The Old, the New and the Usual

Yesterday morning, public transport behaved quite well and I got to my interview about 7 minutes early. The lady who interviewed me reminded me of the grandmother from The Princess Diaries. She was friendly, polite and professional. All of these qualities can put you at ease and make you anxious at the same time. She talked for a quite a bit and I started feeling very conscious of my face expression which I'm sure made it not look very natural. I wanted to look like a good listener but I think I was too aware of my intentional nods and smiles which might've made them seem forceful and showed my nervousness. I left the interview not too satisfied.

The woman asked me to get her the contact numbers of the referees that she picked out herself. Never had anyone go through my resume and ask for specific people. One of the ones she chose was the manager from my very first temp job (where I only worked for like two weeks).

As soon as I got home, I quickly found all the numbers and emailed them, hoping that these people would not say anything bad about me.

April came over during the day which was great. We played all our silly games, gossiped, reminisced, imagined the future, laughed so much we couldn't stand and acted the same way we did when we were teenagers. Every time we spend at each other's houses, I feel like we never grew up. I wouldn't be surprised if we still act like that when we're 40 and are married with kids (yes, I'm feeling hopeful at the moment).

One difference was that David kept messaging me 'cause he wanted to have lunch together and I told him that I couldn't but would meet him at 5/6. I expected him to decline but he agreed. He sounded excited about it which cheered me up.

While I was on the train to meet him, I got a call from the place where I had the interview in the morning telling me I was unsuccessful. Even though I didn't think I'd get it, hearing the confirmation was still painful. Rejection never feels good, no matter how much you expect it (which I didn't since I didn't think they'd get back to me so soon). Couldn't stop wondering if it was because the person after me was so much better or if one of the referees said something bad.

When I saw David, I tried not to seem like I just had a blow to my gut (which was how I felt). He seemed happy to see me because he was all hyper and wouldn't stop talking. His continuous chatter suited me fine because I didn't feel like talking. He told me how he went out with the guys (Ryan and a uni friend) yesterday and how much fun they had playing video games and pool and how he had seafood for dinner which he loved. I wondered if he would notice I was quiet but he didn't, until later when he asked me how my day was. I told him what I did but didn't say that I didn't get the job until he asked how it went. Once I said it out loud, it was much harder to act happy and light-hearted. He did his comforting obligations which were appreciated.

Then, we went to play pool. I totally couldn't remember the rules and thought he said that you win when you hit the black ball (forgot that you should only hit it after you sink all your balls). So the fact that I was sinking more balls than him didn't help when I thought I'd be good and sink the black ball to win. Silly me. He found it quite funny. But I was quite pleased that my aim was better than I (or he) expected.

Afterwards, we sat in a booth and chatted about silly things. Then we went to another free place that was closed off to the freezing weather outside. We sat around and talked about what each of us imagined our perfect home to be like. It was amazing how alike our dream house was. The only difference was that I didn't actually want to live in our impractical perfect house, but he did. Although he said he'd only move there after he retires, which I guess I wouldn't mind doing either. By the end of my time with David, I was all cheered up.

I caught the train home with my Mum. When we were waiting for the train, I didn't expect to meet this 27 year old guy. So unexpected. Man, he was so cute and funny. He kept teasing my Mum which was so amusing. I imagined introducing him to April because I knew she'd love him. He was so cheeky. Then, Mum let me know that he was planning on marrying his girlfriend (who lived in France). Damn. Mum said he has a more serious friend who she liked more. What she doesn't understand is that April is serious enough as it is, she needs someone who's more fun. But how weird to put a face to the story.