Back to the Future

Haha, I cannot believe that I forgot all about this blog.  What aspirations I had to be the missing link in the blogosphere, you know, the cog that has since been regurgitated repeatedly, ad nauseum?  The girl who writes about eating a plant-based diet (but is married to an omnivore), who loves animals, is mildly liberal, has considered a raw foods diet, wants to one day run a marathon, digs yoga, starts all her plants from seed, only uses organic gardening methods, etc.  There are more, well, MEs out there than you can shake a stick at, so I missed my golden opportunity to opine on all this and more, and make it into my lucrative day job.  What a shame.  It may have to do with my on-again, off-again reticence to share details of my own life and thoughts.  Aren't we saturated enough with what everyone thinks?  My goodness, do you know how many blogs there are about, oh, cloth diapering?  I have zero chance of standing out amongst all those peeps.  And both Facebook and its evil, diminutive twin Twitter have absolutely make self promotion beyond mainstream.  I have to physically restrain myself from spouting off about the topic du jour on FB allll of the time.  As much as I value free speech, I just don't think I'm that interesting, and really don't want to offend the motley crew comprising my friends list. 

YET... I cannot help myself from writing via my defunct blog, which nobody reads, anyway.  My sister-in-law seems to be my only subscriber (why, Lisa, whhhyyyy?  Don't you know I'm cuckoo?). 

The nearly five years ago when I wrote its lone post, I was a brand spankin' new homeowner with my husband, to whom I'd only been wedded for just over a year.  I had just quit teaching (hateful job in so many respects, what a shame), was unemployed, and Pickles the Wonder Cat had yet to enter our lives (but would in nine short days).  I had absolutely no idea what to do with myself, career-wise.  I was considering both library school and various dietetics programs, but ultimately didn't do anything for either of them, beyond taking an undergrad nutrition course.  

What has changed?  Lots.  

You know about the cat, of course.  She's still with us, her acquisition occurring on a rainy Saturday.  In the middle of a Nebraska football game.  On my husband's birthday.  Did I mention that he's a rabid Cornhuskers fan?  And that it was his birthday that he was spending at the Animal Shelter?  And that he thought he was allergic to felines? 

That's love, yo. 

Anyway, I did get a job, in DC at its supposedly most august institution of learning.  That was such a blessing, and I excelled.  The commute was really horrible for me, though I know it could have been worse.  Every day, two and a half to three hours of car/metro/bus/walking.  Soul suckingly stinky.  Again, I liked a lot of what I did, enjoyed many of the people, but never considered the position a permanent one.  There was absolutely nowhere to advance.  And plus, my boss used to force us to come in on PUBLIC HOLIDAYS.  He once claimed that Memorial Day was "a fake holiday".  Wow.

I did once apply and was interviewed for a particular internal job, for which I already had a basic skill set.  And hey, I knew everyone in the department already, I knew faculty, I was dependable and friendly, I was adored by many, I'd surely be the perfect person.  Ha, it's a BIG sign that things won't work out for you, regardless of your qualifications, when the second interviewer loses your resume fifteen minutes before showtime.  Nothing like being asked to send a resume along, while you're at work, while you're actually doing said job (interview was to be at lunch).  Of course I didn't have one accessible, and I thought it was really shoddy to be asked since A) my boss didn't know I was interviewing, and B) they LOST my resume, that had been emailed to them and printed.  Who does that?, and C) I was at work.  Did I mention that, at a second interview with this rather important woman, that I was asked ye olde Strengths and Weaknesses questions?  And why I wanted the job?  At a second interview?!  It was bad enough that the first interviewer obviously didn't read my cover letter or my resume, though I had known her for years and was one of the few final candidates, and, by the way, both were on her desk.  

So, I didn't hold my breath that I'd get this job.  I found out a MONTH later, in person (lame, just email me already, I work exactly two floors down from you and see you all the time), that I didn't get it.  

Awesomely, the person who did was fired within a few months.  Hahahaha.  Oh, said august institution cannot get anything right. 

Oh, yeah, I left said position in May since I had a baby in March.  That was the other big news, little G made his landing.