This week has passed by quickly for a couple of good reasons.
On Monday I had lunch in Pennsylvania with a very old friend, CR. CR and I haven't seen each other since
damej's church wedding. We met roughly halfway between us, which is only a little more than an hour away. Not a bad drive. So relaxing to meet with an old friend! We couldn't get caught up in only two hours. We want to meet again next month. I now have two friends within driving range, at least - both in PA. During most days I might chat online with a few friends and then I will talk to John when he gets home from work. It is hard to explain how relaxing it was to meet with a friend! It is a real boost.
The second reason is that I am working on a report. I am applying for a a job as a genealogist in DC. I have done genealogy as a small hobby - took advantage of the Wisconsin Historical Society library in Madison. I had applied for anther position with this organization earlier this summer and had a phone interview, but never got a second call back. I was very disappointed, to say the least. It was an historian position working with grave marker requests. I knew I could do the job and I really wanted it. I let myself think how nice it would be to finally have a job I like. So it was a blow not to get the call back. I really thought the phone interview went well, too. Anyway, the interviewer mentioned a genealogist position that I should apply to as well. It took a few weeks for it to post. Along with a resume, they also as for a narrative report. OH my!
I haven't written a paper in over 20 years! I have plenty of research on my family to write a report, but I wasn't exactly organized with my research. Since it was my own family and only for my own amusement, I would let myself get sidetracked. (Why did my great uncle take out a newspaper ad, sounding like a conspiracy theorist, a few weeks before dropping dead from a coronary? And while going through old newspapers trying to figure that out, finding stories about the town baseball team winning because of "Pappy" Spencer - my grandfather, younger than I am now, on the same team as my uncle, who had just gotten back home from WWII...) So, I have been spending this week organizing my shit and reminding myself how to write. It has been slow, just like taking up any exercise after a long time. But, as the week passed, the exercise became easier and even enjoyable. I am almost done right now - just working on my footnotes which always seem to take way way way longer than I plan, even when I know they will take longer. This report isn't great, but hopefully, it will show enough potential that they are willing to give me a chance.
(as the old prayer of old goes, Please god, don't let me fuck this up!)
The only job I ever had that I enjoyed, really enjoyed, was working for a store in the Wisconsin Dells the summer before I started college. It was a Canadian import store with pricey items, so not everyone would stop in. Plus it was on the second floor of the chalet downtown, so you had to walk up to get to it - it winnowed out the cheapskates. My boss was great, I liked most of the items we sold, and I was introduced to the music of Stan Rogers. But since then, my jobs have been jobs. Sometimes I was lucky enough to like my co-workers. But I never had a job that I felt was intrinsically interesting. I never had a job that I felt really used my brains. To have a job where I have to use my brains, use my college education...I can't even imagine.
I have to be careful, I can't build it up to such lofty heights that no job could reach.
After staying in the rut of almost 17 years as a State Employee wage slave, it is heady to think I might be interested in a job.
Ok, back to work on these damn footnotes.