I know you all have been at the edge of your seat since I said I was selected to interview for the Phoenix Management Intern program.  Well, it’s official, I have the schedule for the two-day process!  Let me just jump right in with the basic activities of that first day, when all of the interns go together through a day of activities.

• 8:30am - Arrive (Anyone want to come cheer my arrival? Just kidding. Really, Mom, I love you, but don’t do it.)
• Meeting with the City Manager
• Candidate Welcome by Personnel Director and Budget and Research Director
• Meeting with Assistant City Manager.
• 12:15pm – Lunch On (My) Own, but probably with other some of the other candidates.  Cynthia? Care to join me?  Then again, it might be one of the few moments during which I can take some deep breaths, call my booster club (i.e., Mom, Cheryl, Ben, Greg, Lorena, Charlie, Kara, etc.), and just be relaxed.  But who needs that when I’ll have adrenaline pumping in my veins all day!  I digress.
• Tour of Civic Space Park (Uhm, this is the park about which I know so much and love so dearly! Good omen!)
• Tour of the Phoenix Convention Center
• Reception with Executive Team, Department Heads and former Interns.
• 5:45 pm - Dinner with current and former Interns

Anyone else super excited about this day?  Anyone want to run through it a few times with me? Just kidding, I’m not that crazy.  I can run through it multiple times without anyone else.  Ok, ok, just kidding.  But I am really excited.  Then again, they could say I have to sit quietly in a dark room and I would be excited.  They could say I have to clean all of city hall and I would be excited. They could say I have to watch Robin Williams in dramatic rolls all day and I would still be excited.  (Well, maybe not that last one, that’s awful.)

So that schedule above is day one of the process.  The second day is just the individual interview, probably approximately 30 minutes per candidate.  In some ways, the two days are equally challenging, but for different reasons.  I am excited for both days, for different reasons.  Mostly I am just excited.  All of the time.  It’s very hard on my nerves.  And on my roommate.  Sorry roomsie!

But tonight, on a video iChat, Ben gave me two amazing pieces of advice.  First of all, he said I need to stop worrying about everyone else that is interviewing and stop trying to think too far ahead.  I just need to think about preparing myself and feeling confident and collected.  Then, a few minutes later, he said that if I have made it this far, then they are interested in hearing from me for a reason. These were such simple pieces of advice, and yet I really heard them or understood them for the first time.  Immediately, I felt better.  Seriously, Ben and Greg are so clutch this week in helping me keep my sanity.

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In other very related news, I went suit shopping tonight with my aunt and her guy, Larry.  It was fun. And really difficult.  Well, mostly I was very difficult.  I didn’t know suits had so many potential problems! Seriously, I have gone suit shopping once that I can remember.  It was a day or two before my dad’s funeral and I went straight to Express.  I bought the 2007 version of the suit on the right (actual look on me may – or may not – vary).

Anyway, today Cheryl, Larry and I went to Men’s Warehouse to see suits.  I must have tried on at least a dozen suits.  They were boxy, too big here, too small there, not the right cut, too much rolling, too stiff in the shoulders, too unstructured in the front, not cut for my type, too straight, too curved, too plain, too bold, too young, too old, and only a few were the right colors.

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After being a general (and specific) brat for about an hour, we gave up and decided we could try Express since I was happy with my current suit. So, we went to Paradise Valley mall.  And tried on the suit on the left.  It was perfect. Sort of. Larry and Cheryl both agreed with me that it fit almost perfectly with little need to tailor.  Larry sided on the edge of caution, I believe, saying that it might just be too fitted to match the environment.  And he might be right.  But I loved the color – they were not fond of it for an interview suit, but I thought it would be great for the day I described above.  Casual, yet professional.  Serious, yet relaxed.  Contradictory, yet consistent.  You get the idea.

Anyway, Larry and Cheryl said that the construction and fabric were not meant for a workhorse suit. And they have an excellent point.  My current suit can be worn once, then it needs to be dry cleaned or steamed or very lightly ironed.  It’s just not meant for everyday wear, from my experience.  So why buy another suit that I need to take such gentle care of to ensure it looks great?

So, we tried (unsuccessfully) at Macy’s at PV mall.  And we’re going to try again tomorrow to find the perfect suit.  This time, I am going to go alone to a few independent places in central Phoenix and see what I can find.  If I don’t find anything, we’ll try the Macy’s at the Biltmore because they are rumored to have better choices.

So, another long post. You readers are so lucky.  Well, anyone still reading at this point is (sarcastically) lucky.  Any suit shopping suggestions? Or clothing suggestions in general? It’s been quite a long time since I have had to really get dressed up, especially two days in a row.  But I am so excited.  And I just can’t hide it.

Next up, after I find the perfect suit?  The perfect shoes.  And the perfect haircut.  And a discussion about the perfect bag.  I have a feeling I’m going to be blogging away my worries a lot over the next two weeks.