Transplanted Life
Saturday, December 10, 2005
 
Fandom + Sleeping in = Bad
Red Sox tickets for the early part of the season went on sale today, and hopefully getting some tickets in anticipation of landing a higher-paying job won't totally jinx it. It's tempting fate, I know, but stuff sells out. We love the Sox and even with all the chaos that's been going on this fall, it's looking like there's going to be a good team next year. I like the chance of winning the division outright next year.

Now, the smart thing to do would have been to take the T down to Kenmore Square and wait in line. Maybe meet some new people, talk baseball, have some fun. After all, in a previous life, I met Maggie the day tickets went on sale for the '03 season, and even if that didn't work as a relationship, there are times when I don't know what I would have done without her.

I was worn out, though. Somehow, amid all the snow yesterday - we got about six inches dumped on us - the #70 bus I usually take back to Cambridge got mired in the weather, but there was no notice of how or why they were running late, so I stupidly didn't take one of the buses to downtown Boston or the commuter rail to Porter Square and then take the Red Line to Harvard or Central, but I figured that if one form of public transportation is delayed, then the next could be too. Still, that meant waiting for the bus a long time in the cold, which would have sucked much more if I'd been wearing a skirt. Not that layering-up when you see snow out your window in the morning is terribly difficult to learn.

So, after a long, hot bath, I slept just long enough that getting to the park wasn't an option, so I hit RedSox.com and got shunted to the virtual waiting room.

For.

Ten.

Hours.

So, yeah, there's my Saturday shot. I hate when that happens. Then, finally, I get to the buying screen, I'm all "do I buy one or two?" I'm not attached right now, but the season doesn't start for four months, and I'm an desirable-enough girl, but is that a little too optimistic?

Eh, I've got friends. Still, it's the sort of thing that makes you feel a little bit more alone than usual, especially when you could have been in a good "meeting someone" situation.

-Marti
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
 
That thing about watched pots
I'm not a superstitious person, so I don't put much faith in the idea that anticipation prolongs itself. Besides, one of the changes I'm trying to make to my life is to spend less time waiting for things, and more making my own life happen. So even when there's not that much chance of taking control of my own destiny, I'm not going to let myself go nuts over it.

On the one hand, it's working out - I got a call for a second interview with LDM (they're not quite nonsense initials, but they're close). This one would be at the main office in downtown Boston, where Carter actually works most of the time. It's split because there's been growth; the company outgrew their office space, so the execs and development get the primo spot in the city, while the back-end people are in less-sexy (but cheaper and more expandable) quarters out in Waltham.

Apparently, the tech guys like me, despite some initial misgivings. Sure, there's the lack of a whole lot of exciting database work on my résumé for the past couple years, but I showed some skills - for the nerds out there, apparently using SUM(CASE WHEN x THEN 1 ELSE 0 END)s to count how many rows in a table meet conditions isn't something a lot of people try. It's kind of a situation where the people who develop the application and the people who manage the data see each other as rivals, or at least aren't as fully co-operative as one might like. So, they'd be looking at the new hire being someone from the other department's buddy, and I get how that might be awkward.

And, when they asked how I knew Carter, the answer "well, we used to go out, but that is totally over - ex-boyfriend doesn't begin to describe the drama between us and I'm not going there again!" may not have been totally assuring, especially with "trust me, it's over, he's dating my best friend and I'm totally OK with that" to back it up. Still, it looks like that's not going to be a big enough factor to keep me from getting the job. Talking with the corporate guys on Monday should just be a rubber-stamp.

There is something to being less nervous when there's no expectations, I think. As much as I've talked to the FBI and my alma mater and what old employers I could track down, and mostly gotten them on board with what's happened in my life and who I am, I sort of go into these things figuring that people are going to see me as a secretary who never graduated from college trying to snag them in some sort of utterly insane identity theft scheme, so getting taken seriously is a victory in itself. A job where I get paid at a level that matches my education and I'm not answering phones all day is just a bonus.

On the other hand, though... Since about a week after the FBI started poking around at Michelle's emails, no more have come in. That's not exactly cause for concern - the emails were sporadic and a two-week gap wasn't uncommon, but it's the sort of thing that starts people making bad quantum mechanics analogies, about how they may have screwed everything up by looking at it.

-Marti

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Note: This blog is a work of fantasy; all characters are either ficticious or used ficticiously. The author may be contacted at JaySeaver@comcast.net