Spinster

As Heather reminded me last week, I am 6.5 months away from getting my master’s degree and having to get a “real job.” I mean, the job I have now is fairly real but it’s a student position, so once April hits, I’m on my own. Because I’ll have a professional degree, I can start applying for jobs in January.

I’ve been thinking about where I want to live. So far, I’ve lived in Miami, Portland, Miami again, and Toronto, with a 3-month stay in Glasgow. Miami is the no-chance-in-hell option–I will never, ever live there again (I don’t even like visiting). I like Toronto but my options for staying in Canada are pretty limited. It’s not like I could get a stop-gap retail job here while waiting for something professional.

So, since I’m not going “home” and I’m not sure if I can stay here, I’ve been thinking about places I would live. Being me, I have a pretty inflexible list of things I look for in a city, and I’m not really looking to change any of them. They are, in no particular order:
1. Distinguishable seasons
2. Decent yarn store(s)
3. Liberal political climate (even if it means that the city is a blue oasis in a
sea of red)
4. Good public transportation
5. DIY attitude
I can’t think of anything else right now, but I’m sure there are other requirements. My father thinks I’m insane. He is a firm believer, perhaps because he’s a transplant from England living in Miami, that a person’s environment is not important. He figures that you’ll find the right people and the right places no matter where you are. I suppose that could be true. However, I never felt like I fit in in Miami and eventually I realized that it just wasn’t the place for me. That experience, of feeling like a misfit in my hometown, has shaped my desire as an adult to find the “perfect” city, or at least the place in which I would feel comfortable and healthy.

So far, this is what I’ve got:

Kansas City, MO (I read an article in BUST about it and it sounds cool)
Portland, OR
Eugene, OR
Seattle, WA
Vancouver, BC
Toronto, ON
Maine
Vermont

And that’s it so far. Out of the entire English-speaking North American world, I have 6 cities and 2 states to consider when it comes to living and working.

I never said I made life easy for myself.

Actually, let’s discuss Veronica Mars (or, as I like to call it in my head, V. Ma) first. The new season (season 3) premiered last night and it was long-awaited. I had to wrestle the remote control out of Dave’s hands. He was sleeping and had some kind of crazy death grip on it. In the process of fighting with him for it, we woke up Lorien. Waking up Lorien is pretty much as dangerous as waking up a hibernating bear, and is usually something I go out of my way to avoid. However, this is V. Ma we’re talking about. I won’t risk life and limb for much, but I will for that show.

So. I have to admit, I’m a bit rusty on the nuances of last season. For those who haven’t watched it, the show is pretty complicated at times and it’s difficult to understand what’s going on if you haven’t been paying close attention. I think I finished season 2 in May, so it’s been a while. I was a bit confused by the plot line involving Veronica’s father, but that didn’t bother me. I was pleased just to watch Logan (those arms!) be his sexy self (and Veronica be her sexy self, for that matter. She’s a hottie!). Soooo glad it’s back on…

And, on to boredom. I was sitting in one of my classes yesterday morning and I was bored almost literally to tears. Or death. I think that I was seconds away from stabbing myself with my pen. I brought a non-school book, and read that. I knitted. I drank coffee. Did any of those things relieve the pain? HELL NO. It was so awful that it put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day AND made me skip my afternoon class to go to the darkroom, where problems cease to exist.

Last night, I was talking complaining to my father about the presence of boring classes in my life and how my tolerance for boredom is pretty low. Like, there’s not much I hate more than having my time wasted; waiting in line, sitting through class, traffic jams–all of these sort of inevitables of modern life drive me freakin’ crazy. I wasn’t there when they handed out patience. (Couldn’t be bothered to wait in line… Ba dum chhh!)

So, anyway, my dad was like, “Well, do you need to attend the lectures? If you’re not learning anything, I don’t see why you’d need to go to class.” This coming from a professor. It’s like being given a “please excuse Tasha” note for all of the classes, past, present, and future, that I have ever and will ever skip. There’s that phrase, “Work smart, not hard.” I definitely have not been working smart. If I genuinely do not need to attend class to learn what I need to learn, why bother going? I could use that time to sleep in. Or do homework. Or go to work. Or the darkroom. Or whatever.

Thanks, dad!