Two for Two

It�s a good thing I didn�t wait for my friend to get back to me about the other positions in his company, because I faxed a resume out yesterday for a position in the newspaper and got a call today! It sounds much more inviting than the eight hour a week position, but I�ll have to see what happens. I�m very excited about this possibility, whereas I only felt nervous about the other one. I did call the first guy back, and I�m going in for an interview on Wednesday. I didn�t blow it off as I might have done in the past. I�m going in for an interview for the second position on Friday. It�s going to be a busy week.

I feel so much better about this second inquiry than I do the first. The first guy seemed hesitant and concerned about everything from how I would manage to come in two whole days a week to how far away I live. Aren�t those things I should be worried about, not he? I thought it was the employee�s job to get to work on time. Maybe he�s had trouble in the past with people who had to drive long distances, or maybe he�s one of those controlling types. I guess I�ll find out more on Wednesday. Like I said yesterday, I don�t even have an offer.

I really want an offer from the place that called today, and I haven�t even gone in. It�s entry level, but that would be worth it to me to get into something related to what I want to do. It also gives me a better chance of being qualified on my previous job performance, accomplishments, and personality. Stop laughing. Just hope for me. I want this job, and I haven�t even been there yet. I just have a really good feeling about it, and since I let my emotions completely rule my life, I�m going with it. I honestly don�t ever remember feeling this excited about a job prospect in my whole life, though it�s been sixteen years since that first sweaty-palmed interview. As with everything else, I�m just going to have to wait and see what happens.

This week certainly didn�t look to be so busy when I was sitting on the couch watching football Sunday afternoon. In fact, I thought I was going to have a much calmer week after the last harried one. No such luck though, but it�s probably good luck rather than bad luck. Keeping busy keeps me a lot happier as well as preventing me from stuffing my face every other hour. That�s right; I�m losing weight from all this activity. It could have something to do with the recent running, hiking, searching for my stupid son who thought it wouldn�t be a problem to disappear for two and a half hours, parking � mile away from class last Thursday, and just yesterday, kayaking.

Contrary to what I might have said and my own proven clumsiness, I didn�t fall in the water. It was completely dark by the time we finally got in the boats, so we had flashlights, not that they helped us see at all, but we could be seen better by others. I had a lot of fun, but I reinforced my belief that I am a horrible paddler. When it came time to paddle back up the river to the dock (at least a half mile, maybe more), I started off great. I was steering better than I had the whole night, and that�s a very good thing. If driver�s licenses were issued on how well a person could steer a kayak, I wouldn�t be driving. So I seemed to finally have the steering issue under control, and I had a good rhythm going when Mr. Gets-in-my-Way did it again and threw me all off. He steered worse than I did, which is pretty damn bad. But he had a whole lot more power, so it didn�t make such a difference to him. Plus, he wasn�t a fat, out of shape housewife with no upper body strength. He was able to cut me off and cruise right ahead while I was just trying to get straight and moving again. Once all that happened, the whole group passed me until I was dead last but for one of the guides and his newfound love interest trailing far behind me. I was alone, and I still had to paddle upriver.

It got to the point where I was losing sight of the lights on the other boats. My left shoulder was burning, and I kept scraping my thumb on the screw head on the outside of my boat. I�d like to say that it was a defect in the boat, but it was because I suck at paddling. I kept veering off to the left because my right arm is so much stronger than my left, so I kept having to compensate by using my aching left arm more. I took little bitty stretch breaks. I readjusted myself in the boat, even though it felt like I was going to flip over from it. I tried taking deep strokes, shallow strokes, wide strokes, strokes way over my head. None of it seemed to make a difference. I just suck. I eventually got to the dock that was completely empty until my running partner came back down and helped me roll out of the boat in a heap. We carried my kayak up to the bay, and I made the mistake of using my left hand, so by the time I got up the hill, I was nearly dropping the thing and had to grab it with my other hand. The leader told me to set the boat down right where I was. What a guy!

Besides the fact that I totally suck at paddling, I had a great time, and I plan on going again when the season starts up again in the spring. Maybe if I work at it long enough, I�ll suck less, though I doubt I�ll ever get past sucking in some way. We got a fantastic view of the city at night from the river. Pittsburgh doesn�t seem to be the most energy conscious city in the world, as most of the buildings were lit up and reflecting off the water. Fireworks were going off further up river, which was a treat. We got lots of neat stories about the city, geography, and history. I had a fun conversation with the leader during the easy down-river paddle, even if he did say he and a friend of his hate Omaha. It was a general good time, and I didn�t even get cold because I was working so hard.

By the time I got home, my right wrist hurt like hell, and I couldn�t even lift a glass of water. I have a cyst on that wrist, but I wouldn�t think it would cause that. It does make it hurt a lot sometimes, but I�ve never been weak like that. It�s OK strength-wise today, but it still hurts quite a bit along with my forearm on that side. I think working on my paddling technique might be in order before I do go out again.

Good thing the tour was last night, because the rest of this week looks awful. Rain, cold, possible snow. Yuck. There�s no stopping winter. That sucks worse than my paddling.