Freight trains, dinosaurs, and second jobs

I had a job interview on Friday. No, I'm not leaving the museum, but I applied some time ago for part-time job as a vet technician for Second Chance animal sanctuary. They're a no-kill shelter for cats and dogs rescued from Animal Control.

I did the math and realized I haven't done any vet work in 19 years. I wish I could dig up some photos of me on the job at the old Timberlyne Animal Clinic in Chapel Hill in 1992. I'll see what I can dig up. Anyway... I learned it all from scratch on the job the first time, I figured I could pick it up again pretty easily, and I've been wanting to do some work that would "give back" to the community in some way. This way I could give back and get paid for it at the same time. I guess that sort of blows the whole concept of giving back, but at this stage in my life, it would be helpful to get paid to Do Good.

I met Jack, who runs the place, and the first thing he asked me was "Why on Earth do you want this job?"

I guess that should have been a clue that things were a bit off. But I talked with him for 15 minutes or so before I realized I was interviewing for something completely different than I thought I was. Somehow my resumé got put in the stack of interviews for a full-time office manager position, which of course I'm qualified to do... rather over-qualified, I like to think ... but there's no way I could manage and keep my current job, which Jack mentioned. It was at this point that I realized the mix up and told him I was there for the tech job.

"Ooooooh! Man!" He said, "I just hired a bunch of techs last week! You would have been perfect!"

Sigh. Well. The bad news is I didn't get the job. The good news is that I'm hopefully a shoe-in when another tech position opens up... whenever that is. In the meantime, I may try to get out there and do some volunteer work. The animals looked at me so eagerly when I drove up. They all seemed to be saying "Take me Home!" There was one black kitty in particular. He looked like Skeezix (the long-haired black cat Gray and I had that now lives with him), but he had one eye. I would name him Odin, and take pictures of him in a big slouchy hat.

I'm inspired to get a second job because I want to speed up the pay-off time on my debts. I paid off one big credit card bill with my tax refund, but I'd like to get all the rest of the debt paid off as soon as possible so I can get fit to buy a house in a couple of years. Last week Bob told me he got the official letter from his last creditor: he is now officially and completely debt free. I would like to know what that feels like. I started racking up debt in 1992 when I put lein on my parents' van to pay for my last semester of graduate school and I've never really paid it off. That loan got rolled into something else that got rolled into something else, and essentially I've been paying off one long loan since I was about 23. I'd say 20 years of debt is enough.

Things are busy and hectic right now, so I'm pretty glad at present that I don't have a second job. The one I have is wearing me out.

I pulled two twelve-hour days last week: Tuesday for a trade show for which at least I had good company (my compadre and dear friend Michael from the Fred Jones museum whose company always makes work light); and Thursday to emcee a Wine and Chocolate event that got postponed from the week before due to the crazy weather. This is the third "Wine and (fill in the blank)" event I've emceed, and though they are fun, they are exhausting. It's like being the host of a party, only with a microphone, and you have to be all smiley and chipper and jolly everyone along. It is fun, and it makes me feel like I must be really charming and witty, though probably people are just being nice. It wears me out, however, especially at the end of an already long and busy day.

Yesterday wasn't a twelve hour day, but it felt like one. We announced a new dinosaur at the museum, and I spent all afternoon shuttling reporters up to the vertebrate paleontology collection to interview the curator. (click here to learn more about the dinosaur!)Today was more of the same all through the morning, partly for the dinosaur news and partly for media previews of the new permanent exhibit we're building (Black Mesa).

All in all, the past week or so felt like a freight train. Heavy and moving fast. I'm afraid I no longer thrive on that sort of pace the way I did when I was younger. I like to stay busy, but I no longer have to prove how many flaming swords I can juggle. I'm old and wise enough now to realize that juggling flaming swords is highly overrated and exhausting, and everybody's way more interested in the swords than in your skill at juggling. In fact, mostly nobody notices you're juggling them at all unless you drop one.

I wanted to get more photos and stuff in this post, but it has taken me three days just to get it finished, so I'll leave it as is for now. I'm too tired to be witty or graphically interesting. I'll try to be wittier next time around.