I have to start off tonight by paying my respect to the greatest Dungeon Master of them all, Gary Gygax, who passed away today. He wrote the book on Dungeons and Dragons, literally. He created the rule set and the world in which I spent my youth, my teenage years, my young adulthood, my wild twenties and now my early midlife crisis. Guess you can say that he was a rather strong influence on my life. How else was I to learn about mythology, epic legends and the fact that clerics can’t use edged weapons and are thus totally lame? In honor of Gary I ask that everyone roll their twenty sided die in honor of the legend himself. No modifiers added, please.
(What do you mean you don’t have a twenty sided die? How do you settle melee combat situations? I bet you’re the type of person who doesn’t even take into account the weight of the gold you gain during a dungeon crawl to the encumbrance of your character. Just go off and play Parcheesi if you want to be that way.)
Today has been a weird day, desire of wanting to sit down and discuss when saving throws are appropriate aside. That happens when you start the day by getting your taxes done. Yes, despite the fact that I a) have an MBA in Finance and b) enjoy numbers more than almost anything other than wielding enchanted swords against hordes of kobolds I pay someone to do my taxes for me. It is horribly lazy but at least it started due to a very good reason. My first year out here I found myself facing my tax forms knowing that I had lived in three states and worked in a fourth over the past year and had no idea what forms to fill out. Once you get started not filling out the paperwork it is a tough habit to break.
That said, it is sad that I continue to do it given that nothing changes and I could just do the forms myself. Of course, next year I’ll have to see someone as I’ll be switching jobs, states and maybe even buying a place. Maybe I am just trying to take into account the outsourcing of my life. At some point it is worth money to have someone do in an hour that which would take me most of a Saturday afternoon.
My interview went well, or at least I thought it did as I have a horrible history in predicting the results of these things. As always my goal is simply to make it to the next stage and I hope that I achieved that plateau. The interesting thing about the whole thing is how quickly I shook off the interview rust and was back to my confident, enthusiastic self. It hit me while I was preparing last night. Ok, I’ll need to explain the preparing part as it involves more than just listening to Jeff Buckley over and over again.
In order to feel comfortable in an interview I need to sit down with a good idea of what I am going to say. Not only do I review my resume I check my old performance reviews to find items that I don’t even remember accomplishing. It just helps to refresh my memory. Then I’ll start practicing answers. “Tell me about yourself”, “What are your weaknesses” “Why should I hire you”. I walk around my apartment answering those questions out loud. Yes it makes me look like an idiot but it is surprisingly effective.
Well, last night I turned a corner. While looking in the mirror while giving my spiel I realized that I was excited and psyched to be interviewing. I dig the position I’m interviewing for, I like the company and I so want the change and the challenge. That was a great feeling that I haven’t had for a very long time. When I get my confidence it is a beautiful thing. Not as beautiful as a well cast Fireball spell but nothing in life is perfect.
(What do you mean you don’t have a twenty sided die? How do you settle melee combat situations? I bet you’re the type of person who doesn’t even take into account the weight of the gold you gain during a dungeon crawl to the encumbrance of your character. Just go off and play Parcheesi if you want to be that way.)
Today has been a weird day, desire of wanting to sit down and discuss when saving throws are appropriate aside. That happens when you start the day by getting your taxes done. Yes, despite the fact that I a) have an MBA in Finance and b) enjoy numbers more than almost anything other than wielding enchanted swords against hordes of kobolds I pay someone to do my taxes for me. It is horribly lazy but at least it started due to a very good reason. My first year out here I found myself facing my tax forms knowing that I had lived in three states and worked in a fourth over the past year and had no idea what forms to fill out. Once you get started not filling out the paperwork it is a tough habit to break.
That said, it is sad that I continue to do it given that nothing changes and I could just do the forms myself. Of course, next year I’ll have to see someone as I’ll be switching jobs, states and maybe even buying a place. Maybe I am just trying to take into account the outsourcing of my life. At some point it is worth money to have someone do in an hour that which would take me most of a Saturday afternoon.
My interview went well, or at least I thought it did as I have a horrible history in predicting the results of these things. As always my goal is simply to make it to the next stage and I hope that I achieved that plateau. The interesting thing about the whole thing is how quickly I shook off the interview rust and was back to my confident, enthusiastic self. It hit me while I was preparing last night. Ok, I’ll need to explain the preparing part as it involves more than just listening to Jeff Buckley over and over again.
In order to feel comfortable in an interview I need to sit down with a good idea of what I am going to say. Not only do I review my resume I check my old performance reviews to find items that I don’t even remember accomplishing. It just helps to refresh my memory. Then I’ll start practicing answers. “Tell me about yourself”, “What are your weaknesses” “Why should I hire you”. I walk around my apartment answering those questions out loud. Yes it makes me look like an idiot but it is surprisingly effective.
Well, last night I turned a corner. While looking in the mirror while giving my spiel I realized that I was excited and psyched to be interviewing. I dig the position I’m interviewing for, I like the company and I so want the change and the challenge. That was a great feeling that I haven’t had for a very long time. When I get my confidence it is a beautiful thing. Not as beautiful as a well cast Fireball spell but nothing in life is perfect.
1 comment:
Fun to read about someone else's interviewing experiencing. :)
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