An American Werewolf in Shanghai

I'll begin with the update, for those of you keeping score:

My phone interview did in fact occur on schedule last Wednesday with Wall Street Institute. I think the interview went well, as he hinted he'd be calling me back "soon" in order to discuss "the next step." But I've heard that line from enough women in my life to take it with a grain of salt from anyone. Not that it particularly matters. I'll explain. I found out about midway through said interview that Marco, as he goes by, was hiring for... I think it was Xinjin. Name aside, it's the city closest to Hong Kong that actually "in" the PRC. I'll save you the trouble of getting out a map: Hong Kong is nowhere near Shanghai... at all. As such, I'm fairly reticent to consider going further away from my destination... no matter how nice the position sounds.

Fret not, though. This wasn't my "hold out." This wasn't my dream job. This was a random, semi-unsolicited phone interview instigated by me sending a resume to an email address. I'm not losing sleep over it. I've managed to snag a couple of possibilities from people I know here who used to live in Shanghai... believe me when I say there's no shortage of jobs in my line of work. And the turnover rate (which, admittedly, I'm planning on contributing to) is astronomical.

Onto other things...

Nancy made yet another *surprise* trip away yesterday. This time, thankfully, it's only to Guangzhou (in south China...very south), and it's only for the weekend. I've been as supportive, nice, and understanding as can be... but I think enough of how I truly feel about the "Surprise!" part has managed to seep through between the lines. It's not that she leaves. Not at all. I totally understand and support that. I'd just like a little heads-up is all. Something like, "oh by the way, two weeks from now I need to go to an exhibition," rather than, "gee, my plane leaves in two hours. Bye!"

In spite of my disdain for the manner in which this whole thing (once again) went down, it's actually rather nice to have some alone time. You know what I've done with that? I've spent it alone. Some people go nuts when they're alone. I enjoy it. Most of the time, I prefer being alone. Often, as was the case last night when I made myself go to an aquaintence's goodbye party, I have to cajole myself into leaving the house. It's not that I'm a shut-in or an agoraphobe, I just like time by myself. And I think it's a good thing that I've come to accept that. If I want to go out, I'll go out... but if I don't, I don't have to beat myself up over it.

That's all for now.
(CS)WC Out.

Hello darkness, my old friend