Hope springs eternal

Last week was kind of a downer, and for that, my two-and-a-half readers, I apologize. I made the dreaded return-phone-call yesterday, and the conversation followed my imagined script to an almost creepy degree. But then, how many different directions can something like that go? "We didn't like you, you're a loser, but good luck with your job search!"

Alas, when one door shuts another door opens, to be completely original. Yesterday afternoon I received an invitation to interview for a much better LIBRARIAN position, something I had applied for back in December and pretty much written off by this late date. I'm trying to keep my expectations low this time, and will just look at this interview as another step in the process towards achieving the Perfect Interview, and thus, in time, landing the Perfect Job. (Easier said than done when the base salary for this position is $11,000 more than I currently earn, but I'm really going to try hard this time out not to spend my new salary in my head before I actually go to the interview.)

So I joined the ranks of Technorati recently, only to learn that absolutely no one on the planet currently links to my blog. But I realize that what I have to say is of interest to...well, pretty much nobody, which is fine because it's just for me anyway, right? Right. But from reading other blogs, which I seem to do a lot of these days, I find that I'm missing out on something wonderful and extraordinary called the "meme." I assume this is pronounced "me, me", as in "it's all about me," and what is supposed to happen is other bloggers are supposed to "tag" you, and thus force you to waste valuable blog space answering inane questions about yourself. It's like those emails people used to send out with a long list of questions like, "What is under your bed right now?" and you were supposed to fill it out and send it to all your friends. I find that these irritate most people who have full and interesting lives, but as I am self-absorbed and generally bored off my ass, I love them. No one has tagged me for a meme of course, but I'm going to do one anyway for your reading pleasure.

Ahem.

What were you doing ten years ago?
Ten years ago I was 19 years old. That is fricking unbelievable. I was a freshman in college, and at about this time I would have been finishing up winter term at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, and preparing to study abroad in Germany. I was terrified, because I didn't actually want to go to Germany. I had wanted to study in London, truth be told, but when I came home from Christmas vacation and handed the brochures to my parents, the German program was the one they gave me permission to do (probably because it was cheaper). Oy vey. Those three months in Germany were probably the single most mind-opening, innocence-trashing, grow-upping experience I could have had. It was my first time travelling outside of the United States, to a country whose language I had only the vaguest grasp of, and I was a very sheltered, painfully shy and naive girl going off by herself into the big bad world.

What were you doing one year ago?
One year ago I was looking forward to my graduation from library school...hard to believe it's been almost a year now. I was suffering through Subject Cataloging (huge debacle involving a change of instructors mid-way through the course), as well as Database Design (completely over my head), and Advanced Information Retrieval (that one was a cake walk, however). As of about April 7, it will be exactly one year since I started my post-graduation job search.

Five Snacks You Enjoy
Any fried potato product
Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream
Chocolate covered pretzels
Dried cranberries (when I'm being "good")
Cheez-Its

Five Songs to Which You Know the Lyrics
In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel
Possession by Sarah McLachlan
Linger by The Cranberries
Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O'Connor
Blister in the Sun by Violent Femmes

Five Things You Would Do if You Were a Millionaire
Pay off my student loans and credit card
Start up a scholarship fund for creative writing majors at my alma mater
Buy a house in Vancouver
Buy a house on the Oregon coast
Become a Canadian citizen

Five Bad Habits
Whining incessantly about my life
Losing my temper over inconsequential things
Emotional eating
Becoming so bored at work that I forget I'm there to do a job
Not writing

If anybody reading this actually has a blog, consider yourself tagged.