On The Road Again

Well, actually, I'm off the road, in Monticello, Indiana. At least until the weekend's end.

The interview went fairly well: it didn't go as well as the interview in Virginia, but then again, as my mother thoughtfully pointed out, Virginia didn't hire me anyways. I still say that that was the best interview for a reference librarian position that I've had; the problem was, I was interviewing for a circulation assistant position.

I started out the interview fairly nervous, but then gradually became more comfortable, something that the interviewer noticed and commented on. I explained it by saying that the interview has the accumulated stress of really needing a job, and having my student loan payments start next month, which I think was an entirely reasonable and fair explanation. When asked the question of what five reference sources I would choose if I could only choose five, I said Webster's Dictionary, World Book Encyclopedia, World Almanac, the internet, and then my mind went a complete blank. I could not think of another ready reference source that would cover material that wasn't covered by those four, so I just said the Farmer's Almanac, because, if nothing else, I would be able the read it and amuse myself between questions. Although I did not tell them that. Evidently my choice of World Book did a lot to improve my standing: the interviewer said that a lot of people will choose Encyclopedia Britanica, just because they think it's more impressive to say that. He said he hates the way Britanica is organized; I said that I always hated that encyclopedia as a kid because they never had pictures, just lots of words. And there are a lot of subjects you want to see pictures for -- at least, I did.

The library itself is an old Carnegie library, and actually much bigger than I initially though it was: the interviewer gave me a tour, and it was all really impressive. The layout is a little confusing -- it's a bit of a labyrinth -- but still, I liked it a lot. I totally dig the Carnegie libraries.

Overall, I think I might have done a better interview than I thought I did (figure that phrase out), but I don't really expect to be offered the job. It's dangerous to expect things like that, so I'm just trying to remain hopeful.

The air smells like cornfields here. I don't actually like corn, but I like the smell of cornfields.

On the way to Monticello, I passed through a village called Radioville, which I think is a great name for a town. Unfortunately, the houses mostly seemed to be decrepit manufactured housing set along the highway, with enormous satellite dishes being the only landscaping their lawns have.

The real estate agent told my parents that they need to repaint the entire downstairs of the house, and dismantle the deck and cut down the trees in the back as well, so that buyers can see the "pretty willows". My mother is absolutely livid, because she though they should paint when they listed the house in February, when the house was listed for $30,000 more. But real estate guy said that that wasn't neccessary. What a dick.