Is There A Ghost in my House?

One of the most beautiful phenomenons in nature is when the moon is waxing crescent and only the northernmost arc is truly illuminated but you can clearly see the shadowy outline of the entire celestial body. This is called Earthshine. As you might guess, it is caused by the moon lining up in conjunction with the earth so that the light of the sun is reflected off of the earth’s surface onto the moon. That was the spectacle that greeted me last night as I stumbled to the Wellness Center to meet up with my roommate. It was perfectly offset by a mild springtime breeze which carried with it the fragrance of newly blossomed crocuses. Also complimentary was the imposing silhouette of the trees behind the football field. In my moon-struck imagination, they all looked like giant sentinels watching over the denizens of Maplewood Cemetery. I like Maplewood. I like the moon. I like Jack’s Pizzas, but only when they’re on sale for $2 a piece. I’d like to think that similarly to a parent who would look forward to presenting a small child with something shiny and beautiful, God was happy to show me His artistry in the Indiana sky.

In other news, my advisor is now dangerously close to realizing that I suck. As some of you probably know, I made the career decision not too long ago that I wanted to be a tower climber. You know those 500-foot tall constructs that sit in cornfields with the red blinky lights? Yeah. I decided I’d like to climb those. Happily, my advisor seems to have a contact with contractor who arranges for people to get paid to do just that. “How fortuitous!” I thought to myself, inasmuch as it seemed like a likely combination of my ability to climb really high and my inability to do much else. Anyway, I sent my advisor a résumé for his perusal and consideration in the hopes that he would set me on the right track in regards to how I should proceed. He got it, didn’t like it, and told me that we needed to meet and discuss it. Oh gosh. We did so, and he informed me that there was “too much programming, not enough IT” on it. I asked what I should do, only to have him more thoroughly explain how catastrophic it would have been had he forwarded my résumé on to his buddy. He explained that I needed more material about wireless, about Cisco, about routers and switches and networking. In my mind I queried, “So do you want me to lie and say that I’ve worked with that stuff and understand it?” He then proceeded to get a student résumé book from last year’s class and started to flip through it. At every mention of “WiMax” or “Wireless Administration” he pointed to the entry and said “That would be good to have on there.” I just sat there helplessly and thought “But I haven’t worked with any of that stuff and you know it.” It would have been funny if it weren’t such a grim commentary on my professional future. I think what I need to do is go back to my advisor from undergrad and have him get me a job programming before I forget how to do that too.

Only one more month left to live in the Shire it looks like. I’m going to miss it, I think. Where else am I going to find a domicile that features a floorless shower, antique farming equipment, a roomless commode, and a history of having genuinely been exorcised for ghosts? That’s quite the shopping list when you’re tooling around looking for another residence. Really, I’d probably settle for any one of the above.

I hope you’re all doing well.

-Ryan