Aren't we Little Miss Popularity today?

After yesterday's preliminary phone interview (from a recruiter) for one job, I spent an hour this morning doing an online "assessment" (and if anyone can tell me how algebra and word problems are relevant to my job, I would appreciate it) as a prelude to another phone interview this afternoon.

The testing process was interrupted by a phone call from yet another prospective employer, wanting to schedule me for an interview next Tuesday.

Still! The calls are coming in! People want me! Or, at least, they want to check me out and think about wanting me, which is a start.

I think it's probably The Hair. Psychically, the world can just feel that I got a new haircut and don't look like the same shaggy dog I did when the week started and consequently the world is more interested in knowing me.

I wasn't terribly coherent in this morning's phone call--I'm afraid my brain was too busy wrestling with whether Jack or Jill or Mary made the most money if Jack makes double what Mary makes and Jill makes Mary's salary plus $8/hour. I suspect that Jack, being the only man in the bunch, made the most, but the answer sent didn't offer that option. (Word problems? At my age?)

There were at least four math questions that didn't seem to offer any sensible answers, but I'm not good at math, so the problem was undoubtedly my imperfect remembrance of my misunderstood math classes 30 years ago. (One of them I finally left blank in complete frustration.) Many of them seemed irrelevant to real life.

4(-2)²+8(-2)(2(-2)+6=

-11(3/2)(.12)(-12))=

What the assessment program really needed was an answer option for, "who cares."

And what's up with this one:

FROG is to DINOSAUR as WHALE is to [BIRD, FISH, FOX]

I mean, what is that all about? Whales are mammals, so "fish" isn't really the right option except it's better than the alternatives because a whale really isn't like a fox unless they were thinking about the mammal thing, in which case fox was the correct answer, but dinosaurs were, I think both mammalian and reptilian (although maybe not because I'm no dinosaur expert and maybe dinosaurs were before mammals and I really do need to do something about my grossly inadequate knowledge of--stuff), so the frog-dinosaur thing wasn't necessarily about that kind of thing and in the end I just chose "fish" because I didn't have enough information to make a more informed selection. Also, some people don't know whales are mammals. (Are all whales mammals? I'm pretty sure they are. When I get a job again, I really should buy a book.)

Anyhow.

Mostly they were selecting for "sales personality" and although the temptation to cheat was fairly strong (it's so easy to select the correct answers if you know what someone is searching for), in the end I answered all of the questions pretty honestly so I don't expect today's interview will lead to anything. I don't have a sales personality and I'm proud of that fact.

With all of the excitement, I've barely had a chance skim today's job offerings, much less send out any resumes. Today's listings, as you might expect, look tantalizingly full of possibilities. I managed to bookmark eight or nine on my first, hasty sweep through a couple of sites. I hope I'll find time to go through them more carefully later.

I have a dental appointment at 11:00 today (Just a series of x-rays, so no drilling.) before my 3:00 interview, so I don't really have an unlimited amount of free time.

What I do have, I'm giving to you. (Aren't you feeling special?)

Yesterday's used bookstore run netted me three new books for under $10. Not bad. I think I showed remarkable self-restraint.

I have friends (Yes! I do!) who are interested in the store, so I may get to go back soon.

This is one of the good kind of used bookstores. The kind full of little nooks and crannies and hidden corridors and rooms that you have to know about in order to visit. The kind where someday they'll move that stack of half-full cartons of books from in front of that old crooked door and you'll be able to open it and find a whole new series of rooms full of books to buy--or maybe an alternate world where you'll wind up going on a quest to conquer an evil dragon-killing prince and freeing the dragon population from fear and servitude.

That kind of place.

I'm not going mad, though. Just because I have two interviews scheduled doesn't mean I have a job or an income and I'm keeping that firmly in mind. The 15 books I put back yesterday will not be coming home with me any time soon.

I'm actually pretty excited about next Tuesday's interview, though. I like the sound of the organization, I like the location, and I like the sound of the job.

And now, the dentist awaits and I suspect he'd prefer it if I brushed my teeth before showing up.