I spoke too soon.

I am no longer being considered for the church staff position I mentioned in the last blog entry.

The senior pastor of that congregation called today--the day of the interview, and with me already dressed for it and at work on a short-term assignment--to tell me that the committee with whom I interviewed last Thursday had decided not to recommend either of their finalist candidates to the Staff-Pastor-Parish Relations Committee, so tonight's interview with them was cancelled. The other committee (Children's Ministry) simply doesn't know what they want. That was obvious from several of the questions they provided for me to answer last week.

As was the case with the church that did not hire me last summer, it's probably ultimately a good thing that it didn't go any further than this.

Still inhales, though.

(Interpret that as you will.)

Coming up for air

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.

No, Jenny the Righteously-Angry hasn't taken me hostage.

No, I haven't given up blogging for the latter part of the Easter season.

I've just been engulfed in real life.

I'm in the middle of being considered for a full-time staff position with a church almost an hour away and have gone there twice for interviews; a third is scheduled for tomorrow night.

I've just finished working many hours at the United Methodist General Conference (like so many other UMs who live relatively close to Fort Worth). In my case, I spent nearly all that time editing verbatim transcripts of sermons and plenary legislative sessions. (Can you say "terminal headphone hair"?)

'Tis also the season for much serving when one is engaged in music ministry in the local church. My children's choirs' year-end concert was last Sunday, my school-age children's choir is scheduled to be THE service choir next Sunday (Pentecost AND Mother's Day--wheeeee!), and all the church's music groups will be performing for "A Patriotic Celebration" on Sunday evening, May 18th. Most of those groups (that is, all the ones I lead) are decidedly under-prepared, so we're just this side of frantic right now.

Oh, and I'm still between day-job work, General Conference ($12/hour) and a few one-day assignments here and there notwithstanding.

But other than that, nothing much is happening.

But yes, there is, actually. However, it's not something I'm ready to blog about just yet. But it's big, or at least has the potential to be big in the near future.

And THAT is all that's happening at Chez Psalmist. Well, no, there is even more than that, because God is truly good and merciful, but there aren't words.

I'm OK. Truly. Just very, very tired.

For those interested in the interview suit

(much good though it did me)...

Here's an image of a similar suit. Mine has navy slacks, a pale blue shell with navy piping at the neckline, and the jacket is a tapestry of navy, black, pearl gray, and pale blue. The jacket collar is slightly more "stand up" than this one.

And did I mention in the previous post (before my last rant) that I got it IN THE MISSES' PETITE DEPARTMENT? I did? Oh, sincerest apologies for REPEATING myself. I guess I'm still celebrating at least that victory, seeing as how I didn't get the job and all.

I now return you to your regularly-scheduled blog reading. Carry on.

The Interview Decision

The other candidate was offered and has accepted the position at the pharmaceutical company.

I may have another position to start on Monday, albeit for significantly less money but for a whole lot more than what I was making at assignment-from-the-hot place October - December. I'm waiting to hear for certain that it's still open and get more details about it. It could even develop into a permanent position.

As I just told my pastor, who has been a supportive friend through this day-job odyssey, it would help if I simply knew what tipped the decision against me. That, unfortunately, is something I'm never told in all the times this has happened. Is it my size? My age? My strange work history? Did I say something wrong in the interview? What were they looking for that I could not provide?

(sigh)

Still trusting, even when it's hard. And meanwhile, I am weighing less and have a couple of professional outfits that I look REALLY GOOD in. For my depressed fluff-head clothes-focused survivor self, that's SOMETHING, no?


Update: I did get the back-up assignment and it will start either Monday or Tuesday. The minimum duration is four weeks. The client company is in the process of creating a permanent position for the work that has previously been contracted projects, because their business has expanded to the point the projects are continuing year-round now. So, it may morph into a temp-to-hire position. Not holding my breath, but glad to have work to go to again.

NEW Update: The assignment has been postponed until a week from Monday. Hoping for a short assignment until then, but that's not too likely. Maddening!

Update

Thank you, everyone.

The interview went very well. I did not wear the plum suit, which I was dismayed to find that a cat had given claw love (those with cats understand; for the rest of you, that's when a cat is feeling, "Like wow, like I LOVE my mom, I think I'll do my massage-y nursing behavior on this thing that smells like my mom") to the skirt before I last sent it to the cleaner's. So -- BIG risk -- I shopped for a cold-weather-appropriate suit. I found one IN THE MISSES' PETITE DEPARTMENT (woo-hoo! -- weight loss) and I looked fabulous in it. Plain navy slacks, a fitted pale blue shell piped with navy at the neckline, and the most marvelous navy-black-light blue-pearl gray long-sleeve tapestry long bolero jacket. Quietly elegant, worn with a classy pair of navy pumps and simple silver chain and earrings. AND I got a good price on the suit.

(I notice when I'm a bit stressed out, I tend to focus on clothes. I guess there are worse things than trying to look sharp that could come out of my stress.)

I was the only person out of three from my agency who got an interview. The other contract agency has also presented several candidates, and they wanted to interview one other person, so that interview is tomorrow morning. So I'll attend a funeral at my church and, by the time I can turn my phone back on, I could have a final answer. But I'm still definitely in the running.

The department I'll be supporting (it's not just executive support) involves safety, environmental compliance, and security. It's a global company, so there's a huge scope of knowledge that I'll need to soak up as quickly as possible. But through my time speaking with the VP director and the assistant director, I think I'd be a fantastic fit. Their feedback was that I would be, too. The last time I felt this good about an interview was when I got the job that only ended when my boss got fired, so...as I said, I'm still hopeful.

Thanks again for the support and the prayers, my friends. I'll post something once I'm back at a computer