I have no subject line but I must post

It's been three days since I last posted. I've had no focus, no concentration, and when asked for same, I seem unable to produce it. I don't know if this is because travel or overstimulation discombobulated my emotional and mental equilibrium or because I haven't been getting enough sleep or what. But today's the first day in more than a week that I'm feeling like myself--not stressed, fairly well rested, able to pull back to find an objective perspective as needed, and able to find the humor in things. For days, everything has felt just a bit off kilter.

Of course, last night was the first time in more than a week I've gone to bed close to my usual bedtime at home with the cats and slept without disturbance (i.e., bad dreams, windstorms, generalized and nonspecific anxiety). That makes a difference.

I still have a list of stuff I want to write about here. This list has been revised since I first posted it four or five days ago. If anyone has interest in any particular subject, let me know, otherwise I'll post about stuff willy-nilly just to get it all done.

* Doctor Who: The End of Time Part II
* Demons, a new supernatural series on BBCA
* The new part-time job
* When they're interviewing you, you're interviewing them
* Book review/report on Ken Scholes' novel Lamentation
* kijjohnson's surprise party
* Upcoming travel
* Missing the ghosts of early American history
* The new season of Big Love
* Book review/report on Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

jackwilliambell is off to Shanghai on business for 12 days, so I'll be seeking entertainment, distraction, and fine conversation as time is available for same, though with the commencement of MW's visit in the company of her two sons on Friday, I'll be kept pretty busy over the weekend if all her plans come to fruition.

Democracy in action: Work stuff

Responses to my last post expressed interest in the following subjects in the following order:

4 votes: New part time job
3 votes: "When they're interviewing you..."
1 vote: Doctor Who, kijjohnson's party

The items that got one vote each will be handled in separate posts later.

The new part-time job
I've been hired by an agency I've never worked with before on an intermittent editing project for Microsoft. In MS's system, I'll be listed as a vendor, which means I don't have to be vetted through their eCheck system. I'll be (basically) working two weeks on and two weeks off at a pay rate comparable to those I've had in the past for a length of about 6 months. It's not the full-time work I've been wanting, but it's a way to start bringing in a little more money than I have been. I may work as many as 100 hours per month. It will also give me kinds of experience I haven't had before. And it will leave me time in between to do other sorts of freelance and to continue to look for full time work. I start training tomorrow (Thursday) and start actual work on Friday the 29th. The training cuts into my visit with MW, which makes me sad, but there are other upsides to this, so if I'm not exactly excited, at least I'm not feeling as frustrated about the foiled visit as I might be. Well-paid work and new skill sets are goodnesses, and I refuse to look a gift horse in the mouth.

When they're interviewing you, you're interviewing them
Earlier this week, my old agency contacted me about a brief contract that would start immediately at an insanely good rate. The agency sent me a very vague job description and mumbled about it being a short-term thing with the possibility of more work if this job went well. They sent me a sample of the work I'd be doing--and as finished work, the thing was sloppy as hell editorially. I asked for a little more detail, and the agency offered to put me in touch with the hiring manager. The manager called me and I asked several basic questions, a little suspicious about a manager who wanted to work with someone sight unseen. It was flattering but I had a niggling bad feeling about it. I asked about the nature of the project, what its scope and parameters were, when the deadline was--that sort of thing. The manager hemmed and hawed a little, sounding distracted and rushed. He asked me to repeat my questions and told me he had to talk to someone and that he'd call me back--then hung up.

This communicated several things to me:
1) The "hiring manager" wasn't really the manager. This was a delegated project. Why, otherwise, would he have to go check with someone else about the details?
2) He sounded rushed and distracted--but he'd called me. He chose the timing. His focus should have been on the phone call with his prospective employee, the one who was going to make this thing happen. This suggests he didn't care who he got as long as he got a skilled warm body.
3) The manager's wanting a skilled warm body, his sounding distracted and harried, and his needing to check on details suggested to me that this was probably a last-minute project that was going to be all about hurry-up-and-wait. The fact that they wanted me to start within a day of contacting me about the project suggested this also.

This whole thing sounded like a train wreck to me. I'd be making an insanely good hourly rate for three days on a poorly defined high-pressure project that would make me miserable. I called the agency and declined the project. I also asked questions. It turned out that I was right about the last-minute nature of the project and also that the person calling me wasn't the person who owned the project. The agency rep said I'd gotten a good read on the situation and didn't blame me for backing off.

One of the things I learned from my nightmare 4.5 months with Cingular was to pay attention and to trust my gut when it comes to talking with hiring managers. Their demeanor, their way of relating to you can tell you more about the project and the work environment than their answers. I must remember that though it seems like I'm powerless in interviews, I need to trust my judgment and my perceptions. They're good, well-honed over years, and they will serve me well.

Subjects about which I want to write:
* Doctor Who: The End of Time Part II
* Demons, a new supernatural series on BBCA
* The new part-time job
* When they're interviewing you, you're interviewing them
* Book review/report on Ken Scholes' novel Lamentation
* kijjohnson's surprise party
* Upcoming travel
* Missing the ghosts of early American history
* The new season of Big Love
* Book review/report on Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

More anon...

Doctor Who: The end of Tennant's tenure

( Doctor Who: The End of Time, part II, including spoilers )

I want to take a moment to say goodbye to David Tennant as the Doctor. I wasn't sure about him when I heard he was taking over for Eccleston, whom I flat-out adored. But he won me over in mere moments during that 2005 Children in Need Special. His looks didn't hurt my willingness to accept him, but it was his performance, full of heart and steel, that won me over. Though I wrote my longest piece of fanfic about Nine, I wrote more pieces overall about Ten, most of which sprung out of nuances in Tennant's performance almost more than they did from the stories. His Doctor has always felt things deeply and always loved a little more than he should have. Weirdly, I'll miss his eyebrows--almost comic-book in their definition, especially when the Doctor curled them in thought or concern. It's like you can see the stroke of a pen in that brow, an elongated S over an intense eye and a mouth clamped shut in concentration. He brought the look of an ancient mind to a youthful face and I bought the dichotomy completely.

Thanks, Mr. Tennant, for a wonderful incarnation of the Doctor. Matt Smith may be filling your shoes, but he'll never really take your place.

---------------------------------------------

Subjects about which I want to write:
* Doctor Who: The End of Time Part II
* Demons, a new supernatural series on BBCA
* The new part-time job
* When they're interviewing you, you're interviewing them
* Book review/report on Ken Scholes' novel Lamentation
* kijjohnson's surprise party
* Upcoming travel
* Missing the ghosts of early American history
* The new season of Big Love
* Book review/report on Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

More anon...