The hiring game

I checked my gmail while at work last night and saw I'd already gotten a response from the managing editor at the St. Cloud Times (which I keep wanting to refer to as just the Times, but I don't want anyone to forget themselves and think I actually hear from the managing editor at, say, the Los Angeles Times or the New York Times ... if only).

She said it was good to hear from me, and she wanted to know how long my current internship lasts. I replied back that it's 10 weeks long and that my last day will be August 11. And then proceeded to freak out for about 10 minutes (quietly and only in my head, being at work and all), because I heard back (yay), which means I might have a good chance (wait), which means I might end up having a real grown-up job and gaining more valuable transferable experience (woohoo), which means I might be in Minnesota this summer (oh) which means I might not be going back to Utah/Oregon this fall (waaaah).

I feel like an ungrateful bug for having reservations about getting a job in today's economy. And I feel like a loony bird for freaking out because I got an email back that pointed to vague signs of hope. It's not like she offered me the position.

Still.

When I first came into work yesterday, I went to put my TV dinner in the freezer as usual, but the break room was completely dismantled. A sign on its door said "foodstuffs 130 feet thataway <<<" which struck me as super funny because I work in a world of writers which means people have to be deliberately silly to write things like that. I went to the new "break corner" (as I'm calling it), which is really about equidistant from where I usually sit as the old break room was, but is way farther away from more than half the newsroom. So now there's a lot more foot traffic by my desk, which is neat in a way because I feel less like an occupant on the island of misfit toys and more like a person in the middle of something important, when people rush by to refill their coffee or microwave something.

Becky and I left work at the same time last night, so I walked with her to her car in the parking ramp across the street (so we took the skyway on the second floor) and we talked about dogs. It was nice to walk and talk with her. She drove me to my car on the street and reaffirmed that we are going to do something before I leave the Twin Cities. Have I mentioned I really like my coworkers?

Even though it was about 80 in my room last night, I was able to sleep with the ceiling and bathroom fans turned on. I woke up at 8 in a state of demotivation and went back to sleep until 8:30. Then I grabbed my laptop to write this and saw the to-do list I wrote for myself yesterday. One of the items is "– Bike a loop or walk/jog Battle Creek, no matter how crappy you feel," so I guess I better go do that now.