Back from the dead!

Or, in a more "Tale of Two Cities" vein, RECALLED TO LIFE.

It's been a busy few weeks around these parts of town. May 22nd was graduation, and my whole family came out for the affair. I was glad for the parental support, indifferent though I was about the ceremony. Not indifferent about the degree, mind you, just not psyched about sitting in an overheated auditorium for over three hours, hearing lists and lists of names read. Never mind that I was dehydrated & mysteriously sleep deprived & sitting by complete strangers. Phew! I am glad that I walked; lots of grad students don't, and I think that, unremarkable though the event proper was, I would've been sad if I'd passed on the opportunity. As is the case with so many missed opportunities.

I've been working at the Target food court ("Food Ave") for the past six weeks, which has fortified my character in a number of ways. It is true that I could have loafed for the month of June - I'd saved enough money for bills and minor recreation - but I wanted to earn a bit of extra cash for the move and to create a time commitment to help me structure my remaining days here. I don't know about you, but I accomplish more when I have more to do. I'm thinking back to my first summer in Northampton, when I worked approximately ten hours a week (if that) and managed to get nothing done. When I have more on my plate, I'm more conscious of time and how I spend it. The strategy has worked, so far; I've been steadily applying to jobs in Madison, researching Dietetics grad programs, reading, reading, running. I have yet to start my first needlepoint project, but that's next.

A cloudy day, birdcalls and street sounds seeming far off.

Chocolate lovers, and lovers of anything sweet: you must try Dagoba's blueberry lavender chocolate. It is the best thing ever, and by this, I mean ever. I'm pretty excited to try their mint bar (also flavored with rosemary), but not much compares to lavender infusions.

Who will cut our hair when we're gone?

Friday, I entered a new life phase: Life After Thesis. Yes. At 3:30 pm on April 3rd, 2009, I distributed my manuscript to my committee (via campus mailboxes, of course). I guess I shouldn't put the cart before the horse: I have yet to send my committee my introduction, and I haven't done my defense yet. Still, not having to work on/think about/dream about/obsess over my thesis is the best feeling ever. True, I still have to finish an independent study and write my screenplay for the Fiction to Film class, but both of these tasks seem straight-up undaunting compared to the Behemoth. All right!

Um, I don't have much news, mostly because I've been filled with pure joy and subsequently frolicking in the fields, skipping down the lanes, etc. Sort of. Actually, I have been applying to many jobs, as I was not hired by the (previously-considered) Dream Employer. This was a major letdown, and I know I shouldn't reasonably have expected to be hired by the first company I applied to, but I made it through three rounds of interviews. I mean, they flew me out there, for chrissake. The worst part is, they would not even tell me why they hired someone else! So I've decided that this company is no longer the Dream Employer, because they obviously do not consider me the Dream Employee - which I am.

On the plus side, E and I have started apartment hunting. (Maybe this is a plus? It's a plus because we need a place to live, but apartment hunting just blows.) We've found a few cute, reasonably-priced places near the Capitol, and his dad and sis are going to check them out for us tomorrow. The bad news: most leases in Madison start August 16th, and my lease here ends July 1st. I do not understand this 8/16 lease policy! I guess it could be convenient if you're already living in the city, but it's absolutely asinine if you're living elsewhere & moving in. Plus, I don't think it would actually be that convenient - everyone in the metro moving on the same day? Doesn't that spell total pandemonium? E says people sleep in the streets??? I suppose it must work, else the policy would have been scrapped...

How else do I spend my time when there's real work to be done?

Not really feelin' the semester: not just yet. Perhaps this owes to the non-transition from winter break to now; the shatty weather; the cold of death which is slowly but steadily taking over my respiratory system, keeping me awake nights with its phlegm-producing capabilities (gross, I know: I am sorry); or the fact that Januaries are always the least fun month of the year, in my experience [my experience beginning Junior year of high school, that is, prior to which January was just another month - a cold month, it is true, but a month just the same]. Before I get too whiny - which I feel I have been lately, and for which I apologize - I should mention some random, awesome, and awesomely random things about myself, my environs, and etc.:

1) About 100 pages into This is Not It and it's sort of hit-or-miss, but in the best sense. The sense that some passages/narratives are a little "meh," but others just floor me. Like this one, for instance:

"It is the night of the world. Life is dark and hidden from me. The animals cannot sleep. The mountains are complacent and stalwart. The caves are shy, without light. The plains don't want to be flat. The desert is listless, waiting. I have been sitting here a very long time listening to the wind as it races past. It is howling and wailing, it is crying. It pules. It shakes the glass in the windowpanes. I stare out into the dark night. I am completely alone, my hand caresses my neck. The beauty of the world stretches away from me" (57).

How could a person not be moved by this? I wondered as I sat in the grad lounge this afternoon, listening to the water tick in the radiator, eating a soggying sandwich. These gorgeous, declarative sentences.

2. Today, the career counselor advised I buy a suit for interview purposes. (This means I need to be interviewed, right? Heh.) I was excited by this suggestion: how many times have I fondly looked through the "suiting" section of J.Crew, only to flip to something more relevant to my lifestyle, like flip flops? Well, friends, now that I have the permission of someone trained to advise such things, I will no longer feel ashamed when lingering over those previously-forbidden pages. (Aside: for the record, I'm not going to buy a J.Crew suit: not that any of you thought I would. I don't have that kind of $$$! I'm looking for a real job! But, I will consider Banana.)

3. I am obsessed with "Crocodile Rock."

4. Not normally the type to daydream about vacations, I keep punishing myself by conjuring images of Tahiti/Cancun/Pensacola/California/THE EQUATOR/anywhere else that doesn't have snow. I'm baffled by this fantasizing; after all, I grew up in MN, which is a lot colder than where I am now. And my apartment is adequately warm, and I just bought onehellofa coat. What gives?

5. E. and I went to brunch this past weekend for the first time in a long time, and it was the nicest. I wore a zip hoodie and had three cups of coffee.

6. The trotting animal can restore red hearts to red.

7. I don't know about you, but I'm getting excited for the Superbowl, if only for the culinary opportunities it affords.

My thoughts on this are "TGIF."

Well, my last-ever winter break is almost over, but I wouldn't say that I'm mourning its passing. Perhaps I should be, being that this is quite likely my last winter break of all time - barring certain career choices - but: I am not. Don't mistake this oddly-worded intro as complaining, since I enjoyed my break. It just didn't feel like a break, what with the teaching and the work at the key office and the true beginning of the Job Hunt and other assorted schtuff that I was doing. Admittedly, I'm a little relieved that the semester's starting; the workload will be intense, but I'll have fewer formal constraints on my time: cha-ching. I get less stressed when I feel (rightly or not) that I have ample time to get everything done.

In good news (though many of you have found this out through some of my other online social networking/microblogging avenues), I have a job interview on Monday. A real interview, for a job I'm totally excited about. I'm trying not to psych myself out, and I'm trying to prevent myself from fantasizing about My Awesome New Life, Made Possible By This Awesome New Job (A Life That Features Granite Countertops And Stainless Appliances & Sundry Other Comforts). But, my self-discipline is only so great! Those countertops have never seemed closer! Wish me luck!

***

In kind of a strange mood this morning. I'm chalking it up to the weather, to my scant sleep this week. Seasonal Affective Disorder? I'm not sure that these chalkings are correct, but they'll do.

Braving the elements from in here.

Yes, that's right: another storm anticipated tonight. I wasn't even aware of this impending "weather," as we Minnesotans like to say, until my mom called me (in the middle of the dinner I was at) and said, "Well, I know you don't watch the news, so I thought I'd tell you that there's going to be a massive snowstorm out East."

I was indignant! I do watch the news, though I didn't today. I read more news online, too (though many of you wouldn't believe it since I'm always only posting links from Yahoo, but that's because I have a Yahoo address I use only for online shopping/signing up for stuff, and I sometimes run into mildly interesting human interest stories en route to checking that acct. You know.). But, in the end, I was glad for the advance warning. Back from the dinner, I am in my slippers sipping cocoa and preparing to edit this cover letter.

This will probably sound dumb, given our country's current economic state, but I'm excited to be applying for jobs. My excitement owes largely to the facts that 1) I have five months until graduation, and so the real urgency of needing new employment hasn't set in; and 2) the job I'm applying for is pretty damned awesome, and it's in my dream city - which is very likely where I'll be living next year(!) I don't want to share too many details - nothing is finalized, after all - but I am getting psyched for post-graduation life.

Query: do any of you, reader friends, have job search/application tips you'd be willing to share? It is certainly true that I've never had a real job hunt. (For those who may be wondering, I went straight from undergrad to grad school, an assistantship lined up for me when I got here, so I didn't have to find employment on my own.) Indeed, it is strange, this job hunting.

In review: the perfect weekend.

An unexpectedly pleasant weekend. Or, I should say, a weekend I predicted would be nice (given this temporary absence of work and grading) but which then exceeded my prediction.
A run-down:

Friday, went to the job session hosted by Dara and Peter. It was really helpful; I have never (I'm ashamed to admit) been to Career Services, had no idea that they'd start files for us, send our dossiers to interested prospective employers, and so forth. (How did I not know this? I wondered later. So many things I need to learn.) Have begun jotting notes for an updated CV. Late afternoon, went to the bead store and picked up beads/wire for new projects. Spring projects in the palette of coral and turquoise. Watched "Sweet Land" with Eric. Cooked dinner, and accidentally watched, with E., the entire season one of Twin Peaks.
(We had not intended to watch the whole season, but the episodes were all run together - there was no option offered, in the root menu, of watching individual episodes.)

Saturday, went to the farmers' market and bought a mint plant, which I promptly repotted. Went to the gym for a slow, minor workout. Took a short walk with E., during which we came upon a tag sale - one of the vintage stores on Market St. is closing, and was selling most stuff for $1! (Some clothing items were $3.) Eric got two ties, and I got a miniature, forest-green teapot - it holds just one cup - and a purse fashioned after a creel. In total, we spent $4. Ate lunch, cleaned up, went to the laundromat and now all of my clothes are clean. Went grocery shopping for the week, though I bought less than normal since I'll be leaving for Minnesota on Thursday. Cooked dinner with Eric (kielbasa, tater tots, baked beans = Midwestern deliciousness), watched a rerun of the Real World. Drank a cold beer and made a necklace of 6mm turquoise colored beads with chips of coral at 1" intervals.

And today, E. and I made eggs and toast for breakfast, sat for a long time on the couch in the sunlight, looking at all the new potted plants, and talking about weddings we'd been to. I was spaced out on allergy medicine and reluctant to go to the gym, but I went anyway and felt good afterward. Had lunch (a hot dog, half a grapefruit) went to lay out in the field near my house. Had intended to start reading Lunch Poems but instead fell asleep in the sun. Went home and showered, read, cooked dinner with E. Am now reading (about halfway through) The Year of Magical Thinking and it is heartbreaking: in its accuracy and repetition.

Oh. I also read, during the course of Saturday, Meghan Daum's My Misspent Youth, which I really enjoyed, but from which few phrases/descriptions struck me. It was funny, to be sure, and poignant (the last essay, especially) (aside: I hate the word poignant), but not nearly to the level of Didion's writing. The only reason I draw this comparison is because Dan Wakefield's blurb for Daum heralds her as "A Joan Didion for the new millennium..."

What a shame that this weekend is almost over! Even in the absence of formal time constraints, I managed to get a lot accomplished, and a good variety.

If you haven't already, call your mom!