Oh boy

Oh boy. I have to go back to work tomorrow. It's just a part-time, temporary position, but yikes. Right now it's a few days a week but it's ALL day. No lounging around in bed with Miss M till 8, staying in my pajamas until 10, hanging out in the backyard eating lunch. I have to go to an office. Showered. Dressed. By 8 in the morning. Oh boy.

I know I was looking for something part time, but I was hoping it would be along the lines of a few hours a day for a few days a week! This might be stretching it. I may have to nap at whatever desk I'm sitting at!

I am still looking for a bartending job as well. This temp thing right now is in the construction industry and it's just to help a company get on their feet after changing over to the software system I used to use. So it's not long term by any means. But it's some income right now while I peruse the bartending job ads and apply for stuff.

Speaking of applying for stuff - trying to be a bartender is getting a little ridiculous. Not only do you have to fill out your education, work and skills background information in their online applications, you also have to complete an assessment for every single app it seems like. Some of these assessments are 10 and 12 pages with a bazillion questions about what type of person you think you are. Stuff like "I never lose my temper" and "People are generally trustworthy in the workplace" (you have to mark whether you agree or disagree) - and I'm guessing that if you don't answer the questions the way the company wants you to, they don't even bother calling you for an interview.

What happened to the good old days where we actually got to make an impression with someone instead of filling out some stupid questionnaire online and being judged before we even meet anyone?

One application that I was doing - I don't remember for which place - made me take a TIMED test. It included all sorts of questions from math to vocabulary, matching words to their similar or different meanings... it was insane. I'm terrible at math first of all, so I had the calculator up on the computer the whole time. And some of the words? I have no idea what they even mean. I only had 10 minutes to finish this thing and I didn't get all the way through. I have no doubt that I will never hear from them! But if they would let me come in for an interview I could at least show them that I am intelligent, no matter what the dumb test says.

Side note: I hope Miss M doesn't decide to start walking or reading the encyclopedia while I'm at work these next few weeks... she's growing up so fast and I don't want to miss it!

Hey, Bartender!

I've been MIA the last few weeks, but with good reason. I posted a while back that I was contemplating going back to work part time, but I didn't really know what to do - after countless hours of searching for jobs, looking at different schools and thinking of taking a totally random new career direction, I decided on bartending school.

I did this for a couple of reasons. First, I love bartending. I did it a while back when I worked at a restaurant and it was probably the most fun I have ever had at a job. Second, bartending can be something that I can do during the day for a few days a week. Of course, that depends on where I'm hired and whether they'll work with my schedule. But I should have a pretty good shot. So I went ahead and signed up for the class at ABC Bartending School in Tempe.

School was actually a lot of fun - nothing like those long days cooped up in a stuff classroom, listening to your professor drone on and on about something you could care less about. We got to sit at a bar to learn our lessons, and got to practice behind the bar every day. Granted, we were only using colored water instead of actual alcohol, but it was fun getting back there and making drinks.

Class was 4 hours a day for 4 days a week over the course of two weeks. Sounds pretty easy - when I got there however, I found out that I would have to learn over 60 liquors and liqueurs and roughly 200 drinks, shots and shooters. For a 100 question test at the end of the class. Oh. My. God.

But it's all good. Most of the stuff was pretty easy, and with some (okay, a bunch) studying I got the majority of them down. The instructors give you very helpful acronyms to remember the drinks... stuff like "RATS On 151" for a Zombie and "My Mother Beats People Continuously" for a Jamaican Ten Speed. I think my favorite was probably "Light & Dark Burly Boys Slobber Over Girls" - that one was to remember a Rum Runner. It's probably just as easy to remember the actual drink recipe.

I think the hardest part was remembering the amounts of everything that goes in the drink. Some of the exotic drinks have 1 ounce of rum, some have only 1/2. Same with the shooters - and trying to remember which ones were which was really hard.

But I took the test and found out that I only missed two questions! So I passed with flying colors and am now able to tell someone that is hiring that I have taken Bartending Mixology and can make them pretty much any drink they want. I still have to take the Arizona Alcohol License class, but that's not required at most places to get hired. I'm going to do it just to have one more thing on my resume.

Now to find a job... who needs a bartender?!