Well, There It Is.

So far today:

• I was given the most abusive hair cut I’ve ever had. I think the stylist was on drugs, but I’m not entirely sure. My head has never been shoved in so many different directions in so little time. I didn’t feel safe in that chair with this woman standing close to me, looking over my body with a pair of sharp scissors in her hands. However, I did escape unscathed and without giving the angry young girl more than $1 tip. It was just a trim, anyway, but boy was she in a mad rush… and “mad” is the operative word.
• I picked up a new, nice-looking belt and nine pairs of assorted nice socks.
• I bought three new CDs: two film soundtracks and one film score compilation (Bernard Hermann — Psycho, Vertigo, North by Northwest, et.al.) New music is always a good thing.
• I finally was able to get to Russo’s Music Center to pick up trumpet and trombone mouthpieces.
• Lastly, I headed to the Sports Authority to pick up two weights and a Yoga set. I’m motivated.

Unfortunately, I have to make a decision about a car right away. I need to decide whether to buy my old car back from my father or to just go ahead and get something new. The Toyota Prius is nice but there’s several-month wait. I need something right away.

I gave my two weeks’ notice today.

Okay, let’s rewind a bit for curious readers. Over the last couple of weeks or so I have been interviewing for a teaching position (assistant instrumental music teacher) at a high school — a large high school — a large high school with one of the best music programs in southern New Jersey. It’s really the only type of teaching position that I would have considered applying for at this point. My first interview went pretty well, suprisingly. I was asked back for a second interview, where I was one of the three finalists for the position. That interview went even better, for some reason.

Then I received a letter saying that they had decided not to hire until the fall. I mentioned this to the other music teacher there, and he got quite upset about the situation, as the hole has been open for a while and he’s having a hard time working with all of the students himself. He spoke to the union, and the next day I received a call from the director of personnel inviting me back for a final interview.

It was pretty tough to schedule all of these interviews. I had to come up with some pretty clever excuses to get out of work for the morning. The final interview was tough. I thought there was no chance they would hire me. They asked me questions about my curriculum and for every good answer I gave, I gave a really bad one or was just incoherent. They said they’d let me know in a few days. I thought that was the end of it.

A few hours later — and this was yesterday — the director of personnel called to offer me the position. I told him I’d need a day to think about it and promised him an answer by 8:00 this morning. I made my decision to take the position last night.

I wanted to wait until the end of today just in case they were going to change their mind or something would go wrong when giving my boss the two weeks’ notice… but here I am, soon to be officially employed as a high school music teacher. Time to brush up a little.

Today I was given a choice. In two weeks and one day (which, as Stacey just pointed out to me, is my birthday — odd coincidence), my life may be on a completely different path. It would probably be a more difficult path. You might say that it would be back on an old path. But within the next 20 hours I have to make a decision and it’s going to be very, very difficult for me. It’s going to involve lists of pros and cons, talking to people I respect… not to get the answer from them, but to help me seek the answer within myself. I think this is big.

You can expect a follow-up with more details tomorrow morning after 8:00 am. For the moment, I am starving, so I’m going to grab some food.