In the spirit of Halloween, and inspired by dubious judgment, I bring you this highly personal — and perhaps, slightly creepy — post. I generally like to launch into an entry with a personal anecdote, and then broaden the discussion in a way that makes it of some use or interest to others … like job seekers. But I’m afraid we might not get that far this time. So proceed with caution …
Over the past few months, I’ve been haunted by this one ghost. But I’ve been able to live with it … that is, until last weekend, when her lingering presence turned into an undeniable force. I was in Santa Cruz, going through volunteer orientation at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center — absorbing information and instructions all day in class. So whenever we had a break, I’d walk outside and along the trail behind the center. Winds formed whitecaps, and the chiseled coastline stretched out into the distance …
Can you see her?
I could … And worse, her ghost hasn’t left my side since. Day or night, in my darkened apartment, she’s here when I go to bed … when I wake up the next morning … and even when I was at Stanford yesterday — crisscrossing the sun-kissed campus to catch up with former co-workers and take care of business. With every turn, there she was. In telling old colleagues how things were going, I literally said to several of them: “There are now ghosts in the area.”
Without whispering another word, they would nod sympathetically, in silence …
It’s too bad, because believing in ghosts is a matter of choice. And because I can’t seem to shrug mine off, she continues to haunt me here — in a place as vast and vibrant as the Bay Area … in the place I call home.
There are only two ways to exorcise this one: get over her or get away. I’ve tried the first approach. But whenever she’s near, I cannot help but embrace her — as I always have. And now, like the faint drone of a foghorn from the far-off coast, my second option beckons louder by the day: I just received confirmation this morning that I am flying back to Baltimore for second-round interviews.
If I do end up there, you can be certain that this place will become one of my regular haunts:
Avast, matey! More crab cakes and grog!
Arrgh! Whatever doesn’t kill ya, right?
[...] was yesterday, when I spent most of the day volunteering at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center. Ghosts aside, as I sat there handing sea stars to little children and showing them how to properly poke a sea [...]
[...] driving up to the North Bay … at night, heeding a haunting call: I decided to confront my ghost [...]