ICP had a whole semesterlong class about light in the city that I once contemplated for about 10 minutes, but never took.

And I want to be able to bond with coworkers talking about how badass Bobby Draper the Martian Marine from The Expanse is.

Also, I hate change and uncertainty.

And yeah, I’d be a terrible salesperson even if this role is a little more technical than average salesperson.

And I feel not really in control because the headhunter and that company obviously want this to happen.

It’s nice, and a little unusual, to be going to an interview where you know they really want you, but I’m not sure if I really want them.

They seem to have a nice product, and a well reviewed company, checking all the boxes, from what I could gather on Glassdoor, moderately more money, but the role is to work with sales people and to be one myself but I hate hate having to sell something.

Our current system is maddeningly frustratingly designed, and I no longer have any illusions to be able to make any significant change – resistance will come all the way from the top, but my boss is as perfect as a boss can be, I like everyone I work with, the work-life balance is probably as good as anything possible in this country, and they let me be and do whatever I want and the stress level is low.

The irony of ironies is that in my current job they just offered me to become a product manager for this unmanageable and poorly-designed from the start product, product is something I wanted to do long ago, but I know enough about product management to see how in this instance that’s a recipe for way more frustration than I can handle.

I also hate myself going to that interview for being disloyal.

Cat Profiles from Haruki Murakami’s Animal Shelter

newyorker:

Muffles (female, American Bombay, seven years old)

Muffles is an older cat with an affectionate personality and the tiniest of meows. Will yours be her forever home? Muffles is ready to move into your vivid waking dream where you levitate through an old zoo full of faceless guests, and she likes natural light.

Duke (male, spotted tabby, twelve months old)

Duke’s favorite food is eel, which is also my favorite food. In the nineteen-sixties, I loved two women differently. Come meet Duke at our weekend adoption event!

Kathy (female, calico, nine months old)

Kathy was a little shy when she first arrived at the shelter, but now she feels right at home. She came to us from the bottom of a well on a moonless night. Her previous owner was the personification of Macallan Scotch whisky. I took three trains across Shibuya Ward to eat a plain dish alone and, instead of going home, I followed the wordless Macallan man to Kathy. Proof of an in-home well or similar void required for adoption.

Doctor Hirofumi Tanaka (male, tuxedo shorthair, seven months old)

Doctor Hirofumi Tanaka is my wife’s secret lover, trapped in a cat. (Still litter-box training.)