Mild Bill's Virginia Adventure

The weekend, surprisingly enough, was a rousing success. It got off to a poor start when the car rental place provided me with a Trailblazer, instead of the mid-sized car that I was supposed to get, meaning that I spent a hell of a lot of money on gasoline. I got on the road a little later than expected, and had a further delay when the Pennsylvania Turnpike was reduced to one lane, thanks to construction. Having lived all my life navigating the enormously prosaic interstates of the Midwest, I am always a bit thrown by the freeways through the Eastern part of the country, with actual terrain and occasional flashes of history. Where I come from, history is always something that happens somewhere else; here, everything historical is bulldozed and made into a mini-mall.

It was long past dark by the time I got to D.C., which was unfortunate, since I didn't have a navigator. But with the help of Mapquest, I managed to get to Andrew's apartment, and with his oversight from a second story window, even managed to parallel park right there on the street. Thankfully, he had also had the foresight to have dinner there waiting for me, so at least I got to eat before going to bed.

My night was a little rough, not being used to sleeping on an inflatable bed -- I eventually ditched it to go to sleep on the floor -- but the next day, I got up rather late (again, Andrew had breakfast prepared, which speaks highly of his hosting instincts), and after chatting for a while, he offered to take me to the Mall to see some museums. So, thanks to the magic of mass transportation, that is just what we did. We went to the Hirshorn Museum first, where I got to see Andy Warhol's "Marilyn Monroe's Lips" again, one of my very favorites. Then, largely because I felt a bit guilty making Andrew go to the Hirshorn, we went to the National Gallery of Art. Afterwards, we walked through the outdoor installations, and headed back to his apartment. After bidding an appropriate adieu, I hit the road for my journey to the general area of Roanoke, VA.

When I got to the Holiday Inn Express in Salem, I immediately checked to make sure there was a local WB affiliate. Scoff if you care to, philistine, but I would really care to avoid moving somewhere that doesn't have "Gilmore Girls". Then, with my priorities clearly in order, I took a drive through Salem, to scope out the town, and to make sure I knew where the Salem Public Library was for the next day. I'm not sure whether the town is actually old, or whether it is one of those neo-small towns that have become all the rage with yuppies with more disposable income than I ever will. (I say yuppie like it's a bad thing, but I'm not sure that it isn't what I'm aspiring to. Sans the 2.5 children named after states, of course.) They have a farmer's market across the street from the library, and a couple of used book stores, and a used record store. There are a couple universities in the area, so I don't think I'd be moving to the tiny town from Footloose. And I didn't ask, but I'm relatively confident that they don't hold a lottery every year to see who gets stoned to death.

The interview couldn't have gone better: I was very upfront about the fact that I am an LIS grad applying for a paraprofessional job, mostly because it is on my resume, and I didn't think I could use my Jedi mind tricks to make them forget that. I figured that it might actually work in my favor: this isn't a large library staff, and the prospect of essentially getting another librarian for parapro rates might hold a certain appeal for them. It's a new position allocated by the municipal authorities, so I'm sure the duties and responsibilities aren't etched in stone. Plus, it pays upwards of $28,000 (more than I've ever made), and has full benefits, vacation time, and a retirement plan. Obviously, my librarianitude can also work against me: they are more or less assured that I would be searching for a librarian job in a year or two.

I was able to use pertinent examples from all three of my most recent positions to illustrate why I would be a useful addition to their institution; I know that should be a given, but believe me, it isn't always. I highlighted things that I knew they would be looking for, but wasn't dishonest. I was even able to answer the "where do you see yourself in five years" question with confidence: I see myself as a librarian. Given the circumstances, I think that was entirely appropriate.

When they asked me what book I was currently reading, I told them (Trollope), but when they asked what I had recently read, my mind went completely blank. The only title that bubbled up was William S. Burroughs' Queer, and I thought that maybe I shouldn't say that. It's not like I'm ashamed, mind you, I just really want to be employed. I eventually managed to say something about my favorite authors including Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, and Terry Pratchett. Those aren't all my favorite authors -- that list would probably include Oscar Wilde, William Blake, Salman Rushdie, Philip K. Dick, and Kelly Link, among others -- but it gave a sort of general range across which my interests can be guestimated. Plus, there seems to be a Terry Pratchett fan in every interview: this time it was the technical services librarian, who was the youngest of the three women, and who seemed to like me the most.

Actually, by the end of the interview, all three women were very friendly with me, giving me encouragement and advice for future interviews; they recommend I continue searching in Virginia because they have no library schools in that state. I didn't tell them that I had already come to that conclusion, thanks to the two interviews I've already had there. Now, I could see this as them basically telling me that I would not be hired for this position, and that I shouldn't stop searching, which I hadn't planned on anyways. But it seemed less "consolation prize" than that. It's not that I expect to be hired, it's that I wouldn't be surprised if I was. I think that if this was an interview for a librarian position, I would certainly be in the running for being hired. If I don't get hired, it will be because they want to hire someone they know will be there for a while to come. I should hear in two to three weeks, but I have no idea how many people they are planning to interview.

At any rate, they laughed at most of my jokes. In my world, that counts for a lot.

The whole experience reaffirmed for me how much better I do in live interviews than in telephone interviews. I left feeling really proud of myself. Which, admittedly, is rare for me.

The drive was a literal pain in my ass. And I have come to the conclusion that, while nowhere near as bad as Kansas or Nebraska, Ohio is pretty low on the list of states that I like to drive through. Particularly along the Ohio Turnpike.

Today my dad has surgery on his eye again, to have the lens replaced. Hopefully he won't lose the sight in that eye completely, although it seems unlikely that his sight will return completely. But we remain hopeful.

Friday I leave for ALA Chicago. At what point did my life suddenly decide to become exciting?

Relatively speaking, of course. The most appropriate nickname ever applied to me was "Mild Bill".

Song: The Buzzcocks, "I Don't Know What to Do With My Life"