Interviewed out

Yesterday I had a four hour long ordeal at the hands of graduate recruitment interviewers. First I had to spend 45 minutes figuring out how to set up a week long management course based on some random memos they gave me and a collection of train and taxi fare information. Then I had to complete another set of online verbal and numerical tests. The kind where you get given a chart that talks about share prices and boring things like that and you get asked to determine which year had the greatest share price/profit ratio or some such inane thing. Having not encountered such things as ratios since year 10 maths a long time ago, it was all a bit of a struggle. The calculator sure got a work out! Then there was the panel interview. Three of them sat there and read the questions off a piece of paper and then diligently wrote down every word I said. The questions were so boring, and not all that different from the ones I had to respond to in the initial online application. I left feeling pretty drained and about as confident of receiving a place as I am about winning the lottery next week - given that I don't buy tickets.

After that was over I rode across town for another interview, this one much less confronting. It's at a premedical specialist school, run by a Korean bloke who clearly is quite desperate because he is willing to put me on despite the fact that I have no experience teaching ESL writing. It's good for me because it's experience, but frankly, as one of his students I would be concerned. I was a bit excited because it is extra cash, but in the end it's not that much money so now I am just doing it for 'the experience' - and also because now that uni is over I have nothing to do with myself in the evenings.

This weekend I am going to Melbourne to pick up a car and drive it back to Adelaide. The car in question is a 1983 Landrover. At least, I think it is. The point is, it's really big and tough, it's a real four wheel drive, it has a canopy and random seats in the back since it is ex-military. Less convenience than novelty factor really. MM and I hit upon the idea of getting one a few months ago and have been searching Ebay ever since for a goodie. I like the idea that I can just hose it out every now and then and it's way too impractical to actually use on a regular basis, it's just for those rainy night trips in the middle of winter when cycling really isn't that safe. And given that MM lives so freaking far away, having a car is becoming a convenience that feels like a necessity. BUT, I still maintain my cycling status, not least of which beacuse the Landy is not technically mine since I am way too poor to pay for it and the petrol to power it.

Too bad it's not a long weekend because it would have been nice to stay longer in Melbourne than just one morning. As it is, breakfast in Brunswick St then on the road back home to Adelaide. Well, I can think of worse ways to spend the weekend!