My Life in Boxes

Boxes.
I have seen enough of them lately having completed a move.
I have emptied a bunch of my boxes but the majority of my stuff remains packed up in my parent's basement.

The sheer number of Mc Donald's boxes in my parents basement may prompt the unsuspecting person to assume we plan on opening a franchise however that is not the case.  

The last few times I have moved I have gone to Mc Donald's and requested some of their french fry boxes. Generally they are clean and the perfect size for packing. I also find it amusing to ask the Mc Donald's employees for cardboard boxes. They tend to give you a blank stare and then look down at their till - you can almost see them thinking "what button do I press for an order of boxes?" before a light clicks on in their heads and they offer to go to the back and check if they have any.

On occasion I remember something that I need is located in one of these boxes in my parent's basement and a search ensues. Despite the boxes being neatly labelled and stacked it normally takes me looking through all of them before I finally find what I was looking for and a frustrated me declares "I hate having my life in boxes!!"

The truth is that lately I have been feeling like it is more than just my kitchen stuff and a bunch of clothes in boxes but that the boxes are a metaphor of how I presently feel. In many ways I feel that I am just like all that stuff languishing on a forgotten shelf in the basement waiting for the next opportunity but presently boxed up and kinda useless. It is tough to feel confident about yourself in resumés, coverletters, and interviews when you feel like you are wasting away. Slowly I forget about skills I do have and become less confident about them. For instance with my recent job interview, although I wasn't entirely suited to the job, I still struggled with answering several questions which should have come easy to me. My mind knew that I should be giving examples of how I used certain skills not just saying I had them, but I froze. The few examples I could come up with on the spot weren't that impressive. I was disappointed in my answers and knew I could have done better but I am kind of in a mental funk.

As a point of clarification I should mention that I really wasn't best suited to the position. Turns out they were looking for someone with ALOT more knowledge of ducks. I know mallards and Canada geese and that is about it the rest are all just "ducks" to me. And though I could learn quickly I think they really wanted someone who already understood that aspect of the job. I am only a little disappointed that I didn't get the job since I found out during the interview that it was only a 4 month contract and not a year long one like I had thought. On a more humorous note there were several interesting questions I was asked in my interview including:
"how do you feel about dead carcasses." - because they deal with alot during hunting season

and

"would you be intimidated if a big guy with bloody hands and a gun came into the office." - again this pertains to hunting season but I found the question kind of humorous.

Anyhow I continue with my life on a shelf, not fully able to make plans since I want to remain open if a job opportunity should arise; and also feeling frustrated and bored and irritated with nothing really to do. I feel like my skills and intelligence are rusting in a cupboard while time passes by all to quickly and I am not sure what I can do to fix the situation.