Wednesday, February 23, 2011

This year is different

This year, my suit will be my clean face.

I'm trying to be something I'm not again this year: successful.
No, I'm really in one of the middle stages of applying to be an RA for my university. It's tiringly exciting, I know.

Last year, though, this was big. I made this whole plan where I would have no technical debt and I would work for the UN gratis and I would, I'm unsure of this detail exactly, but play bass in U2. It's fuzzy.
All of that hinged on getting the RA job and getting free housing. I don't know how it worked, but it did,

or in my case, it didn't.

I went into the first interview (of six) on my birthday in a full suit and really missed my mark. I was sweating. They, two of them, asked me my name and I stuttered out one of their names. My eyes were bloodshot and I said I'd never been to an interview. It was a bad scene.

I'm a lot less stressed this year. I have more on my plate. Bigger things afoot. I'm confident that I'll do well. I've thought of the answers to common questions and I'm prepared, but that does in no way mean that I won't screw it up.

I was trying to shave off my Grizzly Adams beard for the interview, but my electric razor doesn't have a half-stop mode. It's all or nothing. And it's all, for me. I started shaving and realized I couldn't stop.

I would find it hard to hire me. I look like a child with long hair and a distinct musk. I should probably wear over-sized dress pants and look like I'm playing dress-up. I'll walk in and introduce myself as a prodigy or something.

"I'm sorry, that was a joke."
"Mmmhmm," and they'll scribble an x next to self-deprecation.

Maybe I should tell them that I only had clothes that matched my ambitions.
How many bad jokes can I tell? Too many. I should swear while I walk to the building, to get it out of my system, like Edward R. Murrow did.

Something.

I'm confident, though. I'll get through this. I need to master these professional techniques before I'm harassed by more looming opportunities. Yeah, That's the attitude!

Boston was beautiful. I went last weekend. The sealine was overwhelming. It was a real harbor with real harbor folk. That's all it was. I really like harbor folk, though. They love great indie music and have suits that match their ambitions.

Sometimes I blog when I'm doing other things like leaving messages on the phone or writing journals about immigration for class. Sometimes I blog when I eat. I take note of the food, metareference it and laugh.

Life is draining, isn't it?

1 comment:

Joseph Moullet said...

This got me out of a slump, I'll probably read it again. Thanks.

But don't kid yourself, you gave it your all last year, and they rejected you in the fullest.

Good luck.