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Steel Feather
Feb. 25th, 2005 06:33 amFirst, how about another round of truth or fiction (guess which things happened to someone I know and which things someone made up)?
1. In the morning the lady from the job placement agency called to say that his first interview with the company went so well that there would be no second or third interview. The other candidate who had seemed like their star ceased to be a competitor once the writing samples were compared. Because they didn't want to let him get away, they decided to offer him $60,000 instead of offering $50,000.
In the afternoon the lady from the job placement agency called to say the the company president told the interviewers that there wasn't enough money to hire another person. Maybe in three months.
2. She was surprised to see that she had a GPA of 0 for one semester. She went to clear up the problem, but they explained that she had been sick that semester.
"But I came back and took all the finals and had A's and B's that semester."
"No, it says right here that you were sick."
Therefore, she had never earned her degree. She could no longer claim such on her resume. She decided the master's degree she had earned afterward might come in handy after all.
3. Finally he got a schedule with Saturdays and Sundays off. Unfortunately, his new hours were 5 am to 1 pm.
4. Not only did they confiscate the sticker on the envelope of the letter the prisoner had received, they forced him to sign a form stating that the sticker was contraband and that he wanted them to destroy it.
5. He thought he might like to join the ranks of volunteers who help the National Weather Service spot severe weather. Good as their instruments are, there are some things that humans just do better.
6. Staff of the federal government who are knowledgeable on an issue are not allowed to make suggestions. They are not even allowed to ask questions. It is their job to massage the data to fit the plans of whoever is currently in power.
**
I got an interesting compliment yesterday: someone was impressed that I had misspelled his (four-syllable Greek) name phonetically.
Then in ballroom dance class I got another compliment from a fragile partner (hip replacement surgery). He told me that he liked dancing with me because I had a frame like a feather. A steel feather. (He meant that I don't lean on him too hard or make him hold me up, yet my arms are rigid enough that it's easy to lead me.)
He also told me he'd been wondering whether our social ballroom dance club should expand into doing competitions. He says different things motivate people to learn. I agreed that preparing for a competition does help you get better. And getting better can help you have more fun. Unless you're the type who turns into a mirror-magnet self-obsessed intolerant jerk.
(Once during practice after a lesson at a competition, I saw someone accidentally spin his partner into oblivion. She asked him "WHAT the F**K are you DOING?" Duh! He was trying to learn a new step. He has to be perfect right away? I told my partner that if I ever said anything like that to please slap me.)
Another problem I've personally had with competitions is that there were many, many more interested women then men. This led to the women clawing and scratching their way over each other to snatch the men. I found this behavior revolting. (Also, I'm not good at it.) I would instead try grooming a regular man into a man interested in competing (which I'm also not good at); the first time I did that, another woman snatched him anyway.
Web journal entry recommendation: A Roomba of One's Own from Tomato Nation - Read, in graphic detail, about what's wrong with some kinds of housework. "Even replacing the words of the Hallelujah Chorus with "I-I-I-I-I-I hate sweeping" and "stuu-uu-uupid kibble" doesn't help!" "Does [the refrigerator] always smell like that, but it's cold, so I don't notice? Because it smells like a basement. A basement in Pickleville, in the state of New Onionshire, in the People's Republic of Wilted Romaine Lettuce"
**
1. Truth.
2. Fiction. I dreamed that, probably processing the situation in #1.
3. Truth.
4. Truth.
5. Truth (the Skywarn program).
6. Fiction. I hope! (Stephen Bury's Cobweb)
1. In the morning the lady from the job placement agency called to say that his first interview with the company went so well that there would be no second or third interview. The other candidate who had seemed like their star ceased to be a competitor once the writing samples were compared. Because they didn't want to let him get away, they decided to offer him $60,000 instead of offering $50,000.
In the afternoon the lady from the job placement agency called to say the the company president told the interviewers that there wasn't enough money to hire another person. Maybe in three months.
2. She was surprised to see that she had a GPA of 0 for one semester. She went to clear up the problem, but they explained that she had been sick that semester.
"But I came back and took all the finals and had A's and B's that semester."
"No, it says right here that you were sick."
Therefore, she had never earned her degree. She could no longer claim such on her resume. She decided the master's degree she had earned afterward might come in handy after all.
3. Finally he got a schedule with Saturdays and Sundays off. Unfortunately, his new hours were 5 am to 1 pm.
4. Not only did they confiscate the sticker on the envelope of the letter the prisoner had received, they forced him to sign a form stating that the sticker was contraband and that he wanted them to destroy it.
5. He thought he might like to join the ranks of volunteers who help the National Weather Service spot severe weather. Good as their instruments are, there are some things that humans just do better.
6. Staff of the federal government who are knowledgeable on an issue are not allowed to make suggestions. They are not even allowed to ask questions. It is their job to massage the data to fit the plans of whoever is currently in power.
**
I got an interesting compliment yesterday: someone was impressed that I had misspelled his (four-syllable Greek) name phonetically.
Then in ballroom dance class I got another compliment from a fragile partner (hip replacement surgery). He told me that he liked dancing with me because I had a frame like a feather. A steel feather. (He meant that I don't lean on him too hard or make him hold me up, yet my arms are rigid enough that it's easy to lead me.)
He also told me he'd been wondering whether our social ballroom dance club should expand into doing competitions. He says different things motivate people to learn. I agreed that preparing for a competition does help you get better. And getting better can help you have more fun. Unless you're the type who turns into a mirror-magnet self-obsessed intolerant jerk.
(Once during practice after a lesson at a competition, I saw someone accidentally spin his partner into oblivion. She asked him "WHAT the F**K are you DOING?" Duh! He was trying to learn a new step. He has to be perfect right away? I told my partner that if I ever said anything like that to please slap me.)
Another problem I've personally had with competitions is that there were many, many more interested women then men. This led to the women clawing and scratching their way over each other to snatch the men. I found this behavior revolting. (Also, I'm not good at it.) I would instead try grooming a regular man into a man interested in competing (which I'm also not good at); the first time I did that, another woman snatched him anyway.
Web journal entry recommendation: A Roomba of One's Own from Tomato Nation - Read, in graphic detail, about what's wrong with some kinds of housework. "Even replacing the words of the Hallelujah Chorus with "I-I-I-I-I-I hate sweeping" and "stuu-uu-uupid kibble" doesn't help!" "Does [the refrigerator] always smell like that, but it's cold, so I don't notice? Because it smells like a basement. A basement in Pickleville, in the state of New Onionshire, in the People's Republic of Wilted Romaine Lettuce"
**
1. Truth.
2. Fiction. I dreamed that, probably processing the situation in #1.
3. Truth.
4. Truth.
5. Truth (the Skywarn program).
6. Fiction. I hope! (Stephen Bury's Cobweb)