Life Lately
Life has been pretty hectic the past month or so. At my job where I have struggled for years to get more than 32 legitimate hours a week, I spent the past month easily going over 40 and enjoying my first ever experience with overtime pay. It was awesome (...until I realized that the last time my paycheck was this size was, you know, every week at my job in Denver 15 years ago. That part kinda bummed me out. But whatever. Times are tough and I am grateful to have a job at all - especially one I genuinely enjoy.)
Well suddenly, this past Thursday, the craziness at work settled down and I felt like I could breathe again. I enjoyed some time with Ryan and FINALLY made it over to my beloved Jess's house to see her and her baby girl, Harper, again. That is probably the last time I will refer to her as "Harper," too, by the way. To me she will always be "Little Beeps". Jess and I have called each other "Beeps" or "BeepBeep" for most of our friendship. An inside joke that is neither funny or interesting, but it stuck and I love it and while she was pregnant she became "Mama Beeps" and that beautiful little girl will now forever be my "Little Beeps". Aside from just being one of the best friends I have ever had, Jess is also, hands down, the best hair stylist I have ever had. She gave me THE haircut. The one I loved so much, it was the first thing I thought about when they said I had cancer. "I can't lose my hair... I finally have a haircut I absolutely LOVE." Well, this weekend, Jess got me all trimmed up again AND gave me a few little streaks of color. I had been thinking about it for quite some time, missing my crazy old all-over fire-engine red, and picked up a bottle of dye a WHILE ago. And it wasn't until I was rinsing it out last night that it occurred to me that the colors we did, pale blonde and deep turquoise, are basically the cervical cancer awareness colors - teal and white. Kinda funny.
Even funnier since next weekend, I head to that young adult cancer retreat. As that date approaches, I go back and forth between feeling super excite about it and then super skeptical. My info packet arrived in the mail on Friday, and a lot of the stuff sounds fantastic: s'mores by the campfire, yoga, farmer's market, hike to Brandywine Falls... but then there are things like Drum Circle on the itinerary that make my eyeballs roll around in my head. But who knows. I am keeping an open mind and maybe my new hippier self will end up not wanting to stab myself in the ear if forced to sit at a drum circle... we shall see. Overall, I AM looking forward to it. I'm not gonna lie, though... there will probably be a flask in my overnight bag.
I am ALSO looking forward to the following weekend. Well, the following Friday, to be specific. That is the day that, quite possibly, one of my dreams will literally come true. I have had dreams for YEARS now, of meeting Andrew W.K. If you don't know who that is...
Anyhow. Andrew W.K. first became a huge and important part of my life when I was working with my friend, Todd, at Visible Voice Books here in Cleveland. It wasn't the happiest of jobs, and often, when we'd close up for the night, Todd and I would blast Andrew W.K. while we cleaned up and counted out our drawers and whatnot. Because we found it impossible to listen to him and stay in a bad mood. There is something magically ridiculous and yet honest and awesome about Andrew W.K. And over the years, I have had SEVERAL dreams wherein I would meet him - always in some strange and confusing way. And a week from next Friday, as I said, that dream may come true. I am going to see Andrew W.K. speak... at a My Little Pony convention. First of all... could there be a stranger place to meet this guy? And secondly, if this makes no sense to you - you know... why a ridiculous pop-metal weirdo would be speaking at a My Little Pony convention, go ahead and google "bronies" and you may begin to understand. The theme of his talk is something to the effect of "enjoying your job like it's a party and partying like it's your job". Or something like that. Whatever it is - I can't wait! I find A.W.K. truly inspiring. His positivity and genuine cuteness and sweetness is just amazing. Ryan was on the same Warped Tour as he was many moons ago, and said that he was the only guy out of the hundreds of musicians there who would always hang out to sign every last autograph for every last kid regardless of rain or wind or whatever other nonsense. I love that. And I am going to meet him on the 28th. I am!
So yeah. That's all I have today. Hopefully now that work has settled down, I will be able to write more again. I know I keep saying that, but this IS important to me and I want to keep up with it while also not having it be something that stresses me out if I DON'T get to it as much as I would like.
I hope everyone is doing well. Lots of love to you all. Party hard!
Xxo, Phoebe
Well suddenly, this past Thursday, the craziness at work settled down and I felt like I could breathe again. I enjoyed some time with Ryan and FINALLY made it over to my beloved Jess's house to see her and her baby girl, Harper, again. That is probably the last time I will refer to her as "Harper," too, by the way. To me she will always be "Little Beeps". Jess and I have called each other "Beeps" or "BeepBeep" for most of our friendship. An inside joke that is neither funny or interesting, but it stuck and I love it and while she was pregnant she became "Mama Beeps" and that beautiful little girl will now forever be my "Little Beeps". Aside from just being one of the best friends I have ever had, Jess is also, hands down, the best hair stylist I have ever had. She gave me THE haircut. The one I loved so much, it was the first thing I thought about when they said I had cancer. "I can't lose my hair... I finally have a haircut I absolutely LOVE." Well, this weekend, Jess got me all trimmed up again AND gave me a few little streaks of color. I had been thinking about it for quite some time, missing my crazy old all-over fire-engine red, and picked up a bottle of dye a WHILE ago. And it wasn't until I was rinsing it out last night that it occurred to me that the colors we did, pale blonde and deep turquoise, are basically the cervical cancer awareness colors - teal and white. Kinda funny.
Even funnier since next weekend, I head to that young adult cancer retreat. As that date approaches, I go back and forth between feeling super excite about it and then super skeptical. My info packet arrived in the mail on Friday, and a lot of the stuff sounds fantastic: s'mores by the campfire, yoga, farmer's market, hike to Brandywine Falls... but then there are things like Drum Circle on the itinerary that make my eyeballs roll around in my head. But who knows. I am keeping an open mind and maybe my new hippier self will end up not wanting to stab myself in the ear if forced to sit at a drum circle... we shall see. Overall, I AM looking forward to it. I'm not gonna lie, though... there will probably be a flask in my overnight bag.
I am ALSO looking forward to the following weekend. Well, the following Friday, to be specific. That is the day that, quite possibly, one of my dreams will literally come true. I have had dreams for YEARS now, of meeting Andrew W.K. If you don't know who that is...
Anyhow. Andrew W.K. first became a huge and important part of my life when I was working with my friend, Todd, at Visible Voice Books here in Cleveland. It wasn't the happiest of jobs, and often, when we'd close up for the night, Todd and I would blast Andrew W.K. while we cleaned up and counted out our drawers and whatnot. Because we found it impossible to listen to him and stay in a bad mood. There is something magically ridiculous and yet honest and awesome about Andrew W.K. And over the years, I have had SEVERAL dreams wherein I would meet him - always in some strange and confusing way. And a week from next Friday, as I said, that dream may come true. I am going to see Andrew W.K. speak... at a My Little Pony convention. First of all... could there be a stranger place to meet this guy? And secondly, if this makes no sense to you - you know... why a ridiculous pop-metal weirdo would be speaking at a My Little Pony convention, go ahead and google "bronies" and you may begin to understand. The theme of his talk is something to the effect of "enjoying your job like it's a party and partying like it's your job". Or something like that. Whatever it is - I can't wait! I find A.W.K. truly inspiring. His positivity and genuine cuteness and sweetness is just amazing. Ryan was on the same Warped Tour as he was many moons ago, and said that he was the only guy out of the hundreds of musicians there who would always hang out to sign every last autograph for every last kid regardless of rain or wind or whatever other nonsense. I love that. And I am going to meet him on the 28th. I am!
So yeah. That's all I have today. Hopefully now that work has settled down, I will be able to write more again. I know I keep saying that, but this IS important to me and I want to keep up with it while also not having it be something that stresses me out if I DON'T get to it as much as I would like.
I hope everyone is doing well. Lots of love to you all. Party hard!
Xxo, Phoebe
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