interview

I have my first job interview tomorrow.

Well, it' snot my first ever job interviewer, but it is my first job interview since I decided to look for a new job.

It feels kinda weird to be honest.  Indeed, the whole thing feels a bit weird.  There's definitely an element in there somewhere of it feeling like I'm betraying my current company.

I dunno - I guess fundamentally it's a reflection of my character in that I'm quite a loyal person.  But there's also a feeling there that it's not like I'm about to lose my job and they've not necessarily specifically done anything wrong or bad to me so many of the traditional reasons for seeking a new job aren't present.

I'm not actually sure if I'm nervous about the interview or excited.

One thing I do remember is that the job I got when I was doing interviews at Uni was the one where I said to myself "odds on you're not going to get the job, so just relax and try to enjoy it."

This attitude has actually often proven to be a real winner for me.  If I manage to get myself into a state where I sort of don't care (I mean I do, but it's more like I've decided the thing has already gone badly so there's not point being worried about the outcome) then it actually turns out well.

The best example was my driving test where I basically set off without my seatbelt on.  Now you are actually allowed to remove your belt when manoeuvring so long as you put it straight on afterwards, but I don't generally need to and was at the end of the street before I realised I'd simply forgotten to put in one after getting in the car.

After that I assumed that I had basically failed and so I relaxed totally and just took it as a bit of additional driving practice and essentially a dry run for a second test.  But I actually passed.

I'm actually only taking the morning off tomorrow, but it's unlikely I'll be doing a blog as the afternoon will probably be quite busy.

It's the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend.

Monaco's probably the most famous Grand Prix there is and a few years back we went there to actually watch it.  The recent change in weather really reminded me of the trip, actually, as extraordinary heat was one of the hallmarks of the trip as the med was going through something of a heat wave.

While Monaco is super famous it's not usually the most exciting of races.  The problem of course is that there are no overtaking spots.  It's held on the streets of Monaco and so it's very narrow - dedicated race tracks are always a lot wider - which makes things difficult, but there are also no long straights (in fact there aren't really any straight bits at all) so the traditional overtaking opportunities don't tend to present themselves.

This isn't to say there aren't good races at Monaco.  Last year was a particularly good one as plenty happened.  There was even quite a bit of overtaking.  And other years can be interesting for various battles or incidents that shake things up.

Monaco is also seen as a particular challenge by the drivers as well.  As mentioned, there are no straights so they don't ever get a chance to relax and the narrow streets are surrounded by crash barriers so if you get it wrong then it's pretty final.

Of course this is the sort of thing that doesn't really show up well as a spectator at home.  When we were at the track it was great because you're really close and you get a much better feel for the whole experience.

One thing they did have in previous years was the in-car stuff on the red button and that really worked well for Monaco because you got a much better feel for how hard they work and how thrilling driving the circuit must be.  This has since been replaced with the driver tracker, which is okay but not as good.