The Adventures of Cowboy Hazel

The crash came sooner than I expected. 4:02 pm to be exact. “Thank you for your interest in the NYC Teaching Fellows program. We appreciate the time and energy you have devoted to the application process. At this time, we have completed a thorough review of your application: you have not been admitted to the Fellowship.” Well, I guess that answers that question.

Then, maybe twenty minutes later, when I was finally regaining my focus on work (I was working from home today), there’s a knock on my door. My super is standing there with a bag of garbage. “Is this your garbage?” I’m looking at the white plastic bag with red ties (same kind I use) and see through it a Perrier bottle and can of Goya black beans. “Maybe. Why?” Instead of answering me, he just repeats his question. I try to avoid answering but he eventually wears me down. After I admit that that is, in fact, my garbage that I disposed of two days ago, he tells me that he got a ticket because I didn’t separate the glass bottles for recycling. “What?” He went on bitching and yelling at me and I apologized although I wasn’t completely sure what the hell he was talking about. When I come back inside, I search around a bit and find that, apparently, there are actual laws in New York City that require you to recycle (see this). What a bunch of bullshit. I mean, I agree with the whole recycling movement and, yeah, I should have recycled those bottles, but who are they to come at me and force me to recycle? The city government is completely overstepping its bounds.

The crazy thing is, that I might not have even taken the teaching thing if I had been accepted, but the rejection still hurts so bad. I keep thinking over and over in my head all the different possible reasons why they didn’t pick me. Was it because my teaching sample sucked? Because I wasn’t wearing a suit? Because I only had a 3.7 GPA? Because I don’t have perfect teeth? Did I smell bad? Was it because I was rude to the weird old guy? Did they think I didn’t care enough? There are so many things that could have caused this but I don’t know which one it was. It’s making me crazy…

I’m not going to let this ruin my week, though. I have too many good things on the horizon to let this ruin my week. I am still fully employed (even if only temporarily) and I have tickets to Yankees games Wednesday and Thursday nights. And, if all that’s not enough, I have one of my best friends flying up here this weekend. So, NYCTF, take your rejection and shove it. I don’t care what you think anyway.

If only that were true…