Where was I?

It's been the requisite minimum 90 days between blog posts so let's see, where was I? Oh yeah, the virtual certainty that I was getting a high-paying new job at a hot internet company based in San Francisco.

WELL, IT TURNS OUT I didn't exactly"get" that job. In fact, they sued me for wasting their time in the interview process. Just kidding, they didn't do that. No, the recruiter sent me a short, very apologetic email that said they were sorry "we" weren't the right fit or something like that, and that they couldn't provide me any more information. So, there's that. I'm not mad or anything -- how could I be, since they paid for me to go to SF completely needlessly and eat some great Indian food and a very good brunch (and some good BBQ and a Lone Star in the Austin airport, and a single bagel at this little SF place famous for their traditional sourdough recipe, called "Panera") -- but I do wish I had not mentioned the whole thing to anybody. Well, anybody but you, blog. I'd never keep anything from you.

The process of not getting that job led to me looking at other jobs in "the private sector" -- that's the phrase that means, roughly, "the place where people are paid to perform in their jobs instead of taking up required space in an org chart," whether my conception of it is realistic or not -- and interviewing for another job at a very large upscale grocer/health food concern based in my hometown. I also didn't get that job, but the process of not getting THAT job was good, and has led me to feel better about the things I can do in my current job to improve my chances of moving on to something that I'll be happier with in the long run.

This has all led me to a few realizations:

1. I am, quite obviously, having a midlife crisis in the most boring way possible

2. I think programming is probably the best career path for me, but

3. it's possible that I'm not well-suited for any kind of modern employment because

4. I'm really bad at being happy doing the same thing -- anything -- for a very long period of time because

5a. I'm a flibbertigibbet

5b. A will-of-the-wisps

5c. a CLOWN

5d. (How do you solve a problem like logorrhea?)

6. The best career for me would be something like programmer / teacher / researcher / theologian / IT manager / blacksmith / chicken tend-er

So, this is where I'm working from. I'm using the flexibility of my current job to work on improving my skills in various facets of the wider arena of information technology, and I'm happier here than I've been in a long time. I'm still looking for jobs, but really it seems likelier than ever that I'm going to spend the rest of my career at the University. And I'm mostly okay with that.

God, what a fucking mess that post was.