Well, I did it.  I have officially booked a flight to one the top places on my “to see” travel list - Buenos Aires!!!  Two of my friends from church, J and A, are doing a one-year mission trip in either Argentina or Uruguay next year, so my philosophy is … you know someone, you go!

So I got it approved at work (which is still going quite well) and so next March I’m off to the Southern Hemisphere and my fifth continent (Australia and Antarctica will be the only two left).  Yay!!!!!!  In the middle of winter, I’ll be in the warm sun, drinking Malbec and gorging myself on lots of great steaks.  Sounds perfect to me!

Next on the list - getting enough frequent flyer miles to make it to India … especially since the University will be offering Hindi for the first time this fall, and well, if all else fails, I could understand Bollywood movies better that way!

Bonjour mes amies!   J’ai decide d’ecrire en francais pour quelque mots parce que maintenant je travail au le bureau d’etudes internationale.  And for those of you unlike BP (please don’t edit my poor french!), that means “Hello my friends!  I decided to write in french for some words because now I work at the office of international studies.”

And unlike the title of this post, I’ve had no travails at work yet.  In fact, I really like it (okay, it’s still week two, but hey, I now feel like I can even begin to evaluate it).  Being the office manager may not be horribly sexy, but I’m in front with the receptionist so I see a variety of people each day and get to open boxes with really cool office supplies (what more could one want?).  Additionally, I support the director, so I get to be “in” on things other people may not be aware of (salaries, etc.).  I like being in the know!

And in the know I am - I felt like I needed to go home the first few nights and study!  But it’s been worth it - I feel like I kind of understand everything that goes on in the office now.  Part of that was the wonderful “training” I had - spending an hour with virtually everyone in the office learning what they did, what countries they were responsible for, etc.  And it was during one of these visits that gave me the best feeling about the job so far.  The lady I was visiting with admitted that the pay in the department wasn’t that great, but working with enjoyable people in a good environment more than made up for the money.

That is a good sign.

(And speaking of good stuff, after six months of unemployment, I’m treating myself to New England in all its September fall foilage glory!  Dear BP has created the Squam Art Workshops and I got my acceptance packet in the mail today!  I can hardly wait to meet her and be inspired by all the wonderful and creative people coming from all over the country.  Yay!!!!)

Today I examined my wardrobe in preparation for the new job (Yay! Yay! Yay! I can’t say that enough!). Most everything (well, let’s say 2/3 of everything) still fit, so that was good. And even though my shoe size hasn’t changed, well I couldn’t resist surfing and came upon this link.

GOT A JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I start Monday as the Office Manager for the Study Abroad Office at the University.  YIPPEEEEEEE!!!!!!

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS BABY!!!!!!!!!!

Well, the letter came today.  No job with the law school.

At least my team is on its way to the National Championship game - KU BEAT NORTH CAROLINA!!!!   I’m particularly happy, as I don’t think I could have handled two huge disappointments in one day.

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!!!!!!!!

I was reading the NY Times the other day and there was an article which mentioned how we overcompensate when we’ve been denied something by overindulging later on.

I have taken this information to task.  For instance, for the last 5+ months of unemployment, I have been VERY good financially.  I’ve had to be.  But, you know, there’s always that yearning.  And to keep from eventually going totally nuts, I splurged this last two weeks to stave off that overcompensation when I finally do get a job.

I bought all new underwear - no more faded pastel solids that have accidentally been washed with the brand new dark blue wash jeans.  But instead those great Victoria’s Secret 5 for $25 cotton bikinis filled with polka dots, hearts, stripes and dogs.  I can honestly say I smile when I go to the bathroom now - who wouldn’t with such great undies greeting you!

The other splurge - it’s been on my Amazon wish list for months now - a Time Life 10 disc compilation called ’70s Music Explosion.

Total pop sugar coating.

But oh so good.  Listening to things like the Boogie Oogie Song, Afternoon Delight, YMCA, Hot Child in the City, You’re So Vain and of course, The Pina Colada Song, reminds me nothing more than lazy summer afternoons at the pool, high school girls tanning in their bikinis on the hot concrete decks, Laffy Taffy from the concession stand, and of course all these tunes blaring out over a crackly speaker.

Ah, memories.

I live in a University town, namely a basketball University town. We are Jayhawk Nation. If you have no idea what March Madness is, let me explain … KU made it into the final four teams of the National Championship tournament last night. (We’ll conveniently forget how damn close the score was.)

So if I’ve already spilled the beans about the result, what on earth am I getting at as I write this post?

The God of Basketball of course!

You see, the game started at 4:05 last night. Games usually last about two hours. Church was scheduled to run from 5 to 6. What is a college-based church to do?

Why, have church during halftime of course!

We jokingly said we’d throw the altar cloth over the TV during halftime so we could still worship the basketball gods. Instead, we set up the room so all we had to do was turn our chairs around 180 degrees from facing the TV to facing the altar. Worked for me!

So as the first half wound down, we passed out worship books, the pastor put on his robe, and as soon as the first half buzzer went off, we turned off the TV, took a five second breather (it was a close game the whole way through) and started in on worship.

Highly abbreviated of course. But we even got in communion with champagne in the chalice (optimistic I suppose, but the remains were quickly consumed after we won the game). As soon as the pastor gave the final blessing, the TV came on.

We missed exactly three seconds of the second half.

We’re good, I tell you.

And I know that that extra petition in the prayers - you’re a Jayhawk fan, right God? - sure helped.

Okay, I’ve been waiting to post like FOREVER about this hoping I could just share it as good news, but I’m STILL waiting and need to update my blog, so I’m going to spill the news.

Over three weeks ago I had a job interview for the Marketing Communications Director for a law school one town over (not a bad commute - 30 minutes via non-crowded interstate). My high school boyfriend is a professor there and said I could list him as an additional reference. I didn’t think I’d get an interview to begin with and when they called I thought it was just a courtesy interview.

But when I started re-reading the job posting, well, hey - I DID have what they were looking for. And a legal background (8 years as a big-firm and corporate legal assistant) to boot. I thought the interview went well (especially when the dean said I had an impressive resume - yay!), but I wasn’t predicting anything, because, well, I’ve thought interviews went well in the past and of course I didn’t get hired.

So anyways, a week after I interviewed, my references get calls - 20 minute detailed ones. I’m psyched! Of course, we all know after my last experience that just because your references get called doesn’t mean you get the job. I’m trying not to get too excited.

I had asked about a hiring time frame and they told me about 2 to 2 1/2 weeks. Patience. Patience. Every time the phone rings, I jump. Last Monday the job posting, which had been up all this time, was taken down. Finally, at the 2 1/2 week mark (last Thursday), I leave a message after-hours (so there’s no possibility for an awkward conversation) stating I noticed it had been that long and I just wanted to follow up.

Still nothing.

I’m now horribly jittery from constantly expecting a phone call any minute (either good or bad) and anxiously opening both snail and emails hoping not to find the anonymous thanks but no thanks note.

Desperate, Tuesday I called the high school boyfriend. Had he heard any mumblings at all? Apparently not. However, he did tell me that the lady I left the message with on Thursday night actually started a week-long vacation on Friday. So that explains why I haven’t heard back from her.

Maybe they didn’t make a decision before she left? Maybe personnel is backed up from Spring Break last week? Maybe they don’t send out rejection letters?

I keep telling myself it’s not the end of the world if I don’t get this job - I’ve had another interview since then and plenty of resumes keep being submitted.

But this is a JOB.

It pays more than I thought I would ever make. It’s writing AND design AND web work. It’s a job where I could wear suits (yes, I love suits and dressing up). It’s a real career - something I gave up on a long time ago when I married the corporate ex-husband.

And it’s driving me nuts as I wait.