careering

the past couple days have been a bit stressful...well, first off was yesterday morning, Mary Beth and i had breakfast with her parents and took 'em to the airport...then later in the day was the networking event...it went okay, i'm not sure yet, really...they gve us a few sheets with each subject listing which schools were seeking a teacher for that position...so i went around and talked to those schools...one flat out rejected me then and there...after talking to the guy from Raleigh-Egypt, he said that someone with my lack of experience would not be good for this position and even handed me back my resume...i have a pretty good suspicion the representatives from one school were making fun of me after i went away from their table...a few schools seemed excited to be talking to a math teacher...i set up a few interviews for the next two days, most schools said they'd call me back to schedule the interview (for some i've been thinking it's a less direct approach to Raleigh-Egypt's reaction...) one of the schools i'd set up an interview for tomorrow called this morning to cancel saying they'd already filled the position before yesterday but the people at the event hadn't been aware...okay, so that's one out of three down (and one of the three schools had contacted me and set up the interview by email before yesterday)...on a plus side, i got a call from Cordova today while i was at work and made up for my loss of an interview...so back to three, not counting the one that happened this morning...

it was at Mitchell...it went very much better than my previous interview as well as my mini-performances at the networking event...i owe a lot of thanks to Mary Beth who helped me practice on our walk last night...anyway, a little story...so yeah, i'm doing my getting ready routine in the morning and poop and everything, but then after i'm all decked out in my suit and about to leave i have to go again...well, not a good time so i drive there and i'm making good time, and i'm at the school with a lot of extra time to spare, enough to go again and still be 15 minutes early...so i go again, there's no school in session, but it's still a public high school restroom...and it's hot and stuffy so i start sweating...anyway, after all is done i'm washing my hands but there aren't any paper towels left so i had to restort to some toilet paper to pat my hands dry as well as the sweat on my forehead...i was lucky enough to cool down and stop leaking sweat in the time i was waiting for my interview to begin...as i said, it was better, i'm still not sure it was good enough...there weren't any questions i just didn't answer and i think my answers weren't too bad, but i think i just exude awkwardness and nervousness even when i'm relatively under control...the guy who i think was the main principal asked a question along the lines of "how did you get here in the interview process?" by what route did u come to this point, this was several questions in...i'm wondering if it was kind of a how-are-you-even-here? kind of question, it didn't have an incredulous tone, but i'm wondering if that was the hidden meaning...he didn't stay for the whole interview either, through the other ladies' further questions...so, i'm driving home and happen to glance in the rearview mirror and what do i see up near my hairline but a little piece of toilet paper stuck to my head...i tried to be careful when drying myself off because that is the nature of toilet paper, but i missed that spot, or maybe it was stuck to a finger and i inadvertantly stuck it there a few minutes later while waiting and trying to make sure i wasn't gushing sweat...

a few more notes, i saw the assistant principal i interviewed with on friday, i waited around a bit after talking to all the schools i could to thank her for recommending the book to me...it has been helpful, i'm much less clueless now...also, there was a school (Whitehaven) that set up a "maybe" interview...they said they were only doing them today, and i had one interview already close to the time they were wanting to do it plus i was trying to get it done before work if possible to avoid any complications...they said, oh, well Mitchell's right down the road call us when you get out of that interview and we'll see if there's a spot available...well, of course i call at that time and the (very very rude) receptionist says she's doing interviews and took my name and number...of course no call back so i just went to work (no call back at all today)...though that was the school i think was making fun of me after i walked off...i did slip out "cool" at one point and immediately felt pretty stupid...maybe that's not so bad, i dunno...i also feel i made a faux-pas with the school that called today...the assistant principal left a voicemail and said her first name and what i thought was something like "as an assistant principal" but i think the "as an" was her last name and when i called back i got her voicemail so i left a message, her greeting just said her first name so i was figuring she just wanted to be called by that since i didn't detect her last name given in my message so i said something like "hello [first name]" at the start...she called me almost right back and i think i realized she did say her last name and it just sounded like "as an" or even "i'm an"...hopefully i'm not overthinking crap too much...oh, and the school that cancelled today was the one that sounded most like i was already teaching for them when i talked to 'em yesterday, oh well...

today at work i finished reading both The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain and Blindness by José Saramago...they were both good...and right now i'm in a rare sort of book limbo, because i finished the second book right at the end of my shift and haven't even started another one yet!