Job job job job

Went out to eat tonight with a candidate for a tenure-track opening in our department. There were five of us at dinner, and the conversation was plentiful. The food was fine. She'll be busy tomorrow with meeting after meeting, some presentations, then socializing tomorrow night.

Reminds me of January 30 & 31, 2005. Drizzly, cold, grey weekend. I drove up from Nashville in my father-in-law's truck, thinking to myself, "my lord, there's nothing out here. I mean nothing." I came into town, ran a stop sign, then drove straight to JM's house (he has since moved on, to Gonzaga). He took me around town, we went to eat at La Cabana (that would be the popular 'mexican' restaurant in town), he ordered "El Combo," which was an enormous amount of food. We all had a good laugh over it. I was to stay at the "McComb Apartment," which is a pretty nice room in the attic of one of the campus classroom buildings. I went up there early, and stayed up really late watching cable tv. I remember being glad for the time to myself.

The next day: meetings. Being confused about the way things are arranged in the english department here. Confusion about photocopies. My teaching demonstration, which I remember because I felt really self-conscious in my striped tie & white shirt. I also remember making a few jokes and being thrilled that they seemed to work. Ironically, I taught Chaucer, the author who gives me the most trouble in the entire curriculum. I would end up teaching some of those same students the very next semester.

My job talk was a bomb. They didn't say so, but I was thoroughly dissatisfied with my approach and my performance. Still, I salvaged some by my manner at the podium, the confidence and humor with which I presented myself & my material. It's funny to think about how people who are now so familiar to me seemed so different back then.

Dinner at Michael's, our (at that point) local steakhouse/sit down--only three or four of us, if I remember correctly. Then a "reception" at the house of one of my current colleagues. It was fun, if a little exhausting for introverted ol' me. I went home thinking that perhaps I'd done a good enough job. I needed to have; this was my only option for a full-time job.

A week later, I got the phone call.