I’m thankful to have a job. Even with as much as I complain about it, really, I am thankful. Lately I’ve been wondering about how much of my own sanity I should sacrifice for it, though. There are too many greedy people who I deal with daily who have lost sight of what is really important in life – the free stuff.
So here I am, trying to rationalize why I’m not creating a faux sickness, cashing in on my 2 weeks accrued vacation, and looking for jobs online while on tour visiting friends and family (biggest argument against it: bad juju to be messing with when I don’t have the best genetic makeup anyways. Also, there’s my conscience saying “You’re better than that!” each time I think of this). An alternative course of action would be to summon the best of my creativity to reinvent the most dramatic and awe-inspiring “I Quit!” scene there ever was. In this plan, I go to work at Barnes and Noble where I can be surrounded by books, music, and happy people (the mind remembers what it wants about working in retail).
Alas, I will trudge in my heavy winter coat (or will it be warm tomorrow? Who knows these days), scrape the ice off my windshield, procrastinating however I may until 7:53 when I can do nothing more than drive to work, sit in my sad cube (imagine Pam’s desk from The Office and then cringe with me), and try to find value in doing clerical work and helping computer-illiterate people find our website over the phone.
Like any aspiring optimist, I try to find joy and humor wherever I can. Brad, hairstylist and gossip confidant, sighed with me as I told him about Aaron and my trip to NYC last month. Brad and I get along for a number of reasons: First, he has a picture of himself with Nick Arosio from TLC’s “What Not To Wear”, which I used to watch religiously. Also, he loves The Golden Girls (even dressed up with his friends as the fabulous ladies for Halloween). And to wrap it up, we both love love love Paris, New York, and David Sedaris. Sigh…
I haven’t had my hair cut regularly, or semi-regularly since I was a kid, but now that I do it has almost become a luxury that I allow myself. It’s $35 every 8-weeks but also a built-in therapy session. I get to look good and decompress at the end of the day. And just when I was feeling great and ready to head home tonight, I noticed the cashier/host/booking boy’s neck tattoo which was written in flowy script, “In Your Face, World“. This guy wasn’t built like a bouncer or intimidating, ready to stand up in the world’s face. He said he got it in his early 20′s when he was in a different place in life and just thought “Who cares!” (I may know a thing about that…only I was 18…). Well, whether or not he regrets his message to the world, it was like a billboard to me saying “HELLO ABBY! Stop taking things so seriously and just chill out!”.
Take it however you want, but I hope you too find an unexpected billboard to help you through your week. And remember folks, let’s not take ourselves too seriously, eh?
PS – I started a book club on Jan. 3. There are 4 women so far and we’re reading “Committed” by Elizabeth Gilbert. Feel free to read along if you are looking for inspiration via book.
