I may just be in a pessimistic mood. If so, that's only because I've been paying attention.

Is it a sad statement that I found this inspiring? Uplifting, even?

You wouldn't believe the vengeance a traumatized goat can wreak.

Um, actually, I would. You see, there was this time a friend was preparing a meal for a group and one of the main courses was goat. Only, the goat hadn't been killed yet. Uh huh. Downhill from there ...

Business formal question:

I have a suit. It's a size 6 and the tags are still on it. Moving on. It's a pretty theoretical question, since I don't see myself hitting the stores before my next interview, but if I were looking to find a skirt or pair of pants to most businesslikely go with my black linen Nehru-like jacket, what colours are best? Given the black-matching nightmare, of course.

My idea of business dress includes fire engine red, but judging from the email my recruiter sent, I'm some sort of professional Jezebel in that way. In fact, recruiter says "conservative colored (black, blue, etc.)".

Currently, in a step down from what I consider suited, I've been interviewing either in black or grey (funereal, even for me) or a vintage shantung number in beige and blues.

You can match black or grey to it in that setting.

I've been listening to this and giggling today. It's a mp3 snippet of a recent performance at the Met where a soprano briefly loses control of her vocal cords: [link]

I'd go with a grey skirt, ita.

You can match black or grey to it in that setting.

I am so persnickety about matching blacks that I wouldn't consider it business formal.

My grey skirt is the one I'd been planning on wearing with it, but it's so damned bleak! Bleaker than all black, somehow. I guess I should just get over myself and realise that business formal isn't my style, so I should stop trying to find a way to force the square peg on pretty much no budget at all.

Timelies all!

G flies to Salt Lake City tonight for business.(at least in theory) Which means my evening is spent with a microwave dinner and Ben&Jerry's. At least we have plans for a nice dinner when we're in Boston this weekend.

I don't think you lose anything by being as bleak and formal as possible in a job interview, but I'm in a different industry. It doesn't mean you can't have more personal style when you get the job.

I don't think you lose anything by being as bleak and formal as possible in a job interview

It's mostly my headspace, and is very affected by me having so few business formal clothes in my closet I can wear. I'm sure if I were choosing black and grey from a number of options it mightn't seem too bleak. But I'm still opining that the recruiter is a little over-stern. Or if she's not, I can't afford to dress for the job.

"I remember when that wall went up."

Hubby does, too. He and his family were military dependents in Germany at that time, and he remembers hiding with his sister under the car as tanks rolled by. The military gave his mother ID papers for several countries, because they weren't sure what side of the border they'd end up on once things settled down. They all spoke fluent German because they weren't on-base.

Oh dear. My shared minion just turned in his 2 1/2 weeks notice today. Suddenly the overheard conversation where Big Boss talked about sub-contracting some design work out because I would be busy takes on frightening significance.