I've Seen the Light
I decided before hitting the library and trying to substantiate my resume with some rock solid knowledge that I'd nip down to Brixton and check my emails. The day had a good feel about it now and as I rounded the corner past the Jamaican food place to the bus stop, the sun poked through from behind the clouds for the first time that day. Well the first time since I'd been awake at any rate. The rays seemed to be seeking me out, choosing me to shine on. It was all a little weird.
Kinda like that scene in Blues Brothers where Jake sees the light in Church but with a lot less of the Gospel overtones and no James Brown for background noise and no dancing, that I could make out anyway. Okay, it was nothing like that scene in Blues Brothers, but finally, it had all become very clear, transparent almost, to get a job you had to want a job and to want a job you had to apply for jobs. Last Friday was the beginning, a momentous step. I'd actually applied to agencies and a short weekend later and I'd scored my first interview. As far as theories go it was a long way from earth shattering but at the time it seemed a revelation.
The number 2 bus arrived within seconds - keeping in line with my good day policy - and within fifteen minutes I was face to face with a computer terminal at an internet café in Brixton. Clicking through the mountain of mail I'd collected since my last visit and picking out the occasional personal needle in the corporate Spam haystack took a while but overcoming challenges was my middle name today. Paul Overcoming Challenges Dodson, nice little ring to it don't you think?
And there it was, interview offer number two. In an attempt to sidestep the inevitable hassle of ringing job agencies, I'd emailed my resume to a few of the larger mobs in London, hoping I'd be offered an interview via cyberspace, and in effect, cut out all that middle man bullshit. It was a longshot, a stab in the dark, but sometimes longshots come through and now and again those stabs hit the pancreas, draw blood and kill someone and you end up in a cell in Istanbul with a six foot four Turk by the name of Sudba and he asks you if you like scrabble and......
Sorry, where was I? That's right, the second interview. Yeah, so there it was, sitting proudly in my in-tray. I read it again, just to be sure. Next Monday an interview with a 'leader in the European financial Internet industry' to quote the agency. Of course I needed to confirm the time and date but that was all mere formality. I logged off, settled my bill and dashed to the phone box.
Deal done, interview secured, I walked tall to the bus stop and under my breath uttered 'who da man Doddo?' A skateboardy dude with big hair and a nosering replied, 'you da man Doddo. Skate or die!' before rolling off to the big skate-park in my imagination.
