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cupcake convictions
Before going to see a career coach Thursday night, as a warm-up exercise of sorts, I was asked to review some questions. Most of them were about interests and skills, finance and education, however, the one that got me seemed the most trite of them all.
If you won $20 million in the lottery, what would you spend it on? You have to spend it on yourself and cannot invest the money; you have to spend it in a year.
“I would go to Paris and beg the best pastry chef I could find to take me under his wing and teach me everything he could. I would come back and open a bakery” was my response. Without blinking. Without pondering it for ten seconds. Without fretting over the implications. Without my stereotypically Semitic hand-wringing.
People, I didn’t know I had such strong convictions about anything.
Hearing myself say it, my first thought was ‘Pastry-making?! It’s so FUTSY. It’s so deliberate. It’s so exacting. Why would I want to do a thing like…’
Oh, god. It’s ME. That’s ME! Futsy! Deliberate! Exacting! Lost in details – missing the streetlight post sneaking up on me! You should see the bulletin board above my desk, oh, it’s best you don’t. Everything meets at right angles, each piece of paper with a transparent pushpin in each corner, each in the same font, each…
Look, I usually keep these embarrassing details from others. I know how crazy I must appear when I admit it. You probably imagine me reorganizing the spice drawer alphabetically, using a ruler to line up the flowerpots on the windowsill, rearranging the hanging saucepans in size order, chromatically arranging the shoes, but I want you to know that I don’t those things.
Anymore.
Or at least not since last Friday.
But, the point I am approaching, the point that all posts lead to in the last nine months here at the House of Smit, is CUPCAKES. Oh, the cupcakes the bakery will make! So, all of you girls who told me that you, too, wanted to quit your jobs and ice cupcakes all day, send me your resumes – with samples, please. And all of you boys who told me that you would like to spend your days eating these cupcakes, send me some money, because according to recent balances, I’ve got $19,999,913 to go.
Jees, even my convictions are overpriced.
comments (10)
All dreams are overpriced, doll. I'll develop the two-point cupcake for you, we'll trademark it and make a fortune off all those people who drink mineral water instead of eating ice cream, and find it equally satisfying.
BTW, that million dollars? I'd get headshots, a personal trainer, a makeover, and an acting coach, and run away to Hollywood to take acting roles away from Renee Zellweger. Either that, or get a new laptop and sit in a coffeeshop and write all day. Hmm. If I had a laptop ($800), I could actually do that last one. Food for thought.
1 | Esther | October 4, 2004 02:08 PM
So, are you going to make cupcakes after all?? I want to read a declarative statement! :-)
2 | bond girl | October 4, 2004 03:05 PM
Ooooh, yes. Isn't it just the best feeling when you figure it all out?
I'll take a cupcake. God, there really isn't anything better.
3 | PinkStiletto | October 4, 2004 04:01 PM
Why don't you go to Culinary school somewhere in the city--and take pastery making classes. IT will make you happy.
joce
4 | jocelyn | October 4, 2004 08:54 PM
Whew. And I thought *I* was the only well-educated talent-laden supa-geeeeenius I knew with $87 in the bank...
5 | bionicroach | October 4, 2004 11:19 PM
Hey...I alphabetize my spices...!
6 | Miss Kat | October 5, 2004 02:07 AM
2 point cupcakes!! '
I'm buying my ticket and coming over today....
7 | Neighbour of the Beast | October 5, 2004 03:03 AM
As someone who recently threw caution to the wind to get out of the daily grind and go to culinary school, I say go for it! Doing something that you're passionate about for a living is something most people rarely get to experience.
8 | Andrea | October 5, 2004 09:32 AM
i've got my apron on, my frosting knife at the ready, and a pimped-out kitchen aid mixer to boot! sign me up, lady! i'll ask michael to register a url - maybe "cupcakevixens.com"?
9 | anna | October 5, 2004 10:30 AM
Do you have convictions that would survive where you live right now & what kind of job you want? If you had twenty million dollars you could give a dollar away for every one you spent & still probably have to get rid of most of that money on the 365th day.
10 | Rix | October 6, 2004 02:38 AM