The Carly & Amy Show

Y’all know I got a new job, right? Well, this is something drastically different from anything I’ve been doing any other time in my working career. How well I’ll perform at a task so completely foreign remains to be seen, but so far, fifteen (working) days into being a nine-to-fiver there are several things I’ve had to get used to (or at least try, anyway.) Most of the changes so far have been positive, in fact, I can’t really think of a single truly negative modification. Well, except for getting up in the morning. Every day. Ugh. That sucks.

But, anyway, as I was saying… here’s the good stuff.

• Wearing nice, presentable clothes every day. I’ve said it often in the past, I hate the whole jeans and hoodie thing. Doing physical labour, I often got dirty at work (my clothes, I mean, geez, you guys…) I got rid of about half of my clothes this past weekend knowing that I’ll never need to dress in expendable clothing again. Love it.
• Make up. Okay, so it’s my new thing. 33 years of not ever knowing what the hell foundation was for or how the fuck you could fit four different colours from one eyeshadow palette onto your face at the same time, I’m golden. I’m lucky I went to Portland when I did. I’ve worn make up every day since I started this gig.
• Having a regular schedule. That hasn’t been the case for me in my lifetime of working so it’s kind of cool to not have to negotiate a calendar of alternating days and nights and afternoons for once. And when someone suggests a date for dinner, a movie, whatever, I already know that I can make it, provided I haven’t already booked something on the night in question.

Now here’s the tough part… I’m not in the habit of being able to make plans every night of the week so when I stroll into my apartment at 3:30 or 4 pm at the latest, I always hit this wall of “well, what do I do now???” My biggest struggle has been remembering to make some plans for what I’m doing at night. Sure, I could stick around home, I mean, there are only about 8 million things I should be doing here, but that’s just not where I’m at right now. I want to get out and I want to do shit. I just never remember to lay the groundwork for that. This past week, for example, I managed to log some time shopping (a new favourite pastime – I’m still building my new wardrobe!) and I got to see Juno (finally! LOVED it) and grab some dinner with a girlfriend, and another night I made it out for some drinks with a different friend, but that was about it. The rest of the days, I might go for a run or a walk, grab a coffee or something, hit the library, eventually make myself dinner and then I just kind of pass the time until I hit the hay and then I go back to work. I know that if I made the effort, I could have plans galore, but it’s just… I don’t know what it is. Weird.

I wish Amy was here. Then, I know I could do happy hour at least once a week…

I miss her.