This interview had an especially interesting preface: two wine tastings with Dana that morning and a four o'clock bed-time the previous evening.
Somehow, amazingly enough, I was full of energy as I walked into the office. I felt excited and that I deserved to be there. I wore a new dress I had bought a couple weeks previously that was neo-30s, high-wasted, and beaded (yes, my "best-friend" did ask me where I got it at the end of the interview). Kirk*, the semi-new AC, brought me a large glass of water which I promptly gulped down and while he went to grap something from his desk, I drank down two more as I stood next to the water cooler.
I talked with Kirk for about 45 minutes and he seemed like a nice, yet moderatly awkward. I could tell though he was smart, capable, he was impressive in the young-artsy-organized-guy kind of way.
Then Kate* came in and the first thing she said was,"Omigosh, I feel like I've known you forever." Immediately, I felt at ease. We sat down and I thought, this woman is just awesome. She asked me a bunch of questions and I asked her some. The conversation just flowed all over the place, never lagging, always interesting. I felt lightened, eased, and happy. How crazy is that -- being happy and thoroughly enjoying oneself in an interview!
Some high-lights:
1. We talked about how Barak Obama has a horrible handshake: weak and kind of slimy -- limp even! We were both so excited to be able to share this with each other, both of us said that we'd thought this for so long and no one else felt the same way.
2. At some point I referred to moving to SF as the next "great adventure" in my life. And then it suddenly occurred to me all the different adventures I've been on and I think I must have then used the word "adventure" at least two more times in other references. I worried the third time that I was over-using it, but the whole conversation was so natural that I thought, eh, what the hell, I'm the kind of person who over-uses words like "fabulous, adventure, love."
3. At the end of the interview, she leans towards me as if to tell me a secret and says "So. What is your sign?" Sagittarious. "Omigod," she says, "all my BEST friends are Sagittarius'! Sagitarrius' are always interested and the life of the party and you seem just like that." Tell me about it -- I failed to mention that I like going to bed at 11 every night.
4. When she complimented my dress, I told her I had gotten it for a Green Fashion show. She then asked the obvious questions, oh, is it a green designer. And I told the truth: nope, its actually from anthropologie. We both laughed.
This was the interview where I walked away thinking that I could have been best-friends with the woman who interviewed me. I did something I have never done in an interview before, I complimented her in a round-about way about being a strong, powerful woman and said how much I respected people like that, in particular a boss/mentor I had at a previous job. I felt like the girl on the L Word who gets a job by telling this woman that her arms look really fit.
I didn't get the job, but she did recommend me to a lot of completely interesting people. I almost felt like I could call her up for plans when I go to SF next time. It was really the most wonderful interview I have possible. I walked out of that door feeling light, free, and like I had just won American Gladiators without breaking a sweat.
*As always, names have been changed.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
"Resume" Part 1
This is the beginning of a story that is forming right now in my head......
Opening:
In a resume, the left unsaid - the unmentioned - is, as is everything in life, worth noting and asking about. In the case of this particular resume, nothing at first seemed out of the ordinary. The most striking element was that my co-worker had been in the army for six years and never mentioned a word of it to anyone. Other than that, the jobs and activities seemed normal. In fact, I did not think anything of it until a couple days after I first read it.
As a read an article riding on the train, I realized quite suddenly that the years 2004 and 2005 were completely absent from his resume. If I remembered correctly, nothing, it seemed, had taken place during that period of time.
Two entire years of nothing?
In my conversations with him, he hardly seemed like the kind of person who could deal with two years of nothing. A bitingly sarcastic, erudite twenty-nine year old, he seemed like someone who would always be active, always moving, who never let himself shut down for a week, let alone two years. All day I have wondered, what happened to him from the beginning of 2004 until the end of 2005. What could have possible given this young guy his puffed up self-assurance, searching eyes, confused opinions, and emotional walls coupled with obvious wit and artistic sensibility?
------------------
The Wake-Up.
The first thing that Nat realizes is that he is freezing. The toes on his right foot ache and small pin-pricks of pain begin shooting towards his ankle.
The second thing he realizes is that he is alone.
The third thing he realizes - or rather thinks is that the shitty mugger definitely got away with his wallet and bike.
The forth thing Nat realizes is that a voice is calling to him.
"Hey, hey!" it calls. The vioce is soft, anxious. "Hey are you alright!"
The voice is closer and lightly clinking footsteps move closer towards the back of him. Nat realizes then that this voice is almost upon him. It is then he realizes that he cannot move, he cannot respond to teh vioce, he cannot turn his head to see who comes towards him or grunt in acknowledgement.
"Hey!" the voice says - it is now a foot behind him. It asks again, "Are you alright?"
He tries to mumble a "yes," a "I'm here," a "please," but he does not hear a sound come out of his mouth
A moment passes before the voice speaks again and in this moment Nathan sees a desert with a light blue sky, a young girl in an over-sized yellow t-shirt, and a pillow with Nathan stitched onto it.
The girl asks, very close to him now, "Let me help you."She grips his shoulder with her hand.
Nathan thinks he feels a touch on his back. Is she touching me?
And then, without warning, the world is loud. Her voice screams, "Help me! Help me! Help me, Help me!"
He heres many footsteps now all grownig faster and louder. All thunderous in their multitude. Nathan thinks of a bull trampled by the feet of the crowds chasing after him. "I will be crushed, I will be crushed. Oh my god, I will be crushed," he screams silently. And he scrunches his eyes.
At the very moment where it all becomes unbearable, when he will not longer be able to stand the heat, his frozen toes, and the crushing pounding, a body drops down in from of him. It's eyes lock into his. At first, Nathan cannot see anything at all save endless blue. Blue as if he was thrown into the middle of the ocean and told to swim to shore. The kind of blue where needs to swim thousands of miles to reach land - blue thinck with water and age; a restless, tireless, dense blue.
The fifth thing that Nathan knows is that he is not in the ocean. He is on cement. He is freezing and the liquid falling into his mouth from his lip tastes salty and sweet. It is the sweetness that makes him wonder and ask, what is this? He also knows that there is someone staring at him, heaving heavily and that she is stretching her arm towards him.
Opening:
In a resume, the left unsaid - the unmentioned - is, as is everything in life, worth noting and asking about. In the case of this particular resume, nothing at first seemed out of the ordinary. The most striking element was that my co-worker had been in the army for six years and never mentioned a word of it to anyone. Other than that, the jobs and activities seemed normal. In fact, I did not think anything of it until a couple days after I first read it.
As a read an article riding on the train, I realized quite suddenly that the years 2004 and 2005 were completely absent from his resume. If I remembered correctly, nothing, it seemed, had taken place during that period of time.
Two entire years of nothing?
In my conversations with him, he hardly seemed like the kind of person who could deal with two years of nothing. A bitingly sarcastic, erudite twenty-nine year old, he seemed like someone who would always be active, always moving, who never let himself shut down for a week, let alone two years. All day I have wondered, what happened to him from the beginning of 2004 until the end of 2005. What could have possible given this young guy his puffed up self-assurance, searching eyes, confused opinions, and emotional walls coupled with obvious wit and artistic sensibility?
------------------
The Wake-Up.
The first thing that Nat realizes is that he is freezing. The toes on his right foot ache and small pin-pricks of pain begin shooting towards his ankle.
The second thing he realizes is that he is alone.
The third thing he realizes - or rather thinks is that the shitty mugger definitely got away with his wallet and bike.
The forth thing Nat realizes is that a voice is calling to him.
"Hey, hey!" it calls. The vioce is soft, anxious. "Hey are you alright!"
The voice is closer and lightly clinking footsteps move closer towards the back of him. Nat realizes then that this voice is almost upon him. It is then he realizes that he cannot move, he cannot respond to teh vioce, he cannot turn his head to see who comes towards him or grunt in acknowledgement.
"Hey!" the voice says - it is now a foot behind him. It asks again, "Are you alright?"
He tries to mumble a "yes," a "I'm here," a "please," but he does not hear a sound come out of his mouth
A moment passes before the voice speaks again and in this moment Nathan sees a desert with a light blue sky, a young girl in an over-sized yellow t-shirt, and a pillow with Nathan stitched onto it.
The girl asks, very close to him now, "Let me help you."She grips his shoulder with her hand.
Nathan thinks he feels a touch on his back. Is she touching me?
And then, without warning, the world is loud. Her voice screams, "Help me! Help me! Help me, Help me!"
He heres many footsteps now all grownig faster and louder. All thunderous in their multitude. Nathan thinks of a bull trampled by the feet of the crowds chasing after him. "I will be crushed, I will be crushed. Oh my god, I will be crushed," he screams silently. And he scrunches his eyes.
At the very moment where it all becomes unbearable, when he will not longer be able to stand the heat, his frozen toes, and the crushing pounding, a body drops down in from of him. It's eyes lock into his. At first, Nathan cannot see anything at all save endless blue. Blue as if he was thrown into the middle of the ocean and told to swim to shore. The kind of blue where needs to swim thousands of miles to reach land - blue thinck with water and age; a restless, tireless, dense blue.
The fifth thing that Nathan knows is that he is not in the ocean. He is on cement. He is freezing and the liquid falling into his mouth from his lip tastes salty and sweet. It is the sweetness that makes him wonder and ask, what is this? He also knows that there is someone staring at him, heaving heavily and that she is stretching her arm towards him.
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