Happy New Year!!! We are off to Egypt in a few short hours. Waiting for the shuttle, fingernail biting, calling family for last minute warnings we are about to die, yoga stretching, loving on the dog, and enjoying Western toilets. Looking forward to a reunion with my best friend, eating hummus, smoking from a hookah, drinking Turkish coffee, floating down the Nile on a riverboat New Year's Eve, climbing the pyramids at Giza, taking a train to the Valley of the Kings and Abu Simbel (Nubia); sleep deprived hilarity with my man, card games, reading lots, and convincing everyone we are on our honeymoon. As an added bonus, there will be free time to run around Amsterdam & Spain! Blessings to all for a prosperous and abundant New Year! See ya back here in a couple weeks!
~Princess Scotchertiti
As I'm sure you probably gathered from my last post, I have decided that this office temp. position I am currently in (until Friday), is officially my last. When we return from Egypt, I am focusing 110% of my energies into restarting my furniture career - whether that is in school, with an apprenticeship, or operating out of the garage. I've had enough of the soul-sucking office world. It makes me hate life, San Francisco, and the Continental Mainland.
*and just like that - I am excited about life once more*
Lately I have been island-sick in the worst way. Of course, the sadness was sparked by my surprise dismissal from Sephora, but has been fully ignited in the past two weeks by a string of bad luck in general. The latest development has been discovering my grandma has breast cancer and the doctors are concerned it has spread rapidly, possibly to her lymph nodes. I don't want to be a selfish prick here - but really, I don't know if my heart can withstand another loss this year.
The sweet siren song of the islands has been whispering in my ears to return to the humid, womb-like safety of her bosom. San Francisco, for all of it's wonderful amenities, is a city with teeth. Everything, up to and including the oxygen here feels cold, sharp, and angular to me. I try to find the simple joys in a well-crafted cup of coffee, Indian food delivery, and in a wealth of independent bookstores; but sometimes I get tired with the active pursuit of happiness. Living somewhere that is happiness is a spoiling thing and has made me lazy & fickle in all other locations.
I wouldn't normally be so bold as to say this to you, especially with comments turned on and visible to anyone - but today I am feeling candid and sick of hiding my gushy soft spots from the world. Also, I don't plan on doing anything about this - at least not yet - so advice is somewhat futile. My heart hurts. I miss the islands and I deeply, truly, passionately miss building furniture. Sometimes, while walking the dog or running for the bus, I check out pieces of wood strewn about in people's lawns or discarded for scrap on the curb - the way a man might check out an incredibly beautiful woman. It has gotten bad.
As many folks know, it is a hidden blessing that no potential office gigs have yielded full-time positions for me, because I would have grown tired (rapidly) of the various soul-sucking office minutiae and strained to buy into the corporate mentality. Often, the folks I have encountered in these situations truly seem to have their souls burned out of them the way Native Americans burn logs hollow with charcoals & embers from a fire...a slow, deliberate, and effective process. Hard to say if most of them truly believe what they say, or if the corporations really do eat every last scrap of their passion & curiosity from the inside out.
Whatever it is, I'm happy that, although I am not currently walking the exact path I would like - at least I know there is another way. I've seen it, I've lived it - I know I can do it again with a little rearranging and perhaps even a sprinkle of my usually good luck. It helps to feel there are people rooting for me out there - whom want to see me succeed - and I will, on my own terms, eventually. For now, I would settle for never having to hear the words "run a report" or "excel spreadsheet" pointed in my direction, ever again.
Thought I would drop by for a quick update. This past weekend was quite eventful - filled with much rejoicing and pre-birthday celebration. Friday LeendaDLL flew up from L.A. and we saw Cirque de Soleil, then hit up the Castro for some serious ass-shakin'. As soon as we arrived a lispy boy at the bar sized-me up and said, "You are too fucking gorgeous." I squealed with joy and proceeded to get waaaasted. She & I closed the place down and I took a speeding ninja cab home. Made it to the backyard before I started horking cheap vodka all over the plant life. Laid on the cement for awhile staring at the stars before calling Steve to help me with a ride upstairs. He was highly amused, I'm certain.
Saturday was spent in recovery. The evening saw us taking a ride down to San Jose to watch roller derby. After watching the hotness in skates and the pushing, we got back in the car and continued our journey south to Big Sur. Arrived at 1:00 am - just in time to jump into the hot springs and bathe ourselves under the stars. It was a lovely moonless night and we had a relaxing soak. While in one of the tubs I met a gal named Kate and found in her a mighty kindred spirit. She and I somehow managed to live in Honolulu, Hilo, and San Francisco at the exact same times over the last 8 years. We became fast friends and I anticipate more writings on our adventures soon to follow.
Sunday I had a wild hair up my ass to clean the bejesus out of Casa ScotchPants. Spent a good 5-6 hours unfunking the place and putting everything back in it's rightful home. I started my gig at the PR agency today - this one will be very short term. Today they had me wrapping Christmas presents and making labels. They seemed pleasantly surprised that I'm not a complete & total dumbass and I remembered the value in not being one. It was good for my ego & my stomach to get back on the horse again after my traumatizing S- experience. Looking forward to more of the same tomorrow. Not sure yet what the birthday plan is (Wednesday) but Thursday my friend Jessica's band Office is going to be back in town and most assuredly, there will be much rocking.
You are not going to like this. Okay, just so ya know...I have a giant black hole in my email reserved for all messages pertaining to Vox. Therefore, I never see it when you send me posts, add me as a friend, make a comment on my blog, send a private message, or any other function Vox might send an email for. Therefore, I probably miss a lot out there, but I catch what I can catch. Everything I do read, I grab from skimming over my main page. I do this because I don't have time to manage email updates. Please forgive me. I'm a bad blogger.
Sephora USA just became a 1 Billion Dollar company. They just brought in champagne for the entire company. Do you have any idea HOW much bubbly that is!!!???
How do you feel about professional teeth whitening?
I am thinking of having it done, but sometimes I see people whose teeth are just too white and it's really distracting. Other times, I've seen folks that look great. Is it ethically wrong to make cosmetic modifications to myself when there are so many people suffering in the world...should I just send the money to charity? Am I over-thinking this thing?
In honor of my bestest friend Nadia joining Vox, I thought I would do a quick writeup on my life at this moment. Steve & I visited Golden Gate Park today, where we ate, drank coffee, and read books in the sunshine. Then we snuggled a bit and he tried to give me an airplane, but that didn't work out so well. I am currently reading Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich; my commute into the city on the N train is a good time for voracious reading. The book is about how the system is set up to screw the working poor in America. I highly, highly, recommend it.
We live out by the beach and I just started work at Sephora. I am very lucky to have scored this position. The job is challenging, my co-workers are truly awesome folks, I can make my own hours, and it pays an absurd amount of money. I have started wearing makeup again, which has been really fun. My interest in living life more theatrically has been piqued as of late. At Sephora we can only wear black, white, red, or grey. This probably sounds silly, but in execution looks quite fabulous. Everyone there looks like they are from Europe or like retired supermodels. They keep me on my toes, because they are all really smart to boot (of course).
One of the best things about the place Steve & I share is my own walk-in closet/beauty area. I have a makeup table w/a cool mirror S bought me in Mexico, as well as a purse and shoe rack. All of my clothes hung on wooden hangers and organized. I have taken after you, Nadia, in this respect of purging and only holding on to things of quality. Another cool feature of the house is the kitchen - we took the cabinet doors off to reveal the Fiesta dishes we've started collecting together.
And of course, there is the dog. I have bonded deeply with Rudy, the chihuahua. We take many walks together and discuss important life things. He and I bonded early on by virtue of the fact that we are both cold all the time. We have talked to Steve about
Beyond all that, I'm just keepin' on. I have my moments of crankiness and self-doubt. I don't work-out enough. I drink too much coffee. I am grateful for the abundance and prosperity in my life. Am considering vegetarianism again. Need to drink more water. Have given into the Uggs trend.
Roadtrip : San Francisco --> Tucson, AZ --> Mexico. Depart 6:00 am. No coffee. Drive, watch sunrise over mountain-scape. Chilly, damp. McDonalds breakfast in the cleanest store location. Give dude mug for coffee, dude fills mug, order comes with fresh cup of coffee in styrofoam cup, thereby defeating purpose of whole thing. More driving. Truck stop. Gas station. Clean the windshield. Nap for 1 hour. The Hives, Office, various ska. In & Out burger. Driving through smoke and ash in Southern California, windshield black, throat: sore. Desert. Sun setting. Wind turbines. Arrive: Scottsdale, AZ 7:30 pm. Italian dinner with Steve's friends. Everything on menu contains wheat. Order soup. Waitress comes back, tells me they are out of soup. Order salad, waitress comes back with giant bucket of lettuce. Heavy red wine consumption. Walgreens, drunk. Purchase rubber slippers & contact lens solution. To Clay's house: prefab home, gorgeous art inside, stylish Ikea furnishings, beagle named Mario wailing loudly. Jumping all over us - scratches down my stomach and thighs. Sleep. Wake up: Agency calls and asks me to do a phone interview with Sephora. Mad dash for coffee before interview. Looking for non-corporate coffee, no luck. Starbucks in Scottsdale=evil. White people everywhere. Dude gets up and leaves computer, chrome briefcase at table - WALKS AWAY. Totally safe. Employee shocked when I say, "please" "thank you." Back to Clay's house. Nervous for interview. Pants pours me stiff glass of Irish Whiskey. Ace the interview. Leave house, tour of Steve's old stomping grounds. Mexican restaurants, NetPro, stories from High School. We visit the best Goodwill in the country, no time to shop there. Rush hour Friday traffic toward Tucson. Get off at random exit, eat sub par Mexican food. Drive to Tucson, arrive at Hotel Congress. Coolest hotel in the country. Est.1919, everything the same as it was. Clean ourselves up, commence heavy drinking. Vodka Gimlet + Jack & Coke = $4 w/cute girl discount. Scooter people everywhere. Vespas, skinhead style, sweater vests, sideburns, old man hats. Sexiness. More drinking. Steve leaves to see when Dave's Big Deluxe goes on stage; bartender gives me cherry soaked in Maker's Mark for 1 month. Instantly drunk. Mild hallucinations. Tasted like gasoline. "Steve, take me to the room." Pass out. Sweaty Steve returns to room after ska show. Sleep. Wake up, decide to drive to Mexico rather than ride Vespa down to the campsite. Park, walk into Mexico. No border patrol. Pharmaceuticals, margaritas, children selling bracelets. Polaroid picture taken in restaurant, delicious Mexican food. Enter my dream house: store painted brightly with Catholic iconography everywhere. Shopkeeper pours me a shot of Tequila. Steve buys me a gorgeous mirror: hand-painted tiles, hand-tapped aluminum. Cross the border, drive to campsite. Set up tent. Drink lots of beer by fire, watch riders jump scooters over flames. Get wasted. Pee in the woods together, watch a shooting star, make same wish. Stumble back to tent, lay on ground, stare at stars. Spinning. Sleep - sandwiched between 2 men snoring like buzzsaws. Wake up early a.m., freezing. Load up car, say goodbyes, drive straight back to San Francisco. Tired, stinky, singing along to songs, hair turning to dreadlocks. Arrive: San Francisco - midnight. Sleep for 11 hours. Happy.
