I guess I’m a little behind, so here is the bulk of the last three days.
Wednesday night was my first class. It seems like it will be cool, but a lot of the reading is from books on reserve at the library, which means I have to go get them and read them at the library and hope no one else is reading them then. To me, that is a bad idea. I’d almost rather buy a book.
Speaking of buying books, the Barnes and Noble that was supposed to have the few books we were supposed to buy doesn’t have any of them. And it’s now too late to order them rush delivery because of the Monday holiday. Eek. I’m going to go to the library tomorrow and hope I can read them there.
I am going to try to get into a paleography course at Columbia. Should be cool, though I hope my Latin is strong enough. I feel like I have really bad vocab, and my grammar is sketchy without practice. I don’t use it enough to constitute practicing. I don’t actively practice.
The next stage of the tutoring interview is in a week. They are sending me samples of the curriculum that I am supposed to prepare, and then I need to teach it back to them. Since this is going to take time and energy on my part, I will get a stipend, even if they don’t hire me. I think that’s a professional way of handling it.
I also applied at Starbucks today. It’s about as a good as it gets for a food service job, and anyone working 25 hours a week or more is eligible for benefits. It is quite ideal for students. I chatted with the assistant manager for a while, so she probably has a better impression of me than she can pass on to the manager rather than just a piece of paper.
I got asked out on a date to watch the US Open. Sometimes I wonder (and give me feedback on this) if my friendly banter gives off the wrong signal. My tendency towards civility–and sometimes charity, commiseration or positivity–allows me to chat back to people. But I never really notice until the subject to actually breached that the other person might have an interest beyond 15 minutes of random shit-shooting on a bus. Maybe I should make a t-shirt (in the spirit of Jess’s and my “I’m here for the clothes” and “I’m not into your scene”) that reads “Just because I’m talking with you doesn’t mean I’m interested” or “Polite on the outside.”
I think “polite on the outside” is a little better. “Just because I’m talking…” is pretty rude. Although… sometimes you have to be blunt or rude; some people are very dense (or persistent or obnoxious).