New Chapter

The gelato spades I wielded for 14 months.

I've gone through some changes these last few months. Some are good, some not so much. But all in all I'm pretty excited right now. Because I am entering a new chapter. In some pretentious way I always plot ahead what would go in my memoir, were I ever to write one. I don't think every little detail would make a good story, but I like to force myself to think about making it one anyway. As if someone was just begging to know "please, tell me about the time you saw a mouse and cried."

Incidentally, I did see another mouse the other night. Then a few nights later it walked across my foot while I was sitting at my computer. I screamed obscenities at it and dumped more poison all over my room. While it sucks and it did shake me up, I'm not losing sleep over it like I was months ago. Granted, I wake up at 5 in the morning anyway for no obvious reason, but I'm pretty sure it's not mouse-related.

Now the biggest news and therefore what really makes me feel like I'm starting a new page is this: I got a new day job. Now it's not a full-time job; there are no benefits or anything, and it's still in customer service. I've accepted customer service is now something I have to list as a "strength" to find work. But the change of scenery is nice. I've gone from working in a restaurant in a neighborhood I don't like to working in a bakery close to home, which I love.

I've often joked about my old job (how exciting to call it my "old" job) and about how much material it would leave me for comedy, stories, etc. I won't relay them all in this blog (so much sorting needs done), but if I were ending the chapter of working in that restaurant it would read something like this:

"I headed home from my last shift at the restaurant and, sentimentalist that I am, began to tear up a bit. Sure the place had caused me a good share of headaches, but I began to remember the good times and the friends I had made in the last 14 months. The weird nostalgia sadness began to sink in and I almost started to cry. But then I thought to myself, "You know, [the owner] didn't stand up to hug me or shake my hand or even thank me for the last fourteen months of service."

That thought went through my head loud and clear. I shook my head. "Bitch." I said aloud to the empty sidewalk. The tears went away immediately."

Now I don't know whether or not this bakery will bring better memories or more headaches. Possibly both. But I do know I will get more stories, with new characters and locations, and that is so exciting for me. Also there are doughnuts and chocolate-dipped rice krispie squares, so hot damn.

I have other new stories. Some will be shared in public, like my recent horseback-riding trip I went on (yeah, I know). Other things will stay closer to me, for my benefit and for others. Speaking of the "others", I am taking a undetermined amount of time off of social medias. Checking Facebook regularly on my phone has given me a warped view of what the world is like, so I'm eliminating it to see how things improve. I will still post blogs and reviews, but that's as personal as I'm getting.

This is nothing revolutionary, nor do I think I'm doing something brave. But I have learned that life (or "the world") never gets easy, people just get better at dealing with it. I don't dream of the day life gets easy anymore. I actually sort of hope it doesn't, because I worry I will get incredibly dull if it does. Would I have stories if I didn't have complaints? Probably, but they wouldn't be as funny. And I probably wouldn't have complaints if life were "easy" and everything was "great."

Forgive me if that seems cryptic, and don't be worried about me (I can read my family's texts already, "Honey, you feeling okay?"). I'm learning how to deal with things both bad and good, and I don't think I'll ever stop learning. I guess this new chapter comes with a new outlook on life. Or perhaps I'm being foolishly optimistic. Either way, I'm excited for it to start. There are cake pops involved.