THE PHILOSOPHICAL MUSINGS OF A COFFEE SHOP COWBOY
*Author's note; I am in no way shape or form a cowboy. Never ridden a horse. Can't really pull off a pair of Western boots. But, you know, Coffee Shop Redneck doesn't sound quite as euphonious. Kind of sounds like a shitty movie pitch by an accountant with dreams of creativity.
Sitting in a local coffee shop, sipping on a delightful white chocolate blended coffee drink (sans coffee), trying to figure out what the hell to do with my life.
There are always distractions though. Like the two chatty Cathy’s that for some reason decided to sit back to back with me, bumping my seat and rambling on about nothing- seemingly not even listening to what one-another is saying. Or the gorgeous brunette who chose a standing-table to get some work done. Not sure how anyone works from those things. I couldn’t stand still long enough to get anything done.
If this were a movie, I would notice something we have in common, walk over and get her number. A sure sign that my luck was turning around. But this isn’t a movie and I’m not that guy. I hate talking to strangers. Despite the fact that I never shut up, I’ve never been handy at small talk. Paradoxically, I can talk endlessly about just about anything, but have nothing to say when it comes to nothing.
Now the Cathy’s behind me? I can tell they are masters of talking about nothing. Fluent in Fluff. I am being fairly judgmental there. In truth, despite their loudness, everything they say sounds like white noise to me… figuratively and literally.
This morning a youtube video popped up on my feed. The title was “Why I Quit Working for Disney”. Or something to that effect. It was the story of a woman who had gotten her dream job at Walt Disney World, only for the department she was working in to be closed down and farmed out to a subcontractor.
Clearly, there is some symmetry there.
As it turns out, the woman took the timing of her career’s… restructuring… as a sign that she should devote her time to her creative endeavours.
Is someone up there trying to tell me something?
It’s not as if it isn’t something I’ve thought about. The line of work I’m in… it’s something I’ve never been suited to. It’s fine. But I’ve always felt like a hexagonal peg being shoved into a round hole. Then again, everything about my life has always felt that way.
And it’s not as if I haven’t tried to get out before. Two years and three weeks ago was the last time I was laid off. At the time, I didn’t worry. I had a solid job history, some management experience and decent recommendations. It was time to get out of that life. Three months later and I couldn’t even get a call back, much less a job interview. It turns out that people with my industry experience were not considered applicable to the industries I wanted to get into—- even on the ground floor. So I had to go back to that torturous familiar.
Of course, the upside of me being out of work at that time was that it allowed me the opportunity to become Jason’s permanent assistant on the Jazzland Project. And I was able to finish writing my book. (Available for purchase in both Softcover and Hardcover on Amazon.)
Is that what this is? Another opportunity? Do I start doing rideshare work and refocus my efforts on finally… finally doing something with my life?
I’ve never really been much of a gambler. But then again, what has playing it safe ever gotten me?
I believe in fate. Really, I do. I’ve just never been convinced that fate believes in me.
#JessicaVanel #waltdisneyworld #jobs #career #fate #destiny #choices #signs #life #cowboy #coffee #coffeeshop #writing
