Aug. 2nd, 2004 04:30 pm
Interview with a loser
So I'm sitting outside the California EPA headquarters building at 10th and I, killing time before I need to go in for my interview.
This building is imposing, a great edifice of steel, stone, and glass, but the lobby plaza is interesting. The public art actually looks nice, there's a tiny little "slice of wilderness" that, though clearly artificial, is warm and inviting, unlike other state and federal buildings that seek to overpower you with their starkness. Someone was thinking clearly when they created this place.
I feel stupid. I'm dressed in fairly business-like clothing, which I was blessed enough to not need for the last ten years. I'm ok with it, really (after all, this is generally what I'll be expected to dress like as a teacher), but my present physical form makes it less comfy than it used to be, even though all the pieces fit me perfectly. I feel like a blimp. And I know there's an answer to that, and I'm working on it, but you know what? Though I know exercise and a change in dietary habit works, it doesn't work fast. And right now, I'm in that place where I wish I could just make it all melt away in a matter of weeks.
Time to go announce my presence to the security people and be whisked up to the interview. Yay. Wish me luck, peeps.
Ok. So I waited for a while, then was ushered in to a room with four women -- the head of the office, the Clerk of the Board I'd be working directly for, another woman, and her student assistant.
I blew it. I stumbled over words, lost track of what I was saying, and was basically "guy you don't want to hire." All I can do now is hope that my record is good enough to get me in.
Of course, AFTER I left, I knew all the things I should have said, but their style of interviewing threw me off and I didn't say much of it while I was actually in there.
Oh well. There's still some hope, and I've still got about twenty other apps out with more going out tomorrow.
This building is imposing, a great edifice of steel, stone, and glass, but the lobby plaza is interesting. The public art actually looks nice, there's a tiny little "slice of wilderness" that, though clearly artificial, is warm and inviting, unlike other state and federal buildings that seek to overpower you with their starkness. Someone was thinking clearly when they created this place.
I feel stupid. I'm dressed in fairly business-like clothing, which I was blessed enough to not need for the last ten years. I'm ok with it, really (after all, this is generally what I'll be expected to dress like as a teacher), but my present physical form makes it less comfy than it used to be, even though all the pieces fit me perfectly. I feel like a blimp. And I know there's an answer to that, and I'm working on it, but you know what? Though I know exercise and a change in dietary habit works, it doesn't work fast. And right now, I'm in that place where I wish I could just make it all melt away in a matter of weeks.
Time to go announce my presence to the security people and be whisked up to the interview. Yay. Wish me luck, peeps.
Ok. So I waited for a while, then was ushered in to a room with four women -- the head of the office, the Clerk of the Board I'd be working directly for, another woman, and her student assistant.
I blew it. I stumbled over words, lost track of what I was saying, and was basically "guy you don't want to hire." All I can do now is hope that my record is good enough to get me in.
Of course, AFTER I left, I knew all the things I should have said, but their style of interviewing threw me off and I didn't say much of it while I was actually in there.
Oh well. There's still some hope, and I've still got about twenty other apps out with more going out tomorrow.