A Leap of Faith

Hello sweeties,

so...this post wasn't on my schedule. Shocking, I know. But some stuff has come up lately (I'm not talking about the New Blogger averted disaster, which will probably call for its own post in the near future...for a couple of days, I was genuinely convinced I would lose half my contents 😱), and I've been pondering, and...I've come to a decision about such stuff.

You will probably have noticed that, while I'm posting an impromptu article, I skipped this month's installment of Tooting Your Trumpet, and for that I beg your pardon. My head has been all over the place for a few weeks now - not to mention, on July 1st I went back to my regular working hours, which resulted in reading/posting/commenting after dinner and during the weekend once again. For the record: I do have three reviews coming this month - a backlist book and two NetGalley ones - because I was ahead of my schedule, but now I think I finally managed to fit back into my old blogging habits, after 3 months of working only 2 days a week. (Ha! Who am I fooling - I'm still struggling to make things works and I always will). Anyway, here's the thing I've been racking my head about lately, and if I post it here I'm more likely to commit to it...

...I'm going to start studying for a public examination that will be hold two years from now (or maybe one), regarding a job at my town hall 😱.

Remember how I wanted to do the same thing two years ago, only I got intimidated by the subjects? After a thorough research, I learned that, for any kind of position in the local municipality - from "simple" administrative assistant, to administrative director, ending with administrative manager - most of those subjects are mandatory. Now, the 2018 examination was for a higher position than the one I was aiming for, and as I said, the subjects scared me. But I still had my sight set on the administrative assistant office, and I finally read on the municipal notice board that they plan on hiring 3 administrative directors (the position that scared me 2 years ago) in 2021, and 3 administrative assistants in 2022. So I made inquiries, and found out that the latter will be employed in the "social policies" and "culture and tourism" departments, which at least sound more accessible than others because they SHOULDN'T involve financial literacy? I think? And one of the 2021 administrative directors will get a seat in the "culture and tourism" department as well, so the specific subjects should overlap, at least to an extent...which means that the competition announcement should give me a head-start for the 2022 administrative assistant examination (unless I go mad and decide to try the 2021 administrative director examination as well, just to see how it's like...because HAHA! me? "directing" people? what a colossal joke).

Anyhow...I think you're confused now. The gist of it is - some job opportunities are coming up in my municipality, and while the 2021 ones are probably out of my league for more than one reason, the 2022 ones MIGHT be doable. Mind you, I'm still scared, because law stuff goes over my head. And even if I should take the examination and win, the working hours are brutal (6 hours and 40 minutes a day on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings; 8 hours and 20 minutes on Wednesdays, because you also have a PM shift). So, I still hope that a part-time job shows up, one that involves more than my current 15 working hours a week and pays better...but in the meantime...I have to do SOMETHING. At least I'll have two years to prepare, for goodness' sake. Though, mind you...I, the queen of spreadsheets, don't have a clue how to schedule THIS. The last time I had to study was 26 years ago - and law wasn't on the menu. But I'm running out of options at this point.

Only...in his case, a very good "it" happens 🤷‍♀️

So, basically..I'm going to give it a try. And did I mention I'm scared? And angry at myself, because I shouldn't have to do this at 54, and it's all my fault. Anyhow, I have no choice but to woman up. I'll let you know how my study plan goes (mind you...I'm not planning on starting until later, October I think. I can't concentrate in this heat, and I want to be ahead of my blog schedule before I start). Please send positive energy my way, because never have I ever needed it more (and while you're at it, please send me good luck vibes for a less demanding job to cross my path...). Thank you in advance! 💚 😘 💛