Well, as you may know I was in Spain. It was a lot more business than pleasure though. Long hours in a windowless room getting yelled at… or over… by the four guys I went with. I’m pretty sure I’m going straight to hell for the fact that the workshop outcome was changing over orange groves that have been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years to a vacation golf community for British tourists.
Well, I don’t feel like going back to it, so I will just move forward to what’s up with me now. They restructured the office and now I am almost solely in the City Planning department… and really the only one at my level. I had my first review and they decided I was a “highly effective” member of the team. Let’s just say they were highly amused when they saw that one of my “goals” was to become one of the youngest project managers, and youngest principal in the company. It seems like I will have to keep after people to make sure I get ahead. It’s funny Megan went to study City Planning and instead I’m the one who is thinking of getting my registration sooner. I also explained the fact that I wanted to do more international work, especially in Latin America… they are trying to pull some strings and get me connected to the right people for that. I’m also doing an appropriate amount of brown nosing by helping to plan our 25th Anniversary celebration.
On the personal front I am keeping busy. Regina takes up a good part of my free time. At the moment I am only going on the weekends, which seems to be fine as it takes me about half the week to walk straight afterwards. I like to go straight from the barn, dirty and smelling like horses to the local snazzy mall. I’m tellin you, it’s Prada, and rappers, and fur and Juicy Couture, and pimped out rides as far as the eye can see. To give you an example you get free valet parking with your Cadillac… unfortunately I can’t seem to fake them out with my Saturn. So anyway I purposely like to walk in and offend their sensibilities in my barn attire… perhaps even with some remaining horse snot and manure clinging to my shoes. I go and watch chic flicks that I wouldn’t be able to convince other people to go see. Oh wait, there are no other people. I really am making a valiant effort to make friends here. I’ve tried joining all sorts of damned clubs, from book clubs to alumni clubs. I did go to an “All Ivy” event that Penn was participating in. It was Martinis and IMAX. Here is a representative snippet of conversation.
“Oh dear, I can’t have more than one martini.”
“The martinis are excellent at the High Museum.”
“Oh I love that museum, but I am much more into the more contemporary works.”
“Ooo, there is a Yaley, I think from New York, and he has just started an Alumni Art Collector group”
Yeah… I collect art too, it usual just comes in the poster form that you find in a tube at the museum shop… or shit I plotted out for 1.25 a square foot. Another failed attempt at friend making was my attempt to find a good Book Club to join on Yahoo groups. I thought I found one, they went back and forth about wanting to accept me, I thought I was a good fit as they said they liked to read a variety of things… yeah, by variety what they failed to say was that they only read things having to deal with their homeland of India. Needless to say I had to let Samir down easy and lie, saying I had already found another book group. I mean people, I’m getting a bit desperate… I haven’t yet gotten to the point where I advertise on craigslist “girl seeking girl, or guy for a strictly platonic relationship” because what that means is “Please crazies apply and then drag me off into the wilderness, chop me up and me to Canadian geese.”
I’m also finally settling into the idea that my apartment isn’t so bad, but that it might look better if I finally unpacked those last few boxes, and finished decorating. I am also trying to be as Zen as possible and flush out a bunch of old stuff I don’t need anymore… some of you may know that I collect a lot of shit, tchochkis and the like, and I may have a slight tacky trail I like to follow. That means taking down the xmas lights and other theme lighting, putting away the shot glass collection, hiding a few of my frog sculptures, and using animal print strictly as an accent for moments I need to have pop. Spring has already reached the ATL, redbuds and pansies are blooming in my complex and as soon as it gets a little warmer I am going to make my porch into a lush exotic hideaway. This way I can just hide out on my porch, camouflaged by my plants, petting my cats and watching my neighbors… I will leave only at nightfall and a weird small will begin emanating from my apartment. Oh wait, that is what will happen to me if I don’t start making friends. I am open to suggestions. Lauren thinks I should just start going to happy hours by myself, and sit at the bar and try and latch onto groups around me… perhaps I will consider this option, but the plan is a bit flawed in the fact that I would have to by myself a drink to even be sitting at the bar, and if I did meet a new friend I would probably have a second drink… and I think we all know I wouldn’t be able to drive myself home, so I would then have to find a Starbucks to sit at until I sobered up. Maybe, I’ll just stand on the side of the road with a sign that says “Will work for friends”
Dude- move to Seattle already. All your friends are doing it. Oh wait… all your friends ARE ALREADY HERE.