Job status

Well, I just about have a job. Sullivan High School offered me their math opening, and I have accepted their offer. Now the decision lies with the school board, which meets on June 21. So, presumably as early as June 22, I may have a contract to sign.

Now, God leading me to this school is somewhat interesting. Sullivan is the county seat of Sullivan county, and has a population of about 4500. That's only two zeros, for those of you wondering. I know no one in the area, and will be forced to find new residence. I will be at least an hour from Bloomington or Indy, regardless of where I end up living. I have no idea if there is a Spirit-led home church anywhere in the area. So, what is God doing bringing me here? I don't know, just need to keep praising....

Blessed be your name, in the land that is plentiful, where your streams of abundance flow, blessed be your name....and blessed be your name, when I'm found in the desert place, when I walk through the wilderness, oh blessed be your name...

Hell hath frozen over

The Cubs have won two in a row.

I found the job...ish

So, I had my second interview in a row today (with one to come tomorrow), and quite frankly, it's my first choice in schools. I like the atmosphere there. It's almost the exact same size as John Glenn (my HS), it's marching band has made the state finals (sound like Glenn?), it's academic decathlon team has won state many times (think Glenn and Spell Bowl), it has a really good basketball team (like Glenn, although Tri-West is preseason #1, which is a little better than Glenn), and the principal was my assistant principal at Glenn my first two years of HS. Oh yeah, the current basketball coach went to Marion for college and played golf (I tried to play for Taylor, but the coach wouldn't let me try out), and said there would be an opening somewhere in the system next year. A current math teacher is actually a Taylor grad, and went to school with Dr. Case, graduating in the same year.

Sounds great, doesn't it? Well, except for one hitch--it was probably my worst interview so far. Whether it was not getting a lot of sleep last night, or nerves because I knew the interviewer, or what, I just didn't feel real good coming out of it. Now, Mrs. Mueller seemed to really warm to me, and made a point to take me by the basketball coaches room after touring the school once already, and we talked about family and Glenn for a while afterwards, but it would have been nice to have felt better about the interview. Maybe it was that there wasn't a conference room with a table, but I was just sitting in a chair in an office--much more naked and vunerable.

So, I've made a habit of praying on my way to interviews (for anything and anyone, pretty much), but after the interview I said a little prayer as well today. God's response was pretty much--praise me. Right now. The song Blessed Be Your Name came to mind--blessed be His name in the good and the bad. So, I don't really know what that means, but I spent the car ride home with my iPod singing praise songs. Should find out about this job on Friday, or sometime shortly thereafter...

Halfway through the gauntlet

I have successfully completed two interviews and a swing dancing performance, a large part of my crazy week. By successful, of course, the interviews were finished without any major hitches (I actually think both went well), and the performance was spectacular. I don't want to sound cocky or like I'm bragging, but we (Caitlin and I) were really good. Of course, nothing could compare to the internationally known and award-winning quartet that performed, but besides them, we were told we stole the show. It was by far the best KTB and I had danced the songs, and the crowd was really responsive with us. When we did our lift at the end of the second song (I hold her with her leg(s) up in the air to end the song) and our "butt-spin" near the end of the third song, the crowd went nuts. It was just a rush to perform in this way, and to perform well, I'm still on a little bit of a high. The songs keep running through my mind (I'm getting a little sick of them), but I kind of want to do it all again. :) Even Elyssa, who knows swing dancing, admitted it was sweet and we nailed it.

Of course, we can follow that all up with an amazing worship service on Sunday, and it made for a crazy-fun weekend. God is doing some amazing things in that group, including me, and I'm really excited about it. For that matter, God is just really amazing, and He should us a glimpse of Himself on Sunday that was exciting.

To top things off, I nailed the interview today (at least, it seemed like I did), and finish the day off with a really nice (though brief) IM convo with Erin. Anytime an ex tells you you are a really good person, it's hard not to feel good about that and respect that.

God, keep working in me, and keep pushing me to know You more. I want to serve You, wherever that takes me.

Starting the gauntlet

Remember when I talked about having free time because I'm unemployed and not in school? Yeah, scratch that. I lied. The next week is going to be very busy, with lots and lots of driving to do. It all starts tomorrow: I have a lunch date at 11am in Greencastle, followed by an interview at 4:30 in Columbus (exact opposite side of Bloomington), followed by a dinner meeting for my Romania trip. On Friday, I head to Muncie via Carmel for a dress rehearsal for our performance on Saturday. I'll probably end up crashing in Carmel that night, and then KTB and I have our performance Saturday night. I'll probably crash in Carmel again, go to church on Sunday, and then crash in Gas City so I can go to a job interview on Monday near Fort Wayne. I then have to get back for a swing club board meeting in Bloomington that night. On Tuesday, I have an interview west of Indianapolis, and then that night may head back to Indy for Jazz Kitchen that evening. Then on Wednesday, I have another interview, this time near the Illinois border in Sullivan, about 1.5-2 hours away. Then, I can breathe again. So, I'm either going to listen to a ton of music, spend a lot of time praying, or both, as I get real friendly with the inside of my car.

At least the Cubs have started scoring runs again...

A little weird

One of my ex's is getting married in nine days. It's just a little weird to think of someone I've kissed about to be someone's wife. Now don't get me wrong, I'm really excited for her, and in no way wish it was me, but it's still a little freaky. I kind of felt the same way when the bum was good friends/almost dating another of my ex's. What would it be like to be at/in a wedding where you've made out with the bride?

If nothing else, it just reaffirms my desire to make sure I treat any woman I date properly, especially in the physical sense. Do I like the idea of my (hypothetical) bride-to-be kissing/making out with anyone else? Not especially. I'm not especially proud of how I've handled physical intimacy with my previous friends, and that's too bad. Not that I've done anything ghastly or anything, I'm just somewhat introspective... If I ever enter into another relationship, I do hope I have more discipline and a little better perspective with regards to our physical relationship.

Perks

Being unemployed and without a life has its perks, I guess--that, of course, being a little bit of freedom. Last night after church, Caitlin and I came back to Carmel High School (how cool is it to walk around a stranged high school at 9pm on a Sunday night?) to work on a dance routine we need to do next Saturday in Muncie for her dad's barbershop concert thingy. Anyway, we put forth a good solid two hours of work going over stuff for three songs, but we really only did about 2.5. So, we need to spend some more time practicing, and with job interviews and whatnot, Monday or Tuesday are the only days to do that. As such, I crashed here tonight, and KTB and I will get together after school to continue working on it. The other advantage is that I can stop in and see the math department chair, as there will be numerous (and possibly in calculus) openings this summer at Carmel. So, I basically have two books with me to read, some Romanian I can study, and Elyssa's computer with which to amuse myself for the next 5 hours. I think I can handle this.... :)

Settlaz of Catan

Had a fun game of Settlers last night, intermixed with a crying, hungry, wet baby. It was a very interesting game, although I misplayed it rather well, unfortunately. I jumped out to a huge lead, which is always dangerous, and actually fell behind a little bit, before eventually hitting the 12-point mark (13 to win). Four turns later, I still hadn't won. I was one resource away at one point (if I could have traded a wheat for a wood, a brick, or a sheepity sheep sheep, I would have won). When last place hit his 5/36 chance to win (by drawing a merchant because he rolled a yellow on the event die) and came from behind to win, I would have won on the next turn as well. So aggravating. I'm too greedy--too much pride...I am renown in my office for playing Magic well by being just out of site until all of a sudden I win, and yet I don't do that at all in Settlers. I'm smarter than that...

Does this make me nerdy for blogging about this? Or am I irrevocably nerdy as it is?

Another interview next week, probably on Thursday...in the Bloomington area. And another the following Wednesday in Sullivan--apparently that first interview didn't go as poorly as it felt.

Sordid tales of job searching

Ok, maybe not so sordid. Assuming I actually know the definition of sordid, at least, which is probably iffy at best.

Anyway, I got a call from the Mississinewa principal on Monday night, giving me her home phone to call her. Keep in mind, she said they would let us know about the most recent job opening a week ago yesterday. Well, I didn't get the message until after 10, so I called her about 9am at school the next morning. Apparently she went home sick, and so never got the message. So, I called her house then last night. Apparently, they gave the job to someone else (possibly the only other person they interviewed, assuming I understood her tenses right). But, they were so impressed by me that she spent the last week trying to convince the superintendent to find a way to hire me as well, in whatever way that worked out. Ultimately, though, she was unable to do so.

So, I'm a wonderful candidate that they want on their staff at almost any costs, except not good enough to get the actual job I was interviewing for. Sounds about right. What was this other candidate(s) like? Anyway, I'm choosing to view this (and the vague excuse given to me at Glenn) as despite my qualifications, God is saving me for a specific purpose, and so I'm getting lots of weird, vague denials. Is it possible to say that sentence and have it not be prideful?

Ow

I stopped by the health center today to get my first set of shots for my trip to Romania: tetanus in my left arm, Hep A/B combo in the right. The doc said the Hep will hurt more immediately, but the tetanus one will really be sore tomorrow. Apparently tomorrow comes early...it's starting to get stiff and sore already. Almost as if it's about 15% numb...feels a little dead and heavy. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

On an unrelated note, anyone know a good place to get guitar picks? I think I'm going to buy like 10 of them, just to keep me in stock for a while...

Final grades

So, my grades are due to be submitted at 3pm today. However, I don't have the curve for the final yet. Any guesses on when you think I'll be getting that curve?

Had another interview yesterday. Actually, it was a kind of pre-interview interview, just so the principal could get to know me a little better. As such, he asked some questions that I was completely unprepared for. I think it went alright, but we'll see if I get a call-back on Monday for another interview. Barbara thinks that I'm not going to get a job until late in the process, just because God will want to test me some. What fun...

Revisiting my kid(s)

So, apparently this saga is not over with. *sigh* I received a huge packet in the mail from the Monroe County Prosecutor, who is apparently now in charge of extricating the funds from my bank account. Anyway, the packet contains a lot more information, which makes things less and less me. :) So, general info that may be of interest:

My kids are Kristopher (born in 1990) and Kyle (last name is not Alspaugh, born in 1987). Just a reminder, I was born in 1980.

My middle name is apparently Patrick.

My divorce was finalized on February 22, 1994. No word on how long we were married...

None of the nine digits on my social security card correspond to the digits in my SSN according to the State of Michigan.

It also appears like I haven't paid at least some of my child support since 1997.

Oh yeah, I wasn't born in 1980. I was born on April 4, 1968. Apparently I was held back a few years (decades) in high school.

I tried to stop by the office this afternoon, but no one answered the phone. When I stopped by, the office was locked up. It looked like there was some voting that took place there today, so maybe it was closed or relocated for the day. We'll see what happens tomorrow...