growing in the goo

Not to be down on myself, but I have been a horrible blogger lately. First there was that gaffe in the Sunday posting, and then in my most recent one I took liberties with history and wrote E in when it should have C-note making shadows on the glass in the dorm.

I'm sorry! And I also haven't been doing the daily posting thing either. I guess that's what comes of actually doing work (gasp!) Tuesday I had a cold...which still remains and is a big winner on the interview circuit when I get congested and can't simultaneously breathe and speak...so all I would have written was "I feel sick. I HATE THE WORLD!" Wednesday I was busy preparing for my trip. Yes, I was doing work and was being productive. And Thursday I flew down here to D.C.

Speaking of. Because I tend to be overly optimistic and a pushover, this company scheduled an interview for 2:30 on Thursday. I agreed to it. Then did the math and realized that my flight landed at 12:28, the BWI bus came at 1:00 and we'd hit the Metro at 1:39, and then with the two train transfer and traveling practically the length of an entire line, I would make it to the metro stop that I needed to be at 2:12. And the building was a 10 minute walk from the metro.

That was cutting it entirely too close for comfort. Especially for the girl who usually gets to interviews a good 20 minutes early and tries to find some cafe to duck into both to waste time and switch her flipflops for business shoes.

So I got to the AirTran desk at 8:30 and there was a flight that left at nine...two hours earlier than my original panic-inducing departure. I treaded lightly to the woman, saying in a breathless, barely daring-to-wish voice "I was hoping I could get on the 9 o clock flight to Baltimore?" Her face was stern, but I detected a glimmer of gentleness. She typed some keys, frowned a bit, then I heard some printing, and she handed me a boarding pass.

I honestly could have hugged her. Or something. I broke into this huge smile and was like "you just saved me you have no idea thank you SO MUCCCH!!!"

Oh and then on the flight I was a total beast to the guy sitting at the window (I was in the aisle seat). Before we even left the jetway, he breaks out a Maxim and starts flipping through. I look at him, raise my eyebrow and say "Doing a little light reading, huh?"

He laughed. Then put it away a few minutes later. I am so evil.

So I had an interview at this huge company yesterday, they have about 600-700 employees. It was so Firm-like, I felt like Tom Cruise's wife in...The Firm. I took the elevator to the eighth floor, and it opened up to a space-agey new-agey place with white tiled floors and white walls with gold and green fixtures. I looked to my right. A locked door. To my left, a desk in the middle of the white floor with a smiling receptionist sitting behind it. I walked up, introduced myself. She referenced a sheet on her desk with a schedule, and asked me to take a seat.

The seats were next to these conference rooms that had glass walls. I could see a crowd of people wearing nametags surrounding a laptop screen, watching a presentation. It was so commercial-like. I wanted to knock on the glass and be like "What on earth are you doing?"

While waiting for my first interviewer, I people watched. I immediately felt clumsy, because all the girls were walking by with pointy shoes with pointy heels and they all were fairly perfect looking with obviously expensive outfits. They were dressed to impress. The guys were all tall and fairly handsome. Which is usually a draw, but when taken in the context of a white tiled office and perfect girls, it all felt a little too android for comfort.

Another girl was waiting to be interviewed as well. When she got up to hand something to the receptionist, I noticed that she had a big white sticker on the back of her sweater. Clearly she was in the same "coolness group" that I am. I alerted her of her imperfection, and she seemed relieved. In her head she was probably thinking "I may have had a sticker on my back, but at least I'm wearing pointy shoes, you thick-heeled doofus!" StickerGirl's interviewer came and got her, and as the interviewer walked away, I reflected "Is her shirt SEE THROUGH?!" It totally was.

My people finally came...two girls one year out of college. So like, a future me. They spoke eloquently and enthusiastically about the company. Then I met with two other people individually. They were into working there, and were friendly.

But something was missing. (maybe me impressing them? Because I don't think that was happening)

I don't know. I hope I get a job offer from them (I interviewed for two jobs) if only for my own ego boost...no one likes to be rejected. And if offered, I'd probably take the job - because no one likes to be poor. But I couldn't help but think that I wouldn't fit in that well. At the very least, I'd have to buy a whole set of pointy-toed uncomfortable shoes. And I'd probably be injected with some computer chip or have ugly black nodes implanted along my spine.

I had another interview today and it's been the most promising one yet. So, they're checking out my references and I should know by late Monday or Tuesday whether or not I've gotten the job. As alien as I felt at The Firm, I felt that much at home at this place. It's in a huge old mansion, and I got to see the ballroom on the second floor after my interview. I walked in and gasped "Oh, it's like the Great Gatsby!"

That, people, is why I haven't been hired. A savvy job hunter would have said something along the lines of "You know, you'd need a room twice this size to hold all of the newpapers I helped put together in college." Or "Gee, this intimidating room reminds me of the time I single-handedly rescued the Great White Shark from the brink of extinction."

The job description includes doing something that I love (writing) and I'd be working with really nice people who remind me of my mom's friends. The people that I met who are (close to) my age that work there are friendly and very unassuming...wearing nice clothes but not looking like they just stepped off the catwalk.

So, we'll see. Fingers crossed and prayers raised on this one.

And I promise to blog more and better in the future!