Some People Work In Mines

In her book Bossypants and in interviews, Tina Fey will qualify her comments about how exhausting her work life is by saying "but some people work in mines." Meaning: she acknowledges that there is a difference between the stress she experiences and, you know, the stress of knowing that at any moment you could be buried alive.

Which is basically to say, that in a week when Kiev burned and protests erupted in Venezuela, I'm going to start complaining about how difficult and intense my week has been.

So let's dive right in. On Tuesday, I was putting some boxes away and saw this:

That's right: our brand-new storage facility betrayed us and water was SEEPING IN THROUGH THE WALLS. Fortunately the raised shelving did its job and no artifacts got wet. So I was able to downgrade my freakout level a little and at least pretend to be calm.

We got it all sopped up and the problem has yet to reappear. But then the continuing drama for the week was communicating with our building company and getting them to come and take a look. And of course, they always seemed to call or show up at the exact moment when something else was going on.

And there just always seemed to be a lot going on. I had to manage volunteers for a coworker who was out of town, had extra volunteers of my own in to make padded hangers, donation inquiry calls that always seemed to materialize into long conversations, and a request from our museum director to come in and work a bit on Saturday.

The Saturday thing ended up being fun, but I was just sooooo ready to begin the weekend and relax. But then, on the way home I got a text that my roommate had fallen at the climbing gym and was in urgent care at the hospital.

So poor Olivia has a broken ankle and needs basic assistance moving around the apartment. This is obviously much worse for her than it is for me, but it just sucks to see a friend suffer.

But to summarize, where Olivia faced a legit trauma this week, most of my woes can be happily classified as first world problems. And the best thing about FWP is that they are easily remedied by first world solutions. And for me, the best remedy this week has been pictures of Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski in Sochi. While I wasn't able to watch their live commentary, the photos of them were full of enough transcendent fabulousness to ease all my woes.

screencap via senanyc

BEST WEEK EVER.

The Seattle Spirit

Right now I'm working my way through Bill Speidel's Seattle history classic Sons of the Profits. This line struck me as highly accurate:

"The lovely thing about local spirit is that nobody outside of the area pays any attention to it."

Truth.

Whatevs.

Occasions for Muppet Arms

You guys, this has been a heady week for Seattle. The Superbowl win was CRAZY and we are all kind of in a euphoric daze about it. I hear that for non-Seattle fans the game was "boring" but SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP was it exhilarating for us. We were worn out from doing the Muppet arm flail like every five minutes.

Also an acceptable reaction to the ending of Pride and Prejudice

There have been some great articles written this week about what it feels like right now in the city. I recommend Lindy West's Seattle is Suddenly a City of Winners and the piece in the Stranger titled Seattle Has Stolen the Microphone. You should also watch the "Seattle rioters don't jaywalk" clip if you haven't already.

And now to add the the disorienting nature of this week, I am currently snowed in at my parent's house, because everyone assumed that it was a joke when we heard snow was in the forecast for Saturday evening. We got about three inches last night, which in this part of the country means the roads are impassable and no one will even think of venturing out until it melts.

The last couple of weeks at work have also been great. My fashion lecture actually seemed to go over pretty well with the unsuspecting audience. I only had one person sit down, read the title of the talk, and say "Um...I think I'll go explore the galleries instead." I mustered all of my maturity and was just like, "Yes, sure, it is your choice, go enjoy the exhibits." 

 

This week I also managed to start the long delayed INVENTORY process, starring our friends, the tippets. Putting that box back on the shelf with it's new label and knowing all the contents were photographed and accounted was exciting. Nearly Muppet-arm worthy.

Definately Chandler dancing worthy though 

I Can't Help It. Go Hawks!!

"Seattle is basically a city of losers, so as soon as someone or something from Seattle starts to win or do well, the city just goes ballistic"  -- Seattle-raised actor Rainn Wilson

If your attitude about the Superbowl is like mine virtually every other year, you might not know that the Seattle Seahawks are playing the Denver Broncos in a big football game later today. And Seattle is having a total civic pride meltdown about it. "12th Man" flags are popping up everywhere, businesses are closing so their employees can watch the game, and when I went to the dentist on Wednesday it appeared that Seahawks jerseys had replaced the regular dentil hygienist uniform.

Usually I would get upset at being called "a city of losers," but to some degree Rainn Wilson is right. No one questions our tech credibility or our history of producing talented musicians, but in other city awesomeness categories, we feel like we are constantly treated like a joke. Sports is one of those categories. And for me, fashion is another big one. I mean, when I was in grad school I had a professor ask "why would anyone care?" when I floated the idea of researching something from Seattle, and now I am attempting to build a career out of proving her wrong. Seattle angst runs deep.

If the Seahawks win today, I can't even imagine the elation and cathartic release that the city is going to experience. And if the Seahawks lose, we will all just spend the rest of the day in devastated, quiet contemplation.

(You know what is weird about this? 1) If I was reading this post about any other city/sports team I would be rolling my eyes about how worked up people get about a stupid game and 2) by the time most of you read this the Superbowl will be over and you will know the result)

But on to the most important thing: WHAT WILL I WEAR???

I'm told that oversized "jerseys" are the standard. Unfortunately the only oversized shirt I have has raccoons on it.

This is not the shirt to wear when demanding respect for Seattle sports teams and our sense of style. I'll work on it.

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Sunday evening update:

DID SEATTLE JUST WIN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP??????

I have basically been making this face for three hours now.