dreamwindow The World We Live In and Life In General

OK, as promised, here are my thoughts on my most recent trip. I was insanely busy last week. Monday brought a personal issue to a head. I really didn't need that then, but if it had been festering, so I decided I had to deal with it. That was in the midst of catching up on my grading, and preparing final exams for all my classes. Oh yeah, and trying to get the department moving on finding subs while I was gone. Needless to say, I wasn't getting much sleep. I didn't have time to pack until Tuesday night, and finally got around to watching Superman Returns late that evening. And ended up getting not a wink of sleep.
The ride up to the airport was a bit surreal. It was cold, dark, and the lack of sleep was definitely starting to affect me. All I could see the whole way up I-75 was the orange lights of factories off in the distance, and the red tail lights of the occasional semi. My dad drove me up there, but I don't think we spoke more than 6 or seven words to each other until we arrived. It was cold and surreal.
The airport was nearly empty and I breezed through check-in and security even quicker than normal. And DTW usually is not bad at all. So I had a few hours to kill. I promised Jen I would call her before I left, so I did that. I don't remember now if she answered, or if she called me back later. I know I talked to her for awhile at the airport before she left for her 8:00 class. Then I wanted breakfast, but the only place open near my gate was Taco Bell, and CNN was on all the monitors reporting that an E. Coli outbreak was being tied to Taco Bell restaurants. So I just got a Pepsi and some corn chips from a nearby newsstand. Then, as was related in the mysteriously missing post, I sat and read my copy of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, since it had been on my mind lately.

Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the heropath. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.

With that on my mind I boarded the plane and shyly answered a few questions from the pretty girl in the seat next to me. Somewhere above the clouds of Pennsylvania I drifted off to sleep and dreamed of secrets.
The short nap did me good. After picking up my luggage and rental car I headed north to Baltimore. With the help of a printed out webpage and a lot of luck I found my first destination, the Poe grave site. The weather was gorgeous: sunny and 50F. It was still a bit windy, so I was glad I had brought a scarf and gloves. I lucked out and found a cheap parking lot next to the Lexington Market, and walked a few blocks over to Westminster Graveyard. It seemed wrong, somehow, to be paying respects to someone who gave us such dark and macabre visions on such a beautiful, sunny day. Well, not wrong, per se. Just not the image you would picture in your mind. The grave is right next to a busy street, so people were walking along happily and smiling through the wrought iron fence as I sat with Edgar. Old friends will understand the reasoning, but before I left I had to call Mike from Poe's resting place. After a few more quiet minutes it was back to the Baltimore traffic and down to the harbor.
I had set the rest of my day aside to visit the National Aquarium, but I was amazed at how beautiful the entire harbor area was. I took a few photographs as I walked around, but if I had known what to expect I would have planned to spend much more time. But admission to the aquarium was by timed ticket, and I was getting very hungry.
As always, when I plan something during the day I forget about the primary demographic that shares my interest: school groups. I guess the aquarium was nowhere near as crowded as it gets during the summer months, but as i walked into the cafe all I saw were tables filled with teenagers. And a giant set of shark jaws. I was one of only four or so adults in the whole room, and near the exit to the aquarium exhibits. I glanced up once to catch a girl, probably 15 or 16, pointing in my direction and whispering to her friends. I could hear voices of a group of guys at the only table behind me, so I laughed to myself that they must be checking out the boys. A few minutes later the girls took up their trays, and as they passed by me they quickly pushed The Pointer into my table. There was a small eruption of blushing and giggles, and one obviously embarrassed teenage girl. Just in case I missed the point, one of her friends scurried back and gleefully informed me that "My friend thinks your hot!" Things like that did not happen when I was actually their age.
I'm not even going to try and describe the aquarium. I took as many pictures as I could fit on the single memory card I had with me. Amazing place. I finally managed to get a sea turtle picture, even if it was looking down on a tank and not the one who was playing tag with me in the pacific last winter. Taking pictures got me a lot of attention from the parents and staff. The parents because they claimed by following me they knew what was interesting, and in cases like the frogs, where to find the things in their displays. To the staff I was obviously interested in the animals, so they had someone they could talk to. I got some great shots and learned some neat things about the environment of the Chesapeake Bay.
After I had filled my memory card, and deleted every last picture I absolutely didn't want to keep to try and get one more shot in, I headed further north to Johns Hopkins and my hotel. Thankfully the hotel wasn't as ugly as the one I stayed in while I was in Boston, because by the time I got there the lack of sleep had caught back up to me and I just wanted to collapse.
The first annoyance at the hotel was I couldn't connect to the wifi in my room. The instruction card gave a number to call for tech support, so I did. The tech couldn't believe the hotel would ask guests to call the support line themselves, but we managed to eventually fix the problem. Turns out all the information in the hotel's booklet was wrong. After we figured out the correct settings I was up and running.
After that I was getting irritated and cranky. I knew I needed something to eat, but didn't want to leave my room. There was a restaurant in the hotel, and room service, but the menu in the room sounded much more fancy then I was in the mood for then. I just wanted something simple, and hot. (The heat was off in my room when I arrived, so it was still chilly.) And I knew I needed a nap, but every time I started to get undressed I'd remember someone else I needed to call, or something I had to check before the interview. That went on for a few hours.
Finally I realized I wasn't going to get a nap and went for a walk to find something to eat. It turned out there was a vegetarian place just a block or so down from the hotel. I've never eaten in a vegetarian restaurant, but I assumed it would have something I'd like. Unfortunately it was packed. So I walked on. Another few blocks and there was a deli. Perfect! Except the actual deli was closed. It doubled as a convenience store, so there was nothing but booze and food that I had no way to prepare in my room. I ended up getting to see a lot of the campus area before I found a Ruby Tuesday and got some chicken wings to take back with me.
Sometime back in my room there online chats with Becky and then Mike, and growing boredom and frustration. I even tried to play WoW for the first time in weeks, only to discover that a new version had been released and I had a 500MB download to make before I could play again. And I was starting to think I was coming down with a bad cold. Eventually I gave up and went to bed to get some rest.
I still didn't manage to get enough sleep, but I felt a lot better in the morning. My dad called while I was eating breakfast to make sure he had the correct time to pick me up that evening. Luckily he did, because I had turned my phone off of vibrate for the first time in recent memory to use it as my alarm. Then, since Jen is always up at the crack of dawn, I sent her a quick text message letting her know I felt a bit better. It was about 9:00, so I finished my bagel sandwich and left for the interview.
I didn't start out auspiciously. I thought I took a wrong turn walking across the campus and got totally lost. I stopped into the first building I came to, the Johns Hopkins Club, and asked everyone there for help finding the road I was looking for. Nobody had any clue. I realized that I just so happened to have a phone in my pocket, so I called the Institute, explained what had happened, and that I'd be there as soon as I got back on the right path. The next building I came across was an office for the Carnegie Institution. The secretary had never heard of any of the buildings I was told to ask for directions to, but as soon as I mentioned I was going to the Space telescope Science Institute she happily told me it was right next door. I hadn't really gotten lost, I was just on the other side of a group of trees. And, in everyone who tried to help defense, no one I talked with at the Institute knew the names of the buildings I had stopped at, even if they were right next door.
Luckily I ended up only being a few minutes late, but I was worried it was a bad first impression. I was quickly put at ease, though. Everyone I met was friendly, I think I represented myself well. Towards the end of my first meeting with Paul Lee, who will be more boss if I get the job, my phone started vibrating in my pocket. That was why I was thankful my dad had called earlier. I figured it was Jen forgetting what time my interview was, and calling to wish me good luck. I didn't get a chance to hear the message until much later, and found out I was only partially right. It was Jen, but she was calling to tease me about waking her up on the first day she didn't have to be up early for class. She said later that she had totally forgotten I was out of the state at that point.
Like I said, I think the interview went well. The day went quickly since I was rushed from person to person, and was grilled with questions from all of them the whole time. I was told by nearly everyone that the panel I would face in the afternoon could be intimidating, but I enjoyed it. Lots of real in-depth questions about things I had worked on, and it felt good to be able to talk about them with people again.
I left cautiously optimistic. Then, for the sake of brevity, it was more Campbell while sitting around an airport and a short flight back to Detroit. Followed by lots of questions from my dad on the way home, and another round of phone calls that keep me up late yet again.
Now it's just a game of waiting. But the threshold has been crossed.