Life

In recent times I had once again found myself running the job interview gamut. For the first one, I was a little nervous. It went well, but I felt afterwards that maybe I'd tried too hard.

Driving to the second one a few days later, I decided that no matter what, I was going to be honest. Just me. What you see is what you get. No games. It didn't hurt I suppose that I wasn't even sure I really wanted the job anyway. I was completely relaxed and even enjoyed the whole thing. Well, as much as you can enjoy a job interview. When they called me back for a second interview with the V.P. of Finance, it went even better. The third interview was a telephone one with some big shot in Detroit. We talked for some time and then he asked me to explain the career path that my resume indicated I had taken. I almost laughed at that.

Let me explain. I have always worked, and I've always had reasonably good jobs, but my resume doesn't exactly read like a skyrocket to success. After a steady climb of a few years, I went part time for awhile. When I went back to fulltime, it took awhile to regain some ground. That kind of thing. I knew at once what he was talking about. So, I answered him honestly. It wasn't a question of a career path so much as it was a question of 'life'. You go to school, you get a job, you get married and have kids - you do what you have to do. Life.

Maybe that answer was a little too honest as I didn't end up getting that job. But lately, I 've begun to wonder if maybe that isn't the whole answer?

One of my favourite movies was on tv late the other night and I stayed up to watch it: You've Got Mail.

There is a part where Meg Ryan's character wonders if she has stayed working at her mother's store all these years because it was really what she wanted to do, or if it was because she just hadn't been brave?

I've started to wonder lately myself if maybe I just haven't been brave. Maybe it was partly 'life', but maybe it was also doing what was safe, and familiar.

Don't get me wrong. I don't have any regrets for the way I've done things, or the path I've taken, but maybe it's time to be a little bit brave.

Finding the perfect job.

I've recently found myself in the position of looking for a new job. My employer decided to retire and unfortunately, my job retired with him. The good news was, he gave me a fair bit of notice so I didn't have to panic and take the first thing that came along. I decided to come up with a strategic plan; to give some hard, serious thought to the types of things I liked about my previous job, and the things I didn't, and come up with the sort of job I could really enjoy doing.

It wasn't easy. There was actually a lot I liked about that job, but I really had to ask myself, is this really what I want to do? I decided maybe it wasn't. But what then?

So, I made a list of my skills and then began searching for just the right match.
I have decided to become a Lady of Leisure. Now I know what you are thinking. Where is the future in it? But I really believe that with some solid effort, I can really make a go of it!

Now that they are talking about having the Go Train on a regular basis, I can easily take it up to Toronto once or twice a week and go to the Museum, the Art Gallery, heck, I would even be willing to go to the occasional sporting event! No task is too great or too small for a go-getter like me.

Then of course, I would be available to "do lunch". This is a skill I picked up a few years ago and found I really had a knack for.

Afternoons would be spent on countless volunteer projects, walking my dog, and preparing dinner.

I really think I'm ready for this. I know it's not going to be easy, but I know I can do it.

Ketchup with that Soy burger....

Do you want ketchup with that soy burger....?

When I was a kid, I had uncles who went hunting and Rabbit was not a rare item on our table, and I loved it. Then I had a pet rabbit and could no longer even contemplate eating it! This was not for lack of trying on the part of my mother-in-law. She served rabbit every now and again and for 25 years tried to convince me it was chicken.

There was also a time when I ate Lamb. Then my father in law traumatised me with one in his garage at Easter and that was the last time I ever ate that. I also gave up on veal around the same time because, well, it just kind of seems wrong!

I started a new job a few weeks ago and the drive to work takes me past several farms. The first one I drive past is actually just around the corner from where I live. The first morning I noticed an adorable cow grazing inside the fence nearest the road as I went by - all big...well..cow eyes, watching me go past. As I saw her each morning I began to amuse myself with the notion that she was there every morning just to wish me good day. Then one day I drove past and she wasn't there. It was then that I noticed the sign a little further up the road: Natural, grass fed beef. I felt nauseous. I haven't looked at beef since.

This afternoon my husband and I went to Toronto to see a production of Jersey Boys - his Christmas present from me, and it was quite good. It was a two o'clock performance and so we decided to go for lunch and picked a seafood restaurant close by the theatre. In the entrance as we waited to be seated I noticed a lobster tank against the wall and I tried not to meet their eyes; those tiny little black eyes, staring at me. The Hostess came to seat us and I was glad to leave the tank behind. We ordered and were sitting there having a pleasant conversation when another staff person walked past us carrying a lobster from the tank down the aisle between the tables, toward the kitchen. It stared at me as it went past. I couldn't help myself, it just came out.

"Lobster on the mile. Lobster walking the green mile".

My husband just shook his head at me as his order of Lobster nachos was set before him.

Cross that one off my list too.