Apparently Hopelessness Equates Good Luck

Listening: Free - Corrinne May

All this misunderstanding
All this anarchy
Six degrees of separation
Sometimes it's so hard to see
That we are not alone in this
I need to believe

I can be free
I can be free from this place
Beautiful healer
Beautiful grace
Help me to see
Everything fall into place
Wake me from dreaming
No more deceiving
Break these chains.

Hooray again for Rykea, who keeps sending songs that somehow assimilate themselves into my book in my mind, or affiliate themselves with characters. Maybe it's because she sends them to me with comments like, "Hey, this reminds me of so-and-so".

Could be.

So pretty much the entirety of last week consisted of this sequence of events, replayed dozens of times:
Someone: Have you heard from Chapters yet?
Me: ...No.
As the week progressed, I began to steadily become more and more unhappy with the question, and steadily more depressed about my lot in life. What Nancy (the assistant manager) had said at the group interview was that she would be getting back to us at the end of the week. It had already stretched into the weekend, and I hadn't heard anything. I wasn't sure if they would leave me hanging, but I was at the point of giving up. Especially when one of my references stopped me at work on Monday and asked the same question, and when I gave him the response, he hissed through his teeth and said, "That's a long time." Yeah.

Then Colette and Matt picked me up. Which was spiffy enough in and of itself. Then Cole said, "Alright go get your freaking Visa, we're booking our plane tickets to Ottawa tonight." So home we went.

When I came inside, my parents had company over. My mother dropped everything she was doing and handed me a sheet of paper. On it was a note which detailed that I had to call Nancy from Chapters before 10 pm or after 2:30 pm the following day.

I almost popped an aorta. Of course, it was 10:30, so it was too late to call that night, so I had to wait til the following day. Yesterday, unfortunately, was my 8.5-hour shift at Wal-Mart, but I did not care. The shift flew by the entire way to 4:45 pm, when I was put on a break that allowed me to call in. Clarence answered the phone. When I told him it was me and that I was calling for Nancy, he transferred me immediately.

"Hi," Nancy said when she picked up and I introduced myself. "I was wondering if you could come in for a second interview."

"Yes please," was my reply, and I meant it.

"Great!" She sounded happy to hear it. "Well, I'm off tomorrow, and Thursday, and I'm sure you don't want to come in tonight, so how about Fri--"

"I'll come in tonight."

"What, really? Are you sure? Well, okay. How about seven?"

"Could we make it a little after seven? I don't get off work 'til 5:45."

"....Wow. Okay, after seven, then."

I proceeded to float through the remainder of my shift. Then I ran home and got the fastest shower of my life (literally about three minutes), borrowed some of my mom's earrings, found and ironed a blouse, and was ready to go by 6:20. I didn't leave the house 'til 7 due to my father, who has this aversion to punctuality.

I turned up in Chapters, where Nancy immediately handed me two sheets of paper, stapled together. "Want to run over to Starbucks and do this aptitude test for me?"

"Sure," I said. Then when I sat down I realized: "Aptitude test? Oh shit, math."

Indeed, the questions involved putting the names of a variety of authors in alphabetical order, then doing basic addition, percentages, and various other fun math stuff. I'm not the biggest math star on campus, but I got through it just fine. When it was over, Nancy took it from me and said that while she'd prefer to do the interview in Starbucks, it was getting crowded, so would I mind moving back to the office? No, I wouldn't.

I repeat the sentiments of the last time I was in her presence: Nancy is the nicest lady ever. She actually made that interview the most comfortable in the world. Every few seconds she would crack a joke, and by the time the interview ended I felt like we were old friends. She asked a lot of questions about Wal-Mart, which meant I got to tell lots of stories. I think she was impressed by some of them.

She made several jokes about Clarence, and I later discovered why. Apparently, after I called that afternoon, Clarence hunted Nancy down and told her that I was "sweet" and had the "same sense of humor" as her, and that Nancy should hire me. I was really touched by that. It meant a lot.

The interview went very well, very comfortably. Nancy gave me some idea of my standing when all was said and done. They're hoping to hire five people. With me, only six have been called back for one-on-one interviews. She also told me that I won't be left hanging. I'll be hearing from her whether or not I get the job, which I really, really appreciate. That was kind of a concern for me.

The decision this time will also be made quicker. Nancy hopes to have everything sorted out by Friday. She told me to expect a call on Monday, but Monday is a long weekend for Canada Day, so I suspect I'll probably be hearing from her on Tuesday. Keep your fingers crossed for me, kiddies.

Oh; and Cole and I really did book our tickets to Ottawa. We'll be leaving about 5:45 p.m. on the 8th of August, staying up there for six days, and returning home at 12:10 a.m. on the 15th. So between having the next two days off work, having been called in for a second interview, and having officially booked our tickets for adventure, everything is going pretty good right now.

Actually, I'm still kind of impressed that the trip to Ottawa is actually happening. Especially when the whole idea spawned from a joke between me and Rae, wherein I told her I was going to hide in her suitcase if she went home for the summer, and she replied that I could sleep in her basement.

Adieu!

Icarus doesn't know how she actually got around to asking, "So Rae. Did you mean it when you said I could stay in your basement?"