Light at the end of the tunnel?

So...the interview. Or interviews.

Had three total, although none were really formal. Two with HR people, then a panel one with the accounting staff I would be joining. That one went really well. Although I don't have a lot of hands-on experience, it turns out that I do know a lot about some of their issues, sales and use tax stuff, and a lot of the unique aspects of tribal gaming. I feel that has to be a plus, and I doubt that many of the other candidates are going to have that knowledge or have my other qualifications.

Only snag...an Excel test early on. Badly flubbed at least two of the 10 questions. I don't know if it was pass/fail and I passed it so they went on with everything, or if it's something that will be taken into account later. Really should have tried to review a few things beforehand. Problems using Excel, etc., are probably one of my biggest issues at work. I wasted a lot of time at the Big Firm trying to figure out how to do a lot of it. I used it for basic functions in school, but that was all. I'm going to try to brush up on it. One of the other places I've applied to is doing a similar test.

Unfortunately, they have a ton of applicants, so this was just the first round interview. I don't know if I will be selected for the second round, or if I will be interviewing with other people next time. What I think will happen will be that it will be the same accounting group, but much tougher questions--these questions were really general.

As usual, we shall see.

I ended up gambling! Yes, I gambled at my job interview. There was about a two hour interval between the HR interviews and my meeting the accounting staff, so I had to do something. So I ended up playing Time Machine again, but ended up losing around $10. I think the interval may have been by design...get that extra gambling revenue out of the applicant! Still, better by far than my spending nearly a grand on a plane ticket and hotel room for a half-hour interview, which is what I did back in January for the IRS.

Do I feel lucky?

I haven't posted this much in one day since my ranting and raving about the Big Firm.
The casino people called, the interview is tomorrow morning at the casino. Bad part is that my interview clothing [probably not the full suit--people don't do that here] will end up smelling like cigarette smoke.

My "ace in the hole" so to speak...it is an Indian casino and I happen to be Indian. Not the distant "grandmother was a Cherokee Princess" Indian, but an actual tribal member. I don't *look* Indian, but am a little over a quarter of my "official" tribe and also can claim another tribe [just not officially--as far as the government is concerned, you can only belong to one tribe at a time.] Anyway, this has helped me before in working with other Indian-oriented jobs, so it might here, although contrary to popular belief I don't think it's automatic. And besides, why couldn't there be another qualified Indian candidate? Maybe even one from their actual tribe [I'm from another part of the country, so for all I know the people here might think that I'm taking a job from one of their people anyway.]

Wish me luck. I will try to avoid the temptation to gamble. Probably my biggest advantage will be the CPA, because I only have book knowledge when it comes to the rest of this. Why oh why did I go into tax? I'm starting to think that going into tax is the accounting equivalent of majoring in English.

So long, Scotty!

Apparently the Klingon and/or Romulan Empires have finally prevailed over the U.S.S. Enterprise, the Star Trek slot machines are no more. We asked a slot attendant and were told they'd been moved out. I was not surprised, the machines didn't seem all that popular, and generally those who played were disgruntled at how fast their money was being taken by the machine. We found a new one, though, called Time Machine which I really enjoyed playing. Didn't win, but got a decent amount of play for my $20. Also everyone got their lunch comped--none of us really had earned it, but I think the casino host decided to be nice.

I've been on a 50s Sci Fi kick lately, and was happy to see the giant ant classic THEM! on Turner Classic tonight. My father-in-law humored me and agreed to watch it and promptly fell asleep after about 30 minutes. Giant radioactive ants wreaking havoc in Los Angeles and other places, what's not to like? It actually got an Oscar nomination for special effects, which aren't all that bad considering it was 1954. Actually I've noticed a lot of the effects in those movies [the bigger budget ones] are actually pretty good, they don't seem nearly as fake as all the computer generated stuff today. Well, I mean, assuming you buy into the whole giant ant thing in the first place.

I'm expecting another one via Netflix tomorrow, THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS. I'm guessing this will not be one with relatively good special effects.

Library Book Saturday still going to happen later today, after I sleep and stuff.