There's no way in hell that I'm letting my little brother get away scot-free. He's going to drive his ass up from Carlsbad and pack the plastic plates decorated with silly Christmas drawings that we made at school in the '80s as presents for our parents. My dad expects him too, even though he didn't mention my brother in the voicemail. His insinuation: "You'd better get your brother here also. That boy owes me. I've been supporting him while he gets a stable footing in the commercial real estate industry, which isn't paying him enough to survive." It's true. My brother called me a few months ago, sitting in the dark, and asked me, his unemployed sister, to loan him some money so he could get his electricity turned back on.
Thankfully, I have a few prospects looming on the horizon. My neighbor connected me with her cousin who's the Executive Director of a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles that builds projects and develops programs that provide social, educational and economic benefits to disadvantaged groups. Great! I called, left the Executive Director a voicemail, and waited. An hour later, she called back! She explained the exciting project her organization is currently managing, and after reviewing my resume, she wants to meet me next Tuesday afternoon.
Thrilled, I called my friend to tell her the details, "They're revitalizing a funeral home in Los Angeles!" I expected, "Cool, that's pretty amazing!" Instead, I heard an explosion of laughter, then detected breathlessness mixed with laughter and envisioned her teary-eyed on the other end. When I knew she could finally hear me through all of the noise she was making, I said, "I meant rehabilitating a funeral home that's been boarded up for 40 years." Her rumble erupted again, and I couldn't quite hear what she was saying because the laughter was choking her. I continued, "Once completed, the bottom floor will be an early education center for 3, 4 and 5-year-olds, and the top floor will be a free or subsidized medical clinic." That subdued her laughter. Then I moved on to relaying other details, "The Executive Director also told me that the funding for the project has been secured from 9 different financing sources. Their budgets are really tight. They work with about 50 part-time independent consultants, who don't get benefits and once a project is over, these consultants move on." Again with the laughter?! C'mon! I managed to piece together her comments in between her gasps for air, "*exhale* It sounds like *hahahaha!* she's setting you up *lololol!* to be a volunteer!!! *inhale* You're not an employee, no benefits, and then you all scatter when the project's done. *giggle, sigh*" Damn! That does sound like a volunteer, doesn't it?
Tomorrow morning before I head to my parents, a recruiter will be calling me at 8am PST. She wants to conduct a more extensive phone interview with me before she presents me to her client, a company in the dental industry that's based near Santa Monica, as a candidate for the Global Product Manager position. My friend had referred me to her, and the first time I talked to this recruiter on the phone, I felt like a piece of meat. I imagined her hunched forward, salivating, rubbing her hands together expectantly and squinting at me with dollar signs in her eyes. Cha-ching! Ewwww, I feel dirty!
I'm not that excited about it. So I talked to another friend about this prospect. She soothed, "You don't have to make decisions about anything yet because you don't have enough information. Besides, you're not even at a point where you have to make a decision." True, true. "I suggest you just talk to this recruiter and continue to advance your options. I say, 'Ladies' choice.'" Ladies' choice? What? "It's like this..." she said, "You're at a dance, some guy approaches you and asks you to dance. You're not that interested. He's not ugly but he's not cute either. So you go ahead and dance with him and have a good time. Then, Brad Pitt walks in and he asks you to dance. Boom! So now you're dancing with Brad Pitt." Huh? I'm not sure I get what you're... Regardless, what I surmised from the story was that it's better to have as many options available to me so it's "Lady's (My) Choice" as to which direction I choose to go vs. just having to pick from the (n)one-and-only option glaring at me.
Sleepy now. Gotta get to bed so I'm rested and up early for my interview. The last piece of sound advice for the evening from a different friend, "Make sure that you don't have morning voice before your interview. Clear your throat, talk to yourself in the mirror, and sing in the shower." Got it, get rid of the rasp.
BTW, when I'm at my parent's house, I'll take a picture of the Christmas plate I made when I was 8 years old and post it to this blog entry. I guarantee...it's a treasure. Oh, and I'm also going to look for my Thriller album.
CLG
