Old Hollywood Meets New Tech-worries . . .

When I write a book, I customarily have three copies of a manuscipt at any one time, for safety's sake: one on my laptop at home, one on my external hardrive, and one on my work computer. I try to keep all three up-to-date, so that if one fails, I have two others.

The last week, I've started to have issues with the external hardrive when it's attached to my laptop, but up to now I've been able to iron out the kinks. Today I'm looking a situation that makes me extremely nervous.

I wrote a lot on "Celluloid" over the weekend, around 40 pages, which represents hours and hours of writing and includes the climax of the story and a lot of other good stuff besides. At the end of yesterday, before turning off my laptop, I uploaded (I thought) the manuscript to my hardrive so I could back it up at work this morning. This morning, I find that the updated manuscript is not on my hardrive: it only includes what I wrote up to the weekend.

Now, there is a possibility that it simple didn't copy over, and the full manuscript still exists on my laptop at home. Or, the possibility exists that I have done a hugely boneheaded thing, and instead of backing up the newer version onto the external hardrive, I instead replaced the one on my laptop with the older version, thus deleting a chunk of the story.

In theory, I could rewrite. But I powerfully do not want to have to do this. I am terrified that I will have lost all this work, emotional work that I poured myself into. So, I am sitting here at the office, stuck for the next several hours with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, worried that when I get home and check my manuscript, it will be incomplete.

Cross your fingers for me, dear readers.

The Stress Monster Returns . . .

Arthur P. Monster here, live from the West Coast. After a brief hiatus, stress-levels have been ramping up in advance of the end of the month. It seems employment situations are different than previously believed. For the word on the street, we talk to Viola, rabbit about town.

"It's not so bad. I mean, there's always fresh greens, isn't there?" Viola reports, munching on a hay stalk.

"What is Ginger's mood like? Can you tell us if she's sleeping at night? Is she still doing that alarming humming-to-herself thing?"

"Humming?" Munch, munch, munch. "No. Can't say as I've noticed. But, if you think she's sleeping too much, I can fix that. I've got this combination chewing/scratching thing that I do at 3am--"

"No, no. Thank you. That'll do."

As you can see, so far it seems Ginger is dealing well with the stress. Of course, we'll keep you informed as the end of the month approaches. This is Arthur P. Monster, the Stress-Monster, reporting in.

The Monster Checks In . . .

Find Stress-Monster here

Yes, folks, it's another Monday morning in the city, one week closer to January 7th, 2011. This is Arthur P. Monster, your very own Stress-Monster, reporting.

It seems only yesterday that Ginger made the decision to move 2000 miles. And now the date is rapidly approaching. Let's see if she has any updates:

Oh.

She seems to be turning slowly in a circle and trying to catch the "bright lights" above her head.

All right. We'll check in later.

Clearly, the stress of not yet having a job is taking its toll. But, let's look at some positives:

-She recently had a good phone interview. She has not heard anything back from the company regarding next steps (and is unlikely to), but she remains hopeful.

-She had a tolerable lead on an apartment, and a very pleasant discussion with the manager of the building. The unit she was interested in will not be available for her, but she is still optimistic that another unit in the building might open up before January.

-Lots of friends have put out lots of feelers for her. No returns yet, but good news could happen any day.

Yes, despite setbacks regarding her current job and budget, Ginger remains ever-hopeful that the next three weeks (gulp!) will see outstanding news in the job department.

This is Arthur P. Monster, resident Stress-Monster, reporting.

Now, I need to go and move her before she wears a groove in the floor.

Stress-Monster Special Report . . .

This is a Special Report by Arthur P. Monster.

It seems that even in this difficult economy, when there are more job-seekers than ever, the scam-employers are coming out in force. As desperation mounts, the scammers look to take advantage of people who need a job at any cost. And, Ginger is no exception.

An example of a few of the scammers she's encountered in the last few weeks of her job search:

-An "employer" looking for a personal assistant, who was out of the country seeing to a school in Peru for orphans. He needed her to take care of "payments" for him in this country, and to look in on foster homes while he was away. A money laundering scam with an interesting philanthropic twist, it seems.

-Another "employer" who required her to purchase a "free" credit report to send to their company, full of sensitive financial data, before they could set up an interview.

-Another "employer" who wanted her to sign onto Yahoo Messenger for an interview, then tried to download a virus onto her computer.

-A particularly skeevy "employer" who wanted pictures of her, and suggested high heels and lace for the "interview".

Now, this isn't the first time she's encountered scammers in her job search; being laid off three times in the space of three years means there's been a lot of job-seeking going on. There will always be job scammers lurking on Craigslist and the like. But to see them getting so inventive now when people's situations are so desperate feels particularly offensive and upsetting. Even to a Stress-Monster, this stuff seems distasteful.

Unfortunately, Ginger has yet to receive any actual quality responses to the 126+ resume submissions she's made in the last ten days (apart from one employment agency who was uninterested in talking to her once they found out when she was relocating). She's still hopeful something will pan out in the next 27 days, but if these scammers are anything to go by, that hope seems bleak. It's starting to look like the scammers are the only ones "hiring".

This is Stress-Monster, with a Special Report.

Favorite Site Tuesdays: Mint Conspiracy

Petunia

This week's favorite shop has a familiar face: Stress Monster! That's vecause I found my Stress Monster in the fabulous Etsy shop: Mint Conspiracy. The creations are the children of Florida plush artist Jill, and each one is truly adorable. I simply couldn't resist;)

Polar Bear

Internet Monster- LOL

Abominable Snowball

Raspberry Wolfling

Most of the monsters in Jill's shop are fairly large which makes them super-huggable when the rest of the world is just too much, and you need a hot chocolate and a cuddly blanket. Check out Mint Conspiracy; even for the stalwart "adults" amoung us, I guarantee you will want one of these fuzzy creatures;)

Stress-Monster Update . . .

found here

If you're just joining us, I am Arthur P. Monster, otherwise known as Stress-Monster. When we left Ginger, she was losing sleep and stressed out over the coming move to the West Coast. We're checking in with her now.

SM: Ginger, how are things? Any improvements on any fronts, job or otherwise?

Ginger (eye twitching): Do you know your acronym can also mean "sado-masochism"? (giggles queerly) I've got legs.

SM: Ooookay. (clears throat) So, how's that not-sleeping thing going? Any more nightmares?

G: Last night, I dreamt I was assisting A in torturing a suspect in terrorism, a petite Russian woman. I was just supposed to be there for show, as he needed me for a "good cop/bad cop" scenario. Then, I was at college with the guy who plays Lucky Luciano in Boardwalk Empire. *I wish I was kidding about this, but I really did dream about this last night.

SM: Sounds terrifying.

G: It was bizarre, okay? (starts humming and tapping foot)

SM: Moving on, then. (shuffling notes) Any job offers?

G: I think I shall move out there directly into a cardboard box. The weather is nice. I'll need a bike to carry the box on, and I will have my home with me, always. (goes back to humming, this time, the Marseillaise)

SM: Sure. That could be . . . interesting.

G: What? You have something against refrigerators? Are you a member of the Communist Party???

SM: What? No, I--

G: NO MORE WIRE HANGERS! (gets up abruptly and goes into the kitchen, to peel the skin off grapes and rearrange the silverware)

Well, there you have it. I'm certainly no medical professional, but I'd say the stress is getting to her. If something doesn't break soon, especially on the job front, she'll be talking to the walls and licking her boots in no time.

G:(calling from the kitchen) The livingroom wall is called Jerry!

Oh, dear.

This is the Stress-Monster, signing off.

Stress-Monster . . .

Here's your weekly stress update from local stress-monster, Arthur P. Monster.

When last we checked in, Ginger was losing sleep and feeling irrationally emotional over the impending cross-country move, now less than three months away. Since then, there have been a few interesting developments:

- Food is becoming a ritual of peanut-butter and jelly, due to a general lack of funds and stomach ickiness following most meals. If this follows form with other stressful events, food should become entirely uninteresting soon.

- Rechecking the moving budget is now a daily occurrance. It's not like the numbers are changing , but she just keeps checking them.

- The lack of a job (or any prospects for one) in California is taking top priority in her Things I Am Most Stressed About list. This is a significant reshuffling from the previous list order, which also includes:

2.Not having enough money saved to get out there

3.Not having an apartment yet

4.Living on my own in a strange city for the first time ever

5.Not yet knowing if I will be able to pay bills and rent with whatever job I find

6.Acclimating my rabbits to a completely new environment (neck and neck with) 7. Flying with my rabbits in the cargo area of an airplane, and not with me in the cabin

8.Worrying that my POS car will break down as soon as I get out there

This has been your weekly stress update. Look for more updates in the future. This has been Arthur P. Monster.

*Find the real monster at Mint Conspiracy's Etsy Shop