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
