The Surreal Life

As I was walking to my car today from my last interview of the day - a very frank and revealing one I must say - a man decided to be social with me. Now if you are a loyal reader you know that I am normally adverse to strangers striking up conversation with me. Not because I think I am a mean person, but because I can be ridiculously shy (yes, its true). He commented on my being all dressed up, and I was somewhat flattered when he had to ask whether I was being interviewed or whether I was the interviewer. We walked along on what turned out to be an overcast, grey, and windy day and he asked where I was from. When I said Houston he perked up and told me that he had clerked for a judge there back when the 5th circuit stretched from Texas to Florida. I knew this man was a professor since I had seen him before, and so I did my best to be social.
Then he made a comment about how life leads you in so many directions you never expect. I thought about how true that is and asked him where it had led him. And as he began to tell me I felt smaller and smaller. He told me how from Houston he had gone to UC-Berkley to teach. And then to D.C. to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Black. And then he had worked at a major law firm in D.C. And then had been tapped by President Johnson to work in the maritime administration. And he had hosted a radio show, and worked for the FCC, and ran for Congress. I'm sure I missed something in there, and may have gotten the order wrong, but he did all those things. And I thought to myself...wow. I say it made me feel small, but really it just made me wonder if I could even achieve half so many things in my life. At this point I'm just praying that someone gives me a job next summer in Chicago. The praying became even more fervent after I received the dreaded "Thanks, but no thanks" letter from my top choice firm- the one I had had the best interview with. I feel like I stare at my phone all day willing it to ring and some recruiter telling me they want me to come for an office visit. I freak out when I think what will happen if November 1 comes and I don't have anything. But somehow the musings of this professor made me feel a little better. Cause things always work out somehow. Even if no one wants me, Im sure I can find something to do for the summer. So I have to say the combination of the weather, the last interview of the day, and the wise professor who has done so much with his life made for a seriously surreal moment.
As a side note that is totally unrelated...I hear that three men from my hot list, and one of them being the OMD, were joking a few days ago about how they were all hot and how "some gay guy" had said they all were. Now I have been assured that the some gay guy comment was not derogatory, they just either didnt know my name or didnt want to admit it. Which is funny since I have class with all 3 of them. I even sit next to one. I'm told the OMD - Erik Axelson for any new readers - knows who I am, and if he doesn't he should have figured it out with all I stare at him in class. But I'm not sure if the other two know. But anyways...don't let it go to your heads if you are on my hot list. It's a priveledge no doubt, but it says nothing at all about your personality, and if that's bad it could totally wipe out any attraction. And if you are on my hot list feel free to say hi. I don't bite or molest those who aren't willing to participate.