Half of the year is GONE or Losing my Appetite

I'm pretty nervous about this upcoming Richmond test. I'm doing a little bit of studying which after tonight is going to turn into a lot. I have this horrible habit of fixating on really useless time consuming things to avoid doing work. Right now I'm fixated on bicycles. I really need this to happen for so very many reason. For whatever reason, and I've said this before, this year is the year for fire departments. Everyone is hiring and I've missed out on these opportunities because I have failed tests. I only have a few more months left in this "season". Not a lot of cities are going to be hiring anymore. I know I have to bear down but I'm just so swamped with my own worry its sickening.

I really need this to happen. I don't know how much longer my mental and emotional health can take this current job. I swear I get stupider everyday. See! I basically don't interact with anybody all damn day and when I do it's idle chit chat and not a rel conversation. This is why I need to be home. My brain is turning into jelly and I'm not advancing myself. Sure I read and do my online class but growing involves so much more than that. I just need to put my head down and focus.

Workin Out

So I have been hardcore working out for almost 3 weeks now. No more little runs or half ass workouts. I go full bore, balls to the wall. Today was not one of my stronger points in my workout career. I lied in front of a lot of people and really didn''t mean to. I wasn't fully awake and misheard the instructions. I felt reaaaallllyyy sheepish. I guess I should make it up and start really pushin it to the limit.

Richmond or "Bait the Hook"

Richmond is a medium sized city that really gets a bad wrap. I think even more so than Oakland. I mean, in Oakland it is widely known that the "hills" are reserved for the upper class and upper middle class community while places like East Oakland and downtown Oakland are not the best paces to be walking around at night. Sad really. I mean there is always danger in every city it's just the media that magnifies the bad and usually not the good. Having said that Richmond has always had problem recruiting both Police and Fire personnel; this according to people in line, the very few people.

I half expected the Richmond application process to be somewhat like Oakland's, crazy long lines, overnighters and lots of people. But no. This was now the second least painful process. I got there a little late and had no application in hand. In fact there was nothing on the website that indicated the need for a written application. But I wanted to be prepared and ended up at Kinko's spending waay too much money on copies and time to use the Internet finding and filling an application. Well no application needed. I quite literally walked in, showed my ID, EMT cert, SS Card and BAM, I got a written test date immediately. So. Here we go.

Santa Clara's Result or "How Special You Must Be"

Got the results from Santa Clara. Denied. I actually felt really bad. I walked out of that test feeling really good. Like I had it, I was OK. But no. I was wrong. The results letter doesn't break anything down, so I don;t know how far or close I came to passing. At least the other departments had a breakdown of the percentages. I learned a lot about Santa Clara. It was really inspiring.

But I guess I need to move on to the next test.

Santa Clara Written or "How IS That Math Coming Along"

It's official, June 14th is the written test date. I get another great opportunity. I have to really step back and say that I have made some pretty good decisions lately. In light of my recent failures, I have dedicated most of my night almost every night to studying my firefighter written test book and really making an effort to improve my math skills. I hope that I can pass this one and move further along in the process past the orals.

How I Spent My Holiday or "Drive On"

I'm a little nutty borderline obsessive with a dash of OCD. I'm OK with it thought, ya know, I manage it and I make it work for me. I'm not going to take my dreams lightly. I'm going for it 1000% , No holds bar, balls to the wall (or ovaries in my case). I had received an e-mail notice about the City of Santa Clara and their hiring announcement, on Memorial Day, Monday. OK well technically I received it on Sunday night at 11pm; who in their right mind check their e-mail at 11 pm on a Sunday? I had to make a decision. I could pas this rare opportunity up or drive like hell on Monday and back to LA by Tuesday.Drive like hell. It was well worth the day off. I felt good to be home and I felt I had made a good choice. I got my application in what has to be the most painless application process to date. The drive was the highlight of my trip.

Like I said. I began my trip on Monday midday. In my excitement I had stupidly left my wallet with my roommate who I asked to carry it the previous night. She called me and without thinking to look at the gas gauge before I left I shot a look down as she told me she had my wallet. I was about to be one stranded mutha-----. I about a drop away from the fuel light coming on. I had no money, no ID, no gas and had put more than 100 miles between myself and LA. I thought for sure I was screwed. I ended up calling AAA. The guy came and explained that he could but me gas if I could provide him with a credit card number. Towing me back over the grapevine was going to take too long and I really didn't want to spend more time on the road than I had to. So I drove my happy ass all the way back 100 some odd miles over the grapevine and then up North. I made it and all was good.

Now to await the written test.

San Jose or How Hot Was It?

Initially I strayed away from applying here. Not because I don't do well in heat or very large cities but because I just don't know a lot about the department. Sometimes it seems unfair to me when people don't know about the departments they apply for. But I guess it doesn't matter when one is applying for one of the topmost competitive jobs on Earth. The written test was very similar to others. I felt prepared but in the end my scores reflected my level of NON preparedness. When I got notice of not passing, I actually wasn't too hurt. Dunno why.