Being myself

The Preparation.

Tuesday haircut for me and for my mother and Suzy.

The head hunter had sent all kinds of useful info and tips on how to prepare yourself for an interview. Being on time, polite etc etc. But the 'check linked in and the company website to find out more' was a good one to get out of holiday mode and in work mode. I was trying with J different ways of phrasing why I left my last job. Putting Hipster Boss down isn't exactly professional after all.

On the linked in I discovered that the one guy was a bike lover, saying about himself he loved Raw, Honest, Open and Pure. And work life balance. No university degree, but the one level below that. The other guy had two uni degrees, Chemistry and bio-something-technical-ly. They seemed to be running the company themselves. The website was saying something about only wanting the Best testers, and how they were a special kind of people.
I started to get a suspicion that either it would be nothing for me, or just my thing.

J offered to roleplay with me for the interview. That freaked me out so much that after 5 minutes I took him out to go shopping with me. We went to my favourite vintage shop. He got me three outfits that were all so good and different enough I got them all.
Also high heeled shoes and new bra.
That evening DP said that the tight dress with the leather jacket looked very good on me, but not material for formal interview. The blouse/skirt/jacket option safe. The dress with same jacket very elegant while also business-y. So I went for the last dress, sort of a chanel dress.

The Interview
I got there ridiculously early to make sure I did not get nervous in public transport. That gave me time for a walk around (I brought sensible shoes as well). I saw the bike guy arrive in a fancy car, he didn't see me.
No one at reception, so I walked to the canteen to see if I could get a cup of tea. Where the receptionist gladly gave me one.
When the two guys arrived to pick me up they offered me lunch, and were clearly getting some themselves so I accepted. This interview was already different and hadn't even started.
When we did start they tumbled over each other to tell me stories about the company and the people working there.  Bike guy said they had different people working there, people with kids, or people who where struggling to have them. They also made clear that from my CV they could tell I was a good tester, but were looking for the person behind it.
Very different interview! I decided I liked them, left all interview convention behind them and told them bits and pieces about our IF journey and Suzy. Not the DE part, but having to go to Spain. We talked for TWO hours. I did see them exchanging meaningful glances, but they kept talking. When finally the phone rang that the next candidate had arrived we made an end to the conversation, and they asked me when I could start, and if I thought I wanted to. I didn't even need to sleep on it, but first of september I'm still at the seaside, so they said 1st Oct was OK too.

Went home bouncing. Discovered that I really cannot catch a train on sexy heels. Went out for dinner to celebrate with DP and Suzy. Went to sleep. Woke up 3 am my head spinning with the intensity of the conversation we had.
Decided I will bring flowers next time I see BambiEyes, because I got a job for daring to be myself. And of course a big thank you to my readers and writers of their own blogs, for all allowing us and accepting us for who we are.

Summer Holiday with a bad cough.

Summer Holiday mostly uneventful. As in, not very stressful. The long drive to France we did in two stages, staying with friends with a gîte in the Vosges before travelling on to the Jura. Lovely to see them after four years, lovely to introduce our Suzy to them. Turned out they had an addition to their family as well, a rescue labrador, conveniently also called Suzy.
Camping was OK, the new tent so huge you could park your car inside. The weather very hot to begin with, gave me headaches.
Just my silly cough would not clear up. To the point even the teenagers started to ask me if I was OK. But too stubborn to see a French doctor. Even though walking the mountains became harder every day, and carrying Suzy in the back-carrier made me seriously short of breath.
At home two weeks later it turned out I had pneumonia. No wonder breathing was so hard!
Long live penicillin.

Then came windows 10. For a day we believed we lost my laptop. Agonising crawl doesn't describe how impossible it was to work do anything with. But plugging in an ethernet cable, DP's perseverance and another boatload of automatic updates have resurrected it to almost normal use. Lost the webcam, tried everything. Including updating the BIOS.

Then came a headhunter. Pestering me about my CV, couldn't I send an extended version, wouldn't I like this or that company... So this Thursday I already have an interview. Have to get myself out of holiday mode because it sounds promising; a club of independant consultants sharing a network. Doing the test work I want to get back into.

Also, unreasonably excited about this young Dutch girl winning a silver medal on the 100m sprint

Jamaican Shelly-Ann an absolute star, and on top of that her hair in her national colours, love those flowers. While to my eyes Dafne looks so incredibly normal. The Dutch are a silly people, normal is the best thing you can be.

J found out his treatment will take year and a half, five days a week. Starting mid september. This puts him in a bit of a difficult position, as his stay with us was meant to be temporary. He is in Pax's room, and moves to the guest room every other weekend when the boys are here. (the boys have their own bathroom, the guest room shares with us) For the summer that seemed a reasonable way to stay here, but more than a year not so much. But the being occupied 5 days per week makes it difficult to get some kind of job. I suppose we were all hoping he could fix himself this summer/year, then move on to buy own house and find job. O well, plan B will come.

Tomorrow will be my last day of taking penicillin, have to go back to have my lungs listened to.
And on the weekend we will go to the seaside with Suzy and my parents for their annual Suzy-Summer outing.