Last Monday, I was invited to interview for a job. It involved a three-hour drive to where the job would be located. Monday night, I had a dream. In the dream, I was halfway to the job interview when I realized I was going the wrong way. By the time I could turn around, I would be too late for my interview.

Sometimes dreams do come true.

Friday, I was driving to my interview, and I had allowed myself 1.5 (almost 2) hours of extra time. I had plenty of time for extra stops for bathroom needs and food and so on.

I was doing great all the way to Grand Rapids. In Grand Rapid I knew I was supposed to get off 131 at exit 86B onto 196. Except apparently I didn’t know. Instead I took exit 89B onto 96.

196 goes south east, but more south than east.

96 goes north east, and it is more east than north, but there is still a lot of north too.

30 minutes later, I grabbed my map because the mile marker didn’t look right. I was not yet to Fruitport, but I was close. That’s when I realized I had just been driving the wrong way for 30 minutes AND I would have to continue driving the wrong way in order to get back to the direction I should be going. At that point I had 1 hour and 20 minutes until my appointment.

I made it to my interview about 15 minutes late. Thanks to a cell phone I was able to call and let them know ahead of time. Several of the people on the committee mentioned they made the same mistake when driving back home after a trip up north. That was nice of them to say.

I never get lost. I know how to read a map so well. I can’t believe I made that error at such a bad time.

Despite my tardiness, I think the interview went well. I was impressed with the place. After the interview, I was given a tour. It was nice. After the tour, I myself went on a tour of the area. I was impressed. By the job location, it was mostly corn fields and farm country. It didn’t look very different from where I live now. One mile away from the job, over the highway, things looked very different. It was a big city (compared to Northern Michigan), and it had everything. Plus it was all nicely landscaped with lots of trees.

The interesting thing is that a nearby tiny town, just the other side of a river and probably less than 10 miles from the job location, is the very town my Grandpa Denton was born in.

I picked up a newspaper while in the area, so I could learn a bit more about the community including housing possibilities. It is still early in the job search, but I really liked what I heard and saw Friday. My only comment — if one of my dreams decided to come true, why did it have to be this one?

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Celebrity Spotting

While in the town, I stopped at a Flying J truck stop for gasoline. When I entered, I noticed a group of guys (men) huddled together. I ignored them and went to the register to prepay for my gas. While I was waiting, I noticed customers turning around and gawking at the group of men. I heard them whisper and point out someone in a black coat. I realized there must have been a celebrity in the store.

My first clue?

The cashier said, “If he doesn’t give me an autograph, I’m going to cry.”

So I asked, and another cashier told me, “It’s mumble mumble.” She is trying to whisper, so he doesn’t hear her. I can’t hear her either, however. I didn’t bother to turn around and actually look at the celebrity to see if I recognized him. I am just not that good at things. I think I could point out Dolly Parton (and really, who couldn’t?). Other than that, I’m hopeless.

The cashier repeated herself, “It’s Twista, you know, like the storm.”

Ah. Totally cleared it up for me. Ahem.

By that time Twista (and his entourage) was right beside me. They had him pretty much surrounded. One guy had a very cool cream colored coat with some type of brown drawing/threading on it. Very cool. I like it.

Anyway, I took a quick glance, confirmed I was clueless and walked out and put gas in my vehicle. Still it was neat.

Later, at dinner, I asked my waiter who Twista might be. The waiter said, “Twista? Is this a trick question?” I assured him it wasn’t, and I explained I had seen him at a local gas station. This made my waiter very excited. He explained Twista was a rap star out of the Chicago area.

I checked out the guy’s web site. He hasn’t updated it since 2005, and the forums are overrun with spam comments. In other words, I couldn’t figure out where he might have been going yesterday. I wonder if my oldest is going to be upset I didn’t ask for an autograph…