Interview

Wednesday January 25, 8:56 p.m.

Well, I put on that Zegna suit that I'd inherited from my student's now-slimmed-down husband a few years ago and went downtown. My first stop was City Hall to apply for that Social Insurance Number card since I will need it for work. The officer there was pretty good to me; I told him that I was going to a job interview afterwards, and he immediately put my application onto the fast track. It cost me $10 to set things in motion, but it sure was a whole lot easier than getting the OHIP reinstatement started.

I spent the next couple of hours at the Chinatown Starbucks at Dundas and Chestnut. Just wanted some time to go over the notes for the interview (don't laugh...it's been 15 years since my last one) and have a bit of lunch. Outside, we had our noontime entertainment in the form of a scruffy, somewhat unhinged-looking guy being patiently interrogated by the cops.

The interview itself went pretty smoothly. I answered any and all questions posed to me, and , explained my 25-year career and its motivations as best I could. I wasn't expectant about any job offer, but initially anyways, I was slightly deflated after my explanations and her encouragement when the best she could offer was a spot on the substitute teacher list. Beforehand, she had mentioned that the faculty was all unionized, so I could imagine that it would take a rather desperate situation before the school would call me up. Union teachers will probably take the Japanese route and come to work with as much medicine and tissue as possible before having me come in.

All I can say is that I got it over with. And I'll keep on going.