How to tell you're not the top candidate from the very beginning of the interview...and, for that matter, during the interview...and at the end, too

• They seat you at the end of the conference table and seat themselves at the far other end.
• They tell you that "you need to get to know their students, not just their statistics."
• When you ask them what their challenges are as administrators, they say "the majority of [our] problem is teachers that come in with low expectations..."
• They read your resume and say, "Do you have any public school experience" with a slight emphasis on public...and a tiny beat right before, as in Do you have any ... public school experience?
• They read your resume and say, "So, you've been working in retail for three years" again with that tiny beat and slight emphasis, as in So, you've been working in ... retail ... for three years.
• They tell you at the end of the interview that you should keep looking, and that the right fit will come along.

6 Random Things About Me

I've read a lot of these around the last few weeks. Here's my own contribution:

1. I have really bad gross motor skills. I trip over nothing (often). I'm terrible at learning sports. And it took me a long time to figure out that I'm just not skilled in the gross-motor-skills department. I am, however, very skilled in the fine motor skills. I can sew, crochet, embroider, scrapbook, draw, sketch, and so on. It's just the big muscles that aren't so great at learning new things.
2. I concentrate better when I'm doing something else. I rarely zone out when listening to a radio show while I'm doing something else (driving, cleaning, cooking, to name a few), but when I'm in the pew listening to the sermon (or listening to the Reading of the Word, or listening to the Pastoral Prayer), I find myself tuned out and thinking about something else entirely. I do concentrate well, however, when I'm singing a Psalm or hymn (as opposed to just listening to the Reading of the Word).
3. I write with my left hand, but I'm pretty ambidextrous overall. Left-handed tasks: Batting, embroidering, eating (fork in left hand), crocheting, writing. Right-handed tasks: bowling, shooting basketballs, using the scanning gun at the cash register. Ambidextrous tasks: using the PDA at work (depends on what my other hand is doing), ironing (when I was learning to iron, the power cord was on the 'back' of the iron, making me hold the iron with my right hand even though I would have preferred to use my left hand at the time...now I can iron with either hand).
4. My favorite color used to be red, but now it's green. I like most shades of green (I hate that puke-green shade called chartreuse or celadon or something), and right now my favorite favorite favorite shade is sage green. In fact, it's been my favorite for about 5 years now.
5. My two favorite seasons are spring and fall. When I lived in Hawaii, it was perpetually summer, and my friends there told me that I'd only visit the mainland during the summer or winter and would miss out on spring and fall (I was a teacher there with only teacher friends). Moving back to the mainland was great for so many reasons, only one of which is seasons! That fall was great because I was out East where (let's face it) fall is so much more shockingly astounding then out West (more trees), because I'd missed fall from the previous year (being on Hawai'i), and because I was falling in looooove.
6. I'm a grammar nerd. I love grammar and parsing and loved my linguistics class from this semester. To that end, I present you with a nerdy grammar fact: My favorite part of speech is the preposition, but since I learned hard-core syntax theory (that's the fancy word for 'grammar'), I'm finding myself more partial to the adverb. It's so mobile, flexible, ungoverned, and surprising.

Thankful Thursday VI

Whew! It's been a rip-roaring week! It's been a rip-roaring fortnight! It's been a rip-roaring month! Sorry about the Thankful Thursday lag...but here's a new edition:

• Jesus and his grace...when I'm feeling happy and when I'm feeling blue
• My family who misses me, calls me, prays for me, and loves my husband
• My husband (we have been celebrating his birthday all month long!)
• My church family
• Church friend Danielle who got married last Saturday...it was a lovely wedding and a great reception
• Excellent weather for the outdoor reception...the rain held off till early Sunday morning when the reception was over!
• That I worked in food services ten years ago in college and learned 1) how to set up a buffet line (chafing dishes, sternos, and all) and 2) how to set up caterers' tablecloths and those skirts that clip on to the side of the table (you know the ones I'm talking about...you see them at Events like wedding receptions and other catered things)
• God's providence for a new job
• God's grace to labor faithfully at this (challenging) new job
• Other church friends that I trust enough to be honest about the challenges of the new job
• God's Word preached faithfully
• The Holy Spirit who keeps teaching me the Truth all week long...He also applies the grace of Jesus to my heart when I'm struggling and/or feeling blue
• The certain knowledge that God is faithful
• The sure and certain faith that God is faithful even in times like these
• Challenging jobs, challenging times, and hurtful seasons that grow compassion in my too-hard heart
• My home...it's standing!
• My little family (the two of us)...neither of us got swept out to sea or buried in rubble recently!
• My extended family...all the near and far that I love and that I'm related to...none of them got swept out to sea or buried in rubble recently!
• We've been able to afford 1) gasoline and 2) groceries even in the midst of galloping price increases
• The government...there is much that's wrong with it (let's be honest, there is!), but they allow outside help when we need it, and they allow us to have opinions that differ from their own