i am up, down, touch the ground

It was a busy week this week, but not a lot to report. I had several meetings: one with a "career transition counselor" and one with state unemployment folks but two different days. I don't mean to complain, but -- when the letter the state sent me said I had to come in promptly and that "late arrivals will not be accommodated" -- why did I have to wait an hour to be seen only to be told everyone was in a meeting and to please reschedule for another day? I ask you? All I can conclude is the maxim "there's no such thing as a free lunch" is what we're seeing here.

I also had three phone interviews with three different companies in three different states, some more interesting than others. We spent some time trying to research cost of living in these different places. Hopefully we've done our homework well so we can compare apples to oranges and make some sense of it.

In an effort to make sure I sleep better at night...well, okay, I was just enjoying a good reason to get absorbed in reading...I finished four of the Lemony Snicket books in the last week and a half, along with a Terry Pratchett. Mmm...fun books.

Wayne's beginning to look into academic positions in the arts, in the places I've been interviewing and elsewhere (you never know). This is a new experience for us, figuring out where/how academic jobs get posted and how best to present oneself. It's quite different from industry jobs, for sure. [I had a really positive meeting with my advisor -- who is on sabbatical -- about my future. I need to start working on connections to who is in academia and can connect me to their art department for short term appointments. -Wayne]

And Paela's been enjoying Star cat so much lately. Sometimes she and Star get in such a playful mood together, Paela will positively shriek with excitement and joy. Usually she pets the cat quite nicely, and offers treats to the cat. She likes to try playing with a string and the cat, but sometimes she gets so excited that she shoves the string in Star's face instead of playing keep-away like Star prefers. She's just trying to help the cat out, not realizing Star wants the challenge. Well, and also Star wants not to have things shoved in her face. Who can blame her, really?