News from the home front

[belphegor1982]

After months of procrastinating, I finally got started on one of the long HH stories I've been jotting down notes for for the past three or four months. It's going to be a longish story (about 15 chapters), slightly on the supernatural side, which is a first for me - so here's hoping I can actually finish it, which would also be a first (so far, stories exceeding 10 chapters have taken me a long, long time to write). So I'm keeping my fingers crossed :o)

I've applied for a couple of jobs for September, and I'm waiting for an answer. It's both junior high school supervisors, and I actually don't want the job - supervising ten-year-olds was stressful enough, but I'm terrified at the thought of handling fifteen-year-olds who'll be taller than me, not to mention helping them with their homework when I never understood a thing about grammar and I'm just terrible at maths. Oh, and I'd have to supervise school cafeteria, too, which means having my lunch a hour or so before the kids. The only perk in one of the jobs is that I could be in charge of the school library on Wednesday mornings. It doesn't help that I spent some of the worst years of my life in junior high school, being bullied and trying to remain as invisible as possible. Of course I've changed since then, but I simply don't want to go back. Too many bad memories.

Ah well. In the meantime, I write as much as I can to make up for future lack of time :o)

Comments

[runenklinge.livejournal.com]

good luck with the job hunt.
i know you're not quite fond of the jobs, but being a figure of authority can be pretty sweet.
even when i was interning at one school and was essentially the same age (in a few cases, even younger) than the oldest students, I got adressed with polite forms, please, thank you and all.
(and i didn't even wear the terrifyingly high "i'm intimidating you" heels I wore for another internship^^)

the school environemnt can be horrible, but it depends a lot on the school.
the school i interned at was just wonderful; i never thought of my school as horrible (certainly not wonderful, but it wasn't awful or anything) but in comparison, the other school just shone....and not just because the teachers tried to give us food at every opportunity
"hey, math teacher's birthday today! here, intern, grab a fork and dig in!"
"hey, history teacher anniversary, we ordered chinese!"
"aw, someone left me chocolate at my seat!"

[belphegor1982.livejournal.com]

Your other school sounds nothing short of awesome! Wow :o)

To be honest, I've kind of enjoyed being a figure of authority when I worked at the primary school; it's tough to learn to be, well, tough when needs be (I discovered with horror that I was able to make a kid cry - because (s)he had misbehaved and I had to send him/her off from the library - and still maintain a firm attitude). But the thing is, when you're a supervisor, you're not a teacher, you can only give detentions (not praises when they've done well, like good marks) and it's very difficult to position yourself in the hierarchy of the school - the kids are usually much less polite (when they are at all) than to the teachers. Plus, I did it for four years, it's right there on my CV (or is it résumé?), and I'd like to move on to a more adult job. Schools generally hire university students, who then have a way to pay for their studies.

(Seriously, I can't get over how adorable your old school sounds. Although with my luck, I would probably have ended up sitting on the chocolate :P)

[runenklinge.livejournal.com]

I have to rein in myself, because I'm a kind of sarcastic and snarky person and small kids don't get that I mean well or that I just made a joke...thankfully I found that out rather sooner than later^^

[debriswoman]

Cheering you along from the sidelines, Bel. Here's hoping you have a productive time with your writing.

I suspect the jobs may not be as daunting from the inside. Sorry you had such a tough time at that age, but there may be another 15 year old there, trying to be invisible, who needs someone just like you to come along.

[belphegor1982.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the cheering, Mrs P :o) It's very appreciated.

Believe me, I know there may be miserable 15-year-olds who wonder why they have to go to school and face everybody/thing. There always are if you look closely enough. If I end up working at one of the schools, I will definitely keep an eye open. The worst thing about bullies is that they make you feel like you deserve to be bullied, that it's the natural order of things because you're so worthless you attract troubles. When I went to my mum and told them one girl in particular was being really mean to be, she said that there would be bullies everywhere, and that when this girl was gone someone else would take her place. So the next times I was pushed around I never said anything. I guess what I needed to hear was just "She has a problem, not you. What she's doing is wrong, there's nothing wrong with you." So yeah. I won't go "CONSTANT VIGILANCE" but I'll certainly keep a look out.

(sorry, I tend to ramble :/ )

[debriswoman]

My pleasure, Bel:-)

[hogan-macgyver.livejournal.com]

Good luck on both the fic and the jobs! :)

[belphegor1982.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! I'll do my best with both :o)

[goldvermilion87.livejournal.com]

Good luck job hunting!

[belphegor1982.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot :o) I'll need it!