First day of school

Whenever anyone dresses up in our "office" (although, it's more of a "subterranean lair" than any sort of traditional office) everyone assumes that they have a job interview that day. And, by "dressing up" I really mean anything other than jeans, sneakers, and an RTFM t-shirt. So, a polo shirt means that you are interviewing with Google; a button down shirt means that you are interviewing with Microsoft; a suit and tie means that you are interviewing with Goldman Sachs. I like to dress up in skirts and heels (even if I'm not interviewing), so I've had to gradually wean my colleagues from the innate assumption that if I don't look like a slacker, I'm hunting for another job.

Today is the first day of classes for the Spring Semester, so I really went all out with my outfit, and thus, I've been fielding "oooh got an interview downtown do ya?" questions all day long. It must be that Soviet mentality that always kicks in at the beginning of every semester. In the Soviet Union, the first day of school (always September 1st) was almost a national holiday. Everyone looked really sharp and spiffy, and the children were always carrying flowers (for the teachers) and lots of freshly sharpened pencils. It was really fun, pleasant, and exciting. So, I guess I still retain that sentiment, and it's quite nice.