On the Hunger Games question: I'm not a good crier. I cry when I'm angry, which is awkward professionally, but I often don't cry about the things that are really bothering me. If things are bad, I stop feeling at all. Sometimes a book that makes me cry helps. In The Hunger Games, the wrenching personal losses are mostly in the last book. Books two and three need to be read together, but the first book can stand alone.

For Connie and any other beader

Oh, I so want to run my hands over that. One thing I love about beading is the texture. I've got a piece of peyote stitch weaving I'm doing, and if I'm not careful I'll spend minutes at a time just running it through my fingers, watching the light play and loving the feel of it.

edit: It reminds me of the Tibetan mandalas.

I would have a very hard time coming up with a writing sample--everything I"ve written is confidential to the company I wrote it for.

Yeah, that happened to me too. I'm almost tempted to sit down now and write a fictionalised version of something I just wrote while it's fresh in my head, instead of trying desperately to write something when I'm jobseeking.

But...I don't wanna. I have a job I like. Just like I refuse to update my resume. Bad juju.

one guy, in the last 10 minutes of our interview, said, "Okay, this is my burning question: what is the difference between Goth and Steampunk? I don't get it."

That's beautiful!

I'm almost tempted to sit down now and write a fictionalised version of something I just wrote while it's fresh in my head, instead of trying desperately to write something when I'm jobseeking.

I should do that. Especially since almost all of the samples I do have are 1) editing samples, and 2) in what I am discovering to be a file format that nothing else can read. Argh, annoying proprietary tool sets!

But the HR guy is calling me in a few minutes to get my feedback about my interview. That's a good sign, right? Man, I was so confident about this until the writing samples reared up and smacked me.

It sounds like a good sign to me, Jilli. My impression has been that if someone has experience and understands the industry, all interviewers are looking for in writing samples is that you can put words in a row. They know that kind of writing is a process with many people involved.

For some reason, all the things that I've screwed up and the health stuff and everything decided to fall on my head today. I've been trying to get up the nerve to tell my mother about the whole anemia thing, which will depress her further and further convince her that we are all doomed, and I just keep picking up the phone and putting it down. My mood was not helped by the fact that yesterday I drove across town for the biopsy, only to be told I was too fat and had to have it done at the hospital instead, which means a high co-pay and anesthesia, which I hate.

Jilli, I really hope you get this job. Lots of ~ma.

But the HR guy is calling me in a few minutes to get my feedback about my interview.

It's a good sign.

Ginger, WTH?

Somebody please tell me to get up, put on some clothes, and go network.

Somebody please tell me to get up, put on some clothes, and go network.

Go do that. Or I will ... shake my new doll at the laptop. Not very motivating, I know.

Go forth and network, smonster.

Meh. The demons have got me.