Unfocused

Lately, I can't seem to focus on much. I am sure that a large part of it has to do with exhaustion. I am so burned out from chasing Hail around all the time, telling him no, homework, attempting to do work, working on my finals that are going to slam into me in no time at all, and trying to keep up with my house. I have a pile of laundry that has needed folding for almost a week. This actually isn't anything unusual-- everyone that knows me knows how much I hate doing laundry. Honestly, I would rather do dishes, scrub toilets, or even chop off my own arm.

Last weekend, I rented the movie The Help. It is a fantastic movie. I liked it so much, that I started reading the book. It is very moving-- so much so, I can't stop reading it or thinking about it. I know that this is a large part of why I am so unfocused. Racial issues are such a hot button issue for me that this book really gets under my skin. Not that I don't love it, but because I hate people's attitudes during the 1960s!

I am so confused as to what my Virtual Assistant teacher is looking for. I really don't like her. I have been in a position of virtual assisting (and never knew it!) for nearly 4 years now. When I do my assignments, she confuses me more than anything when she returns them. She gives me nearly full credit for my assignments then leaves a bunch of comments on my work of how she wants things changed, what I did wrong, something she forgot to explain that she wants added, and so on. She is not a very thorough instructor. For instance, when we send in assignments, everything is sent from our personal school email. She still wants us to format papers with the typical information and was taking points off for not having it done, but that was something that we had to guess at because she never bothered to say that was how she wanted things done until week 3!! Never again will I be taking a class from her again. If she wants to be a teacher, she needs to go to school and take some courses in educating others. I don't feel that any instructor should leave students more confused than they were previously.

Getting up, Moving on

Sad to say, last night I failed to blog. It was the 5 day of the New Year and I forgot to blog because I was so busy preparing for today that I forgot, ran out of time, I'm not really sure. Work wise, yesterday was a bust. I did not get anything done because I had to go all the way downtown to pay rent. From my house to downtown Portland is an hour drive round trip. Then, when I got there, I got a ticket! I parked in a spot that I got from another passenger car like mine. I have parked there dozens of times before, but I got a ticket because now this spot is a truck loading and unloading zone. I do not ever remember seeing any signage stating as much in the dozen times I have parked there. Therefore, now I have a $65 ticket that I have to pay sometime this month.

I start school again on Monday for the first time since Hail was born. I plan on finishing up my degree with some business courses so that I am more prepared to go into anything baking related, business/ clerical related or English related such as copy writing, editing or basic journalism. One of the classes that I'm taking is called becoming a virtual assistant. I knew nothing about what this was until I logged onto a work at home forum that I joined a few years ago. Apparently, what I have gathered about this course is that I can be an office assistant or continue doing what I do most of the time by updating company's blogs, and writing their web content but get paid more for it because I have a fancy title. After doing some basic research on a few freelance sites that I also have joined, I am a little intimidated because I am going to be competing with people overseas that are willing to do entire jobs for $2 an hour. This is completely unacceptable pricing even for a beginner like me. What most people fail to realize while they take on jobs is that they have to make a profit. Doing this work is their business and if you are selling yourself for $2 an hour, you must not think very highly of your own abilities. If people want the work done correctly, they will pay your fees.

The workload for this course is a minimum of 10 hours a week, not to mention the rest of my courses I have elected to take. Because of this, I do not know when I'm going to be able to work again, simply because I do not know when I will have the time. Thank my lucky stars I get financial aid from school to help with room and board as well as household expenses so that I can still keep my condo without worrying about rent being late or stressing out about the bills.

The first assignment due before class starts is to write your online resume for those that you want to market yourself to. In working on this assignment, I was a little clueless. I have a resume that shows all the work I have done online, but it was very basic and I really wanted to jazz it up. Here are some tips I found online for creating an effective resume for working online.

* It is not necessary to detail every job that you have ever had. Instead, only include jobs on your resume that are applicable to the job you want to obtain. This is called a target resume and it works great.
* Always start with the most current job you have had. This will show that you have been recently employed.
* When detailing online work, it is not necessary to say where you did the work. It really could have been anywhere; while you traveled, where you live, where they live, anywhere.
* Have samples of your work available upon request. Do not include them directly on your resume because they will take up space that you may need for other things. Simply state on your resume that you have samples available upon request.
* If you have applicable experience from volunteering, awards, or education, be sure to include this on your resume. It is all about selling yourself and anything that you can include that will give you a leg up will give you an edge over the competition.
* Always use spell check! This may sound stupid, but I can't tell you how many times I have looked at others resumes as well as my own with horrible spelling errors and other grammatical mistakes that make it sound like you are uneducated. This is the last thing that you want when presenting yourself online for a job. Keep in mind, this resume that you are sending out is your first impression. Most people that work online will never meet their employers; therefore, their resume must stand out from others and say, "Pick me!"

I hope that these tips have been helpful for anyone that is looking to spruce up their online resume. I found them to be extremely helpful.