"We wanted to let you know as soon as possible that you were not selected..."

So, I didn't have to wait two weeks to hear back from them afterall.

Although, (of course) I'm somewhat disappointed at not getting the job - I am, surprisingly, okay with it, too.

I figure that they were doing me a favor by saying "No.", because I couldn't bring myself to do it. I mean, seriously - how could I? This was AREA 51 we're talking about here. (No, ...really!)

For the absolutely awesome opportunity (not to mention outstanding resume material) this job would have been, spending four days a week on-site at a "remote location with no internet or telephone access" is a terrifyingly lonely proposition. And I don't do lonely, well. Realistically - I couldn't even keep a dog as a pet because I wouldn't be home often enough to care for one.

They kept re-iterating to me during the interview that I wouldn't be getting paid for the time it takes to commute to work. Really? ...nobody does - but just exactly how far are we talking here? Apparently, so far that staying on site and sleeping in a dorm every night during the week is the better option.

Has anyone else seen that History Channel documentary about the folks who work out there taking a three-hour bus ride to work every day? That's a six hour round trip - every day. Makes a dorm room sound attractive doesn't it?

I have to admit - on my flight home from the interview - it occurred to me that I would have to stop writing altogether. What if any of the fiction pieces I've been kicking around in my head actually turned out to be not fiction? I signed a non-disclosure agreement - so I couldn't even try to pass off what I've already written as memoir, either. I mean, I don't even care if I ever get published - writing is just a hobby to me. But, if what I've been writing, or might write turned out to be anything - anything at all, actually - things would not go well for me.

So, yeah, working on some cool-ass super-secret tech would have been off-the-hook. But the trade-off of leaving my family and friends behind to move across the country where I don't know anyone (and can't even have a dog!) is definitely a tough sell - but, then go and factor-in that I can't even write, too?

So, yeah, they were doing me a favor.