i can't find the words

Because the job offers have not rolling in at quite the rate I was hoping for (i.e., at all hours of the day, every day, with multiple phone calls at a time), I sent out another batch of cover letters/résumés/references/clips Friday. I wish I could tell you that I peppered the nation with my manila envelopes of journalistic talent — if only because peppered is a great verb — but I am still being selective about where I apply, so this set of eight lucky papers is not geographically diverse enough to deserve that word.

In any case, I updated the map. I think you’ll notice that the new pushpins fall only in areas that Kristen Blake acknowledges as being worthwhile, meaning the Northeast, Florida and California. Five points if you can name any of the new cities:

In other news, Julie’s recent foray into the world of video-game making (Sean Is Hungry, Stacy Kissed a Boy) has inspired me: I am making a video game about the life of Bling. It will be in the form of an airplane top-scroller shoot-’em-up. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

  

I think it is time for a job hunt roundup. Of the 19 places I have applied, six have gotten back to me so far — two to set up interviews, two to arrange for preliminary tests, one to inform me the position was filled and one combination filled/interview (I’ll get to that in a minute). I’ve also received two responses to a résumé I posted online. And I’ll get to work on another batch of things to mail out this week, assuming I make it to Staples to run off some more copies. Anyway, here are some highlights:

My very first job interview ever, which took place on the phone Saturday, was quick because they wanted someone with different qualifications. So I was bummed out for a while.

But then the next day I got my second call from a paper I hadn’t applied to, but this one was somewhere I might actually be interested in working. We’re playing phone tag for now.

Yesterday, I left the copy desk to get my new favorite drink of choice, a ginger ale. This has nothing to do with my job hunt. However, in the 90 seconds it took me to perform this task, three things happened:

A paper in Indiana e-mailed me, saying I should find an editor here to administer a copy editing exam.

A paper in Texas e-mailed me, saying I should return the attached copy editing exam in a week or so.

A paper in upstate New York e-mailed me, saying the position was filled already, but that they are anticipating another opening in the next month and I am the No. 1 candidate. This e-mail was reinforced by a voice mail I received 20 minutes later that said basically the same thing.

So then today I set out to call back the New York paper (which ended up with the news editor scheduling a call with me for Sunday), but I got another phone call as I was dialing. It was from a paper in western Massachusetts, and now I have an interview/test/lunch Monday afternoon.

This is almost too much stuff at once!

  

Grace came out to see me this weekend, so I was forced to brave weekend traffic to pick her up in Braintree on Saturday. The 110-mile round trip took approximately three and a half hours, thanks to miles of backup to get off the Cape, as well as to get back on it. It might’ve been OK if my car had air conditioning.

Anyway, I had to work Saturday. Being the gracious host that I am, I took Grace to the mall and told her to hang out in the Barnes and Noble for eight hours. Surprisingly, she did. And she didn’t make me sleep on the floor when we got back to the house, either.

We started out Sunday with a trip to Trader Joe’s. On the way there (meaning “next door”), we found a candy shop and had what is possibly the best candy bar available: Lake Champlain Chocolates’ Five Star Bar. Recommended by Steve Almond and Kristen Blake, these hefty little wonders were about five minutes’ worth of awesomeness. We had the hazelnut and the caramel, and the hazelnut won.

I had a phone interview with a paper in Washington that afternoon, but they were looking for someone with lots of design experience, which is not me.

Later, we drove up to P’town to buy things and look at people. The drag queens were out in full force, but we did not have our picture taken with any of them. We also saw a kitten that looked something like this:

The one we saw had a leather collar studded with rhinestones, though.

Our boot camp friend Laura drove in from New Bedford on Monday afternoon. We spent a lot of time in traffic en route to a pizza place (while were there, a newspaper in SOUTHERN Texas called me — caps indicating degree of southernness) and then a lot of time getting lost and confused on the way to a really cool ice cream joint. I ordered “frozen pudding” ice cream, not knowing what it was. Turns out that it’s akin to fruitcake, with dried fruit and whatnot. Weirdness notwithstanding, it was really good. And then we played mini golf. Grace shot an amazing 47, beating me by two strokes.

I had some sort of internship training yesterday. It was in the form of “Jeopardy!” and the subject matter was news graphics and photos. My team, Team Missouri, wiped the floor with the other teams, so we got to choose from a wide array of prizes — I opted for the four-piece wine set that I will probably never use. And then it was already time to drive Grace back to Braintree. Thankfully, the traffic did not make me cry this time.

  

So, I got bored and (instead of doing anything remotely productive) I made a map of all 19 places I have applied to thus far. Today’s good news is that one of these places, the northwestern-most one, is interviewing me on the phone Sunday. Tomorrow’s good news is that Grace is visiting. Ok, I’m going to bed; here’s the map:

  

It has been incredibly hot here lately — the temperature in my room hardly dips below 90, according to the thermostat. There’s no air conditioning, so the thermostat serves as a fancy thermometer during the summer. My car doesn’t have air conditioning either, but it does have a repaired front bumper now. I had to part with it for two days to have the work done, and that nearly turned out to be a disaster.

It nearly turned out to be a disaster because Monday I decided I really needed to crack down and mail out some envelopes stuffed with cover letters and résumés and references and, most importantly, work samples. I woke up at maybe noon, so I spent the afternoon writing and printing and sorting and paper-clipping and envelope-stuffing. At 4:10 p.m, I had completed eight envelopes (10 was the goal, but the beads of sweat I kept dripping onto the sheets of paper prevented that). The post office — almost two miles away — closed at 4:30. Had I had a car, this would’ve been no problem. But my car was in Hyannis, so I grabbed my things and ran out the door and down the road. (The post office’s clock was five minutes fast, so it’s a good thing I made it there in 14 minutes.)

Eight dollars and two cents later, I had mailed stuff to the following newspapers:

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock, Ark.

Naples Daily News in Naples, Fla.

The Salt Lake Tribune in Salt Lake City

The Tribune in Mesa, Ariz.

Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester, N.Y.

Daily Breeze in Torrance, Calif.

The Idaho Statesman in Boise, Idaho

The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C.

Tuesday was a rest day, but I did find one paper that I had to e-mail an “expression of interest” to:

The Columbus Dispatch in Columbus, Ohio

Yesterday, spurred by a job opening at my hometown newspaper, I went on another envelope-filling spree. And this time I got to drive to the post office. Anyway, I sent nine packets this time:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch in St. Louis

The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

The Olympian in Olympia, Wash.

The Sun in San Bernardino, Calif.

The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Omaha World-Herald in Omaha, Neb.

The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, Texas

The Glens Falls Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y.

So yeah, I’ve actually been working on finding a job. Out of those 18 newspapers, I’d be happy if five showed interest in me. Maybe I should make a map so I can visualize how wide I’m casting my net … it’s ridiculous how spread out these places are.