Hopeful Thursday

My Future Office?
Where I was Yesterday Afternoon

Yesterday I snuck out of work for a couple hours and traveled up to New Hampshire to check out the job opportunity I wrote about a couple days ago.  I met up with my cousin who runs the facility and she took me on a fascinating tour of the place.  I was incredibly drawn to the location and the prospect of working there.  There is a big family connection through the family of my father’s oldest sister but more so would be the chance to finally get back to New Hampshire.  I grew up in the shadow of Mount Monadnock which is in full glorious view from this place.  On a very clear day I can see the tip of Monadnock from my house seventy miles to the south and its almost mockingly calling me home.  I still haven’t decided whether to apply, I’m going to let it stew for a couple of days.  If it was just me I’d already be sleeping on their doorstep pleading for the job but it’s not only me.  I talked it over with my wife who had some serious reservations and not just because of the 33% pay cut I would have to take.  I’ve never worked for a non-profit organization (the Army doesn’t count) and there would be a lot of fund raising required which can get decidedly political.  My wife pointed out that I’ve never been good at politics.  In the Army I refused to play politics as I got higher in rank and this probably cost me professionally.  I refused to curry favor at social gatherings from higher ranking officers such as many of my contemporaries did.  My wife witnessed this so she has reservations about me taking a job where politics might play a big part.  I look at it differently, just because I didn’t choose to play politics doesn’t mean I can’t.  There’s a part of me that wants to take the job just to prove I could be successful at schmoozing (and of course proving my wife wrong).  The biggest draw of the job though is the location and the mission of the organization which I find compelling – something that’s hard to explain to my wife, but I am very drawn to this.  I'm getting way ahead of myself of course because I haven't even applied much less been selected for this position.  I’m sure the firmament of heaven is quaking just a little bit at the thought of me in charge of a location with a chapel though.  When I got home after work I finished watching the last episode of Season 4 of The Wire.  I’m watching this at the suggestion of my son as I’ve said before.  There is incredible acting but the message is so bleak and uncompromising that it really hasn’t connected with me yet, one season to go.  Last night I repaid my wife for seeing Total Recall the night before by seeing Hope Springs with her.  This was a chick flick to its very core – you could have cut middle age estrogen with a knife.  There were two other males in the audience of fifty and I sat down expecting to see the evil male pummeled on screen for two hours.  The funny thing was that I kind of sneaky liked the movie because of the absolutely incredible actors involved.  Most of the screen time was held by Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones and they were electric in a very understated way (is that even possible).  They play a middle aged couple trying to re-energize their marriage through intensive counseling with Carrell (who holds his own in this august company).  Both actors can display complex messages and feelings with a mere gesture and they were both fantastic in this movie.  The first three quarters of the movie were so funny, my wife was laughing out loud to an almost uncomfortable level.  Sadly the movie fails to bring it home in the last quarter and this rests squarely with the writers.  The characters reach a culminating scene with heartrending consequences that is never resolved or explained since the movie ends in a completely different direction.  This could have been something very special but this script failure really tarnishes the effort.  Despite this go see Hope Springs to witness two of our greatest actors at the top of their game.  I had a very funny moment this morning (not fully appreciated by my wife).  When I got up and walked out of the bedroom, Buddy AKA “Pendejo the Escape Artist” walked out of the guest room where he apparently had been snoozing after once again escaping over night from his cage.  He greeted me like, “Hey Dad, ready to start the day?” as if this was a normal thing.  I couldn’t stop laughing while my wife thought this was decidedly less hilarious.  There were no thunderstorms or fireworks last night so I think he’s just decided he likes sleeping in the guest room bed more than his cage.  If he does this again I think my wife will provide him with all the fireworks he could possibly imagine.

Go See It

You Haven't Built the Cage that Can Hold Me!