Rollercoaster month...is hopefully over

Life's been pretty busy, hence the absence of blogging. Also, this means I have a lot to catch you up on. Starting from the beginning is probably the most wise, but I've never claimed to be that. Besides, since today is freshest in my head, I'm going to start there and walk you backwards through the last month or so.
Just came home from dinner with a pile o' work friends. It was a farewell dinner for Helen, who is leaving us to go work at the Penguin office. Kudos and bonne chance to her. H and I were in publishing class together- once upon a time, I had my blog linked to hers, but like so many others, she stopped updating it, so I let the link die. I hadn't seen her for a good long time when she showed up at the workplace one day, and since then I've had me a new friend. No intention of letting that die though, despite the fact that now she won't be swinging by my cube every morning.
The dinner was good, but a little bittersweet for me; H and I had spent all the last month interviewing (and waiting on tenterhooks) for jobs we both wanted; she for the Penguin position, me for a job in editorial, working with humanities texts. I said bittersweet, so you can guess what happened; H got her glorious call up, we planned a great dinner out to celebrate her send-off, and this very same day is the day I'm told that, sorry, there were many candidates and blah blah blah, editorial experience blah blah, future opportunities blah <let me out of your office please, I got the point after 'sorry' and I'd rather just go now> blah blah blah...
I didn't say any of this at the dinner- the last thing I wanted was to mix the happy atmosphere with my disappointment, or steal H's rightful spotlight, tonight. And it's not like this is that terrible or anything- I still (of course) have my job, so I'm not desperate or anything, and I'd known there were a lot of candidates up for this one...but I did want this one; I feel very much like it's time to make a move from what I've been doing, and this felt like the right move.
There are a couple of other opportunities open- two more editorial positions (the same as what I'd interviewed for, but working on hardside books, which means subjects like math and science and engineering, etc.). The deadline for applying is Friday, but I haven't decided if I want to yet. I probably should; it's close to what I wanted to be doing, and I can recognize that a lot of my hesitation at the moment comes from the demoralizing aspect of job hunting (and lost opportunity), and I'm trying really hard not to act like the kicked dog right now. And yet I've vented about this for two paragraphs now, when I meant only to mention it in passing.
So here's the passing mention it should have been: I applied for a job, didn't get it. Life goes on, though I haven't decided in what direction, yet.
Other topics are going better for me. Friend Kevin moved in with me at the start of March- he had a new job, yet no apartment in the city, so I agreed (saint that I am) to provide a hat-hanging place while he searched for housing of his own. Kev claimed this would be a one-week arrangement. A month later, he'd found an apartment of his own; he's lucky I like him that much. No, honestly, it was okay- living quarters were a bit tight, yes, but Kev and I have lived together before (university), and we work well together. Besides, it was kind of nice to come home to someone else making dinner some nights, not to mention I've been wanting more of my close friends to be closer (and therefore more accessible for hanging out with), and now I have what I want. Yay, and welcome to the big city, friend.
And as for the rest of my free time, I've been on a huge artistic upswing. Like, a month ago, I went out with the Robins and we stopped at this art gallery/shop in Yorkville (The Guild Shop), and I talked to them about getting some of my beaded things in the shop. The woman I spoke with was pretty enthusiastic (she put real emphasis on 'original art', and worried when I said I worked with beads, trying to gently tell me that they had enough bracelets, tyvm, but then I told her I made 'non-wearable bead art' and her eyes kind of lit up; I'm not sure she'd ever heard of such a thing), and she gave me a lot of information to take with me. I'm kind of fired up over this idea, now, so I've been beading up a storm. One roadblock I ran into, though, was that my beaded things (still don't know what the f to call them; I detest the label 'spirit dolls' as much as ever), they have faces, and I wanted to start making my own faces instead of using bought ones. So a couple of weekends ago, the Mom calls me, and says she found an ad for a 'rotary tool accessory set', on fabulous sale, so get your butt to Canadian Tire, I'm buying you a present (thanks, Mom). Got me some drill bits (500, actually), finally plugged in the dremel (thanks, Uncle) and carved into that block of soapstone that's been gathering dust on my bookshelf. I'm a stone carver! Made me three faces so far, and one of them actually doesn't look like a joke! The only problem I've got now is that the chunk of soapstone I have is black, and I need some lighter colours to work with. Anyone know where I can get some square-inch sized soapstone chips, preferably in a variety of colours? And/or, what stone is soft like soapstone, but comes in light colours- and where can I get that???