I think I might be getting a cold, but it could be allergies or just lack of sleep.

After being so good about my spending in August and September I just went on a bit of an online shopping spree.  Money I don’t have on clothes I don’t need. And shoes. I bought 3 pairs of shoes. In my defense it was under $100 total for all 3 pairs.

Anyway. So this thing I’m applying for. It’s a year long program. No, I would not be collecting yet another degree, but it does have an educational component to it. The best description I can give is that it’s like an Internship for grown-ups. I believe you actually get a living wage. I actually applied to the Summer Internship version of this in college. I was a finalist, but didn’t make the final cut.

I’m struggling with the application and struggling more with the idea of potential rejection. First cut is finding out if I get a phone interview, and then the next step would be an in person interview, and if your interests match up with one of their partner organizations, then that organization interviews you. The website warns that its an extensive interview process, and I realized this weekend, that I could go through the entire interview process (which would require me to take vacation time from my current job and make an expensive trip to DC) and still not get a position. That is depressing.

Allegeldy, I’ll know whether I got a phone interview or not by October 31st. But first, of course, I have to finish the application. I no longer have any idea how to talk about my research interests, potential career path, and “what I hope to gain” out of a program, or how to make it relate to liberty/free market oriented solutions. Oh, and did I mention the answers are supposed to be 100 words or less?

The only one I have down is the ideal role of the federal government, and I just deleted my answer on the very, very tiny, tiny off chance that someone else who is applying for the same program stumbles across my blog, because I don’t want anyone stealing my oh-so-brilliant answer.