miz_ginevra’s Neighborhood

Today in the Twitterverse:

• 11:20 Another new critter flic.kr/p/7oyCq1 #

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• 09:57 Happy birthday @tehhalt. No, you don't look 37. #
• 14:04 My reward for a successful holiday party: BREAD! Oh it tastes so good. I LOVE YOU CARBS. #
• 16:05 Garage band next door playing what sounds like The Office theme again and again and again #

• 08:37 Free upgrade at enterprise to pimped out hybrid sedan for trip to Trumer to pick up beer for @sfappeal holiday party! #sfaparty #
• 09:58 At Trumer to pick up #sfaparty beer flic.kr/p/7ogk9p #

As the pipe clamp blisters began to pop and heal on my hands, I knew I was in a race against myself to find my next gig in woodworking. I had just quit my job after I was put on a mandatory 72-hour work week schedule, which was neither safe nor necessary in the warehouse where I was a full time furniture maker. From my first taste of sawdust, I was hooked. I loved everything about it, especially the aches & pains associated with putting in a hard day of manual labor.

I had moved thousands of miles from my industrial Michigan factory roots, only to go to college and decide the blue collar life is what I wanted. I quit my job, only when it was obvious that it would either kill or permanently injure me...but it was still one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make. Besides the fact that I love it, I realize now how wrapped up I was in the identity of being just one thing...In my working life, I have always had to have at least three side hustles going on and I've done everything from nude modeling, to being a maid, a well-paid executive assistant, an extra in movies, a make-up artist, to an apprentice sander in a woodshop.

When I call home to update my family, typically, whatever it is I describe is met with unconditional love & acceptance, even if there is a tinge of it not necessarily being understood. As a woodworker, I was finally able to align myself with an identity - one thing that I loved being and doing...and it was so much easier to explain that!

Predictably, when the job fell apart, I scrambled for any paying gig I could find on craigslist. As it turns out, it was a good time to be involved with film making and I even signed up for acting classes. Being involved in the process is as exciting as it seems like it would be - even the long hours of waiting, while being completely dressed to the nines for a 6:00 a.m. call time, shouldn't be exciting, but it still is.

Around this time I also found work as a fit model, working for a local design house. It's a job that pays very well but the work is inconsistent. Still, I am extremely thankful to have it, even if it is a bit weird for me to use it as an identifier at the dentist's office and have the receptionist squeal and ask me a bunch of questions about the job. That's a rock star moment, I'm not going to lie, but it's completely foreign to me to identify myself as "model" in any capacity...especially when "factory rat" was a closer signifier just weeks ago.

I'm not sure if all the discomfort in lacking a fixed occupation or identity squarely rests on my shoulders, or if I am reacting to other people's confusion when I try to explain, "Well, I'm actually a furniture maker, but I'm out of work, so I'm doing the acting and modeling thing, while looking for another woodworking gig." Who does that? I'm not sure if I even understand myself anymore.

In the long run, it's probably a good thing that I am so versatile & adaptable - I always have something relevent for any type of resume I'm creating for myself (and I have at least 3); but I long for the day when I have a short answer to the question, "So what do you do?" 

• 21:16 Reading: How to Be Mindful During the Holidays, in 350 words is.gd/5nRar via @zen_habits #

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Since last week I was wittering on about Pharcyde and how they paved the way for 'alternative' hip hop bands and how the success of the Wu Tang Clan and RZA's spinoff project Gravediggaz tinged their second album in a darker, more mellow way.

Which gives me a couple of thematic outs - I could go with either Wu Tang Clan or Gravediggaz but, since I don't really have time to delve into the entire mythos of The 'Clan and the only video of my favourite Gravediggaz track on You Tube is a static video with a the Album art I'm going to skew slightly left field and go with an old Holiday standard

Today in the Twitterverse:

• 15:09 it keeps trying to snow today but so far it hasn't been very convincing #

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Apparently ladies drink for free. Amazing.

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