Experience vs. Acquisition

There’s something about money that makes me want to claw my eyes out. Oh, maybe it’s the fact that one person can worship his or her things as much as he or she wants to, and never be satisfied with themselves or anything they have in the end. I don’t have a lot of possessions, but what I do have is nice (in my humble opinion) and, for the most part, paid for (sans my education, but that’s not something that the repo man can take away from me… it’s also proving very useless, but that’s for another blog).

I have come to realize that some people are one way, and the rest are another where earnings are concerned. Some can work to live, others have to live to work. I have found that I belong in the latter group, even though I have to work to live at the moment. I would rather do manual labor than be stuck in an office from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. every day, hating each moment I spend wasting my time because I’d probably just be surfing the Internet anyways. Don’t get me wrong, I completely respect someone who enjoys it. I, unfortunately, am not one of them. Perhaps if I found an office job where I was doing something I liked, I could handle it, but that has yet to happen…

There is also a fine line between ambition and greed I am starting to recognize (although if you look up both words in the dictionary, there is little difference between the two, so let’s assume for the sake of this blog that ambition is a sincere desire to better yourself and achieve your goals through noble means, while greed is the Kenneth Lay route to personal gain). There are people who will do anything to have money and things, including sacrificing their true dreams, believing that drudging through life in an unrewarding career will somehow pay off in thirty or forty years with an awesome retirement. So then you can enjoy your “Golden Years” playing golf and Yahtzee, before the arthritis and dementia set in, resulting in your funds being used to put you in a nursing home. Who knows if we’ll even make it that long…

So why not experience your life now? By no means am I saying don’t save for retirement because obviously at some point you’re not going to be able to work anymore, but if you do what you love, you’ll always be willing. Travel while you’re young. Meet new people. Try new things and discover what you enjoy. Stop caring about what other people think and live the life you want to live, not the one society says you should.

Too many of us get caught up in the suburban circle of life. We think we have to graduate high school and then go straight to college, find a job straight out of school where you’ll use your degree somehow, get married, have kids, keep working at your lame-o job, take family vacations when you have the time and money, see your psychiatrist regularly because you can’t figure out why you’re so dissatisfied with your life… retire as soon as you can, because if you wait too long those health problems I was talking about earlier will ruin your hard-earned permanent vacation when you’re 65.

I don’t have to live that life. No one does. Right now what I deem a success may not be worth dirt to another person, but right now I what I want is to stay mobile, have a good time, and keep writing until something comes of it (therein lies my ambition in noun form). The car I drive, clothes I wear, and things I have are not an outward manifestation of my success or satisfaction. Those things only show that I drive a crummy Jeep that’s paid off, I have little-to-no sense of style, and don’t buy a lot of things because I have a hard time justifying the purchase of items I don’t need unless it’s beer or girly stuff like lotion and bubble bath (or better yet, beer to drink while I take a bubble bath)…

And how I make my money right now does not define what kind of person I am, and is not my be-all-end-all (I may sling coffee, but I’m having fun doing it!). But maybe it’s not greed I perceive - perhaps everyone’s definition of success just varies.

Your Questions Answered Here (well, one anyways)

I've been in Dallas for about four months now and am still lovin' it, although I do find myself homesick for mi familia in the 505. Sometimes I need them to grieve with me, you know?

But the phenomenon I have now encountered, having come into contact with what is commonly known as "employment" (not to be confused with "career"), is the need for a justification for people I meet in regards to why I moved here. So here is the story (of course I realize that if you are reading this, you probably already know, but whatever):

I visited Dallas about four or five times before moving here (three times in the last two years, I think). Upon visitng back in February of two double aught five for Gavin DeGraw, I added it to my list of potential places to live after graduation. I wanted to live in a bigger city, but not too big, as having come from small(er) New Mexico towns and villages, I didn't need too much of a shock. Also on my list were Albuquerque and Denver.

So why not Albuquerque or Denver, you may ask? Well, shut the hell up and stop talking about how beautiful you think New Mexico is even though you live in Texas, and I will tell you (that's exactly what I want to say to these idiots who ask me). Albuquerque is cool. I have my BFF and BFF Squared there and it's close to my family. However, in my heart I felt like I'd be a cop out if I didn't at least get a little ways away from NM for a while and experience something else. I also recently experienced the devastating death of my youngest brother, Matt, and without realizing it at the time, wanted to get away from all of those memories and pain... which has not worked out so well, but that's how I roll (we don't need to get all depressed now...). I assume I'll probably end up in New Mexico again someday (who knows when) because I love it there - the scenery, the people, the food (CLEARLY the best ever), the memories...

I've been in Denver several times as well, but mostly have just driven through on the way to visit my dad in South Dakota over the years. I LOVE Colorado and mark my words: I WILL live there at some point in my life. So why didn't I go to Denver? I don't know a soul in Denver besides my married-with-kids friend Kevin. Maybe when Allison and Brady move there, I'll go live on their couch for a while... But at this juncture in my crazy life, I thought it might not be a good idea to be absolutely alone in a new city.

Where Dallas is concerned, I had a couple of good friends here (although I never see one of them - effen Kelly B.!) and have made many more, all of whom are fabulous (especially Dirk... we like to go get frozen mimosas at Breadwinners after strolling around the West Village)! I thank Sack for being a great host to a couple of my visits and showing me some of the finer drinking establishments in the area, in addition to the aquarium and the BP mall in North Dallas (which I had to go to a couple of weeks ago... scary!).

There is also the story of Jeff, where he wanted to move, and his bet with himself concerning the NBA playoffs and finals, which can be found in a June or July entry on my Blogspot blog. It's nice to know your roommate is up for drunk grocery shopping, or going to lunch with you at El Fenix downtown when you're playing hookie...

And if people still wonder after I tell them all of these things because they think New Mexico is so fabulous, I'll just have to kick them in the shin and ask why they don't live there.

All in all, I am quite pleased with my living arrangements, although as long as I am unattached and able, I will keep my options open. I want to live in several places so I have stories to tell my 87 cats when I'm old, alone, dipping biscotti in a gin martini, wearing a boa, and spritzing myself with an atomizer filled with some sort of Estee Lauder perfume brew...

Sherlock's: The Greatest Bar Ever?

Sherlock's in Addison may or may not be my new favorite bar. Maybe it was the people dressed like it was still Halloween, the restroom attendant, or the Bo Bice clone cover band, but I loved it.

After an outstanding meal of family-style Indian food at The Saffron House, we sauntered over to Sherlock's. Upon entrance we were offered free Jaeger shots and spotted "The Dancing Man", a later-middle-aged man with a flair for dancing like he's on acid when no one else is on the dance floor. I've never seen anything like it before in my life, and I hope to see it again soon. Picture Dennis Hopper dressed in khaki slacks and a pale yellow polo tucked in, and you have a pretty accurate representation of this guy. Now imagine this character prancing around, "gracefully" waving his arms about a la the hippies of Woodstock or the ravers of late. If I would have had my glow sticks on me last night, I would have immediately given them to this man as a gift because the entertainment I would have received in return... priceless.

The beer was cheap. I'm talking like $1.50 for a pint and $2.25 for the big beers, and the more I had, the better the band sounded... especially when they obliged our request to play "Your Love" by The Outfield. Rest assured I was singing and dancing... Josie's on a vacation far away... I think I've been inspired to change my MySpace song. I don't know what the name of this band was, but the fact that most of them had long hair and they had a playlist straight off of Helmer's Pub's iPod made them nothing short of stellar. Either that or it was a Jaeger-enhanced auditory hallucination.

I really didn't notice the rest of the crowd until The Dancing Man took a break, as I was obviously hypnotized by his amazing skills on the dance floor. But when I finally took a look around, I noticed a most motley assortment of people. The first to grab my attention was a man in some sort of a shiny-ish mock-houndstooth collared shirt in lovely hues of black and teal. He was talking to a woman who was wearing tapered jeans in an identical turquoise hue, and a matching shirt with the fabric on the shoulders cut out, only to be replaced by joined circles of silver. It wasn't tacky at all and no, I didn't say they looked like they were from New Jersey or that the guy resembled Joey Buttafuoco...

There were the bi-curious girls, the one in skinny jeans and leg warmers, a guy in a red, too-tight shirt that said SELF TAUGHT DOCTOR in white block letters (might as well have just said "Girls, Stay Away" on it), various lap dancing incidents, horsey lady and her Elaine dance... the list goes on and on. But don't take my word for it. Have some Indian food and then walk over to Sherlock's in A-town. I highly doubt you'll be disappointed.