i ain't gonna work on maggie's farm no more

Um. I think I'm applying for a job today: two jobs, actually, which I am trying not to think about because it is several different shades of terrifying, but am thinking about quite a lot anyway because it is also sort of nifty, or would be, if it weren't terrifying. (I am also bicycling about town like I did before it got all nasty and cold and snowy because it is warmish now and I need to get into Rosie's Bookshop before my store credit runs out and if they haven't got Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell I am going to be right displeased.)

Right. Um. Mostly I am applying for a job because I need money sort of desperately and haven't got any other concrete ways of getting hold of it, and also because I haven't got a life at the moment (less so than usual, I mean) and am starting to be terribly miserable and bored and it is very depressing to not be doing anything worthwhile, you know. Also because I haven't any good excuses not to apply for a job. So far, the places on my list are FYE and Waldenbooks, and I am tossing them around in my head and trying to decide which one I would want to work at most, if they should both be so kind as to accept my applications.

why i ought to work at fye
i. It's got music. And movies. And I get discounts on them. Better, they have good music, like Sufjan Stevens, and Loreena McKennitt, which is very, very nice.
ii. The manager is really cool. And by 'cool', I mean 'she was a folky hippie in her younger years, and she and her husband are historical re-enactors in their spare time and have got Civil War swords and muskets and things mounted on the wall of their house and an antique stove which they really do cook off of and her taste in music is rather impeccable because she let me go through all of the albums in the cupboard when I was over and I was deeply impressed'. Also, we like each other. This could be a serious benefit.
iii. I listen to such a wide variety of music that I could be very helpful to customers looking for things to listen to, and whatnot.
iv. It's next door to the very nice cinnamon roll shop at the mall.

why i ought to work at waldenbooks
i. It's a bookstore, and therefore awesome (although it's miniscule and the poetry section is the size of my hand). Working at a bookstore gives one automatic geek points (whereas working at FYE would only get me cool teenager points and I wouldn't know what to do with those). And anyway it sounds nice: 'I work at the bookstore.' It's got a ring to it, doesn't it?
ii. I know quite a lot about books and can recommend when pressed to. Especially children's books.
iii. It is also in the mall, which is very convenient because I can bicycle there and do a bit of shopping if necessary (there's Goodwill, and Claire's, and the cinnamon roll place, and in October there is a very nice costume shop) after work.
iv. Two words: BOOK SEVEN. If I worked at Waldenbooks, I could be stocking it. I might get to touch it before the rest of the world does, though I'm sure a fellow employee would be standing over me with a rifle making certain I didn't open it and read even the wee-est non-spoilery bit. I would also have no trouble getting my copy first thing on the twenty-first of July.

why i should just run away to wales and not work at all
(why Wales? because I like Wales, and it is underappreciated.)
i. It involves Responsibility, which is scary, and possibly also involves Getting Up Early, which is in my nature about as much as rap music is.
ii. I am used to having a great deal of freedom and flexibility, having been homeschooled all of my life and never having to adhere to schedules very much. Having to get days off for things (and maybe not getting them) is a dire prospect.
iii. There will be people there. I will have to hobnob with them all day long. This could be very, very good, and it could be very, very awful, depending on the people. It would be terrible if I worked with the sort of people that I have to recover from afterwards, but also deeply splendid if we had a fun co-worker camraderie with inside jokes and things.
iv. If I work at FYE, I have to wear an ugly polo shirt. Eurgh. (I'm not being serious about this. Mostly.)

And now lunch is calling, rather persistently.