Wednesday, April 13, 2011

My West Coast Royal Wedding Schedule



The last week and a half into my new job have left me with the sudden realization that this may not be a "job" anymore. Call it jumping the gun, but my work title consists of me blogging, Tweeting, Facebook status updating, and just generally reading and reading news reports and stories all day and afternoon long for the company. Everything I normally do outside of work. This is beginning to feel more like that elusive place I definitely did not anticipate on getting to so soon in my life. The place called a career. A CAREER. I haven't even been out of college for a year and its already happening. I don't know how to feel about this. It's somewhere between pure elation and feeling like I need to throw up. It's wonderful, it really is, and considering the last place I was and the nonstop student loan bills piling up all around me, it's been deliverance in so many ways. But, there's always a "but." Somehow, I managed to get into the very shallow pool of post-graduates from college who love what they do and do what they love. This is the dream! This is MY dream, finally coming true after so many years of working in positions that didn't do me any good-or hey, maybe they did put me on the right path. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth and whatnot.

So why do I keep sitting on the edge of the pool, not fully submerged yet? Why do I keep looking at the other pools around me and idly wondering if they're better than mine? I didn't expect to be this content this soon in the game. In my mind's eye, I saw my twenties as the time I would be a vagabond of sorts, traveling around with no real destination in mind. Careers wouldn't arrive until I was 30-something, I used to estimate. I just wonder how things within the next year will wind up playing out. The only constant in life is change, you know.

April 29th is the big day. Maybe the biggest day in my lifetime of entertainment tracking. It is the Royal Wedding for Prince William and Kate Middleton. AKA the day I and millions of other girls will be utterly entranced on our TV sets and live CNN streams online, showing the next big Cinderella story come to life. I wasn't alive when Princess Diana was married (insert comments on my youth here), though I distinctly recall looking through an old book of my Mom's with her gorgeous wedding gown and various other Diana fashion staples. Sometimes I would sneak it to school with me and look at the photos inside of my desk. So lovely. Le sigh.



London time is 6 hours ahead of California time, so as usual the West Coast is going to get the butt end of the deal in terms of what time to wake up for the nuptials. I keep reading various Q&A's on what time the wedding will begin to air on TV and the answers are anywhere from 3am (dear God no) to 6am (even worse, I have to leave for work at 7:30 in the morning).

3am? 4am? Whyyyyy? Do you Brits not realize I will literally become The Walking Dead at my job the morning after? my brain wailed. Then I gave it a good kick in the frontal lobe. 'Scuse me, but I seem to recall that not even a year ago, you were staying up until 5am, half-writing papers with a bottle of Andre's and your Tumblr and YouTube movie trailer pages wide open, laughing at the same cartoon video you were watching for 30 minutes straight. Don't tell me you can't do this. Remember, who was that who saw the last Harry Potter film at midnight, slept for an hour, and went to work, functioning for 8 hours on one hour of sleep? Yeah, I thought so.

Here is my preliminary Royal Wedding Schedule:

April 28th:

3:30pm Get off of work.

4pm Come home from work.

4pm-11pm (this time slot is open for more consideration) Sleep. Nap. Basically stay in bed. Drink some NyQuil if it means ensuring a semi-deep sleep easily. Just sleep as much as possible because the next time you'll be sleeping like this will be many, many hours later.

Midnight-3am or 4am
Keep a steady pile of Red Bulls, Starbucks espresso drinks, and some of my personal favorite, the soda energy drink Vault on hand and consume consistently. While awaiting the wedding to begin, read up online about Kate's dress, the guest list, the flower selection. Watch news coverage on TV. Make a cool British reception themed playlist with your iTunes library (there are reasons why I'm single). Update your Facebook/Twitter feed with "T-minus __ hours till the Royal Wedding!" every hour on the hour.

April 29th:

9am You're now at work. Congrats! You made it through the night, got to watch some of the ceremony, and are now so filled with caffeine that your crash is going to be a near-death experience. Worth it? Of course. Get the live stream of the wedding playing if your job allows for you to go on CNN. Of course, you could just do this and skip staying up throughout the night, but where's the fun in that? Nobody would ever told their brother's future offspring that they slept through the Royal Wedding. EVER.



Cheers!

Love to you all,
Heather

17 comments:

Kanwalful said...

She's so beautiful! I can't wait to watch the wedding either. =)

Rosie Savage said...

Yay, I'm glad your job is making you so happy!
And loving the schedule - I'm a Brit but am in New York for the wedding - typical. I plan to wake up semi-early to watch some :) but I'm definitely not as hardcore as you!

Rosie x

loveaudrey said...

So nice to read about someone being excited about the wedding. It is def not considered cool OR exciting by any of my real life social circle. I admire your dedication! We're planning a champagne fuelled street party, hope the weather is good!

Loveaudrey xxx

loveaudrey said...

So nice to read about someone being excited about the wedding. It is def not considered cool OR exciting by any of my real life social circle. I admire your dedication! We're planning a champagne fuelled street party, hope the weather is good!

Loveaudrey xxx

little luxury list said...

You can do it! I gotta admit that I am finally in a beneficial time zone. Ahh and princess dreams come to life. Still crossing my fingers for McQueen/Sarah Burton

xoxo,
Chic 'n Cheap Living

Anonymous said...

Sooooo I may or may not have taken April 29th off. For the Royal Wedding. And by that I mean I totally took it off :) Glad I'm not alone in my obsession with it. Also Lifetime's William & Kate movie airs April 18th if you're interested!

Romantic Heroine said...

oooh, I can't wait to watch this wedding on TV! I love royal weddings! it will be worth to stay up all night :)

Anonymous said...

I love reading your blog! You are witty and hilarious! I just thought you should know that :) Miss you! Congrats on your career, I hope I will be your position soon! Waiting to finish school and hopefully everything will fall into place, insha'Allah.

Meredith said...

Excited to hear how this grand plan works out! I especially love the reception themed playlist. Love my pomp and circumstance but in this situation will probably have to sit back, (sleep), and admire your moxie.

Andrew said...

Congrats on living the American Dream with the web surfing job....
That's pretty much what I do all day -- surf the web compulsively while making phone calls to interview people about random news-related stuff. I don't even start editing my audio sound bytes and writing my stories until about 6PM most days; noon to six is spent surfing the internet, making calls, and pausing to record 3 minute newscasts once an hour. My wife never get why I went into the office every day at eleven AM, but didn't come home until eleven PM. I couldn't just tell her that it was because I spent so much of that time screwing around. Non-screw-arounders would never understand....

Anyway, the Royal Wedding? Really???

I still don't understand why Princess Di and her wedding were so popular with the ladies (I mean, she seemed nice and everything, but COME ON). I will admit, though, that Kate Middleton is quite the looker.

drollgirl said...

your royal wedding schedule?!? you are so funny! and i am the killjoy that won't be watching any of it. lol. i am sure i will see plenty of pictures! ;)

Some Korean Website Highjacker said...

well first i need to congratulate you on this uber swell job/career - good for you and sounds like sweet bliss! i can understand the grass is always greener scenario though, i think it happens when you are taken off guard by being in your dreams so soon. and also being a younger person makes a heck of a diff too.

keep testing those waters, allowing the seeping in time.

as for THE WEDDING, i was giggling at your tactics to make it through the night. i've had the same thoughts, wondering however will we keep tabs on it all. hilarious, good lucks lades! happy weekend. ♥

Diana said...

I'm recording it!

Can't wait, either!

Pearl Westwood said...

Your so lucky finding such a great job. We Brits are so incosiderate arent we ;-)

House of Milk said...

I'm so excited about the wedding, too! We're actually having a party to watch it. I can't wait :)

Anonymous said...

I'm totally going to watch the wedding too! I was just a young girl when Prince Charles and Lady Diana got married and my parents let me stay up to watch it! They knew that this as a once in a lifetime moment. I can't wait to see Kate's dress. The secrecy surrouniding it is the best part. I hope the paparazzi and schlock journalists don't try to reveal it ahead of time. That would be such as disappointment.
I'm so glad to hear that you are enjoying your new "job that doesn't feel like a job". That's the way work should feel! - G

................. said...

LOL your post made me laugh...I found it as I googled "what time is the royal wedding in the west coast" I am also super excited about it and mentally have also scheduled my night before...which basically consists of sleep. I too have to leave for work at 7:30 (but will be showering at night so I don't have to in the morning and waste precious wedding time doing so lol). But are we sure it's 6 hours? seems so little, thought it was 8? Darn..I need to know, makes a huge difference in xtra hours I get to sleep.