I owe a small debt of gratitude to my friends,
Ellie,
John, and
Ryan for their insights from my last
Livejournal and
Xanga blog entry, "Dates Gone Amok," dated Saturday, 16 September 2006. While John thinks that "Dates Gone Awry" would have been a more appropriate title, for the purposes of rhyme, I hope that "Dates Gone Amok" will prove to be the better choice ... I always welcome feedback, positive and negative alike. (Trust me, I have gotten flamed on my own blog.)
Although I have made no concrete plans for a second date, the girl has expressed a desire to see me again. We will see when we can work it into our schedules. I made it clear to her that I will not likely be in this area next year, nor do I feel in a position to be able to support anyone else in a relationship financially. Truth be told, my flirtations are consumed with somebody else ... a mystery girl of sorts. She makes me smile, and I enjoy the friendship that has begun to blossom between us. She is, far and beyond, the most intelligent woman that I have ever been interested in, and it is simply delicious to be able to carry on an intellectual conversation on any number of topics with her.
Furthermore, it turns out that I did not scare my friend off, after all. The reason why she had not been in touch had nothing to do with the military recruiter articles; for some reason she forgot to check the e-mail account that contained all my messages. Ha.
I have been losing pounds this week; we'll see if they stay off when the day of reckoning rolls around.
Ron has stepped forward to lend his assistance in diagnosing exactly why the fuck Sony Acid Pro 5.0 has refused to render my debut mix, "Primarily Penetrant." I was telling him that perhaps it is a good thing that my mix did not process because it has given me a chance to reflect and decide where to add some remixes when the software is back up and running again. By the way,
SGT Nate Dogg sent me a text message at nearly midnight on Sunday night expressing an interest in hearing a remix of Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You." It just so happens that that particular song is the 7th of the 32 tracks on my mix. I refuse to clue in anything more about it; you will have to wait until I release it. However, I will happily take requests from those of you who will want a copy of "Primarily Penetrant."
Before I get to my interview, please allow me to deprecate myself relating to -- as Carlos Mencia so aptly puts it -- some dee-dee-dee moments from this week.
1) Monday morning, I found some dry towels in the washer. Without smelling them or wondering why they might be dry, I moved them into the dryer, started the cycle, and started my loads of laundry in the washer. When the towels were done, I folded them. Later my mother ended up rebuking me and washing almost all the towels we had.
Lesson: If it smells like ass, wash it.
2) I decided to mow the lawn this morning just after 9 in order to use up as much gasoline as I could and take advantage of the gas prices (~$2.139 / gallon) to fuel up the lawn mower's red gas containers. Needless to say, there are numerous reasons why I should not mow the lawn when it is still wet with dew. These reasons also apply when a lawn has just been freshly moistened by rain:
-Mud and tracks on the lawn
-->Possibly more mosquitoes
-->Possibly kill grass
--->More weeds and crabgrass
-Reduced dirigibility
Lesson: If it's dry, mow on by. If it's wet, let it set.
3) In the end, I had to quit after 45 minutes of mowing because I noticed for the first time that my left front tire was coming off the wheel. Sure enough, when I drove the mower to the garage and tried pumping air into the tire, I could hear air rushing out. The tire was flat. In retrospect, I realize that there were some telltale signs that I should have been paying more attention to: parts of the grass were cut, so that the height of the newly mowed grass was at a slant in many places; the difficult time I had making turns and gaining momentum were noticeable.
Perhaps the most compelling reason I should have checked and continue to check the air pressure on the tires arose from the time I mowed the lawn nearly three weeks ago. I was headed down a declivity at an angle in the front lawn. As I gained speed, I turned to the left, which unfortunately caused the mower to tip. I did not panic. I managed to shift my weight to return the mower to the upright position despite the fact that I ended up rolling into the street (We have no sidewalks). The only thing injured in this debacle was the mower's key, which was bent as a result of my carelessness.
Lesson: Mowers are deadlier than a dope melody.
4) After my job interview, when I pulled into the post office, I managed to scuff my left shoe by scraping it against the emergency brake accidently. Damn it.
Lesson: Toes before woes.
Interview
What did I wear? My shined black shoes, black socks, gray suit, a white guayabera shirt, and a red-blue-gray necktie. I will not comment further on my underwear.
I exited my car at 12:52 for my 1 pm interview. After I pressed the button of the intercom to request entrance, and the door was unlocked, I immediately met the person who would interview me. He was coming up the basement stairs. We walked side-by-side as we ascended the stairs to the 2nd floor. I met the social worker in the office before the interviewer asked me to take a seat in his office. After a few minutes passed, he asked me to follow him to the library.
On the way, the interviewer pointed out the different classrooms; the library was at the end of the hall and was locked since nobody was in it. Its dimensions were approximately 9 feet high, 15 feet deep, and 25 feet wide. There were a card catalog, a cabinet, and two computers in addition to the boxes and bookshelves filled with books inside the room. A couch and four tables with approximately 25 chairs lined the middle of the room, and it was at one of these tables that the interviewer and I sat diagonally across from one another.
The very first question asked was what I was doing right now -- implying other jobs and the majority of my time. I quickly replied that I have been a caretaker for my siblings. Next, he took some time to describe how the position came about: my would-be predecessors had finished serving their terms after a number of years, and volunteerism was not working in the library. Thence a position was funded and created to address the libraries at the two campuses. As soon as he asked if I felt comfortable dealing with children's books for K-3, I quickly stated that I had no trouble with mainstream kids' books, citing Curious George and The Berenstain Bears, but I do not have much familiarity with parochial books. To that end, the interviewer quickly responded that much of the collections has been similar to public schools; I would have nothing to worry about.
As the interview continued, it became obvious to me that I was making quite a favorable impression on the official who was interviewing me. He complimented me on my threads and said that while what I chose to wear was more than acceptable on the job, more often than not anything reasonable except jeans was fine. (As a matter of fact, I had outdressed the interviewer by virtue of my blazer.) He was pleased with my flexibility in schedule. He remarked that aside from himself and the P.E. instructor, the rest of the respective staffs were female; that adding another male role model was in my favor. The fact that my religious faith matched that of the employer made explaining the contract easier for him. And that's not all ...
As soon as he asked me if I had any questions, I posed a question about how the books were classified. He gave the best explanation he could, but he referred me to the person responsible for assembling the job description. While he pointed out the card catalog, and he mentioned the multiple copies of the exact same books in different boxes, he was not certain about the exact classification of the books.
The next question I asked was bitten off of a question that
my brother, Elliot, had shared with me: "What reservations, if any, do you have about hiring me?" In response, I was told that I was extremely qualified, employable, flexible -- so much so that he was wondering why I was not working anywhere else. In his opinion, I would be a real steal for their employ. To respond, I mentioned the aspects of my caretaking commitment:
I agreed to handle the responsibilities of caring for my siblings to ensure that my Mom could work, with the intention of the family eventually re-joining my Papi out east. I would then go back to graduate school, apply for Teach For America, or do something else. I shared that I took on this nannying to help my parents' careers continue, given their age and the difficulty they had experienced with finding jobs that so often went to younger, lower-paid, and lesser-experienced counterparts. Finally, I mentioned the scheduling conflicts posed by most jobs with the necessity of being available at home to watch my brother and sister from 3 pm onward.
These answers seemed to assuage my interviewer. He invited me to visit the other library, which I readily agreed to do at 10 am Thursday morning. Then he passed along the only copy that he had on his person of the employment background check for me to fill out and bring with me the next day. What really iced the interview in my mind was when the official mentioned the weekly newsletter he wrote, that he may be taking information from my cover letter to put into a blurb about me, and that he asked to take my picture for it and a potential school ID -- considering how well dressed I was. The picture was nice: my faded haircut, glasses, gleaming toothy smile, trimmed beard, suit, tie, and books on the shelves in the background made for a great photograph.
When we closed up the library, a passing period was in progress. We walked past a group of 5 girls who said hi to my interviewer; I grinned and said nothing. The official insisted on walking me back to the office to introduce me to the secretary / athletic director, Dee (spelling?). Before I bid adieu, we confirmed tomorrow's appointment for 10, and we shook hands. I sincerely remarked, "God bless you," and I received a pat on the shoulder.
What I find funny: Right now I am tuned into today's episode of The Young & the Restless, and it just so happens that Jack Abbott is conducting a business meeting with three women that he has just so happened to have fucked in the last 6 months: Phyllis, his ex-wife; Carmen; Sharon. Haha.
Week 31 Workouts:
165) 09/17: 45:00 minutes, 1036 kiloCalories, 181 grams of Carbohydrates during XXX: State of the Union; Red Dawn
25 Push-Ups, 0 Crunches
166) 09/17: 07:20, 164 kCal, 28.6 Carbs during Kill Bill: Volume 2 and Boston Red Sox, 2 - New York Yankees, 4 (bottom 6)
167) 09/18: 60:40, 1421 kCal, 251 Carbs during Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "The Collaborator" and Yo Soy Boricua Pa' Tú Lo Sepas
52 Push-Ups
168) 09/18: 64:30, 1504 kCal, 262 Carbs during Mind of Mencia (2006-07-13) and Monday Night Football: Pittsburgh Steelers, 0 - Jacksonville Jaguars, 0 (Halftime) and ESPNEWS' Gametime and ESPN Classic's Who's Number 1: Biggest Trade Robberies (2006-09-16)
26 Push-Ups
169) 09/19: 84:24, 1940 kCal, 339 Carbs during Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Power Play" & "Ethics" and Enemy of the State
170) 09/20: 35:00, 810 kCal, 141 Carbs during Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Cause and Effect" and Detroit Tigers, 5 - Chicago White Sox, 2 (top 8)
DI Edifice