coffee and tv.

I had a really tough time sleeping last night, tossing and turning and waking up every couple hours. It was one of those nights with all these vivid dreams that kept running in circles, slamming into each other, and breaking apart in pieces. There were bits of being inside a building that was under attack, being torn apart by gunfire. There was a glimpse of being at an imaginary apartment surrounded by lots of friends without faces at Christmastime. There was a PG-13 clip with dramatic lighting, rain on windows, and an ex-coworker. There was an old friend's yellow lab drinking water out of an old bucket in the driveway during the summer.

I woke up a little late today, had some coffee, sent a couple emails, and went to take a shower. I had an interview today, and I was pretty nervous. I stumbled across something the other day not really looking, slapped together my resume and a couple sketches and sent it in. It's not industrial design, but it's involved, and sounds interesting.

So I shaved today, fully, for the first time in at least a couple years. It's weird. And cold. And you can feel things touch your face.

I suited up, went out to the interview, and was fairly nervous up until I shook the man's hand when I met him. Once I started talking, I was surprisingly calm, articulate, and confident. We talked about my past experience, and I asked him more about the company and my job in particular.

I felt pretty good when I left, but I'm not really concerned if I don't get the job. I guess that's a good thing. I went down the street for lunch at Taza on Franklin, and stood in line behind a dozen people waiting between rows of tables and the counter. The last time I ate here, I was working at Morningstar as a graphic design intern before I graduated. I instinctively glanced around to see if I recognized anyone from my old job, but the only familiar face was the guy making falafels next to the gyro grill.

I scanned the menu, then heard myself mutter "gyro/falafel combo, please." I had defaulted to what I used to order, and man, it's fantastic. I ate, sitting at the window, watching everyone come and go. The owner wasn't around today, but I remembered talking with him and my boss one day when it wasn't so busy. He talked about moving here and running a restaurant in the loop. We talked at length about food, and in the middle he got up and started to make us some Turkish coffee. We all sat and drank and talked for a little while longer, til we all decided it was probably time to get back to work. That was one of those really nice breaks in an otherwise unmemorable day.