Broke No Joke

Over the last several weeks I have been looking for a job and worrying about my waning bank account. It didn't help that I forgot to sign my tax return, nor that it costs $50 for a tank of gas. I had a job interview today at a biotech company downtown, and hope with all my heart that it works out. I will find out if I got the job by the end of next week.
I dropped in at a law firm where I used to work to see my old boss before the interview. He gave me a pep talk, and assured me that everyone goes through a rough time looking for a job, but one of these days when I least suspect there will be 8 job offers all at once. It was inspiring, and when I went out the door, I had a renewed confidence. But walking the few blocks to the interview I felt something hit the top of my head. It wasn't raining. In fact, a malicious and diabolical bird had relieved itself just at the wrong moment in the sky above me. I had to use a restroom in a neighboring building to clean it all off before going into the interview.
This done, I was just a couple of minutes early to the interview. I met with 11 people over about 3 hours. Many of the questions were the same, and I was prepared for most of them. I feel like everyone I met had as good an impression as I could have hoped. Now it's back to writing more cover letters, submitting more resumes, reading Charles Dickens novels, waiting, and crossing my fingers.

More Celestun

These are more pictures taken by the Czech sisters at Celestun for which I am most grateful. What superlative photogenicity and photographical skill!

More from Celestun

I received a few new pictures from Celestun which were taken by a couple of lovely Czech sisters, Petra and Sona. In this picture L to R are shown Petra, myself, Samuel (our guide), and Sona. Petra and Sona are both studying archaeology and hope to study Mayan ruins for their graduate work.

Half the man I used to be

I was getting a haircut today, and after the normal routine the barber asked "So, what are we going to do about the moustache?" I had thought it could use a trim because, truthfully, I hadn't trimmed it in a month. She wanted to use a 2. I told her that was out of the question. I was leaning toward performing the important cut myself, but seen as she was an experienced barber I consented that she could take it to the lip. I guess our idea of what that means was a little different. My moustache extended below the bottom of my upper lip and to trim it back to that boundary was what I wanted. Before I knew it, she took about 2 cm off. It can no longer be called a "soupstrainer" and will be several weeks before I am again close to achieving the "handlebar" I was aiming for. I told the barber that although I didn't like it, I took confidence that she was a professional and she thought it looked better. In reality my self-confidence has been reduced proportionally to the length of my moustache.

Flamingos at Celestun

These are the flamingos of Celestun. The video quality is poor but the normal pictures didn't turn out. Watching the video again reminded me how loud these birds are. And there were so many of them. I wish I could have captured some of them take off flying out of the water. The flap their wings and run along the top of the water until they're going fast enough to fly. It's beautiful.

Beetle

This was an exotic beetle I picked up in Ek Balam. I wanted to capture it alive, and had it in a bottle, but it died after only a couple of hours, perhaps because it was too stuffy and hot. It had red and black striped legs, and a pattern of red, black, yellow and blue on the back exoskeleton. It was about 1.5 inches long, 3/4 wide.

Dehydration

The last couple of weeks I have been going through bouts of dehydration. I don't know if they are related to my trip to Mexico, but that's an easy explanation. Symptoms have included gastrointestinal trouble, orthostatic heart rate, headaches, etc. Most recently, I wake up several times throughout the night in cold sweat. My mom said cold sweat sounds like a symptom of menopause, but I don't think I'm old enough for that.
I need liquid - referring to the physical state of matter as well as the economics term. My liquid assets are as low as they have been in years. I am also going broke because I don't have a job, and of course I blew a lot of liquid pesos in Mexico. So Mexico will dry you out. On the bright side, the country is beautiful, and as Ralph Macchio may have said, whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger!