Interviews and Cooking Obsessions

I've been otherwise emotionally occupied and distraught for the last several days and haven't felt like posting...I could whinge about the what and whys of it, but I've been whinging too much lately, so we'll skip it.

But, regardless, I'm plugging along on the job front. It occurred to me recently that the holidays aren't all that far away (where UK values of "holidays" only include Christmas, not Thanksgiving, of course) and that the hiring process will slow down severely soon due to the aforementioned holidays...and as much as I'm enjoying my lady of leisure status, I don't really want to be ringing in the new year whilst still an unemployed bum.

So, when the second interview with the company I'd been previously excited about went horribly wrong last Monday, I proceeded to fire off a few more CVs. And scored two interviews in the process...one of which turned into a second interview (no word on the fate of the other one yet). I wasn't all that bummed about the bad tone of the interview last Monday because, though I'd been excited after the first interview, the second one was with a woman I just would not get along with. Serious personality clash. So, it was all for the best that they turned me down...and I'm not even that bitter that I was rejected due to lack of experience in something I have quite a bit of experience with. Something the interviewer and I discussed at length. But since I had to explain it to her three times, maybe four, I wasn't too surprised she promptly forgot. She was American too, which didn't help my opinion of her ;) We'll just say she was having a bad day and leave it at that :D

But this mindless ramble brings me to a point, I promise. I don't know that it's non-existent in the states, it's been awhile since I interviewed back there, but they're all obsessed with it here and it's new to me: competency-based interviews. Where you are expected to give actual experience-based examples to the questions the interviewer asks. They might ask "tell me about a time when you had to sacrifice quality due to a time crunch." Well, you're supposed to respond with a pretty specific example from your previous work history. I have to admit, I haven't been doing much lately to prep for interviews and I haven't been answering these cute little questions all that well. But, I really like the company that I've scored this second interview with and my experience is nearly a perfect match for what they're looking for, so I've forced myself out of my funk to do some prepping. And the best part is, now I have all these scenarios I can use for other interviews, should that need arise. So who knows, fingers crossed, I could be an employed bum soon. But if not, at least I'm on the ball a bit more.

In other news, I'm still getting lost in lovely London, frequently. I tried to go to a jazz concert last night. I thought I was going to the music school near the Barbican. But after the usual tube woes, I raced in just in time for the performance...and was told by a rather unenthusiastic staff member that the concert was at a satellite location 10 minutes away. Faced with being horribly late, I gave up and went home...only to discover later that I think the guy was confused and the concert was, in fact, at the school itself. C'est la vie.

Oh, also? I'm 30 years old, in case you're new. So on Friday night, when some new girlfriends invited me to 9pm plans at what appeared to be a restaurant, I should have double-checked. I was giddy that they invited me and really rather desperate not to sit by myself pondering my pathetic existence all evening. But, my self-pity of late involved a complete apathy toward food and sleep, so I was quite wary of a full meal.

But when I arrived, I discovered that this restaurant is also a huge dance club, complete with really loud music and drunk boys who hit on anything that walks. It seems my girlfriends wanted to go dancing, not have dinner. Good news to my stomach, which didn't really want food, but bad news to the rest of my elderly and old-fashioned self which had no interest in dancing or in drunk boys. But! The good news is, I've learned I have a handy little weapon: when I was ever so blessed with being hit on by one of the charming little drunk twerps, he asked what I do for a living. To which I, being a bit obsessed with honesty, said "I work in the corporate world, but I'm not working right now." He was gone before I knew what happened. Fantabulous! So, ladies, there you have it: when a drunk guy comes up to you at a club and obviously wants one thing, tell him you're unemployed :D It seems to work quite well. With the lovely excuse of needing to catch the tube before it closed, I bid farewell to my friends and bailed shortly thereafter and went home.

I really needed to get out Friday night and I love that they invited me, but I'm too girly girl for those places...I just don't see the appeal. And the drunk guy thing really didn't help my pity party.

Saturday I let myself go into full-on self-pity mode and then Sunday, I met a girlfriend for the London Wine Show....and we had a fantastic time and I managed to eat a whole bowl of pasta, so back to the normalcy, sort of. Plus! I scored 2 wine glasses, because they were free with admission. So now I don't have to be a dork and serve wine in tumblers at home. It's the little things in life, I'm telling you.

I still love London and I feel guilty that I don't miss DC, but I do miss my crystal. I miss my beloved kitchen stuff. Am I a total freak that sometimes I envision those boxes, stacked in a cube in my mother's garage, waiting for me to get a job so I can justify spending the money to ship them, and that is my motivation for employment? I want my crystal stemware, my Calphalon pots and pans and all my quirky little cooking tools. I just want to cook! Having someone to cook for would be lovely, but I'll start small. Is that really too much to ask? I'm a freak, I know.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a glass of Chianti. A date with a WINE GLASS of Chianti :D