The First Challenge(s)

There must be something to the notion that being optimistic brings good things. In my first step of this whole process, I decided to check the negativity at the door. If you know anything about me, you know that this is basically like hacking off a limb. The daughter of two of the most paranoid Jews in the world, I never had a shot. Their obsessive worrying makes me live at an anxiety level most people only experience in the fifteen seconds before bungee-jumping off a bridge. Dealing with this anxiety comes with three distinct personality flaws:

1) An inability to be late. Ever. If I'm not ten minutes early, I'm already late. This factor was instrumental in many fights with college friends who thought it didn't matter what time you arrive a bar. Wrong! Fallacy! You must arrive at the bar for the drink specials!

2) I can't sit still. Watching television all day is what I may dream about when I'm stuck at work, but in reality it's boring and gives me migraines. How much "Toddlers and Tiaras" can you watch before you truly lose all faith in humanity?

3) I have to feel productive. I set ridiculous goals for myself so that if I hit it, I feel accomplished. Examples: Do one load of laundry (done!), apply for 5 jobs a day (we'll get to this), take a dog for a walk (who cares if it's mine?)

So you can see how difficult it was just to stop myself and say, "To hell with this worrying!" "I lost my job, I did not lose my pride!" (I may have been listening to The Script.) I adopted the mantra: "You miss 100% of the shots you never take."

I went onto Monster.com and applied for 12 jobs. In a row. At four in the morning because I couldn't sleep. At approximately 2:00PM that same day, I got a call from a staffing agency where I'd sent my application. (You should know that about 25% of the job listing on Monster are put up by staffing agencies.)

Ok, I know what you're thinking. Really? A staffing agency? They only do temp work! That's for desperate people! However--remember the rules? I can't say no if it's within reason. AND I have never been a temp. Seeing as how I'm currently unemployed, what do I have to lose?

So I'm going for it. CHALLENGE #1: Respond to a staffing agency! ACCEPTED.