I want to see if they could make something around the theme of Valentines Day. We're also doing another challenge to come up with a club mascot to put on flyers and stuff.

When we had free discussion, the kids brought up dubbing and we watch different dubbed theme songs, like the Swedish opening for Sailor Moon. I might do that as the topic for next week; I just got the Sailor Moon Reflections book and will see if I could incorporate something from there.

So I've kind of been MIA for a while, but things are finally looking up and you know why? 

BECAUSE I FINALLY GOT A JOB! PRAISE GOD! EEEEEEH!

I'm going to be a paraprofessional for a special needs student at a charter school that is only about ten minutes away from my house. The pay isn't the best -I'm on a strict 40 hour weekly schedule with no option for overtime- but compared to how great everything else about it is, I can let that slide. It's close by so I won't be wasting money on gas, the campus is beautiful, the dress code is relatively lax (we can wear business shorts when it gets hot out, which is wonderful for working in the Arizona desert) and a couple of blocks from it is an Asian market. And they have green tea mochi and red bean steamed buns! I dropped off the last of my paperwork today (I start Monday) and stopped off there to pick them up.

...Yeah, my first thought after getting the job was "Think of all the food I can buy!". I'm such a bad Christian because my first thought wasn't even about how I'll be able to regularly tithe now; it was actually my third thought because my second one was then "Now I can save up to buy video games." But my tastes run a bit different from the rest of my family and I hate having them buy my almond milk, tofu, etc, but now they won't have to!

ASKFDSFK!

HOW HARD IS IT TO CALL SOMEONE BACK?

Gah, I call Thursday and they tell me to call yesterday at 8:30 in the morning. Then I'm so anxious about 'what if I sleep through my alarm' that I don't really sleep well that night, but I do get up in time and you know what? The hiring person still isn't in and I leave them my number for the third time!

...okay, so they started school on Wednesday, I can respect that things would be busy. But it has been over a week since my interview, I would like to know if this job is still an option or not.

...and of course, I still haven't heard back from anyone else, so that is why I'm clinging so hard to this opportunity. But next week I'll probably begin calling individual schools about my applications instead of just going through the district websites. One of the places I applied for is working at the on-site preschool at my old high school, which my sister will be starting this year. That...would actually be kind of funny if I ended up working at the same place she is going to school. She'd probably tell me not to embarrass her, which is what Bro said when he began high school as well; he's a year younger then me, so when he began his freshman year, he told me not to hang around with him least I hurt his rep. Sis is basically the same way.

And I though being the oldest sibling would make me be the cool one :(

Either way, it would be really great if I could hear back from someone, anyone! This waiting part is the hardest part of the whole thing!

I had an interview on Friday for a teacher assistant position at a charter school, and I've been waiting all weekend and today for them to call me back. I called them today to follow up with it, and the secretary told me she would give the hiring person my number when she was avaible. At the interview, they mentioned that they would be starting school this week and that today would be an open house for kids to meet all the teachers, so I'm hoping that now it is over, they'll be able to get back to me.

I live in Arizona, so our school year is from August to May (I've heard that is to keep kids from being in school for the hottest parts of the summer). Schools are going to be starting up soon, so there's that as well. My therapist (who use to work as a counselor at a college) told me that it isn't uncommon for schools to call people back at the last minute when they realize they still have spots to fill. There isn't much else I can do, I even called some of the districts I've also applied for and they said that I just have to keep waiting..

I picked up some job applications for local grocery stores and restaurants so if worst comes to worse, I'll try getting a part time job there. At least I'll be able to begin saving up money for a place of my own.

Bah, I'm so worried over this that I completely forgot about Comic-Con. Normally that would be enough to excite me, but I'm not feeling it. Talking to my bro might help; I'll have to call him about catching up with what was said at the panels so we can geek out over stuff together.