This week has been long and it’s only Wednesday! Thank God I get to go on vacation on Friday. It will be a nice respite from the chaos of New York City, hanging out in small Bellingham, Washington for ten days, sipping Wood’s Coffee and eating Mallard's Ice Cream. I hope they have the lavender and Matcha flavors--so good together. The irony, I usually don’t eat ice cream. The best part is I can throw on my flannel and Carhartts and have people leave me alone…not really. The break is well deserved, and I haven’t seen my family, including my niece for nine months. It will be great to spend more quality time with the little girl who keeps on growing up quickly.
Something, which I wish I’d never seen this morning was a guy crossing Broadway in a maroon dress shirt, tucked into gray cotton trousers that seemed at least three inches too short. What set me over the edge were the brown loafers, worn with…what’s that? NO socks? Is it fashion week again? Imagine…I forgot to wear my clam diggers with boots and fitted blazer! Maybe in September after the hair on my knees has grown back after the winter chafe of my jeans.
Back to the tough week…
Am I the only one who looks around and sees how miserable people (yours truly included) are? It seems like everyone I know is having some sort of drama in his or her life--from the friend who’s breaking up with her domestic partner after eleven years, to the smart, attractive and sweet friend, who just can’t seem find a job in the fashion industry where she doesn’t have to interact with nasty people, to the overworked, bored and unmotivated. Life seems a bit stagnant lately, no? Are we all Interneted, shopped and liquored out? Is that it? My friends are all keeping to themselves these days, and I wish I could dive under a rock. Even Ron Corning from “Good Day New York” was released from his contract. :( And things don’t give the impression that they are going to get better anytime soon. The state of the world doesn’t help. How many troops have been killed in Iraq up to now? The uncertainty of the elections and whether any of us are going to have jobs or money (the single most used word at work lately is ‘budget.’) has everyone in my world preoccupied. I am, however, excited by the turnaround that “Hilly” made in Pennsylvania, showing that anything is possible and that circumstances change quickly. I’m holding steadfastly to those two things and plan to “make it through the rain,” to quote my childhood idol Barry Manilow.
These are definitely the times that test one’s mettle. I’m of the opinion that most negative experience can be turned into a positive. Last week, for instance, my landlord shut the hot water off to have the boiler repaired. The catch…she forgot to tell me, and I wasn’t able to shave for a morning meeting. As you can imagine, I was thrilled since it wasn’t too warm outside. Under the circumstances, I was very grateful for the six months I lived in Costa Rica in my 20s. Cold showers there were the norm rather than the exception. I also reminded myself of all the homeless kids that I met in Albuquerque just two days before, who probably don’t get a shower or bath everyday. That's all it took to put everything in perspective. Suddenly, the water was a little warmer. It's debatable whether it was the numbness setting in, but regardless, the shower was actually quite refreshing and sent me off into my day with energy and moderately clean. Tonight, I’m still trying to find the positive in the “Sockless, highwaters guy” sighting. I think I’ll go pay bills to cheer myself up.
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