lazy-fest 2009 had to end some time...

so i started my job today. yay for not being a jobless bum! but instead of licking ahem for the ACLU, i am doing said task for an organization called save the children. it turns out that the first canvassing place i was going to work for, grassroots international (who campaign on behalf of the ACLU) were modern day slave drivers. their focus was almost entirely on the sale (which i am not a fan of) and not the actual cause (which i am a fan of). and so i moved onto hopefully greener pastures - an organization called public outreach. they do not operate on commission, and once i pass my 30 hour evaluation, i will get paid a tidy sum of 14 bucks an hour. not to shabby for basic conversation. and did i mention the eye candy? oh, lord! the eye candy! of the 4 main staff in the office, 3 of the guys were hot and one was totally cute, but gay. that's a 75% margin there! that's right! i pulled the math card!

also, save the children is a pretty respectable organization. i did some research and (for you math junkies out there) 92% of every dollar goes directly to programs - only 8% overhead. that's almost unheard of in non-profit administration! so that's pretty awesome! not to mention they tackle health and nutrition, childhood and adolescent development, education and HIV/AIDS prevention. so yeah, i'm actually pretty stoked about it.

mostly i am stoked that soon there will be more variety in my dinner menu - black beans and rice, while conducive to slimming my figure, not so conducive to pleasing the palate. and let's face it, mamma likes to eat.

and drink. tonight, there is a cheap wine and poetry event going on down in capital hill. while generally not a fan of poetry readings, the show is curated which means the poets have to be at least slightly more interesting than a zach braff movie. BA-ZING!!! and did i mention dollar glasses of wine? oh god. i love seattle.

with that i leave you, your found item of the day:

serve me the sky with a big slice of lemon...

so it turns out i may actually have to lick ahem for a living. after two weeks of unsuccessful searching and a higher stress level than my body and bank account are comfortable with, it seems i must resign myself to canvassing for grassroots international and the aclu. which actually, the more i think about it, might not be that bad. i do appreciate what the aclu does and i care about the campaigns they're running, especially the effort to overturn prop eight hate in california.  so in that sense, it will feel nice to be involved. on the other, i imagine that my attempts to draw people to the cause will bear a striking resemblance to george michael bluth's attempts to draw people to the banana stand. in a word - ineffective. ten cents gets you nuts. 

with that i leave you, your found item of the day:

seriously. come visit me.

a job. it's where they hire you to work, and then they pay yo...nevermind. i don't want to ruin the surprise.

how do, pardner. things have been good here in good old sunny rainy seattle. the weather outside is brisk and forboding, and i am kinda in love with it.

other things i am in love with at the moment include people watching on the bus, discovering new vegan things to eat, and amy sedaris. being momentarily unemployed has allowed me to retreat into the wonderful world of books, wherein i stumbled upon her book, I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. by god, that woman is a genuis. i thought it was her brother alone that held the key to my heart, but apparently, they're a sharing family. which suits me just fine. unfortunately, i spent most of the afternoon laughing loudly to myself in a quiet cafe, which incidentally is not how you go about making friends. i got the stink eye from more than a few people. to which i replied, suck it. only, i replied with less than attractive facial gestures which i am certain did not endear me to them any further. oh well. i'm inherently misanthropic anyway.

but i am hopeful i'll meet some cool people at my job. whenever i get one that is. i've been casting a wide net - everything ranging from babysitting to barista-ing to great american sandwich making. alas, alack, very limited response. i do have an interview tomorrow for the latter and am trying to think positive thoughts. even though it's only part time and requires me to work at the buttcrack of dawn, i'll take it. and if still no other wonderful opportunity presents itself, i can always canvass for greenpeace on the streets, she said, shuddering, biting her lip and trying not to cry. i think terrance put it best when he said he'd rather lick assholes for a living. which is kinda the same, when you think about it.

anyway...all these employment shenanigans aside, i am enjoying myself immensely. and while it's incredibly surreal to know that i live here now and not santa rosa, it still ends up feeling pretty good at the end of the day...movement is good...change is good. and i feel pretty happy.

but it doesn't mean that i don't miss you all either...sometimes i am on the verge of tears, but then i realize that contrary to popular belief, crying like a sissy does not win people over. and so i snap out of it, and focus instead on what amy sedaris would do. more often than not, the situation calls for excessive drinking. which at the moment, i can't say i'm opposed to. it's happy hour somewhere.

with that, i leave you...your found item of the day: