•Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Sean got a job.
He is working at a pharmaceutical company managing the front desk and helping out on projects when necessary. He's even done a little bit of layout work after he taught himself indesign. He's picking up on design basics pretty quickly actually.
So, Sean has a job and I have a job. Well, two jobs. But I love that if I want to take a night off, I don't have to worry that I might not make rent. I don't have to tell friends that I haven't seen in a month that if we get together it has to be at PF Chang's because I get my 50% employee discount and I can't afford anywhere else. I can start signing up for races again, now that the $15 race fee won't break my bank.
I'm still waiting on my final paycheck from Baseline (which honestly I don't know if I'll ever get). But if I do get it I'm totally going out and getting something really nice for myself and not feel guilty about it.
I forgot to talk about the Boston Marathon in my last post.
The I-didn't-run-it-race report:
I decided to volunteer for the Boston marathon this year, and I was placed with the 'baggage crew' at the start in Hopkington. Most organized marathons have a baggage drop off for the runners at the start point, then pick up when they finish. I'd say at least half the runners use this service, so there are a lot of bags to bus from Hopkington to Boston. There were about 30 school busses, organized by race bib number, and 5 of us got assigned to a bus. We stayed on the bus as the runners found the bus that matched their bib number, then gave us their bags and we placed them accordingly on the bus. The windows wouldn't open enough for even a small bag to fit through (silly child safety windows), so we utilized the 2 emergency exit windows. As soon as I swung open the window I had the urge to scream 'NOBODY SEES THE WIZARD!' because I knew that if the bus was green I would look so much like the Emerald city gatekeeper from the Wizard of Oz.
I was lucky enough to be put on the bus that collected numbers 1000 to 1499. These runners are practically elite. They qualified (easily) for Boston and were assigned in the 1st corral since they all estimated their finishing time to be around 2 hours and 30 minutes. I didn't realize this until about halfway through when I noticed everyone who was coming to our bus were really gangly and muscular and had a very 'hungry' look in their eyes. And all of them were guys. Except there was one girl. I have no idea who she was, but she gets some SERIOUS PROPS and she is my new hero.
After we finished collecting bags and all the marathon had started, our busses made the way back to boston. All 30 busses had a police escort, exits were blocked off for our use only, I had attained VIP status. Even though I knew the plastic bag with someone's sweatpants were the ACTUAL reason for all this special treatment.
After we got off the bus, it was about 2 hours after the elite women had started running, and they would be finishing in about a half hour, so I found a place on Boylston street to watch the elite runners finish before I started my shift. I won't bore you with results, because anyone who cares already knows what happened. Side note: Kara Goucher has got to be the hottest runner ever.
I started my shift at PF Chang's at 1pm, and I can't verbalize how excited I was that I didn't have to deal with any customers since I was bartending the service well. I HATE waitressing marathon weekend. For 2 reasons:
1) Marathoners are snobs. They think running 26.2 miles is something so spectacular that everyone should be in awe. And they all wear their technical t-shirts or the overpriced shirts they bought at the expo of another marathon. Every single one of them looked like a fucking tool. Or even worse, they wear the 2009 Boston marathon jackets before marathon monday. Bad form. They were breaking Race Commandment No.1: Thou Shalt Not Wear the Merchandise from a Race that Thou Hast Not Finished Yet. Plus, those jackets are UGLY. In addition, most of them are from out of town and Boston is pretty expensive. So no one tips well. Even if you tell them to have a great race. They don't care. So forgive me if I judge you because you're wearing a $120 race jacket, $50 shorts and $250 special edition adidas shoes and you order a $40 meal and then tip me $5. Un-fucking-acceptable.
2) I am a snob. And I'm jealous. I haven't qualified for Boston (to be fair, I've only seriously tried once). It's like all these runners are shoving my nose in it. Not to mention they actually have the time and money to train and to send themselves on a little vacation. I'm still in serious debt and work 80 hours a week just to stay afloat. Assholes.
So I was thrilled to not have to deal with any of the stupid marathoners who were celebrating their 'victory.' Honestly, anyone could run a marathon if they wanted to. I wholeheartedly believe that. The only marathon you should celebrate after is if you completed Pikes Peak.
The rest of the evening passed as ordinary as expected. But it was a long day and I was SO glad to be unemployed so I could sleep in the next morning.
I decided my plan for when I qualify for Boston.
Day before: I will attend the expo and oogle at everything. While wearing 4" heels, a short skirt, and a long jacket. While every other runner will look like a total tool 'Look at the marathon I ran before I ran Boston - aren't I awesome?' I will be the girl everyone is wondering if she actually is running and why the hell would she chance turning her ankle in high heels the day before the marathon? I'll tell you why, because no one else will be.
Day of: I'll run the marathon, go home and take a quick shower before heading off to work to waitress the rest of the night. I'd have to keep walking the rest of the day to prevent stiffness the next day anyway. I'll wear my metal around my neck. Then, when any snobby marathoners sit in my section, they'll know as soon as I come up to their table that I am way more hardcore than they are.
Plus, I'll get a ton of sympathy tips.
He is working at a pharmaceutical company managing the front desk and helping out on projects when necessary. He's even done a little bit of layout work after he taught himself indesign. He's picking up on design basics pretty quickly actually.
So, Sean has a job and I have a job. Well, two jobs. But I love that if I want to take a night off, I don't have to worry that I might not make rent. I don't have to tell friends that I haven't seen in a month that if we get together it has to be at PF Chang's because I get my 50% employee discount and I can't afford anywhere else. I can start signing up for races again, now that the $15 race fee won't break my bank.
I'm still waiting on my final paycheck from Baseline (which honestly I don't know if I'll ever get). But if I do get it I'm totally going out and getting something really nice for myself and not feel guilty about it.
I forgot to talk about the Boston Marathon in my last post.
The I-didn't-run-it-race report:
I decided to volunteer for the Boston marathon this year, and I was placed with the 'baggage crew' at the start in Hopkington. Most organized marathons have a baggage drop off for the runners at the start point, then pick up when they finish. I'd say at least half the runners use this service, so there are a lot of bags to bus from Hopkington to Boston. There were about 30 school busses, organized by race bib number, and 5 of us got assigned to a bus. We stayed on the bus as the runners found the bus that matched their bib number, then gave us their bags and we placed them accordingly on the bus. The windows wouldn't open enough for even a small bag to fit through (silly child safety windows), so we utilized the 2 emergency exit windows. As soon as I swung open the window I had the urge to scream 'NOBODY SEES THE WIZARD!' because I knew that if the bus was green I would look so much like the Emerald city gatekeeper from the Wizard of Oz.I was lucky enough to be put on the bus that collected numbers 1000 to 1499. These runners are practically elite. They qualified (easily) for Boston and were assigned in the 1st corral since they all estimated their finishing time to be around 2 hours and 30 minutes. I didn't realize this until about halfway through when I noticed everyone who was coming to our bus were really gangly and muscular and had a very 'hungry' look in their eyes. And all of them were guys. Except there was one girl. I have no idea who she was, but she gets some SERIOUS PROPS and she is my new hero.
After we finished collecting bags and all the marathon had started, our busses made the way back to boston. All 30 busses had a police escort, exits were blocked off for our use only, I had attained VIP status. Even though I knew the plastic bag with someone's sweatpants were the ACTUAL reason for all this special treatment.
After we got off the bus, it was about 2 hours after the elite women had started running, and they would be finishing in about a half hour, so I found a place on Boylston street to watch the elite runners finish before I started my shift. I won't bore you with results, because anyone who cares already knows what happened. Side note: Kara Goucher has got to be the hottest runner ever.
I started my shift at PF Chang's at 1pm, and I can't verbalize how excited I was that I didn't have to deal with any customers since I was bartending the service well. I HATE waitressing marathon weekend. For 2 reasons:
1) Marathoners are snobs. They think running 26.2 miles is something so spectacular that everyone should be in awe. And they all wear their technical t-shirts or the overpriced shirts they bought at the expo of another marathon. Every single one of them looked like a fucking tool. Or even worse, they wear the 2009 Boston marathon jackets before marathon monday. Bad form. They were breaking Race Commandment No.1: Thou Shalt Not Wear the Merchandise from a Race that Thou Hast Not Finished Yet. Plus, those jackets are UGLY. In addition, most of them are from out of town and Boston is pretty expensive. So no one tips well. Even if you tell them to have a great race. They don't care. So forgive me if I judge you because you're wearing a $120 race jacket, $50 shorts and $250 special edition adidas shoes and you order a $40 meal and then tip me $5. Un-fucking-acceptable.2) I am a snob. And I'm jealous. I haven't qualified for Boston (to be fair, I've only seriously tried once). It's like all these runners are shoving my nose in it. Not to mention they actually have the time and money to train and to send themselves on a little vacation. I'm still in serious debt and work 80 hours a week just to stay afloat. Assholes.
So I was thrilled to not have to deal with any of the stupid marathoners who were celebrating their 'victory.' Honestly, anyone could run a marathon if they wanted to. I wholeheartedly believe that. The only marathon you should celebrate after is if you completed Pikes Peak.
The rest of the evening passed as ordinary as expected. But it was a long day and I was SO glad to be unemployed so I could sleep in the next morning.
I decided my plan for when I qualify for Boston.
Day before: I will attend the expo and oogle at everything. While wearing 4" heels, a short skirt, and a long jacket. While every other runner will look like a total tool 'Look at the marathon I ran before I ran Boston - aren't I awesome?' I will be the girl everyone is wondering if she actually is running and why the hell would she chance turning her ankle in high heels the day before the marathon? I'll tell you why, because no one else will be.
Day of: I'll run the marathon, go home and take a quick shower before heading off to work to waitress the rest of the night. I'd have to keep walking the rest of the day to prevent stiffness the next day anyway. I'll wear my metal around my neck. Then, when any snobby marathoners sit in my section, they'll know as soon as I come up to their table that I am way more hardcore than they are.
Plus, I'll get a ton of sympathy tips.
