Apparently I’m somewhat fixated on the weather, but it has been cold here to the point of unreality—at least, it feels unbelievably cold as I sail downhill on my bicycle.

I have had a dull couple of weeks; a few hiccups in the unpaid internship that have been very revealing and informative about how to go about setting up a good dynamic with the people I work with, especially the line between jocularity and hostility. Also, I am excited that I could use the word “jocularity” in a sentence without sounding completely ridiculous.

Onto equally vague but more cheerful news: as I was deciding whatvariety of cupcake a dutiful offspring might bake for a parent’s birthday, I received an email from a friend that works in the same office as I do, about an open development position. She had received the email from one of the social justice non-profit organizations she worked with over the summer, and forwarded it to me.

Of course, earlier that week, I met the director of said organization in an elevator with a bicycle, and given the following conditions:

a) Sleepy

b) Frozen into a person-shaped icicle by a 12 mile bike ride in 34 degree weather with 20 mph gusts

c) Being me

I, of course, neglected to introduce myself.

I feel like I can see Valinda bringing her hand to her forehead, and shaking her head side-to-side slowly and unbelievingly. At least, that’s what I wanted to do once I sat down with a cup of coffee and my 1800-piece auction solicitation mailing, even before I knew they had an opening.

The position has quite a bit of event planning, which gave me pause before I started thinking about it. I chatted with my friend E* and one of my awesome former boss-folks who reassured me that this was definitely something I could do. And looking at my resume and remembering that I have done programming and some event planning, as an RA, worker in the Annual Fund and as an alumna volunteer, the event-planning component seemed far less intimidating.

Plus, one of the responsibilities of the position involves mailings, and I have a somewhat abnormal love for managing mailings and managing data.

Admittedly, after five hours of papercuts, my abnormal love is being somewhat taxed by this enormous auction solicitation mailing.

*The one that worked at the college that sent me the information for the open position in California