Well well well, Mrs. Ubam Ubam from Nigeria needs my help (and addresses me as 'Dear Friend' in the hope that I will give it) to get her hands on $ 20,000,000; she promises to give me 10% of it. Wow! All my financial worries gone in an instant...All I need to do is pose as Mr. Barry Kelly (deceased)'s next of kin; and to that end provide her with my 1) full names (2) private Telephone/fax numbers (3) address (5) age and occupation so that I will use it to get all the necessary documents that will back-up the claim which I will send to you through courier services (D.H.L). She further assures me that she has enough money to cover the initial cost of procuring these documents herself, but may need me to provide additional funds if she runs into any unexpected difficulty.
I'm amazed to see this scam's still working; to be honest, I can't see how anyone could ever have been taken in by it, but I'm told it has happened in the past. Still, I should be grateful to Mrs. Ubam Ubam: her offer has at least put a little smile on my face. God knows I've got little enough to smile about: I just got asked again what kind of job I'm looking for, and I still haven't found an answer other than 'one that's closer to home'...'cause seriously, what skills have I got? I'm an archaeologist who hasn't dug in 7 years, and a publicist who hasn't published anything in 13...10 years in a techy job in hp has killed off any and all ambition as well as enthusiasm. I really don't know what it is I should be looking for.
I'm amazed to see this scam's still working; to be honest, I can't see how anyone could ever have been taken in by it, but I'm told it has happened in the past. Still, I should be grateful to Mrs. Ubam Ubam: her offer has at least put a little smile on my face. God knows I've got little enough to smile about: I just got asked again what kind of job I'm looking for, and I still haven't found an answer other than 'one that's closer to home'...'cause seriously, what skills have I got? I'm an archaeologist who hasn't dug in 7 years, and a publicist who hasn't published anything in 13...10 years in a techy job in hp has killed off any and all ambition as well as enthusiasm. I really don't know what it is I should be looking for.
- Current Mood:
cynical - Current Music:the ringing of phones & the chatter of colleagues
Page Summary
bogwitch : (no subject) [+17] - palmaceae : (no subject) [+1]
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Comments
But it is a good way of focusing. I thought you'd had some career advice anyway?
I enjoy: books! shoes! art! laughter! friends! music! food! chocolate! travel! LJ!
Where's that book she recc-ed me? Perhaps I'd better start looking for clues...
But shush now, I need to describe the unwanted non-productive feelings and subsequent behaviour I need to get out of my system and makeup, and formulate the required C...keeping in mind that C I aim for, is achievable. Oh God! Why did she give me this to read? I told her I don't do self-help books! They're so f*cking boring!
Is there anything that can combine the positive aspects from some/all of them, but doesn't have the negative ones?
I had to give up a fulltime career in archaeology in 1991, when I was diagnosed with atypical Tolosa-Hunt Syndrome (actually, the diagnosis followed in 1993; in '91-'92 no one knew what was wrong with me except that I suffered from acute facial paralysis and intermittent blindness). Archaeology is a very small world -- you drop out for a year and a half, you don't get back in again easily.
My condition also put paid to my work setting up exhibitions in museums.
As a publicist, I wrote about archaology and architecture. I worked freelance. I barely got my expenses covered.
What did I like about these 'careers'? Everything. I loved being on a dig. I didn't mind getting dusty and dirty. I didn't mind shoveling dirt all day. I didn't mind the weather. I din't mind having to write meticulous reports. I din't mind having to set out a grid. I wasn't too keen on the endless meetings with officialdom and civil servants...I loved doing research and discuss theories with my peers. I liked passing on what I knew to the volunteers and helpers.
Again, in writing my articles for architectural and/or archaeological magazines, what I loved was the research, spending days on end in musty old archives gathering material, going off into a corner and think about the stuff I'd uncovered, coming up with solutions for teensy-weensy problems or questions that no one outside the field gives a rat's arse about.
So, what are my skills? Doing research. Reporting on it. Looking at a landscape and recognizing signs of cultivation/habitation/disturbance. Looking at a building and realising why it was built in such a way. Understanding the design and what primary function it serves.
These skills all count for nothing in my current career. It's all about cost and profit and selling stuff, supplying the demand.
what was it that made all your other careers unsuitable?
It wasn't a question of that. It wasn't my careers that were unsuitable to me; it was me who became unsuitable to my careers -- physically.
Town planning? I actually did a course in that at Delft Polytechnic, as part of my studies in architectural history. Very interesting it was, too!
Librarian, documentalist -- it all requires qualifications I don't have, and take years to acquire. That's the bum deal: I'm over-qualified for the work I've been doing, and unqualified for a lot of the work I could be doing!
Another problem is that we're in the middle of an economic slump, which means that lots of art or cultural institutions have to downsize. I remember this from the early 90s -- in the municipal archaeological department, only 3 out of 11 jobs remained. (I was one of the 8 who had to leave)
Tell me about it! I thought Librarian might be a problem in that way, but with you, I never know...
I actually applied for a Town Planning job, it sounded really good and I had the basic requirements. But like most intersting jobs i want to do, I never got an interview.
Same here. And I know it's because I simply suck at writing a good motivational cover letter, you know, the kind that says 'I'm the woman for the job, and you'd be mad not to interview me'.
I don't know, something with a cultural focus, I suppose. Non-profit, probably. I'll narrow it down one of these days!