Last night I attended a friend's birthday celebration.  Jay has been so lovely to me since well before I moved here, I'm lucky to have him. 

Maria started a trend here, and that is to have a trivia contest about the birthday girl or boy, so Rannie and Jay cooked one up for last night.

I won.

I totally cannot believe I won the Jay trivia!  There was a four-way tie for first place but there was a tiebreaker question and, of the three of us who were still in attendance, I came the closest without going over, very Price is Right.  So I won!

I received a bag full of fun prizes, including a signed headshot, a scarf, a mix CD, peanut butter (possibly my favorite food), and more.

Since my durn colon had been acting up, I couldn't have dinner out, so Joey and I headed home on the early side so we could eat and do some packing (we leave tonight).  We got on the subway and sat down at the end of the car.

And then I noticed the back of my left thigh felt damp.  Subway cars always smell like pee, but...

Yes, I sat in stranger pee.  How lovely.

I washed as soon as we got home and all was right again.  And I successfully ate dinner.  Not that we packed.  *shrug*

I had a major colon incident late last night.  I'm sure it's stress; reunion on top of jobsearch woes.  Now I am hungry and afraid to eat, not a fun combination.  But this is the first time I've had any trouble in weeks.  And it's always at night.  Hrm.

I guess I did wanna talk about it.

Spending a little more time at Top 10 right now, but making sure to keep up with the jobsearch - must maintain all priority projects.  Added priority project for today and tomorrow: packing a suitcase.  I want to take my entire wardrobe, because I have no idea what the weather will actually be (Boston in June changes by the minute).  However, it's only a three-night trip, so I need to set a limit.

The cilantro is dead.  Wah.  I couldn't give it what it needed...whatever that actually was.  Thai basil and chives, both very happy.

Off to search the kitchen for something that doesn't frighten me.

and thank you very much, glug glug.

Why didn't I ever have one of those before?  I like tequila, it tastes salty even when there's no salt (this may be psychological), and juice is nice.

I had two last night at karaoke, the perfect amount, not at all drunk, but singing was easy.  It was a rough day, and I sang Crucify, by Tori Amos, which is a hard song and I did fine and so there, and it's really really angsty and it kind of made me feel better, though it was more the concentration on hitting the notes (as in, forgetting everything else for four minutes) than the actual content of the song.

Plus I came up with a fun idea.

I think we should do a video for Comfortably Numb featuring Rachael Ray and her hand motions.  You know, "Hello... (she waves) is there anybody in there (she pokes her head around and points)?"  I love how cute she is, and sometimes her food ideas are great, but the gesturing is over the top.  And Comfortably Numb is the perfect song for this.  Lots of easily motioned lyrics.

These are the places my mind goes.

I was offered the job, and I just declined.

I have mixed feelings about the actual act of declining, of course, since it was a job, and I don't really have one of those, at least not in Canada.  But it also makes me feel like I am in control of my life, which I didn't feel I would be if I accepted this job.

The guy who wanted to hire me asked me to delete the offer letter he sent, which I have done.  But I have signed nothing, made no oral agreements not to disclose anything, etc.  However, I am sensible and am not going to tell you his name or the company name.

The job was to write what would amount to splogs. 

I am a blogger.  I've been blogging for about three and a half years in various venues and modes.  I've blogged for myself, and I've blogged for my employer.  I've guest-blogged on other people's sites.  But I've never blogged something that wasn't real.  I've blogged jokes - my favorite blog post ever is probably this one - it actually fooled some people.  And I've left out some things in stories, changed names, whatever, possibly even blogged fiction, but I've always noted when something was done like that.  I've never created a post that was completely fabricated in order to sell something.  And I hope I never have to.

And I won't work for someone I've never met, which the offer letter indicated I would be doing.  I am not interested in working where the company name is not on the door, where the CEO doesn't have business cards, where the company is incorporated offshore...it all seems pretty sketchy to me.  And I never got an email from the guy until the offer letter.  The only communication I'd had when I went in for the interview was a call from the offshore location, which was made with a calling card, so research was incredibly difficult until after I'd met with him.  He had all the info, I had none.  And what I found out over the weekend didn't please me.

I want a job.  Joey has been incredibly patient about my under-employment, and I really want to contribute more to our household.  But I won't do something that makes me feel icky. 

Sure, it was nice to have an interview and be offered a position.  I interview well.  But he was hiring me to write, and he never asked for a writing sample.  Possibly he did the research and found online that I can write.  But I tend to doubt it. 

So, on to the next thing.  It might have been fine.  But it might have been very bad, and I think it's better to decline the job than to go for a week and quit.  I've had ethical problems with an employer before - a long, long time ago - and I did leave the company.  I'd rather have less money and more integrity.

I didn't come home until about 11:30 last night, having left for my appointment at around 1:15 and then thereafter met Joey and a friend for dinner.  I spent the time between (since the appointment lasted a good 25 minutes) at a bookstore, reading most of Lady Oracle (I did purchase it, and will finish likely over the weekend).

I can't tell you much about the appointment yet, but yes, it was a job interview, and that made me feel pretty good, considering it was my first in Canada.  Yay!

I just went to Home Despot (not a misspelling; I love calling it that, for no good reason I can recall) to get a new pot for my cilantro (picky little plant), and picked up a chive plant while I was at it.  Chives, Thai basil and cilantro, yum.  The Thai basil is actually ready for harvest, should we cook something Thai-ish.  It is so much less expensive to grow herbs than to buy them, even with the whole repotting issue (as long as the cilantro survives); $1.69 every time I want fresh herbs is ridiculous when the plant costs $2.99.

Laundry's in, time for lunch.  What are you doing this weekend?