December 27, 2010

• So how was your holiday weekend with your friends and family? Hope it was a good one! My sister and I came home to celebrate Christmas with our parents, and decided to be a little more creative with our gift-giving this year. We don't do the tree thing anymore because it's a pain to deal with, so all the presents just go on a table we have in our sitting area. And when December 25th rolls around, we gather around to open up the packages. My sister and I get money nowadays so we don't have presents on the table, but my dad makes up for it by giving us gag gifts. He will do things like wrap up our mail or a bunch of AARP brochures; that way, we at least get stuff to open, and have a few good laughs while we're at it.

  This year, my sister and I gave my dad a new laptop. He's never had a new one before; all the laptops he's ever used were hand-me-downs from my sister or me. But we didn't put the laptop on the gift table this year. We decided to make a giant stocking and hide the laptop in the toe. And then we'd hide a fake gift at the mouth of the stocking--maybe wrap paper in some more paper or something. It was a brilliant idea, and we pulled it off brilliantly. We even made a second giant stocking for our mom because I suck at measuring fabric and bought way more than was needed. So now we have two 5-foot stockings to use in the future.

  Spending Christmas with my family was definitely fun, but it wasn't as fun as it should have been because something was nagging at me the entire time. I received an e-mail on the 23rd about a job interview for a legal analyst position with the state government. I'm not big on politics--I mean, I follow it, but not to the point where I could participate in any meaningful discussions about it. And I really hate it when people criticize me for being so indifferent. The argument is usually something like, "The government is not going to improve if we don't make our voices heard, and in order to do that, we must educate ourselves on important political issues." But to me, this idea of "improvement" is purely subjective, and no matter what, there will always be a group of people who are unhappy and dissatisfied with how the government is being run. I accept that reality, and have chosen to live my life by adjusting it according to changing political conditions. Perhaps this is just another credit to the "ignorance is bliss" creed, but so what? Some things have to be sacrificed in order to maintain one's overall sanity, and for me, I'm choosing to sacrifice proficiency in politics.

  But this attitude of mine is kind of at odds with the government legal analyst position. I honestly only applied because a job is a job, you know? Can't really be picky about things like that right now, and plus, it's always good to have something other than an unemployment gap on your resume.

  So I'm going to have to do some really serious preparation for my upcoming interview. I can't just go in and rely on my past experiences with interviews because that isn't going to cut it. And I already know most of the questions are going to include something about politics and government--and it isn't going to turn out well if I don't come up with some creative BS beforehand.

  Here are the likely scenarios of what would happen if I were to go in for an interview right now:

  I.    Really Bad Question Deflection

  

  

  

  

   

  II.    Regurgitating Crap I Happened to See on C-SPAN

  

  

  

  

  III.    Escaping the Interview Using Self-Assification

  

  And you know what's really, really sad? I didn't come up with these scenarios for entertainment purposes. These are all very, very much within the realm of possibility...

  So my questions to you are: what types of questions should I expect to be asked at my interview, and how should I answer them? I'm especially lost with the "why do you want to work in politics" one right now.

  The interview is on December 29th, so I'll take anything and everything you can give me!

  • 6:26 pm
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