I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that it’s been so hard to find a job, especially with all these ‘office’ jobs I’ve been applying for. I keep forgetting that these people I’m applying with, the hiring people, are the same people who made fun of me and ostracized me in high school, went to more expensive and exclusive colleges than I did, and now are in many ways as foreign to me as another species. Why should I think they’d be eager to help me out now? They look at my cover letter, they look at my resume, they say to themselves, “Well he seems very creative, obviously has some talent there, but he doesn’t have the kind of practical office experience we’re looking for. That’s the breaks, kid.” So they find a junior member of their clan somewhere amongst all the letters and resumes and call him (or her) up for an interview and bingo, c’est fini. Generally speaking, “creativity” is not valued in the office world unless you’re going into advertising or sales, the two bastard sons of the professional sphere. Andy would back me up on this.

Yesterday I roamed around and applied at three places, all 3 more or less simliar to the job I just left. They practically wanted to hire me on the spot at Julius Meinl, but they’re 2-3 weeks from opening. That’s good because I have mixed feelings about working there. For one thing, it seems an inevitable step down in pay from Intelligentsia. Uncommon Grounds cheerfully accepted my application but I’m unsure about immediate openings there. Letiza’s was the best. It would be a coffeehouse I’d love working at. The girls were really friendly with me when I asked for an application, and after I turned it in one of them gave me a molasses cookie for free. It was damn good. I know they treat their employees very well there. Benefits, the whole 9 yards. The major drawback is that Letiza’s is pretty faraway, on the edge of Wicker Park really, and it would be a 45-minute commute to get there every day. I dunno, maybe that would be worth it.

Last night when Andy came home I told him about all this and he gave me some advice. It was good advice, but it made me cranky. I know I need to be more aggressive, pesky even about following up on my inquiries. I have to badger them into either saying “no” or giving me an interview. The thing that bothers me more than anything else perhaps are the way my ‘friends’ (or acquaintances at least) freely offer me all sorts of advice, but not one of them offers me any kind of concrete position somewhere to pursue. I don’t want generalities, I want a specific POSITION I can go after and interview for. I’ve gotten all the advice in the world. And I know it’s mostly through knowing someone that you can actually get a job. Will I end up back at Intelligentsia?

The weird thing is that I’m getting excited about http://www.nanowrimo.org and I’m really thinking about doing it. I don’t have any writing projects going (other than publishing the book, but that won’t happen now till I’ve had a job for awhile again). I have a title already too. “A Blue Fog That You Can Almost See Through.” November 1 through November 30.

So many movies I want to see, books I want to read, CD’s I want to buy. Can’t do any of that. I’m reading “Go Down, Moses” by Faulkner at the moment, and it’s surprisingly engrossing. I remember him being more of a difficult read than this. It’s tricky I mean but it pulls you along. “Naqoyqatsi” opens on Friday at the Biograph and come hell or high water I’m going to see it this weekend.