Welcome to December

All week i have been flirting with a subject for this post. should i produce "recall! 2" the exciting sequel to my last post exploring such ordering procedures as how to stay in line and order at the same time (a huge challenge to most sbux customers) or how to not take a drink that you didn't order (dude, we don't mark those cups just for our own benefit). or i could disclose the fact that i'm going to be a shift supervisor, that they asked me to be one despite the fact that i work part time, that i initially laughed in their faces (no, literally, it was sort of embarrassing), but have since decided that the extra $1.75 an hour is worth the trouble. part of me wants to give up talking about sbux altogether and aver (good GRE word) that i have another life of social activities and watching tv, pouring over books in the NGA library and, oh yeah, trying to get into graduate school. i meant to write a post documenting last week's thanksgiving holiday and suppose i still could. recently i thought i should have a post devoted entirely to excerpts from my email correspondence, since my friends are better writers than i. instead of any of these, however, it appears that i am writing a post about what to write a post about. and this means that my creative process has come to that inevitable self-referential phase, often considered an exciting moment in the history of an artistic practice. i suppose it says something about the artistry of my practice that this post is not exciting in the least.

sigh. i have 25 min. before i have to leave work to meet my dad for a ride home, so maybe i will set aside these ramblings and at least provide an update.

so yes, i am going to be a shift supervisor, despite my initial hesitation based on the fact that shifts are responsible for getting people to work during their shift yet have absolutely no authority to actually accomplish this. also, all the shifts i know or have known are unhappy. one girl quit after a month over the summer, Eugene is like the poster child for disgruntled middle management, Dan is negativity incarnate, although to be fair that has more to do with his recent breakup than the nature of his job, and Yessi recently quit with no word (like, he didn't show up for days and then sneaked in when he knew Melissa wouldn't be there to return his keys), apparently due to some sort of metal crisis. but i figure i can't be any worse at the job than any of these people, and Eugene and Dan have both encouraged me to do it. i figure it will be good to have a taste of managerial experience, and i know it will be good to get an almost 25% raise. so yeah, what the hell, supervisor training here i come.

thanksgiving was actually really fantastic. Karin came down, and it was nice to have a non-family member around for the weekend. dinner itself went off like clockwork; we had 8 people in all (7 women and my dad), which was a nice group but not as stressful as the 25-person thanksgivings of years past. we did all the traditional things: watched the tail end of the parade, played touch football, watched football on tv in order to explain it to our nepalese guest. then we sat by the fire after dinner with various after-dinner drinks and sang family songs (i give extreme credit to Karin for not gagging during any of the above). the rest of the weekend passed in a food-induced, movie-watching comma, with occasional breaks provided by having to work at sbux. i went to see a movie in the theatres three times that week (pride and prejudice, horrible, shopgirl, an intriguing look at my probable future home, and walk the line, which i thought Reese was quite good in), and god only knows how many movies i saw at home. i was recently reading over my post about the graduate school tour, and was struck by how many movies i watched. that is probably the only time i have so carefully documented what i was doing on any given day, and it turns out that on any given day i watch a movie.

Karin, Louise, and i had a fun night out drinking at my friend Cat's house and then dancing at the black cat. every wannabe hipster in DC seemed to be there (including us). my friend Leah got surprisingly drunk and belligerent with the cabbie on the way home. it was literally the first time i had seen her drunk and i've known her since pre-k. tonight i'm going to a book party, and tomorrow i'm going to a gallery opening (so there!). but of course most of my spare time is spent thinking about grad school. this week i got out my transcript requests (a surprisingly complicated affair), and tried to get my GRE scores but the automated voice insists i have to wait until next week (even though i took them two weeks ago and hence, they should be ready). now i have to start the hard part, writing samples and personal statements. i keep telling myself it will be fun, but judging from how much i've procrastinated my heart isn't in it.

well, this was always going to be the most stressful month of my life. so welcome! one and all! it is the advent of my discontent.