There is something I will have to get used to living in cities: the heat. I have been impossibly spoiled growing up in the mountains of Colorado; the dry, perfect sunny heat not 'enhanced' by humidity or concrete. Today in particular Asheville is very sticky; in an attempt to kill time between shifts at my two jobs, I found myself adrift after Plan A didn't work out quite as I thought (I'd been planning to hang out on the upper level of the double decker bus/coffee shop in town, but discovered the AC didn't reach past the winding steep stairs and the upper level felt like an oven, so went outside but the stone benches became uncomfortable remarkably quickly). Just wandering around -- mostly looking in vain for a shop where I can buy miniature hair clips (in order to recreate the 'hot mess' look of a few years back) -- and I noticed the stickiness. Also because I was still wearing black slacks from working at the Renaissance and closed toe shoes. I really dislike close toed (closed toe?!) shoes, by the way. Flip flops and jeans any day of the week for me.
In case you are wondering, yes I should probably be working right now, but seeing as Pack Place is technically 'closed' right now, until 7 when the box office reopens for the show tonight, I have nothing better to do than to post and read up on Nietzsche on Wikipedia...in French. I have the sneaking suspicion that my French skills are on the way DOWN and especially after a summer off, the Parisians are going to look at me and laugh their asses off when I try talking to them in French. My solution: go read Wikipedia. And since I was reading Nietzsche earlier, I thought, why not. It's probably good practice anyway to read 'academic' language.
Even though, while in Paris, I am endeavoring to take as absolutely few academic courses as absolutely possible, after the whole 'reading' thing became very old with three (at least) reading intensive classes (reading intensive also means dense philosophic texts that I don't understand until explained to me, something which always drives me crazy) this past semester. If you understood that sentence despite the attack of the parentheses, I applaud you.
I interrupt my musings to announce that I really, really hate not having money. Of course, I have money, in that my bank account is not empty and I could technically pay for another month's rent and food without going broke. But with my eyes on Paris -- always, always -- and looking at all the amazing opportunities I will have and the simple fact that at the end of the month I will have to pay rent and I will have to eat, plus wondering just how much I can actually save over the summer what with various start up costs and especially buying the airline ticket itself ----
It's like this: I have to think before I spend five dollars.
(Wow, this has turned into the introspective, "Gillian whines about her life/talks about what she's thinking" edition as opposed to "Gillian talks about what is actually happening in her life". If this bores you to tears, I suggest skipping the rest, it won't get better.)
Anyway, like I said, I have to think before I spend five dollars. There is no just spending; I don't like going out to eat, even though Asheville has fantastic restaurants. Anytime there's an extra cost to do something -- which there is for almost everything -- I have to think about doing it. It is heartily annoying.
By the way, google "25 things I have learned in 50 years by Dave Barry." Just do it.
You can also go here: http://bit.ly/axKFa4 My favorite is: No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.
Speaking of that, in case I've never told you this before, I think the world takes itself far far far too seriously. I really shouldn't say this, but I think you all know what I mean: just working -- just applying -- for a job with a corporation, like Windsor Capital Group, Inc, with whom I am currently employed (thanks for signing my paychecks, by the way!!)-- you realize that. When I was filling in the endless new hire paperwork, my boss was telling me about applying for a job with Pizza Hut, how he filled out one paper application and showed them a picture ID, and started working the next day. These days, he says, there is a stack of paperwork an inch and a half thick.
Well, you/the lawyers say, we have to cover all the bases, you know. Someone may protest doing something not in their job description, and they MUST know if they are lifting more than ten pounds more than two/thirds of the time. What if they don't know-- and we get sued?
Here is what I have to say to this: In my experience, human beings are remarkably good at doing what is expected of them, and at acting how they are treated. In thinking we have to protect ourselves from ourselves, we are succeeding spectacularly in making ourselves stupid and, another thing that bugs me, serious. Which is why my mission starts with the corporate world and aims at that exact problem: getting people, specifically lawyers, out of their heads where they have nothing better to do than think up ridiculously detailed and pretentious job descriptions/applications and be uptight about everything, and into their bodies with an activity that brings them joy....drumroll please...dance.
All right, so it's a complicated plan, but that's where my life is going right now and I'm crazy about the idea. During my interview for the Renaissance, I was asked where I want to be in 10 years, and absolutely without thinking I said I want to reinvent dance and only later thought it was a strange answer.
Anyway, I think I have babbled long enough, so I will move on now. Besides, I think shortly I will actually have something to do. Hooray.
Ciao.
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