I'm just a cock-eyed pessimist

I have a job interview today, and I'm dressed fairly nicely (but not too well, like not, "Hey, she's in a suit" well) in a red and black paisley silk shirt and smooth black cotton side zip pants. I think it says "IT professional, but not a banker." Basically, they'll see the hair and either they'll run or they won't, and I don't have suits, so there you have it. Pretty, clean, neat, coordinated. I'll try to scrape the remainders of the nail polish off while I'm on the tube. After my interview tonight, I'll be off to the Great London Beer festival to drown my sorrows - which I'm happier to report are certainly less than they were this time last week. Hopefully I'll see indigo_violet there - anyone else I might expect?

Last night's Paco Pena show was quite good, though it was really more about music than dancing (as I had wrongly thought).( Collapse ) I did think it was a bit sad that Spain got the Flamenco and England got the Morris Dancing, but we can't control how things like Moorish invasions will play out in the long run, can we?

Alas, I was feeling distracted by matters financial during the show and wasn't able to really lose myself due to getting caught up in the magic of My Brain Doing Planning Things. ( Collapse ) So I was sitting in Sadlers Wells, juggling mentally between our different bank accounts (where money lives) to our various credit cards (where money dies), and realizing I can't afford to take a job that's going to mean a £8000 pay cut, no matter how much less stress it is, because I just can't afford it. Maybe I could in October, but I can't now. I also figured out we probably can't afford to go anywhere over the bank holiday. We have big sucking debt that needs to be paid off NOW, and the £500 a month we've been using to chip away at it since shadowdaddy got his job hasn't done it in quite the style I'd like.

So I sent an email to the recruiter and cancelled the interview. I'm back down to one now.

Weekend away in Devon this weekend; car rental plus hotel plus kayaking, adding up to a bit more than I really want it to. Grr. I'll do my best to enjoy myself, anyway. I want to do lots more kayaking, though - I really miss being outside!

need I say more

Beer festival: manged to catch up with indigo_violet, which was cool. Tried three ciders, a half or less each, as follows:
Gwatkin Foxwhelp (described as very dry): musty, full-on basement taste. Thank God it was only a third.
Hancock's medium blend (described as sweet): syrupy and gross. Poured a bit out as I got a half of this and it was too much.
Somebody's Funky Something (rum cask) (perhaps Heck's Yarlington Mill but I think it had some kind of Welsh sounding name): really overall not so great either, finished it up but only because I got bored waiting for shadowdaddy to come back with his third beer.

I'm thinking maybe I need to be sticking to the French ciders. The pamphlet says of traditional ciders, "If you have not tried these before you will be pleasantly surprised." I beg to disagree.

Um, interview. I got the feeling I didn't look nice enough for this company and that I answered the questions in too rambling a manner. I need to avoid going into any kind of meta discussion when I'm in an interview and, now that I've spent so much time on the other side of the table, it's a bit difficult to restrain myself - it's like my dad is bleeding through me or something. I was also a bit creeped out that they were so concerned with people who'd done well at school, and that they called this "switched on." I know piles of people who are very intelligent and didn't even finish school - why do they think it's such a big deal? I'm way more concerned with what a person has been doing since school, especially if they've been out for 15 years. I briefly thought it would be a really cool place to work, but ... I've pretty much already written it off. Next!

Now to pack for tomorrow, and see if Harry (Dresden) conquers the evil necromancers.