Meeting Across the River

          Today, I would face two co-op interviews on zero hours of sleep. I got home from Club Snell, cleaned up and dressed well, and found I had too much time to think. I was jittery and nervous, as always. Armed with an umbrella, long coat and resume in a fancy leather CIS folder I found last year, I walked through the pouring rain to the edge of Chinatown. I survived the damp relatively unscathed, and came in hot to the first interview. Two pleasant folks from the Massachusetts Dept. of Telecommunications interviewed me for the Regulatory Specialist position, in which I would be taking calls from consumers and reporting on incidents with telecom companies. It seemed to go well enough, and the location was interesting: a few blocks south of Tufts, overlooking the Bass River, which is apparently the name of that little inlet between downtown and the ICA.
          When I left the DTC, the rain had ended. In that hour or so, it had turned into a magnificent spring day and I found a big, stupid grin plastered on my face. I would be crossing into Cambridge for the next one, so I continued toward downtown via streets I'd never seen before. By the time I hit Beacon Hill, I was positively swaggering to "Dawn On the Desert" by the Hoppin' John Orchestra, my mood was so sunny. I stopped in the common for a grilled hot dog from a vendor, and acted as the new ambassador of fun, chatting the guy up while he prepared the food. I exchanged a knowing look and smile with someone on the bench across from where I was eating, and for once, felt like a real part of this city.
          I continued through Beacon Hill and decided that one hot dog and a smear of ketchup was just not gonna cut it. On a whim, I stopped in at a little pizzeria called Nino's, and soon realized I'd stumbled on to something. Nino himself was sitting in one of the booths with his presumable granddaughter, which I figured out after looking over a few pictures of him with the Red Sox and other local celebrities. Some construction workers or other workmen of some kind were eating lunch there, which also struck me as a good sign. I sat down with a big open-faced turkey sub, feeling on top of the world. Spring is my favorite season; its revitalizing powers are incredible. Or maybe I'm just happy at the idea of getting today behind me.
          During my meal, I noticed that a person at another table had dropped some money. I pointed this out to her, she picked it up and thanked me. I left a few minutes after her, and realized she'd missed $10! I choose to regard this as good karma, and it paid for my second lunch too. It's been too long since I crossed the Charles, and it was refreshing to walk along the Longfellow and watch the boats. Workers seemed to be renovating or dismantling some of the "salt shaker" towers, too. I was about halfway across when I noticed one of the alcoves along the sidewalk and thought of the night me, Sabrina, and Alaric looped from bridge to bridge, many moons ago. Near the end, something strange happened: I was listening to music, and just as I stepped on to solid ground, "Send Me On My Way" gave way to Bruce Springsteen's "Meeting Across the River". First the money, then this -- all good omens, today.
          I called home before the second interview, sharing a nice conversation with my mother about everything that's happening in Saugerties and with Ian's schooling up in Oneonta. The interview, this time at a healthcare consulting firm, seemed to go moderately well. I don't feel that I'm fully versed in what "consulting" entails, but I do think I made a positive impression and held my own. Feeling wiped but finished at last, I caught the T home and relaxed for a while. The Blues outscored the Stars 7-5 in one of my favorite types of game: super high scoring and with no personal stake in either team.
          My night would be spent volunteering, in a sense. NU Acting Out, a student group that combines activism and theater, held a homelessness awareness event on Centennial. Everyone in attendance was provided one cardboard box (roughly 4x4) and one tarp just large enough to wrap around it. I brought my own tape and made my box relatively secure; the tarp covered the top, bottom, and sides, and also hung down in front as a sort of privacy flap. My sleep was almost restful at first, though some yahoos were running around and occasionally screaming. Iris and Sean visited me earlier in the night; later on, I was woken by a drunken Maddie and her friends, who brought me some chips and an opened Coke that I didn't register as alcoholic until the morning. Curled up as I was, it became more difficult to sleep as the night settled in and the air became cold.