Hey!
My interview this morning went well. I'm not talking about a job interview either. I'm talking about the type of interview where a public figure is interviewed by somebody else so that viewers can learn more about that public figure.
I was the public figure interviewed.
It was way more fun than I had expected. That's probably because I love talking about myself far too much. Narcissism FTW!
Here's the link to the interview. http://pagereaders.com/?p=18
Check it out. I even read part of a chapter of my 2nd novel: The Cabin.
Back later.
Showing posts with label interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interview. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Thursday morning, May 8th, about 10AM
Well, it's been a while. That's because I gave up.
No just kidding. See, there now. I just had a scene from Buckaroo Bonzai: The Adventures Across the Eighth Dimension flash through my head.
Enough of that. Here's what's been going on this week. Mainly, I had an interview with Challenger Schools on Tuesday afternoon. It went for about 3 1/2 hours and it went really well. I can't say with certainty that I will get that job, but I think the chances are good. It seems like a challenging, satisfying job, so I am excited about it. What's more, it sounds as if they will pay me wellish.
The thing is, I was just in Austin two weekends ago, interviewing and such for a spot in Texas Teaching Fellows. I loved Austin! It's such a lovely city, with a nice variety of topography. That might sound odd, but it's so true. There are riverfront, cool bridges, mid-sized mountains to hike, plenty of parks, quiet neighborhoods and more. All in all, it seems like a nice place to live and housing costs are remarkable. That alone is a reason to move there.
However, I was very turned off by the idea of teaching in public schools. My philosophies are so different from the going approaches and philosophies in the public programming system administered by the federal Department of Education, that I just found myself seething through a lot of the mock lessons and faculty meetings. I can't stand the complete unwillingness to stop throwing financial band-aids on educational problems.
Then I started realizing how much of my soul and heart I would have to sell to my job if I got going with Texas Teaching Fellows. I truly admire those who want to devote themselves to this work, despite the empirical fact that the system is broken. But I love my family too much to be eager to spend ten hour days in classrooms filled with emasculated boys and over-compensating girls. I don't want to spend my days putting my all into a job, because I want to put my all into my family and have my job be secondary.
This doesn't mean that I want to laze off or have an easy job. Rather it means I would like to put my heart and mind to hard work at my job, but then be able to leave at a consistently decent hour and not have to worry about hitting academic yearly progress benchmarks and worry that my school is going to lose funding if the right percentage of students does not pass an idiotic standardized test.
Then TTF (Texas Teaching Fellows) offered me a spot in the program. This is a guaranteed job pretty much, making more than I've ever made and living in a town I loved. They said I needed to complete the enrollment process, which includes a $150 fee and some other things, by May 9th.
Today's May 8th and I haven't even begun. Why? Because amidst all the thought, talking with Annemarie and soul-searching, I got on my knees a lot too. I felt like I had an answer in a very still, very soft, very immediate voice. The answer was "No." I asked Annemarie to pray about it too and she said that it was my decision and was adamant about not putting pressure on me. We spent all of last week talking and talking and trying to get things out. I won't go into much more detail, but both of us were feeling very worried, pressured, stressed and in a somewhat dark place. But I was praying and I am sure she was too. I prayed enough and listened enough that I was sure the answer I was getting was not being interfered with by my fears and concerns.
Sunday night we talked more. I made it clear that I felt strongly about not doing TTF, for many reasons. I said that we had always been completely united in what we have done, and I really needed Annemarie to get her own answer so that we could both feel completely at peace individually. I shared that I felt like we were supposed to extend our spiritual stride and somethign would happen; something good would come of it. I believed that both of us on our knees being fully willing to do God's will, whatever it was and even if it meant we didn't take the sure-thing TTF job, would yield the blessing we needed.
Monday morning dawned. It was about 9:30AM when we were in the kitchen. I looked at Annemarie. She smiled and said, "We're not going to Austin."
There was more to her answer than those five words. Heart-felt, two way prayers and answers. We talked for a moment and shared our feelings. We were united.
Ten, maybe fifteen, minutes later, we got a call from the lady at Challenger Schools. Could I come in for an interview and some tests?
You bet I could!
So that's what's been going on. The difference in our home is palpable. We have gone from stressed, worried and on edge to calm, united, and directed.
I share this because I feel so strongly that God is with each of us, whether we believe in Him or not. Even if we don't believe in Him, He believes in us. He waits for us to humble ourselves and adjust our will to His. Then happiness is multiplied and peace is increased.
Also on Monday and Tuesday we helped a sister move. It was quite a process. Yesterday I took the day off to recover from too much stress. We rearranged our living room and have begun the process of reclaiming our bedroom.
Today I am working on The Cabin. I will do a lot in it. I am at 40,300 words. I'll let you know how far I get.
I really am going to be a bestselling author.
carpe somnium
No just kidding. See, there now. I just had a scene from Buckaroo Bonzai: The Adventures Across the Eighth Dimension flash through my head.
Enough of that. Here's what's been going on this week. Mainly, I had an interview with Challenger Schools on Tuesday afternoon. It went for about 3 1/2 hours and it went really well. I can't say with certainty that I will get that job, but I think the chances are good. It seems like a challenging, satisfying job, so I am excited about it. What's more, it sounds as if they will pay me wellish.
The thing is, I was just in Austin two weekends ago, interviewing and such for a spot in Texas Teaching Fellows. I loved Austin! It's such a lovely city, with a nice variety of topography. That might sound odd, but it's so true. There are riverfront, cool bridges, mid-sized mountains to hike, plenty of parks, quiet neighborhoods and more. All in all, it seems like a nice place to live and housing costs are remarkable. That alone is a reason to move there.
However, I was very turned off by the idea of teaching in public schools. My philosophies are so different from the going approaches and philosophies in the public programming system administered by the federal Department of Education, that I just found myself seething through a lot of the mock lessons and faculty meetings. I can't stand the complete unwillingness to stop throwing financial band-aids on educational problems.
Then I started realizing how much of my soul and heart I would have to sell to my job if I got going with Texas Teaching Fellows. I truly admire those who want to devote themselves to this work, despite the empirical fact that the system is broken. But I love my family too much to be eager to spend ten hour days in classrooms filled with emasculated boys and over-compensating girls. I don't want to spend my days putting my all into a job, because I want to put my all into my family and have my job be secondary.
This doesn't mean that I want to laze off or have an easy job. Rather it means I would like to put my heart and mind to hard work at my job, but then be able to leave at a consistently decent hour and not have to worry about hitting academic yearly progress benchmarks and worry that my school is going to lose funding if the right percentage of students does not pass an idiotic standardized test.
Then TTF (Texas Teaching Fellows) offered me a spot in the program. This is a guaranteed job pretty much, making more than I've ever made and living in a town I loved. They said I needed to complete the enrollment process, which includes a $150 fee and some other things, by May 9th.
Today's May 8th and I haven't even begun. Why? Because amidst all the thought, talking with Annemarie and soul-searching, I got on my knees a lot too. I felt like I had an answer in a very still, very soft, very immediate voice. The answer was "No." I asked Annemarie to pray about it too and she said that it was my decision and was adamant about not putting pressure on me. We spent all of last week talking and talking and trying to get things out. I won't go into much more detail, but both of us were feeling very worried, pressured, stressed and in a somewhat dark place. But I was praying and I am sure she was too. I prayed enough and listened enough that I was sure the answer I was getting was not being interfered with by my fears and concerns.
Sunday night we talked more. I made it clear that I felt strongly about not doing TTF, for many reasons. I said that we had always been completely united in what we have done, and I really needed Annemarie to get her own answer so that we could both feel completely at peace individually. I shared that I felt like we were supposed to extend our spiritual stride and somethign would happen; something good would come of it. I believed that both of us on our knees being fully willing to do God's will, whatever it was and even if it meant we didn't take the sure-thing TTF job, would yield the blessing we needed.
Monday morning dawned. It was about 9:30AM when we were in the kitchen. I looked at Annemarie. She smiled and said, "We're not going to Austin."
There was more to her answer than those five words. Heart-felt, two way prayers and answers. We talked for a moment and shared our feelings. We were united.
Ten, maybe fifteen, minutes later, we got a call from the lady at Challenger Schools. Could I come in for an interview and some tests?
You bet I could!
So that's what's been going on. The difference in our home is palpable. We have gone from stressed, worried and on edge to calm, united, and directed.
I share this because I feel so strongly that God is with each of us, whether we believe in Him or not. Even if we don't believe in Him, He believes in us. He waits for us to humble ourselves and adjust our will to His. Then happiness is multiplied and peace is increased.
Also on Monday and Tuesday we helped a sister move. It was quite a process. Yesterday I took the day off to recover from too much stress. We rearranged our living room and have begun the process of reclaiming our bedroom.
Today I am working on The Cabin. I will do a lot in it. I am at 40,300 words. I'll let you know how far I get.
I really am going to be a bestselling author.
carpe somnium
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
It's a late Wednesday night, but I figured I ought to report...
For most of today's work day I was perusing job listings. I actually ended up digging deeply in the Craigslist postings for Anchorage, since that is where my family and I ultimately want to end up. We've seen that there are lots for sale in a town outside of Anchorage and so our thoughts are turning more and more to how we can get back up there for good.
Anyway, I ended up applying to a job in the Salt Lake City area and to one or two in Anchorage as well. I apply to all these jobs and then I hear nothing back, so it's a little discouraging, but I'll keep on plugging along.
I also got another set of jobs from my newest client. This is turning out to be a good set up. I got a tiny start on it today and hope to get a lot of it done tomorrow. But I have an interview in SLC tomorrow, so I will probably finish the work on Friday morning.
I also wrote two articles for Helium today as well. Here they are:
http://www.helium.com/items/1003355-oprah-winfrey-certainly-omniscient
*This is a commentary on Oprah Winfrey's show, which I've never really approved of.
http://www.helium.com/items/1003275-peruse-annals-cinema-quickly
*This is an article about some of the best fantasy film villains of all time. It was a fun one to write.
I also got started on a mystery story for www.helium.com 's Marketplace, but it still needs work.
I need to hit the sack. I will be back tomorrow to report on the interview.
Gonna write a bestseller.
c a r p e s o m n i u m
Anyway, I ended up applying to a job in the Salt Lake City area and to one or two in Anchorage as well. I apply to all these jobs and then I hear nothing back, so it's a little discouraging, but I'll keep on plugging along.
I also got another set of jobs from my newest client. This is turning out to be a good set up. I got a tiny start on it today and hope to get a lot of it done tomorrow. But I have an interview in SLC tomorrow, so I will probably finish the work on Friday morning.
I also wrote two articles for Helium today as well. Here they are:
http://www.helium.com/items/1003355-oprah-winfrey-certainly-omniscient
*This is a commentary on Oprah Winfrey's show, which I've never really approved of.
http://www.helium.com/items/1003275-peruse-annals-cinema-quickly
*This is an article about some of the best fantasy film villains of all time. It was a fun one to write.
I also got started on a mystery story for www.helium.com 's Marketplace, but it still needs work.
I need to hit the sack. I will be back tomorrow to report on the interview.
Gonna write a bestseller.
c a r p e s o m n i u m
Friday, March 21, 2008
2:30 AM, Thursday night/Friday morning
Well, it's late. But it's finished. The 2nd Draft of The Mars Betrayal, which is really a massive rewrite from the ground up, is finished. I knew I had to have it done today.
So now I'm listening to Men at Work on my streaming radio and writing about it in my online chronicle. (my pretentious way of saying 'my blog.')
Anyway, I feel good about it, but felt pretty good about the first draft. I obviously had no idea about what I was doing when I first wrote it. I really hope I know more of what I'm doing now. I think I addressed the issues pretty well and am fairly confident there are no plot holes.
The main issue now is that it seems long. I didn't check, (kind of scared to) but it looks like it's probably 18,000 words long.
In any case, Annemarie will read it in the morning. I hope to have it sent off tomorrow afternoon or evening. I never actually heard back about a deadline for it, but I wanted to get this off fast.
So now, unless other crap comes up for next week, I will put a pile of time into The Cabin. I am still supposed to finish it this month. The first draft, that is. When I say "supposed to" that's just by my goals.
Today I also wrote three (or four..?) articles for www.helium.com. One was a poem. And the three articles I wrote for the last contest are doing well. Two are #1, and the other is #2. The problem is that the two #1's are 1 of 2. This means that they don't count toward contest points. Arg. Titles need to have three articles to become competitive. Ugh. And the #2 is 2 of 3. So it has like 2 points.
Peh. Oh well.
I wrote a fun article about media's role in elections today, but it is an initiated title, so it's not active yet. I'll put a link to it when it goes active. I am kind of hoping it will get featured on the homepage.
As for yesterday, it was fun. Dentist was not, but it wasn't too bad. The numbness wore off just before my interview. By the end of the interview, the pain was blinding. I went to a 7/11 and got some advil in me. That really helped.
So the interview went really well. I met two ladies in it: Lena and Laurel. They are quite different from each other, but they are both top-notch. I felt it went well, as we were actually able to have a good conversation about the job and the work that would go into it. They seemed to like me as well.
At the end of the interview, they had me do a test. I won't go into specifics, simply because that seems unethical to me, but I was asked to edit a paragraph. When they came back, I gave my strong opinion of the paragraph and they said my answer was perfect! So that was nice.
Hopefully they will get back to me next week. I would like this job (particularly if it pays well), but I don't look forward to the driving up and back every day. I will miss the family if I have to do that. But we will take it as it comes.
After the interview, I went to my (hehe) audition. That actually went well too! The dude said I had a lot of inherent talent for acting. I need some training on technical areas, but I can't (and don't want to) pay for that with money or time right now. But it's something to look forward to at some point.
It's late. This is a long post. I have to go to bed.
Gonna be a bestselling author.
carpe somnium
So now I'm listening to Men at Work on my streaming radio and writing about it in my online chronicle. (my pretentious way of saying 'my blog.')
Anyway, I feel good about it, but felt pretty good about the first draft. I obviously had no idea about what I was doing when I first wrote it. I really hope I know more of what I'm doing now. I think I addressed the issues pretty well and am fairly confident there are no plot holes.
The main issue now is that it seems long. I didn't check, (kind of scared to) but it looks like it's probably 18,000 words long.
In any case, Annemarie will read it in the morning. I hope to have it sent off tomorrow afternoon or evening. I never actually heard back about a deadline for it, but I wanted to get this off fast.
So now, unless other crap comes up for next week, I will put a pile of time into The Cabin. I am still supposed to finish it this month. The first draft, that is. When I say "supposed to" that's just by my goals.
Today I also wrote three (or four..?) articles for www.helium.com. One was a poem. And the three articles I wrote for the last contest are doing well. Two are #1, and the other is #2. The problem is that the two #1's are 1 of 2. This means that they don't count toward contest points. Arg. Titles need to have three articles to become competitive. Ugh. And the #2 is 2 of 3. So it has like 2 points.
Peh. Oh well.
I wrote a fun article about media's role in elections today, but it is an initiated title, so it's not active yet. I'll put a link to it when it goes active. I am kind of hoping it will get featured on the homepage.
As for yesterday, it was fun. Dentist was not, but it wasn't too bad. The numbness wore off just before my interview. By the end of the interview, the pain was blinding. I went to a 7/11 and got some advil in me. That really helped.
So the interview went really well. I met two ladies in it: Lena and Laurel. They are quite different from each other, but they are both top-notch. I felt it went well, as we were actually able to have a good conversation about the job and the work that would go into it. They seemed to like me as well.
At the end of the interview, they had me do a test. I won't go into specifics, simply because that seems unethical to me, but I was asked to edit a paragraph. When they came back, I gave my strong opinion of the paragraph and they said my answer was perfect! So that was nice.
Hopefully they will get back to me next week. I would like this job (particularly if it pays well), but I don't look forward to the driving up and back every day. I will miss the family if I have to do that. But we will take it as it comes.
After the interview, I went to my (hehe) audition. That actually went well too! The dude said I had a lot of inherent talent for acting. I need some training on technical areas, but I can't (and don't want to) pay for that with money or time right now. But it's something to look forward to at some point.
It's late. This is a long post. I have to go to bed.
Gonna be a bestselling author.
carpe somnium
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Tasty Tuesday!
Look! Two days in a row! Tomorrow I will try to make it three, although it is set to be a beast of a day... More on that later.
Today I wrote three or four articles for Helium. I rated a pile of mostly okay stuff also. I also finished re-writing Chapter 4 of The Mars Betrayal. It's feeling good so far. Tomorrow's Wednesday, and if I get any writing done it will be a miracle. So I am going to shoot for finishing this rewrite on Thursday. I will exercise that morning, come home and eat, and then get right to The Mars Betrayal.
Anyway, I am trying to place high in a contest at Helium right now. It is the in the Real Estate category and I have a few things to say about that, so I've written three articles for it. I would really like to get one more written tomorrow before I head up to Salt Lake City.
Okay, so tomorrow, here's what's on the plate: Exercise in the morning, but only if Annemarie gets to bed at a reasonable hour. She's burning midnight oil like mad these last two days, trying to get a translating job done on time. So if she's up as late as she was last night, I will need to stay home and exercise here. If she goes to bed earlier, I will head to the Rec Center.
Then I will print out two resumes and one cover letter.
I have a dentist appointment at 11 AM for a cavity to be filled, then I will get home and try to churn out one more article for the http://www.helium.com/ contest.
Thereafter, I will head up to Salt Lake City. This is because I have an appointment for an interview with a company up there. The job is a content and copywriter position. I, obviously, think I can do the job well.
But I decided to take advantage of being in Salt Lake and I am going to drop off a resume and cover letter at the Church office building up there. I have applied again for the Assistant Editor job at The Friend magazine. This is the third time they've posted the spot, and I don't aim to give up. So the first thing I'm going to do in SLC is drop off a resume and hope to meet someone face to face. That is my dream job (if I'm going to work for anybody other than myself) so I am going to get after it.
Then I have my interview at 3PM. After that, I have, I kid you not, an audition at 5PM. I sent off for some info on a talent management agency and they have called me twice to schedule auditions to see if they want to represent me. You see, I must think I have talent. Actually I probably do, not that I want to 'make it' in Hollywood or anything. I wouldn't mind doing some ad spots though. Those babies pay the bills well.
So the audition is supposed to be about a half-hour. I will jet out of there as fast as I can and come screaming back down to Provo. This is because I have two visits to make as part of my work in my church. My first visit is set for 7PM.
Big day? Yes. I hope it goes well. I believe it will, as long as I keep my wits about me and remember to enjoy it.
So that's the plan. It's late and I really ought to go to bed. Maybe I can get some writing done tomorrow.
To anybody who is actually reading this, please know that I really appreciate the support and well-wishes. So far this has been a great experiment.
I'm gonna be a best-selling author.
Carpe somnium
Today I wrote three or four articles for Helium. I rated a pile of mostly okay stuff also. I also finished re-writing Chapter 4 of The Mars Betrayal. It's feeling good so far. Tomorrow's Wednesday, and if I get any writing done it will be a miracle. So I am going to shoot for finishing this rewrite on Thursday. I will exercise that morning, come home and eat, and then get right to The Mars Betrayal.
Anyway, I am trying to place high in a contest at Helium right now. It is the in the Real Estate category and I have a few things to say about that, so I've written three articles for it. I would really like to get one more written tomorrow before I head up to Salt Lake City.
Okay, so tomorrow, here's what's on the plate: Exercise in the morning, but only if Annemarie gets to bed at a reasonable hour. She's burning midnight oil like mad these last two days, trying to get a translating job done on time. So if she's up as late as she was last night, I will need to stay home and exercise here. If she goes to bed earlier, I will head to the Rec Center.
Then I will print out two resumes and one cover letter.
I have a dentist appointment at 11 AM for a cavity to be filled, then I will get home and try to churn out one more article for the http://www.helium.com/ contest.
Thereafter, I will head up to Salt Lake City. This is because I have an appointment for an interview with a company up there. The job is a content and copywriter position. I, obviously, think I can do the job well.
But I decided to take advantage of being in Salt Lake and I am going to drop off a resume and cover letter at the Church office building up there. I have applied again for the Assistant Editor job at The Friend magazine. This is the third time they've posted the spot, and I don't aim to give up. So the first thing I'm going to do in SLC is drop off a resume and hope to meet someone face to face. That is my dream job (if I'm going to work for anybody other than myself) so I am going to get after it.
Then I have my interview at 3PM. After that, I have, I kid you not, an audition at 5PM. I sent off for some info on a talent management agency and they have called me twice to schedule auditions to see if they want to represent me. You see, I must think I have talent. Actually I probably do, not that I want to 'make it' in Hollywood or anything. I wouldn't mind doing some ad spots though. Those babies pay the bills well.
So the audition is supposed to be about a half-hour. I will jet out of there as fast as I can and come screaming back down to Provo. This is because I have two visits to make as part of my work in my church. My first visit is set for 7PM.
Big day? Yes. I hope it goes well. I believe it will, as long as I keep my wits about me and remember to enjoy it.
So that's the plan. It's late and I really ought to go to bed. Maybe I can get some writing done tomorrow.
To anybody who is actually reading this, please know that I really appreciate the support and well-wishes. So far this has been a great experiment.
I'm gonna be a best-selling author.
Carpe somnium
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