I threaten to leave...

and Florida gets nervous. I know this is true, because after announcing this one year plan to God and Everybody, yesterday I got a call about a job that might actually be good, and today I had a very good phone interview with the HR Guy, and next week - on my birthday, actually - I go for the in-person grilling. It could be a lot of fun - a small regional homebuilder, expanding wildly and basically without an in-house legal department, looking to build one. It appears I would be it - working with outside attorneys, of course, I ain't practicin' law for these people. (Screw the unlicensed practice of law issue, I just won't do it for paralegal pay.) But I can do what they need to do, and more, and if they are not full of shit, (and of course they may be) it could be another path out of the paralegal pink collar ghetto. They are expanding madly and don't even know what they need yet. I would not mind being inside the organization as they figure that out.

And believe me, the paralegal ghetto is real. It's a Girl Job and paid accordingly. The automatic lowballing of salaries, the asking if you take dictation(!!!) the entire process of looking for a job as a paralegal - even with my level of experience - just points out that it is a "girl job" to many people, and not an actual profession. The real jobs can be very good, very interesting, very professional and fulfilling, but the bad ones are legion. Today I had a second call, I thought from a headhunter, but no, it was just some agency asking if I wanted to do temp work. (Uh, no.) When I said I had a job and was looking for another one, she couldn't get me off the phone fast enough. Thanks honey, I'll cross that agency off my list of people worth bothering with....

But it's also true that when you stop giving a shit, everything gets so much easier. It was a good interview, I felt relaxed and spoke my mind, talked about what I could do, asked questions, and ended the interview by lecturing the HR guy about what a commercial real estate paralegal with my level of experience REALLY gets in this town, and pointed out that I have a lot more construction and development experience than most of them, because I didn't sit in an office and wonk closing documents all day. I understand land development issues and construction issues and can do a lot more than flyspeck title and fill in legal descriptions, thanks. And suddenly his concept of what he was willing to offer as a salary slid upward, and I have a second interview. And I'll be interviewing them as much as they will interview me. And maybe they'll decide I'm too expensive, and they can make do with someone with less experience who will work cheaper, and that will be their loss, but whatever. I have other things in the works still. So, we shall see....

Crocheting the Hannan shawl. I really it. It has that drapey-but-sturdy thing that appeals to me, I could stuff this in a suitcase and not feel like I have to wrap it in tissue paper first, nor would it come out in a dainty cobwebby creased mess, yet it will look striking over a really basic black tank and slacks for a business casual dinner. I'm loving the Zen, and when the yarn fast is broken, it may be for more of this sort of thing.