I wish I had some great excuse for not writing Geek Chic more often. Something fabulous like, oh, I don't know, I ran into George Clooney and he saw me for what I am - a Goddamn Diamond in the veritable rough - and swept me away to his palatial digs in Lake Como, Italy, where we while away our hours drinking good scotch (is there any other kind?) and hosting an endless parade of fabulous, well-dressed glitterati who do not know what Britney Spears' vagina looks like. Sadly, this is not true.
The truth is, real-life got in the way. I thought for awhile that I didn't update because most of my friends are over at livejournal and really, I like the instant camaraderie over there. A lot of people I met on diaryland have moved their journals to typepad or blogger or whatever. Easier interface. Sez them. I thought about it, but then I rejected that thought. Mostly because I fear change and loathe work.
But I also feel my two-year anniversary here in Calgary creeping up on/bolting past me. If you will recall, I spent two years in Medicine Hat when I started getting that itch. Then I got a different job there and did that for six months before I got the job in Calgary. As fate would have it, change was recently forced upon me here as well.
I have been working non-stop since January. First, my boss quit. Leaving me with my deputy boss, who took her job, a flamingly gay, toupeed critic and a reality TV writer who is my equal in bitter bitching, if not in swearing, motherfuckers. (Yes, America. We have a reality TV writer. It's your fault. Happy now?) So that leaves us with three people putting out an Entertainment section. Great. And then, I was pulled into an office and told "thanks for all your hard work in said section, but we'd like you to move over to the copy editing rim." This means I am now a full time layout person. All responsibility, creativity and freedom have been removed from my job description. Everybody who found out was like "Con...gratulations...?" This is not the direction I wanted to go with my career. I don't DISlike the work. It's actually very pleasant not to be dealing with somebody who will lie right to my face about my job security. I'm learning a lot about the paper, picking up a new system we switched to because Quark is a dinosaur, and generally revelling in no longer having to feign interest in either Perez or Paris Hilton.
All this would be fantastic if this was what I wanted to do with my life. Sadly, I do not aspire to middle-management at a newspaper. "So what do you want to do?" I hear you asking as you stifle a yawn. Well, I tell ya, I alternate between wanting to be an unflappable, kick-ass, award-winning beat reporter whose former editors look at my stuff and go "Damn! Why didn't we let her write when we had her!?" and just, like, making fun of the news. Professionally. Shouldn't there be more than the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, the Onion and This Hour Has 22 Minutes for that? I mean, I think we could saturate that particular end of the media spectrum a little bit more.
Of course, option A means moving somewhere else, quitting my current job to freelance, or waiting it out until somebody here left and I was deemed worthy. Option B means I'd have to focus my long, rambling rants into something more resembling comedy. I'd need to hone various "skills" I feel I have and then find a venue to spring them on unsuspecting "audiences" such as yourselves. I don't know. I'm pretty resilient. I feel like I can do and excel at pretty much anything in my chosen field. Is that vain? Probably, but hey, I'm great. Whaddaya gonna do?
2007 has brought challenges, certainly. My job, mostly. But I also feel like I've excelled in the area of personal grooming (growing fingernails long and strong!) attending more live music in my city which is fairly exploding with it (four very different shows in one month!? Ridonkulous!) doing cool things with friends (roller skating, playing poker, snowboarding) and triumphing mightily over irrational fears (The dentist is PROBABLY not going to kill me.) Ultimately, my life needs a romantic interest to match the killer soundtrack. Otherwise, it's fine.
Tube: I've been watching Heroes and feeling vaguely guilty about wanting Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventilatormask to make out. I mean, they're brothers. But only TV brothers. I do not feel guilty at all for loving the hell out of Masi Oka as Hiro. He is awesome. Also, Betty and Veronica, while wildly different, rule my world. I speak, of course, of Ugly Betty and Veronica Mars.
Text: I've been reading Right As Rain by George Pelecanos for about three months, but I'm well and truly into it now. I have a gift card to burn at Chapters (how is it that my clueless brother is the only one who's figured out gift cards? I mean, seriously mom! Gift cards are where it's at!) and I'm going to pick up You Suck by Christopher Moore and hopefully a calender so I will know what goddamn day it is. Working at newspapers really fucks up your sense of time.
Tunes: See for yourself.
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