March 03, 2003 - 6:12 p.m.

i spent most of the weekend working on the lucksmiths photos. bah. mark came over on saturday morning, and we went back and forth trying to make yet another edit. you could spend hours just going over the same details, and you wouldn't get very far. this is true of any photo edit, i suppose.

in the end, i had to guess and sent extra photos. i'd rather have them tell the publicity lady which photos they prefer, rather than have to send publicity lady more photos at a later date.

just three weeks ago, i was telling simon that perhaps he had overloaded his schedule. well, the past two weeks have made me look really bad, especially when it comes to neglecting housework. in fairness, though, nearly everything i've done these past two weeks (i say nearly because i'm sure i've forgotten something that will come back to haunt me) has been job-prospect-related. because we neeeeeeed money. for example, the job interview sucked up a lot of my time, with four hours taken for transport, a few for the interview, more than a few for preparing the presentation, etc.

at the end of the talk, i had to tell him that this week might be even worse. so far, it looks that way.

i started a new temp job in the city, with good hours, good pay and extremely friendly and helpful staff. the job is halfway interesting for a secretarial role, too. if things don't work with the city council job, i would seriously consider taking a permanent job here.

so what happens as soon as i'm at lunch? i get a call from the modeling agency, saying i have to be at a screen test for that "amelie" department-store campaign at 4pm today. i told them i'm working until 5, so it would have to be after-hours. they call back and say the commercial director is being "unreasonable": if i don't show up at 4pm, i can forget it. and they're only screen-testing five girls (including me) for this national campaign, which includes catalogue stuff as well as a television commercial.

normally, i would tell the agency to tell the director to stuff it. i made a commitment to temping this week, and at least i know it's definite money coming in. on the other hand, the campaign is worth $10,000, and i actually stand a chance at getting it. i don't think i need to tell you that, in one fell swoop, i would be able to pay back both sets of parents, pay off both maxed-out credit cards entirely AND set some aside for the trip to the u.s. in 15 months, among other things. we still have christmas presents sitting in the study because we haven't been able to afford shipping costs.

so i went. i was dressed in grubby clothes, a requirement of working at the construction site where i was temping that day. after an explanation of my attire and pretty hair colors, all i had to do was walk away from the camera while holding a red umbrella. then i stopped at a piece of gaffer tape and turned my face toward camera, making a coy tee-hee-hee smile. this i did over and over again.

did i mention that it's worth $10,000 for only two days' work???

so please cross your fingers for me because i really want to:
* get out of debt
* start putting money into our savings
* buy some new clothes for the first time in ages
* get a kitty-cat
* go to ikea