Cafe Hitch-hike

2004-11-01

Mixed blessing

The search committee for the southern college had firmed up their plans for me to come down. I just booked my flight... Yee-hah, I feel like such an executive everytime I fly somewhere. I don't know why. However, I tried looking up hotels in their area, but was surprised to learn they were 98% booked. Why? Well, the area got spanked HARD from a recent hurricane. The hotels are now housing evacuees and clean-up crews. I was checking out the college and they, too, got some damage.

Fitting, I thought. My life has been full of rebuilding after storms, whether of my own making or something out of my control. This fits just right with the larger theme of my existence.

Still, I will go and see what there is to see. Maybe I'm hearing things or maybe I sense hints of gladness and interest in the search committee. It's possible that they're just nice people (people in the south are generally more friendly that we stick-in-the-mud Yanks!). Or, my gloomy twin in my head suspects, "the place is trashed from the hurricane! All other candidates bailed when they found out what a mess the place is! Of course they're trying to woo you!" God, I can only hope that's not the case!

One of mis primas cousin Kenna lives in that area. Kenna, love her to death, always had bad luck and everything she ever did wrong turned around and bit her HARD in the ass. She can't keep a job, she had a nice car but one of her baby-daddies wrecked it, and speaking of baby-daddy, she has three kids from three different dads (one black, one white, and one Latino). Kenna lived 3 miles from the ocean, but then got evicted just before one of the big hurricanes. She knew somebody who lived in-land and offered her a place to stay. Her water and electric was out for a few days after the hurricane, but as it turns out, it could've been worse. She drove by the place where she had lived, and it was completely demolished by the hurricane! I guess poor Kenna's luck sort of changed for the better with that eviction notice.

Big Boss at the university library knows about the upcoming interview. This afternoon, he chimed that he knew of a few job openings in this state. That was nice of him to mencion that.

Of course, I know I should just do what works best for me... Maybe staying around here would be, near my family and 2 or 3 friends and my boyfriend, when in Florida I would be starting from ground zero as I have over & over again throughout my life. Believe it or not, that shit really starts getting old after a while. In some ways, it wouldn't matter if I left because I'm not close to many people around here and I rarely see my family. The weather really, really sucks 6 months out of the year, and the state's economy is stagnant. The weather may suck, but at least it doesn't cause mass destruction...

Mixed blessing, mixed blessing. It's not as dramatic as cousin Kenna's, but damn... in some ways it doesn't feel too different, either.

downwind | upstream