"maybe this is your place"

Marz has got 48-hour shore leave (from college, because it's midterm exam time), and she is coming home today--yay!
She'll be here in time for lunch.
I'm making pasta with a ricotta-like goat cheese from the farmers market, and arugula and red pear salad.
A pretty lunch!

I was inspired (again) to eat more beautifully by the doc Fed Up--(free on utube)--about how the US food industry actively stacks the cards against eating well. Many, many dollars involved, as we know.
Michael Pollan was interviewed and said his usual sensible thing: eat real food. "You have to cook", he said.

I've also been inspired by some fat teachers of movement (yoga, resilience & flexibility coaches, etc) online, like Darcy Rosario (workouts on youTube).

You gotta be brave to put yourself out there like they do: the hateful comments viewers leave are insane (including the ones masked as concern).

I love the concept of Harm Reduction--do what you can, where you are, with what you got, rather than waiting for ideal conditions.
Conditions are never ideal!
THIS IS IT.

I saw the concept applied to the upcoming US election:
it's not about voting for an ideal candidate--those aren't on the ticket. The question is, who will do the least harm?
The answer is obvious to me.

Along those lines--working with the imperfect Good-- the thrift store offered me 15 hrs. week paid work in Housewares.
I accepted. I was working 5-7 hours hours there for free every week-- it'll be nice to be paid.

And I love housewares! That's the department I started in in 2018. It's everything from open toothpaste tubes to vintage art pottery.
I cringe sometimes to see some cool stuff thrown out because it's broken---I hope I can give the store more of a funky vintage vibe.

I asked for a raise, and they'll pay me 50¢/hour more than the minimum wage I was making there.
That almost pays my rent, and it leaves me lots of time to do things like Printmaking and maybe some house/pet sitting gigs?

It was so good for me to leave the store in February! What a relief--I'd painted myself into a corner there in some ways... plus there are serious and heavy energies there it was good to step away from (like people being murdered over drugs in the parking lot!).

And then it was good to go back for free, for fun, as a friend.
I intend to [try to] maintain my Volunteer Mindset.
I've been much happier, and management has treated me better and with more appreciation too.
Funny, eh?

It's nice to be wanted--after feeling unwelcome by some coworkers at the high school-- and to fit despite some rough edges. When I told Manageress that I'd quit the public schools in August, she texted me,
"Maybe this is your place?"

I was moved. She and I have had dust-ups, including that she was angry and hurt I left after only 2-days notice (though I did find a replacement to hire). But she believes in fresh starts, and when I returned as a volunteer, we've worked well together.

She told me she has been asking Big Boss to hire me back "every day"! At first he said there was no budget, but someone quit, there was a reshuffle, and now there is a place.
She told me another volunteer told BB he should hire me back too.

"But if Ass't Man wanted to come back," she said, "I'd say no."

I always say that I loved AM because we agreed on a lot of things (including cool old stuff, weird and wonderful), but I hated how he played the victim:
the problems were always someone else's fault--including mine!
The store has been much happier since AM left (to work in the public schools) a year ago. (I hear he doesn't love that job anymore than I did, but he has a family to support and the money is so much better, I expect he has to stay.)

I confess to being rather naïve – – despite all my complaints about middle class realities, I did think the high school would be better run than the thrift store. In some ways  it was (free school lunch!—by State law), but overall it was as emotionally dysfunctional as anywhere else. I felt like a prison guard there.

At any rate, I am excited to reapproach the store with a fresh heart and mind.
Forward!