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bloops and dollops
I’m stopping by the bakery tonight; consider it an interview-of-sorts. I wonder if they’ll give me some butter, flower, and sugar and demand I make something – stat. I wonder if they’ll give me a piece of parchment paper to see how neatly I can scribe 'Happy Birthday Daddy' across the cake. Maybe they want to see if I can make all the little bloops and dollops around my edges look even. How does one prepare for such a thing?
In case you were wondering, I am of course handling it in my stereotypically nihilistic manner:
This is never going to work.
I know this is graduation speech season, and its lovely to hear about following your dreams/happiness/shooting stars, etc. I don’t want you to think that all of your encouragement doesn’t mean a lot to me, because gosh knows I need an extra push sometimes, but if there is a panic attack to be had, you had better believe I am not above seizing the opportunity.
What am I going to do? Quit my job and make less money? I was trying to improve my income. Give up my health insurance and phat benefits? Why don’t I just play in traffic! Work two jobs because I’m not busy enough already? Get fat on frosting and be unable to afford my gym membership? Sponge off my boyfriend? Yeah, that’s classy…
I’m just not sure if anyone makes it in New York following their dreams, especially if their dreams are not of the doctor/lawyer/banker/PR guru/media mogul/trustifarian/trophy-wife variety.
comments (14)
hell yeah! i am. absolutely.
we may be broke while we're doing it, but it's always been worth it.
1 | shana | May 19, 2004 02:00 PM
I'm new to the site (which rocks), so may have missed this, but what do you presently do (without being too specific, I want to know what leaves you so un-fulfilled)
2 | Anonymous | May 19, 2004 02:12 PM
I'll just wish you good luck.
3 | Dan | May 19, 2004 03:55 PM
gods sake women, write a business plan, get some funding, recruit some fabulous staff and open a glorious chi chi tea room with a booze license so one can get tiddly on pimms and martinis after drinking lapsang souchong and eating cream teas and your fabulous world famous cupcakes.
It'll be brutal, you'll almost certainly go bust, but then again it might be a huge success, and life's too short to work for other people for a second longer...
Honestly..you've got the brains, you've got the imagination, you've got the dream, allegedly you've got the rack, which can be handy for interviews with the bank...what on earth are you waiting for?
Incidentally does anyone else fondly remember butterfly cakes? Due a big time renaissance
4 | samphire | May 19, 2004 05:23 PM
Actually, I prefer "splorps".
I wanted that as my domain name, but some guy stole it. Damn him.
5 | bionicroach | May 19, 2004 05:35 PM
Just make sure this is what you want to do. Not something that you were indulging as fantasy on this site, but now feel pressured to follow through on because people bore witness to your fantasical indulgence. It's your blog. You can do all the shit-talking you want without ever having to follow through.
6 | saltydog | May 19, 2004 05:49 PM
sometimes you have to choose between "making it" (esp in NYC) and following your dream. which do you want to do more, if you can't do both?
7 | erin | May 19, 2004 07:18 PM
So.... what's the scoop?! Tell tell tell!!
8 | Ari | May 19, 2004 10:59 PM
You should consult with the Bakerina.
9 | Lux | May 20, 2004 12:12 AM
i went to my high school reunion last summer and i had to confront the fact that i STILL don't know what i want to be when i grow up. i guess i'm still thinking that i'll "make it" someday. and in the meantime, i'm just faking it???
i hope your interview goes well. as for preparing? uh. have clean fingernails? jeez. i have no idea what they will look for. good luck!
10 | aurora | May 20, 2004 12:54 AM
Seems like this bug is going around. :(
11 | Ali | May 20, 2004 10:38 AM
Aurora's spot-on. In NYC, we fake it till we make it. To an extent, even if we have dreams, we have to make compromises to pursue them. Do I want to be editing a law proceedings index? I can tell you the answer is no, but I do it, because I want to stay in my studio apt. Compromise. In the name of our dreams...
12 | Esther | May 20, 2004 12:45 PM
Frankly, I think that you should just quit your job and stay at home in your jammies and write quirky little posts constantly throughout the day to keep us (your faithful and devoted readers) content. You can bake cupcakes for Alex on the side.
13 | sara | May 20, 2004 01:12 PM
i think that you are probably better off than you think. a lot of people have it a lot worse. i think the only people who think they "made it" are usually people i dont want to talk to.
14 | paisley | May 20, 2004 03:40 PM