Thursday, January 29, 2009

Depression, Seminary, and Other Things

Bsd


I'm sitting on my front stoop, wearing fingerless gloves so I can type, and attempting to avoid sitting on the ice frozen on the steps, because the moment I stepped into my silent, flourescently lit apartment and slumped down onto the futon couch in my accustomed position of the past few weeks, my creativity up and died.
Suffering for art, I am, and you guys are going to have to tell me if it's worth it. 
I'm unemployed. Say it again, with feeling. I'M UNEMPLOYED. What a grown up thing to say. Only adults are unemployed. Unemployment leads to depression, and I'm depressed. Sort of. The thing is, I'm a naturally optimistic person. Thanks to the One Above, who blessed me with an Annie-like disposition, there's usually a smile on my face, and something that I'm happy about. Whether it's finding my recently engaged friend an apartment in Crown Heights, dinner with my brother, or even just a damn good trashy novel, it's hard to realize that I'm down. 
But I am. 
You can't see the walls in my room, let alone the floor. The requisite chair for draping clothes on is entirely overused. My suitcase from my trip home Chanukah time still lies open and vomiting clothing, of which I remarkably have both too much and not enough of. 
I stay up all night, sleep all day, and am officially addicted to the Internet. 
It's just so easy to escape. 
But there comes a point where you can't escape anymore. When even the girl who's prided herself on the ability to fall asleep instantly, anywhere, finds herself lying awake, wondering if this is the way the rest of her forseeable future is going to be. 
That's how I felt this morning (well, this afternoon, when I finally got up). 
I looked on CrownHeights.Info and Shmais, and saw the same two job advertisements that I've already emailed about and gotten no response to last week still up. 
On impulse, I opened up craiglist.com and started emailing anyone who had a job that sounded even remotely interesting - mystery shoppe? Why the heck not? Dogwalker? I like dogs! There's even someone on there looking for someone to write a blog. 
This is when I realized that this wasn't working. I wasn't going to find the 9-5 job I'd been dreaming of. And if I did, I probably would hate working there. 
So I picked myself up off that all-too comfortable couch, threw on some clothes (yes, I was still in pajamas at 4 pm), and ran around the corner to see if the job that was almost perfect, but not quite, that I had refused last week, was still available. 
We'll see what happens with that, but the good news is - I'm no longer depressed. 
Now if I could just get myself to tackle my room...

Now for the second portion of this increasingly pointless (see, there's that depression again! This has a point. I'm not sure what, but there is one. I hope.) post.
Seminary. 
I have seminary issues. They really deserve their own post, so I'm just going to give you a taste of what is to come. 
Standing on my street corner, waiting for the light to change, I run into, not one, not two, but three (three! count 'em! what are the odds?) girls I went to seminary with, all of whom are now bewigged, and one of whom is most definitely bepregnated. Really, G-d? I don't see any of these girls ever, and now I've got three of them on my street corner?  
To take a cue from sarabonne's great post Dress to Impress, just looking at what we were wearing should give you some insight into my seminary issues:
Them: Wool coats, straight brown wigs, kneelength (that very carefully kneelength skirt that will definitely cover your knees when sitting) skirts, suede pointy boots.
Me: Cotton jacket, wavy blond hair, midcalflength vintage wool skirt (with a slit that ends right below my knees), brown leather buckled brogues. 
Here's another one: What do we do?
Them: Teach.
Me: Well, nothing. But no teaching, never teaching, (unless you count the writing workshop I'm arranging). 
I get sucked in though. I lived, went to school with, laughed with (and at), ate, rode the bus with, shared my nephew's birth with, had incredibly bonding experiences with all these girls. 
Just two years ago (it's my nephew's second birthday today!). 
I'm a social person - I like people. I like talking. I like listening. 
So here I am, standing at this street corner, and I want to be excited to see them. I do. 
But I'm not. 
I'm trying to keep myself from getting too personal because I have a tendency to do that, and from talking too much, because I have a tendency to do that, too, and I just want to have an honest connection with one of these girls, one of them who looks at me and sees me, but I don't. 
Which is why I have seminary issues. 

In other news, I have my writing group tonight at Mimulo's and Fradel got in some new teas. Should be exciting. You might even get more than one post out of me today. 

Friday, January 23, 2009

Shabbos Table Dreams

I'm pleased to announce that I, TRS, am now officially insane. Only an
officially insane person would do what I am about to do. I'm going to
follow Cheerio's instructions and write what a Bochur thinks when he's
at a Shabbos table with a cute girl. Of course, this is only what I
think. I'm not everyone. I'm sure a lot of guys have brains the size
of walnuts and think differently than me. But I can hardly be held
responsible for their conduct. Anyways...

If I was as chassidish as I wish I was it would go something like this...

Hmm. A girl at the Shabbos table. What is wrong with the hosts here?
Don't they know that it's terrible to have bochurim and girls at one
time? Sick perverts. I'll get plastered and not have to think about it
anymore...Seriously, what is their problem? I'm trying to live the
bochur life here, not attend brothels on the holy shabbos day. Oh,
she's passing out the soup. I'll say thanks. I said thanks. I may be a
fanatic, but I still have manners. Oh, the croûtons? Yeah, I'd love
some of those. Thanks. Man, these hosts have mental issues. What were
they thinking?

If I was less chassidish than I am...

Ooh, a hot girl. This is great. How can I get her phone number? I'll
get plastered and work up the courage...

Finally, what TRS actually thinks...

Hey. A cute girl at the Shabbos table. I wonder how chassidish she is?
This could be it. This could be great. We can be married in a month or
so. Of course, she has to find out what my name is. And be interested
in me. How do I get girls interested in me? Farbreng. Well. All right,
I'm in someone else's house. So to do this properly, and without
embarrassing myself totally, I'll get plastered and impress her enough
to call her mom and breathlessly say, "I'VE FOUND HIM!" Or something
like that.

As you can see, all roads leads to alcohol.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Sound Familar?

Bsd

Is she looking at me?
I can feel her looking at me from the other side of the table, but if I look up from my gefilte fish, she'll get embarrassed. Or maybe she won't Maybe she'll smile. Oh sh**, what if she smiles at me? Will Eli's dad notice? Will Eli?
Ok, ok, the girls are standing up, they're clearing off the table. I can look up now, man, she is cute! Look at that little skirt, those little ankles, crap, now I'm staring, eyes back to the gefilte fish, boy. 
I wonder what her name is. She's Eli's sister's friend, maybe she's her age, but sometimes Shaina has older friends, so she could be my age. 
She could be dating. 
I could be dating.
I could be dating her. 
Ok, they're coming back now, f***, they're giggling, is she looking at me again? Sing, you idiot, sing, before Eli's dad booms at you, "Shmulik, sing with us!" because then she'll know your name, sh**, what if she does already? What if she knows my sister? I was looking at my sister's friend's tush. Sh**, sh**, sh**. 
"Can you pass the Coke, please?"
F***, did she just ask me to pass the Coke? Pass the Coke, Shmuel! Smile. Pass the Coke. F***. She has a lovely voice. Definitely not from New York. Does that mean something? She could have asked Eli to pass the Coke. She asked me. Oh, come on, she asked you to pass her some soda, not if you'd like to... yeah, don't even go there, it's bad enough you didn't say anything when you passed her the Coke.
I hate these meals. 
I wonder if I can come back next week?

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Reporting Live From Crown Heights

Two bloggers and one commentator were spotted, having lunch at Bunch O' Bagels, on Friday, around noon.
Don't get your panties in a twist, they weren't having lunch together.
Cheerio and Farbengen, having encountered each other in the hallowed halls of 770, decided to traipse across town for respective cups of coffee and juice. And where else does one go for such things than Buncho's? Imagine their surprise when upon entering, they bespied an upstanding member of Morristown's rabbinical seminary - none other than our very own TRS!
The blue pantsed gentleman was dining with a group of people, among them, two very cute girls. (Insiders later informed us that those two girls were in fact the nieces featured in a recent Chanukah post on therealshliach.blogspot.com.)
There has been speculation that this is merely the preliminary stage of a bloggers' convention that would be held in Bunch O' Bagels in a few months' time.