F is for failure

So I think I've decided to give up the job hunt and write some kind of book about job hunting (kind of like in high school when you had to write speeches and there was always some kid who wrote his about writing speeches. So original!)

Anyway, I think I have enough material for at least the first chapter or two.

As of today, I have:

- Been in the UK for 53 days.
- Sent out 100+ CVs
- Filled out 30+ applications.
- Interviewed for 11 different jobs.
- Attended over 20 interviews (including recruiters, headhunters, second interviews, etc).
- Been rejected from every job I have applied for: BBC, MSN, Amazon, UNICEF, Haymarket, IPC and a slew of other lesser known employers.
- Worn the same outfit to (practically) every interview.
- Spent £20 printing my portfolio, reference letters, resumes, references
- Tubed all over this fucking city, from Slough to London Bridge to West London to Knightsbridge to Soho in hopes of getting hired.

And today, on my 53rd day, I am back pretty much exactly where I started roughly two months ago. No job, no prospects. What's worse is I am a little worse for wear in the confidence department so any upcoming interviews I do have I probably won't be in top form for.

Anyway, being sorry for yourself is self indulgent and boring, so I will not be doing that (or at least, I won't be writing about it). So it's onward and upward. I will not let this city break my spirit. I will conquer London like the greatest conquerer who ever conquered anything (who says my ego is bruised?) And no prospects isn't exactly true, I have an interview today with TSO, a government office doing web editing. I'm just not even going to say more than that because I think all this professional defeat has brought about a serious bout of superstition which I cannot shake.

Anyway now that my sob story is over, I'll tell you about my weekend. Franca was away at a wedding so I had to amuse myself. Saturday I went to a movie with Dan and saw Alice in Wonderland. I really wasn't blown away and actually I found it pretty boring. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter were great but the story was just sort of blah. And Anne Hathaway needs to sit down cause she was super annoying. Anyway after that, I met up with Kate the Canadian for drinks and dinner. We went to the Slug and Lettuce and then went out for dinner to an great little Mediterranean place off Upper Street. The restaurant was a renovated house which was ram packed, adorably decorated and super cheap: a bottle of wine, two mains an appetizer and a dessert was £30! Amazing, After that we went up the street for a couple of drinks but we were clearly not as wasted as the rest of the crowd at Albert and Pearl so we called it a night.

Sunday I hit up the farmer's market just down the road from my place and it was adorable - fresh cut flowers, organic poultry, beef, game and fish, fresh fruit and veggies, homemade desserts and bread. I'm a little low on the cash flow so I didn't buy anything but it was fun to know it's there. Then I headed up to the vintage market in Angel to browse around and then headed up to Chapel market to browse around some more.

In order to save ££ and keep myself entertained, I started downloading TV shows. I've been watching The Wire which is amazing (I know I'm like 10 years behind. Leave me alone.) and I need the second season in a bad way. I also started watching The Shield which isn't as good - and is it me, or can anyone else just not take Lou Diamond Phillips seriously? Anyway I've also been reading like a maniac trying to escape the perpetual joblessness that is my life. Just finished J.M Coetzee Slow Man which won the Man Booker Prize in 2003. It was OK but I want something that is going to change my life. If you have any good recommendations, let me know! I am now a member of the Islington Library so I'm officially a huge giant nerdy loser in another country!

Anyway, hopefully something works out for me this week. If not, I might seriously be tying those Barista apron strings before too long. Sigh.

Hope you're all doing well and enjoying the balmy weather in Canada. Can't say I don't feel a little homesick at the moment but that was bound to happen eventually.

Cheers,

Patsy