Make plans for the future but live in the now. Paco Pena and the job search.

[webcowgirl]

I have a job interview today, and I'm dressed fairly nicely (but not too well, like not, "Hey, she's in a suit" well) in a red and black paisley silk shirt and smooth black cotton side zip pants. I think it says "IT professional, but not a banker." Basically, they'll see the hair and either they'll run or they won't, and I don't have suits, so there you have it. Pretty, clean, neat, coordinated. I'll try to scrape the remainders of the nail polish off while I'm on the tube. After my interview tonight, I'll be off to the Great London Beer festival to drown my sorrows - which I'm happier to report are certainly less than they were this time last week. Hopefully I'll see indigo_violet there - anyone else I might expect?

Last night's Paco Pena show was quite good, though it was really more about music than dancing (as I had wrongly thought). The first half was more "performance," with the second half focused on more straight music and virtuoso solo dance. I realized, though, that something that was bothering me about most of the dance was that the dancers were not only not making eye contact with each other, they weren't looking at the musicians. For me, one of the best aspects of flamenco is the improvisational aspects of it, and I only really saw that twice, once during a "everybody make rhythmn with what you've got" piece that looked like it was set in a bar, with everyone sitting down around tables, and a second time during the encore, when the oldish lady who'd been singing got in the middle of the circle of performers and cut the rug.

The other thing that bothered me is that there was a gaggle of teenaged girls sitting behind me that laughed at one of the dancers. I think it seriously broke his concentration, and I would have just stormed off. I don't know why they were even there if they didn't like that style of dance. I mean, yeah, sure, he was short, and with his shiny red boots on he looked a bit like Prince, and at one point I did think he looked a bit like a character out of Bugs Bunny, but I ached for him, and I was angry. I did think it was a bit sad that Spain got the Flamenco and England got the Morris Dancing, but we can't control how things like Moorish invasions will play out in the long run, can we?

Alas, I was feeling distracted by matters financial during the show and wasn't able to really lose myself due to getting caught up in the magic of My Brain Doing Planning Things. The plumbing fiasco at our house in Seattle is going to cost us over £1000 to fix, and while this wouldn't be catastrophic in normal circumstances, it's happening at the same time as the end of the free ride on the zero percent credit card. We need to have it all paid off by the end of next month, and while we probably could have done it without this expense, now it's just not possible. So I was sitting in Sadlers Wells, juggling mentally between our different bank accounts (where money lives) to our various credit cards (where money dies), and realizing I can't afford to take a job that's going to mean a £8000 pay cut, no matter how much less stress it is, because I just can't afford it. Maybe I could in October, but I can't now. I also figured out we probably can't afford to go anywhere over the bank holiday. We have big sucking debt that needs to be paid off NOW, and the £500 a month we've been using to chip away at it since shadowdaddy got his job hasn't done it in quite the style I'd like.

So I sent an email to the recruiter and cancelled the interview. I'm back down to one now.

Weekend away in Devon this weekend; car rental plus hotel plus kayaking, adding up to a bit more than I really want it to. Grr. I'll do my best to enjoy myself, anyway. I want to do lots more kayaking, though - I really miss being outside!

Comments

[dimitra.livejournal.com]

outfit sounds great -- it's a fine balance between dressing 'appropriately' for interviews/etc and still being yourself, and it sounds like you've done great. fingers crossed!!

so, whereabouts in beautiful devon are you coming to??

[webcowgirl.livejournal.com]

We're going to be in West Lulworth? Easy access to kayaking in Lulworth Cove, which is the whole point of the trip!

[dimitra.livejournal.com]

ah - right! dorset then :-) (close though)
i've heard it's really lovely, i'm sure you'll have a great time!

[angeoverhere.livejournal.com]

Oooh, that's where I used go on holidays as a child! The whole area is absolutely gorgeous, and I can imagine, really interesting to see from the POV of the sea, as it were.

[nitoda]

See if you think of it correctly, you think "This is costing a lot of money and therefore I will enjoy it LOTS!" ;-))

[koaloha.livejournal.com]

nay on the paycut possibility

yay on the finding a new better gig

[poh.livejournal.com]

Getting the estimates back and updates on said...I kept saying to myself "THIS IS TEH SUHK."

[irrationalrobot.livejournal.com]

On paycuts: I feel ya. A couple of times in the last year or so, I thought "geez, maybe I should walk." then I thought, "Oh, but then I wouldn't be making as much moolah, which could mean tremendous lifestyle changes."