The Film Noir Experience

Today, I feel good. I've been having all sorts of weird dreams, many of them very Harry Potter-esque. I'm thinking of starting a dream journal. (And, I have the perfect blank book to do it in, given to me by a very good friend of mine before I moved here in the first place.) The problem with starting a dream journal is, that to really get the jump on writing things down, you have to wake up and really write them down instead of trying to hold on to the dream, squeezing your eyes shut and pretending to not be awake.

Although the sun has not, in fact, come out today, I feel like it has. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Starting next week, I will be working at a furniture store. An international furniture. One that shall remain nameless, but I'm sure it won't take you long to guess. I aced the interview. I walked out of it yesterday knowing they were going to offer me the job. Some of my answers were so good that they made part of the interview question set (that they have to ask every potential new hire) redundant. Clearly, you don't get to be a lead at the bookstore by not learning a thing or two about how to organize yourself, your time and other people.

I was thinking on the bus ride home about how Academia and Retail aren't that different. (Although, I bet Academia is cringing at the comparison.) The whole point of retail is to sell things. To put them in the right place, in the right package in order to attract the customers' eyes and to shift units. One of the many things one does in Academia is to appropriately package ideas, put them in the right place, express them in the right way in order to convince other Academics of the veracity of their claims (or, at the very least, to convince them of the rigorousness of their methodology.) They both require that you get really good at a particular skill set. And, while those skill sets definitely have their difference (I've never once been asked to count back change in the classroom) the skill sets do overlap in some ways. Maybe I'm just trying to convince myself that I'm not completely wasting my time. Or, maybe I'm on to something.

But, that's not the only reason I feel like the sun has come out.

John's and my friend Gav has found a kitten. There has been some discussion about whether or not we are allowed to have pets in the house. But, Gav called up today and asked," Did you say you wanted a cat?" Why, yes. I answered. "Because, we've got this kitten that's been hanging out the back now for three days and no one has come looking for it. So, if you want it..."

Now, I obviously have to get the input of a number of people before I take the little beast off of Gavin's hands. But, I have to go pay the rent today and since I do that by walking over to my landlord's house, I'm going to ask him what he thinks. Also, I'm going to have to ask John and Housemate what they think as well.

Even if it doesn't work out, today is still a good day.