<p>I think you need a large glass of cab, NM! And a trip to the hot tub!</p>
<p>Older D was discouraged after her phone interview. The interviewer was a 25 year old yahoo who was likely doing his first “interview” ever. This is truly how he started it (remember, this is by phone):</p>
<p>Him: Glad you could talk to me. Have you looked at our website?
D: Yes.
Him: Do you have any questions?</p>
<p>What the heck. Don’t you talk about the job, expectations, interview the person, then ask if they have questions? D admitted that she was stumped. She had all the typical “questions” ready, but none were appropriate as the very first thing in the interview. Other parts of the interview were equally idiotic.</p>
<p>I gave her some ideas of how to deal with inexperienced interviewers in the future, but it really is difficult…esp. on the phone, where one cannot impress by poise, professional appearance, etc.</p>
<p>In other news, D and one roommate got the couch up into their 3rd floor apartment. Yay for furniture.</p>
<p>HA! Had multiple glasses of Cab tonight! Thanks sabaray! 
D2 just went to bed. She was terrible earlier in the evening but thanked me when she went to bed just now. Phew! If she would have stayed home and prepared today instead of playing tennis she might have been less stressed…maybe. Her big quandary was whether a speeding ticket was a misdemeanor to note on her application. I am too old for this!</p>
<p>Hope the wine helped, NM! Best wishes to D2 on her interviews.</p>
<p>H is also a lefty, although he participated in a university study and was judged to be fairly ambidextrous. His grandmother was ambidextrous. He has a brother who is right-handed but does all sports as a lefty. D was pretty even at first but then favored her right hand, S was always a righty.</p>
<p>D has been a bit thrown by some interview questions she was not expecting. She’s a no-nonsense type, and she’s had a few touchy-feely type questions she felt were inappropriate for the context. Maybe the idea was to see how candidates responded to something unexpected? But it sounds like the interviewer for your D, missypie, was just incompetent!</p>
<p>missypie - Is your D still interested in interning there? I would wonder about a company that would let someone like that guy interview candidates. </p>
<p>Not one person in either my my or H’s family is left handed. I’m feeling like the odd one out here ;)</p>
<p>NM- I can relate, S tends to get very “wound up” about things at times and expresses it by being very unpleasant. Calms down after awhile, but we have to get through the storm first. Might be why I drink wine, too.</p>
<p>I do everything left-handed except cut with scissors. No other lefty’s in the family. </p>
<p>NM, good luck to your D today. Missypie, sorry the interview didn’t go well. </p>
<p>We took S2 out to dinner last night (Mexican food) to celebrate and say good-bye. He plans to call a few apartments today to find out about availability, pack, and leave first thing tomorrow morning. H and I have enjoyed having him home this summer and I know S2 had a good time with his friends, so we are all feeling a little sad. I will be interested to see what kind of housing S2 ends up choosing and how long it takes him to find something.</p>
<p>RM, sending d the mojo! nM, your too! Missy, sorry the interviewer was inexperienced. And TA, while your son is moving for a job, and I’m only going on vacation, I have to admit I haven’t packed or prepared either…this week is flying by!</p>
<p>Hey, I’m a lefty too but I missed out on all the celebrations yesterday 
Seems like a statistically high proportion of us on the thread are considering the supposed rarity :)</p>
<p>Sevmom, I too play guitar right-handed but as an adult had a pal and teacher (guitar virtuoso) who explained to me that I was limiting my development as a player for it, because he said science has proven I’d never have as much natural control of strumming, arpeggio, finger-picking as a technique…but I’d always be good at hammerons and pull offs. He was classical; I was rock, so the left-handedness made bar chords or 12 bar walks easier! Then again, I never aspired to a high level of playing. as anyone who has heard me would attest :)</p>
<p>These days I can’t seem to play with either hand My hands ache when I do, and my callouses are gone. Which has made it easy for mcson to cabbage my guitars. There’s one I still won’t part with, but I don’t know why as I never play it. I think its a trace of the trauma I still feel over having pawned my grandfather’s 1967 Epiphone as an 18-year-old living on my own, and then later discovering its value. </p>
<p>When mcson went off to school four years ago, I’d bought myself a pretty, red, electric guitar that I promised myself I’d play for fun in his absence. I think he got his hands on that one within the year! He’s now also cabbaged the snare drum so I have this kit sitting in the pool house that there’s no point in playing. </p>
<p>So, this kid has amassed the following in his tiny apartment that he now will be sharing with his girlfriend in a mere two weeks (just in terms of instruments, never mind the gear, which includes a PA system and various hardware interfaces): two electric guitars, one electric acoustic, a viola, trumpet, mandolin, accordion, two keyboards, snare drum, earth drum/boom box, fretless electric bass, regular electric bass, Korg vocorder, e harmonix looper pedal and box, etc etc.</p>
<p>So, what does he throw up on bandcamp yesterday? A Drone album. Really? Good grief! I mean, it’s cool, as far as drone tones go, but the instrument family must be sitting around shaking their little imaginary heads wondering why they’re not getting enough lovin They must miss me. When they all lived here, we would Jam! I kinda doubt mcson now has the patience to jam with a bunch of hacks, so it may be just as well. But I kinda miss those days.</p>
<p>Clearly, I have to find people my own age to play with :)</p>
<p>TheAnalyst, hugs! It’s always bittersweet, eh? When…and if mcson heads off to SF, I expect to be disconsolate in the hottub with a bottle of wine for at least a week :)</p>
<p>I too am left handed so add one more to the list.</p>
<p>D is trying to finalize plans today for the interview. I believe that she will take the train as her car is still being fixed and looks like they will have it until at least mid next week. It was a fender bender – why does it take 2+ weeks to get it fixed! Ugh!</p>
<p>It will cost her about $150.00 for the train ticket but luckily she will be able to stay with some friends of hers in Boston so only will need food. Ugh! The cost of these interviews is killing her finances.</p>
<p>I am extremely, exceedingly left handed. I once had a job where I added on a “10 key” (do they still have those?). I learned to use I right handed so I could add with one hand and write with the other.</p>
<p>As for the internship, it sounds more like a part time job than a true internship, but it would allow D to quit her retail job, so she still wants it. Another example of the rookie interviewer questions: “Why do you want to leave your current position?” Clearly from a list of “interview questions”… Does the college girl working retail to bring in some bucks really have to explain why she would prefer an internship in her area of professional interest?</p>
<p>Good luck on all the interviews!!</p>
<p>MP - kindof funny in a sad way!</p>
<p>TA - Sounds like S2 is ready to roll! And I agree, from what you have described, his summer was great! Good luck tomorrow!</p>
<p>kmc - to paraphrase Chief Brody, I think kmcS needs a bigger apartment.</p>
<p>Fall girl - How was S’s homecoming?</p>
<p>sevmom - When Dad found out about the nuns and my sister, he made sure that they didn’t go near my left hand! (After all, he gave
them all free medical care.)</p>
<p>Ended up in the ER last night with MIL who fell and split her head open. A dozen staples and a clear CT and she was good to go. We’ll have to keep an eye on her though as her seizures usually come on a few days post-fall. Never a dull moment in woody house…</p>
<p>RM…will the company reimburse her travel expenses?</p>
<p>Woody, sorry about your MIL’s fall…so good that you are around to help.</p>
<p>I thought of another odd interview thing. When D asked about the duration of the internship, the interviewer acted like it was an odd question. That is one of the things that makes me think it’s just a part time job rather than a true internship. Whatever. Like I said before, any interview practice is good.</p>
<p>woody, Sorry to hear about your MIL. Hope she’ll be okay.</p>
<p>We do seem to have a lot of lefties here of the regular posters-sevmom,missypie,woody,TA, kmcmom13, and RochesterMom so far. I would never be able to use scissors with my right hand,TA. I’m impressed! </p>
<p>kmcmom, I have an old Epiphone that is sitting in my closet. Haven’t played in years but also can’t seem to part with it. I played a lot in high school and college and was in bands. I took lessons in high school and could play some classical but played mostly folk and a little rock. I cut out the ad for a local guitar shop and I might take my guitar there to get it restrung. But I’ve had that thought before and I never seem to get around to it. Oh well.</p>
<p>No reimbursement for travel. No company has offered that to her yet and she’s had several trips from NY to Boston and we aren’t near NYC.</p>
<p>Woody - hope all is going to be okay. What a terrible thing to happen!</p>
<p>Woody – clear CT sounds good; hope your MIL continues to mend; that’s not the kind of excitement anyone needs.</p>
<p>Woody, I hope your MIL heals quickly. DH’s 92 yr old aunt has had two falls recently–so scary.</p>
<p>Add me to the lefty club. Actually, there is something I have always wondered about. H and I are both extreme lefties–so how do we have three sons who are all righties? Isn’t left-handedness supposed to be a double recessive?</p>
<p>The good news: S3 who is my 2009-er, landed a fabulous job last week. The employer–a start up from the HBS incubator, apparently has very stable funding and a good amount of it. My son is doing exactly the kind of work he has been wanting to do. Believe it or not, the employer found my son through LinkedIn–my son has had extensive specific experience that it was seeking. They hired him almost immediately–a phone interview was rapidly followed by a Skype interview. They asked him to then come in the next day for an interview in person–and, as it was going well, patched in the people from Boston and NY on their video system. They called him with the offer by dinner time. He started working just a couple of days later.</p>
<p>He is loving the challenge of working for a start up and getting to wear a variety of hats and getting incredible experience. I would think that the stress he is under would be debilitating, but he is thriving on it. Of course, it’s still early days.</p>
<p>So we are passing on the good mojo fairy dust to any and all who want some!</p>
<p>Woody watch out for a concussion, my CT and subsequent MRI have been fine. but I am not, I have light sensitivity, and driving long distances makes me tired and gives me a huge headache. I have increased anxiety and depression all re to concussion. Not because of, but as a part of post concussive syndrome. In addition it waxes and wanes and you eel ok, and think you are all better then the symptoms return. I have read it is more likely to happen to women over 50.
good luck on the interviews. Right handed here.</p>
<p>woody, sorry to hear about your MIL. DTE, good advice. I hope you get to 100% soon.</p>
<p>Boysx3, the new job sounds perfect for your S. I love people that can make a quick decision. </p>
<p>S2 has a minimalist approach to his move. He called six apartments yesterday, the first five of which had no availability. He made an appointment to see the sixth when he gets there on Saturday and considered himself done. He hates to shop. It’s not furnished, so if that is what he takes, H and I may drive down over Labor Day in a U-Haul with excess furniture from our house. For now, he plans to take a suitcase of clothes and some camping gear. He can camp in an apartment until we get there with stuff or he goes to the store and buys stuff. He also contacted two roommate situations listed on craigslist, but hasn’t heard back yet. </p>
<p>He plans to get on the road about 10:00 am. He hasn’t packed his clothes yet, but said last night that should take five minutes. I think I will toss some sheets and towels in his car just for good measure. He will drive about ten hours today and sleep in whatever cheap motel he sees. Then it will be about nine hours tomorrow to a friend’s house before heading to his final destination Saturday morning. His apartment tour appointment is at noon on Saturday and he hopes to have heard back from one of the roommate situations by then. He will make his decision, with the hope of moving in on Sunday and being all settled before going to work on Monday. We shall see.</p>