Missing out on recital #.. (what number are we up to?)

I had hoped, a month or so ago, to have progressed far enough with Melodia Africana II to submit it as a recital entry. Failing that, I knew I could have I Due Fiumi ready as a backup. Wrong on both counts. I finally have reached a level with MA2 to where you could maybe, if you squinted really hard and used your imagination, discern bits and pieces of correct music from page 3. But recital-worthy? Heavens no.

And with IDF, PT had some compelling arguments* about why some of the LH broken chords should be 5-3-1, and others should be 5-2-1. I was playing some 5-3-1, and others, I hate to admit, 5-4-1. Apparently that is incorrect. She tells me there is long-term value in trying to do it as she suggests, so, in the spirit of humility and trying to do what I'm told, I am doing my best to adapt. It's ugly right now. I am not playing it very well. Hence, no recital piece for me.

* - All of which elude me at the moment. Clearly I am not paying close enough attention.

In fact, with the job search going full tilt, I am putting in very little bench time, instead doing one of four things:

1. Following up on applications I've made.
2. Studying for an upcoming interview / technical screening.*
3. Looking for new opportunities.
4. Talking to my conscience (Sue**) about the process. She has good instincts for this sort of thing.

* - Had one of these Monday morning, in fact. In the interests of time, I decided not to brush up on a small subset of material, considering it too trivial for discussion. Bad decision on my part. As luck would have it, that very material, the topic I dismissed as too trivial, too easy to be discussed, was our first topic of conversation. And I blew it. He almost ended it right there. Later, when we got to the hard stuff, I did better, perhaps well enough to save the opportunity. But I'm annoyed that I didn't take just 30 minutes to review some very easy fundamentals on a topic I haven't thought about since my first year of grad school, 8 years ago.

** - Who, ironically enough, has a hard time saying the word "conscience." She'd tell you so. (Hi, honey!)

The current count is 67 applications made, 12 rejections, and 4 legit opportunities I am working with. (I'll know a final status on one of those by tonight.) And zero offers. I don't know how that compares with earlier reports of progress... and by now, you know me, I am too lazy to go look and see what I wrote before. But I just tallied up the spreadsheet, and those numbers are accurate. I have actually applied for 67 jobs.

Mind you, if I were the hiring manager for about 50 of them, I wouldn't interview me. Good thing I'm not.

- Aw2pp, who is pathologically incapable of leaving a FreeCell game unsolved.