Happy New Year's, happy day!

I am happy today. But, before I delve into the reasons why, let me wish all of you a happy new year! We actually did have a ball of lights hanging from a crane for the New Year's countdown -- and we got to celebrate it several hours ahead of you guys, which seemed kinda silly, but oh, well. It was pretty. And our "friends" outside the wire sent us some pre- and post-New Year's "fireworks" to help us celebrate. Wasn't that nice of them? : P

But, really. I'm happy because I've gotten e-mailed back on one job and two e-mails out of the blue from HR guys who'd seen my resume on an internet resume site and wanted to know if I was interested in applying for the job they each had to offer. And they're all in the place I was intending to move back to after this deployment, anyway! I talked to one guy on the phone and I think it went pretty well. I'm so excited and nervous... The possibility of getting hired by one of the two companies for my dream job in the city I want to live in is just too much to take!

I really want to run around outside jumping and hollering, I'm so happy right now. ^_^ Yaaaaaaay!

Still no luck...

Well, still no luck on the job front. The weather has been nasty, too -- raining every day -- so I haven't bothered going out for the last couple of days. People here seem to think that bad weather means "drive faster and stupider than normal". LOL! However, I'm working really hard to be optimistic. : ) And I've gotten an (almost) clean house out of the deal, since being at home so much lately gives me no excuse not to clean.

I went to the jummah prayers at the masjid today; for some reason I keep wanting to say "Jomeh prayers" -- "Jomeh" is Farsi for Friday, so I guess it's the same thing... : P. Anyway, it was nice. The sheikh's lesson was on the five Pillars of Islam, particularly zakat (which was emphasized because they're building a new Islamic center down town and zakat is the only way they can get the money to fund construction). At about 1:30 a man did the call to prayer --- I got chills listening to it. After they finished salat, everybody socialized a bit, and one very nice lady invited me to her house for iftar on Tuesday --- she knew me from the Islam 101 class. I'm looking forward to going.

And, last of all, I got the five abayas that I ordered! They're so pretty... I'll pull the photos from the website and post them when I get the time.

Actually, this is last of all: I have more new friends on here! It looks like the number has gone up 4 or 5 since I last wrote an entry. Maybe I'm not as boring as I thought! lol : )

P.S. On another note, if you Muslimahs would make du'a that the lady who owns the new Islamic clothing store here get it up and running again soon -- all the rain we've had made the roof over her shop so heavy that part of it collapsed in earlier this week. She was selling her hijabs, khol, incense, etc., outside the masjid today, and the sisters were getting it all. : )

Hi!

Hi, everybody! How's things?

Well, I got a semi-positive e-mail from one company I sent my resume to. They sent me an e-mail that said that they still have my resume and that they're comparing my skills and qualifications to job openings they have/will have soon.

So, not a rejection (not yet).

: ) Happy thoughts, happy thoughts....

Better late than never...

To all the Muslimahs (and brothers?) who follow my blog, I wish you a (maybe late, but not sure since I can't remember if I've already said it) Ramadan Mubarak!

Well, I got my first "Thanks, but no thanks" rejection letter yesterday from The Container Store, and I got one from Target today. *sigh* Everyone says that the military is such a great starting point, but... I can't seem to get a job! The defense contractors only seem to be interested in intel analysts and linguists with Middle Eastern languages (Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Dari, etc). Since we (in the active Army, anyway) didn't get to choose our languages ourselves, but get what we call "voluntold" (a staple of military life), and that's just not fair. Yes, I know, life's not fair, but right this moment I'm feeling pretty childish. It's an LNF time in my life.

*soooooo frustrated*

On a happier note, HijabGirl has a bunch of pretty new hijabs, just in time for Eid. Some new prayer outfits, too. I'm going to browse the site... Online shopping makes me happy. And it makes my bank account happy when I don't buy. : P

Not sure what to do.

Okay, I know this is my third post of the day, but.... I'm feeling a little uncertain about what to do. There's a job fair coming up next week that I'm planning on going to. The fact that I don't have anything appropriate to wear for job hunting is one problem, but the real issue is: should I wear hijab or not? Niqab would have to be out, unfortunately.

Being single and depending solely upon myself for financial support is great, but also hard because I HAVE to have a job within the next two months. I'm afraid that if I go to this job fair wearing hijab, no company recruiters will want to talk to me, or that if I go to an interview wearing hijab, they'll reject me because of it. Yes, it's illegal, but I've heard a lot of stories from women who experienced that.

What do you guys think I should do? Wear a nice, "professional"-colored hijab, or not wear it?

Either way, once I land a job, I'm totally going to be wearing my hijab. Niqab will depend on what sort of job I get --- if I have to wear an I.D. badge with my photo on it, then I can't wear the niqab at work (for face recognition/security purposes).