Life has changed a lot in the past two months. I've moved to a new city/state, am looking for a job, my house in Dallas still is on the market, and I might have to shoot myself if I take another look at the state of my investments. This predicament creates an unfortunate perfect storm. Typically, when I am feeling frustrated and sorry for myself, the best cure is to take myself to Saks (a.k.a. "The Mother Ship"). This is a problem because, having no job, going to Saks would make me feel better temporarily, followed by the anxiety of paying the bill while re-inforcing the fact that I am still unemployed and have no business shopping. Which would make me feel more frustrated and sorry for myself....
So, I am trying to find joy in the smaller things, like a good mail day. A good mail day means receiving no bills and all of my magazine subscriptions. Yesterday I happily came home to find October and November issues of Bon Appetit in addition to my October Vogue, no doubt delayed by my change in address. What is a vegan non-leather-wearing person doing with subscriptions to Bon Appetit and Vogue?, you might ask. Having subscribed to those magazines for the better part of a decade, they are two of the constants in my life to which I am clinging in this time of such massive upheaval. I normally peruse the Vogue articles and pay closer attention to the fashion spreads, but I found myself reading the fascinating story of a waspy Boston PhD who works at Harvard and married an aboriginal New Zealander who makes tools and has worked a variety of other blue-collar jobs during their 20 years of marriage. The woman's story related how she was studying abroad in Australia as a doctoral candidate, took a side trip to New Zealand, met this lumbering polynesian guy in a bar, went home with him that night, took him back to the US, married him and had several children with him, and continues to live in a Boston suburb. Really interesting stuff. Then I found my ABA Journal (that's the American Bar Association Journal for you non-lawyers), which usually goes straight into the trash. B-O-R-I-N-G! Feeling that those trees shouldn't have to continue to die completely in vain, I opened it up and saw that there is a great juicy story about the Eldorado polygamist compound which is must-read material under any circumstances, but especially now since I no longer can afford HBO and am in Big Love withdrawal. I haven't even gotten to the Bon Appetit yet because today there is a Project Runway marathon on t.v., which I would not be able to enjoy if I were employed.* Yes, I am learning to enjoy the smaller things in life. However, the best part of the good mail day was the refund check I received from Time Warner Cable. Not sure what it's for, not sure why I received it, but it's going straight to my emergency Saks fund....
*Is anyone else just the slightest bit sad that Stella wasn't around for the wedding dress challenge on Project Runway last week? Can you imagine -- it would have been so fabulously terrible.
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