the howling, whistling, moaning wind...

...or is that me?

It's been mostly stormy, cloudy, and very windy the past few days. Umbrellas out in force, winter jackets and sweaters suddenly out of storage. That's how it is here: summer one day, winter the next. Put the heavy blanket on the bed and warm it up with the electric sheet to boot. Turn off the ceiling fans and turn on the heat, just like that. The abrupt transition always leaves a lot of people sneezing and miserable.

Yesterday evening we had to go to my daughter's school to endure the scholastic torture of many teachers (not just one any more, now that she's in grade 7) reporting on her poor performance. Each one shaking her head (yes, they're all women) and telling us she needs to be properly Assessed by a psychologist in order to officially receive the special relief conditions (I can't think of a proper word in English) such as more time to finish tests, or doing tests orally instead of in writing, or other kinds of extra help such as tutoring or a lighter workload. Without this Assessment, they are forbidden to give her special treatment. The only problem is, the Assessment costs a big whack of money, and Mr. S. thinks it's a huge ripoff to pay for something that will actually not tell us anything we don't already know. (Actually, it probably will tell him something HE doesn't know, assuming he believes it, since he thinks the kid is just lazy and needs to work harder. But having grown up with the same label applied to myself, I know that's not accurate. There's a real concentration problem and a disconnect between what she knows and what she does.)

So when we came home we also disconnected her tv. Now we need to work on upping our own patience factor to endure the hysterical frustration that daily accompanies the Homework Issue. Much screaming, crying and slamming of door ensued. Today she had a "make-up test" in History, on which she scored 40% earlier this week after minimal (but painful nonetheless for all concerned) studying the night before. Last night she studied (not harmoniously, I assure you) the poorly done test until she could fill in all the blanks correctly. Today she got 86% on the exact same test, this time with a word list provided at the bottom so that minimal thinking was required! Am I the only person who's surprised she couldn't do better at this point? Not that I actually care about the number, but I am a tad concerned about her thinking skills.

Oh, who am I kidding? I flunked both History AND Geography at her age, they were so boring! The challenge is to figure out how to parlay the painful knowledge of my own school years into patience, tolerance, and perhaps even helpful guidance for her benefit. If anyone knows where THAT magic potion is sold, do send me the url.

howling, moaning, part 2

Oh, the indignity! Remember that job interview where I supposedly killed last week?

You probably saw this coming a mile away: Not only have I not heard from them, nor have they called my reference, but yesterday they posted the job on the local list again.

But they loved me! And I have tons of experience in the skills they need! Why? WHY? WHY???!!!!

Never mind that this isn't my first choice -- I definitely want it if I don't get my first choice. Perhaps I didn't make it clear that I was interested? I decided to call and make sure they knew.

Me: Hi, N, this is me. I was there for an interview last week?
N: Oh, yes, how are you?
Me: Fine thank you. I was just wondering about the status of the position? I wanted to let you know that I'm very interested in it.
N: Thank you. Well, we're still interviewing some people, so we haven't made any decision yet, but we were definitely impressed with your resume and your interview, so it's more positive at this point than negative.
Me: Oh, okay, because I saw that you posted the job again, so I wondered if perhaps you weren't that satisfied with the candidates you'd seen so far.
N: No, but we changed the job requirements slightly, so we just want to see who's out there with all the necessary qualifications.
Me: And you do remember that I have a lot of experience in both aspects?
N: Yes, indeed, but we just want to make sure we've seen who's available.
Me: Okay, great, thank you for letting me know that.
N: Thank you very much for calling; we'll be in touch with you.

Okay, now I feel a certain relief. Both knowing why they feel they should keep looking for the moment (misguided as that is!), and feeling sure I've now made my interest clear. At the interview, there had been a possibly inopportune discussion (initiated by the over-confident yours truly) regarding the risk level of this smallish company, which I thought might have given them the impression that I preferred a big company, so it's possible that this concerned them, and I wanted to erase that concern.

I've done what I can there, and now I must sit and wait a bit longer for Company No. 1. I'll probably need to call them by Thursday to see what the status is.

UPDATE--> Got a call this afternoon from Company No. 1!! HR woman (who interviewed me the first time I was there) said, "First of all, if you get a rejection letter in the mail, just ignore it; it was a computer error." Okaaaay. And? "Do you have any references you can give me?"

ALRIGHT, now we're talkin'. I gave her my one reference phone number, the guy who managed me before the dot.com bubble completely exploded in 2001. Good enough, I hope. I'm into the finals, people!!