So I've been thinking a lot on what to do with this blog. I've liked having it (and I hope you've liked reading it) so I was hesitant to ditch the blogger. While I considered making a new blog url, that would require starting over and sending out new links, so instead after much deliberation I've decided to just change the blog name to whatever I might be heading off too.
Sooo.....
Welcome to The Average Chronicles of an Eclectic Gone Liberal Arts!
Detailing the crazy and wonderful adventures of this American Studies/Creative Writing major at her Liberal Arts College and the interesting people she keeps in her company.
So my last day of work was a couple days ago. I feel sort of weird about it . Yes I had nothing left to do. And yes I wanted it to end (it felt like the right time) And Yes i want to go back to school. But when you've been doing something for 10 weeks, and then you don't for a couple of days, the experience gains some sort of charm.
I have to say my working experience was invaluable. I learned so many new things and worked with lovely people. To My followers these past couple of weeks (.....I'm hollering at you too my numerous readers in Russia! 36 of you guys Thanks!) Thanks for keeping up. I know I have more stories to tell and I'll try to get them out to you before I forget them. I already know I have to write about Logan and I's discussion of the Midwest (will come out ASAP)
So this morning I made myself a mocha instead of my standard black tea. (Due to coffee being a diuretic... sort of try to avoid it) But seeing extra coffee in the pot this morning, decided to switch it up. It was effective almost immediately.
Regardless, I was jittery the entire drive to work and thought out my opinions on the Coffee vs. Tea debate. Tea wakes up your mind while Coffee wakes up your body (this all Emily science mind you). Like I usually black tea and while I may feel tired, I think coherently and am generally more mentally stimulated. This morning was totally different. Like all I my body wanted to do was move and dance and tingle and my head was all like "NOOOOO. why? IT's too early for this, can't think straight..blah." "I'm too tired to move but thats all I want to do? Very confusing. But damn, nothing can beat the smell of hot coffee. It's sort of ridiculous.
Well, It was Logan's last day yesterday (at least for me seeing him) and it was actually pretty emotional. It was more of a copy day so Logan and I hung out. Here's how it went.
Logan: "You know, Emily, I'm really going to miss you"
Woh. And then I'm saying "I'm going to miss you too Logan" instinctively. (But I think it's actually the truth) IT was all last lunch. Last this. Last that. We had to take a short lunch because Logan was busy and he's all upset that our last lunch is so short. And as I'm writing this, I;m thinking it's amazing how circumstances can make friendships. Like we talked about first meeting all nostalgic, but it was only 10 weeks ago. Who knew you could get to know a lot about a person in that short a time (more positives than negatives too!)?
As were talking, I point out that, hasn't he done this before? After all I'd seen the Cynthia sub-folder of the Intern Folder, to which Logan replied.
"She was a high school student. And besides we didn't go to lunch together and stuff like you and I. She only came from 2-5."
Aww Logan.
And then the office made me cupcakes and had this whole vaguely awkward goodbye thanks we really love you thing. Which was actually pretty heartwarming. (I honestly liked working with everybody in the office) I'm totally a sucker for things like that. Like I can forget all sorts of shit and look back at a lot of experiences in this light. The only really odd thing about all of this is that I still have 4 more days of work. So I'm not gone, but it sure feels like it. It was just the most convenient time since people are coming in and out in the next couple of days.
Anyways after that was all sorts of crazy. Like I was asked to drive to Staples downtown and pick up supplies since they weren't going to be delivered on time since our credit card bounced. Which was hectic since the project had to be done by today, parking is always miserable in downtown (except this time I totally spot squatted creepily behind a car pulling out and only had to pay 35 cents). Oh and I wore heels. And Pants. And it was 100 degrees. And stacks of paper are awkward to carry anyways.
Well when I finally got back, Logan and I had to go on one more adventure to the storage unit. ("The last thing I'll show you" says Logan poetically) So we park and walk up to the storage unit to find some posters (Recognize that Logan has the day off tomorrow). We start looking in the pitch black and we can't find them.
Logan: "Oh shoot I think they're back at the office."
So we go back to the office and we can't find them. Logan is freaking out at this point. (Oh my God, what if they're in the back of my car, I'll have to drive back here tomorrow. Maybe they're in Bob's truck? etc etc) And I'm trying to be calm and try to walk him through his memories which he is refusing to do. I actually saw the posters at the last seminar so I'm using my memory of what they look like to spur him. Like that they had pictures on both sides.(very important later)
Finally Logan realizes they are a different material then what he thought (which I had previously told him) but I had looked through the posters of that material and had only seen promotional posters, so I was pretty sure that these particular posters weren't there. However after some deliberation we decided to go back.
Logan is extremely nervous and apologetic and drives into the posters when we make it back. I showed him where the promotional posters were. And sure enough they're the were.... on the back of the promotional posters. So we were both right... sorta.
"Crisis Averted!" Shouted Logan
"A true office victory" I said.
It seemed fitting for such a great victory end our working relationship. (including the soaring 80s anthem provided by TGB's mixtape).
So here I am sitting of the floor outside my office door. I accidentally arrived 15 mins early this morning and I'm the first one here.
And I don't have a key,
And I've been here for almost 10 weeks now.
However I'm supposed to get the key today... With only 3 more days left of my job. Perfect
Also, to Sidenote several people have walked past me sitting here and only one looked at me funny , this must happen with some frequency.
Well what a day it has been. Soooo first our kitchen is invaded by ants. My god I came down the stairs and a massacre lay before me. I had suspected it'd be bad since I'd heard the banchee war cries while I was getting dressed. But nothing could prepare my for the orange scented trail of tears, stretching from the backdoor to the pantry, that lay before me in my kitchen. While I was leaving Mom in Chief (hereafter MIC) discussed battle tactics. We'd horseshoe around the infantry and flank the rest of the army outside with pest spray and cut off the supply lines. I had to give MIC the pep talk and she had war fever as I left the house.
And then I got a flat tire. MIC met me and AAA (Shout out to Troy at AAA, Thanks for being so friendly!) so I could continue my journey to work. I was only an hour late amazingly.
Then we copied. Like seriously, Logan and I had a dilemma.We had to copy 5 page packets out of a hard cover book that when the copy of each page was copied, it would cut off the page numbers. So we tried in agony, even Logan (aka The Copy King) couldn't figure it out. We pushed buttons and wasted paper (both college educated, but what good is that?) trying many different angles, margins that we figured it out. We were ecstatic. So the torch was passed to me but I was severely a young grasshopper.
I have had bad experiences with copy machines in the past. My old job made me practically afraid of them. Nothing puts human intelligence and college education to shits as much as a copy machine. A paper jam was the kiss of death and since copying (and hole punching and stapling) were my only jobs (at the old job), I couldn't help but feel like a failure. Oh and also excessive amounts of alphabetical organizing is a sure fire way to feel like a dumbbutt. (abcde....abcdefgh....efgh....
.abcdefghijklm....mnopqur...) When Logan first showed me the copy machine the first day my heart dropped but I informed him straight out of my past misgivings with the machine. At least he actually taught me how to work it, instead of just giving me jobs to do nbd as if that monster of a creation was completely self evident.
Regardless, back to my current job. Too much black space, words cut off, staples over the words(then having to remove and restaple) and many many mourning trees later I was victorious. Several packets, each page printed individually till I stood tall as conqueror of copying. It was actually pretty amusing, we got into it and placing loads of honor and pride for a successful copy.(Look at that one, It's so beautiful. Well done sir! What a glorious page.)or deep deep shame for a bad one (What happened? That's just terrible, how could you do that? You should be a ashamed, what have I even taught you!) You do what you got to do. Practice practice, perhaps one day I shall become king (meh.... maybe not)
"Office Victory!" Cries Logan after the last perfect page.(ya, it's become a thing). "I'm very proud."
I've figured it all out. Nothing left for me to do here.
And My in-office-find song of the day: Seasons "Of our Discontent"
So people at the airport are needlessly mean. Like today there was a woman in the Rudy's dinner line. And she was wearing her passport around her neck so she's obviously not from around here. So at first I smile. No response. And then I couple seconds later I heard a squeal from the back of the line as I was deciding not to eat there (I eventually went back but whatever ) well it looked like she had dropped/caught something, regardless she looked frazzled. So of course trying to give good ole America a good name/reputation for once
Me: (cheery) are you ok?
Her: ya! ( with a snarl).
Honestly we all know the airport sucks. All I was trying to do was make it a bit better for somebody but I totally got shot down. It was such a bummer/lose of faith in humanity moment. Like come on!
And then even the smallest acts of kindness at the airport are gamechangers. Like today a women told me today to get a tag since my bag had wheels. And I'm all like
THANK YOU I love you! Like every thing is amplified. So peeps, be nice at the airport
(sidenote: did I mention I wrote this on my phone while waiting for TGB to come pick me up since he went to the wrong airport?? This was before I knew that's why he was late though)
I don't know what it is about carrying around a book these days, but honestly whenever I do EVERYBODY I run into finds the need to comment on it. I suppose in this day and age, carrying an old school hardcover is quite a novelty. As I get settled into my sedentary desk life, I always try to bring non-computer things to do. (because honestly sometimes your just over screens and the shitty plastic brick of a computer I have at work doesn't really encourage me either)
Anyways, so at first I read Perks of Being a Wallflower, which didn't get as much "OMG I LOVE THAT BOOK!" as expected. But a lot of people didn't even know anything about it, which was odd.
So then it was on to re-trying a book by my favorite author Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. See the thing it I LOVE his other books (The Thursday Next Series = AMAZING), but then he wrote this other book with new original characters and though it has an interesting premise, I never really got into it. So as I was trying again, I got
"OMG 50 Shades of Grey... I've heard so much about it, is it good?" Despite the very vibrant and colorful cover. Which was very distressing since (sorry all ya erotica fans) have NO desire to read that abomination of a book and "release my inner goddess" (which I heard is in the book like a hundred times). I got this too many times, and considering my prior ambivalence moved on.
So onto Making Money by Terry Prachett. He's sort of like Jasper Fforde (british satire fantasy) and I'd read Going Postal by him and liked it. So when I saw Making Money for 2 bucks at my local thrift store , I jumped on it. Well, I've just started it, but already the comments are flowing. For example, I'm going Car shopping with my mother so I bring my book (paperwork = LONG TIME). And sure enough
Car Salesman: "So you learned any good tricks?
ME: (so this is sorta out of the blue, no context) Umm,, I don't know?"
CS: (gesturing galientally to my book, which does have arbitrary illustrated pictures of money on it.) "On making money! Learn anything good?"
Me: Umm well its not actually a book about money, I mean about making money.
CS:.........
Me: "Well it's actually a British satire that takes place in an alternate universe where there is no such thing as money, like as a concept. I presume my main character is going to invent money...the concept of money. I don't know...I just started it."
CS: "Oh. Well that's great... really great..."
My life. Gosh, did I look like a snoody intellectual this whole time>?
Work song of the day: Moneygrabber by Fitz and the Tantrums. This is appropriate.
I ate a taffy at the office today. It was black licorice.. BLAH! Horrible decision at 10:45 (I think)? in the morning. So that wasn't the best start.Regardless, I love that I'm taking off two days of work coming up. And OF COURSE I've been asked to do everything that day much to the disappointment of my employers.
"Can you do a presentation that Monday"
"Umm,,,"
"Oh, no you're off that day.Oh, That's too bad.."
What am I supposed to say? Like "Oh yes, I'll call off my vacation now even though I've been here EVERY OTHER SINGLE DAY." Many times doing very little. Shesh! Should I feel guilty about this or just laugh because it's all so ridiculous.
Here's the song I found at work today,to describe the mood. (and also has my name in it which is always a plus).
It's one of the most aggravating things. Not only is it bad for you, low self esteem is bad for everyone around you. And everyone seems to be catching it.
In our society today it seems to be complete voodoo for a girl (or a guy or neither, sorry I'm being extremely gender normative here) to accept the fact that they are a reasonable looking human being. Seriously. Its crazy.
In a group chicks (at least the ones I hang out with) are always saying "I look fat" or "This outfit looks bad on me" or my personal favorite "What's wrong with my face today? Can somebody fix this? Horrible".
I think this is rooted in women's expectation to be modest. And I'm not saying modesty is bad, there is nothing worse than an arrogant prat. But what is bad is anti-modesty. I mean the reward for such tendencies is everywhere. One Direction coming to mind with
"You don't know you're beautiful....that's what makes you beautiful."
What's up with that? Seriously a no win right? The fact that you don't feel you are attractive is well, attractive. And that's royally messed up.
In terms of myself, I don't think I'm such hot shit, but I do think I'm relatively attractive. As I put it to others when asked about this "I think I'm good looking enough that my appearance wouldn't prevent me from the goals,men,career aspirations, etc that I want, but I don't think I am attractive enough for my appearance will provide any of those (or additional) opportunities. And you know what? That's totally ok. Having a positive self image of yourself is healthy and necessary in having a positive mentality towards others. That old phrase of you have to love yourself before loving yourself is not so wrong. And it makes me just so mad to see all the beautiful people in my life, both on the outside and inside, (he, she or they) not see that. Or if they see that, not feel comfortable sharing that love with others thinking it's wrong/selfish/stupid sounding. It's not selfish to love yourself, it's a must. And I think it's the people who don't love themselves that end up being those selfish arrogant prats, not those who have truely come to terms with themselves and their body.
So Ladies (and gents) please be happy with yourselves. There's a line between modesty/self deprecating and legitimate self loathing. I don't know how we found ourselves still in this pickle of a female gender role that equates helplessness, denial and passiveness to attractiveness. And speaking to my fellow ladies, please chill it with the self loathing comments, its getting really annoying to get ready for a party together. After I reassure you for the 40th time that you look nice (this goes for men too) drop it. I obviously think you look good and your pestering isn't really productive or relevant. I mean what do you want me to say "Well actually you look like a furry ball of shit and I never want to be in your presence again due to your hair/dress/facial hair/etc today and I look forward to disregarding my love of your personality and charm in this comment/decision"
In conclusion, follow the path of philosophers of LMFAO and say "I'm sexy and I know it."
So there is a protest happening in front of our office building today. As excited as we all are ("ooh a protest! how fun" - my superior), we haven't yet figured out what they are protesting as of yet. Again, our building has many businesses so its not self evident.
I am so tired today that I'm seeing double vision every one in a while. It happens when my eyes sorta don't feel like seeing anymore. It wasn't that I didn't sleep well (I actually slept great) The night simply was long enough.
(for some reason this didn't post, so posting it now)
