If I Ever Feel Better

Those smartasses over at Stuff White People Like seem to have my number only too well. They’ve compiled a list of things socially-conscious, pretentious middle-class whites like yours truly just love. Here’s just a sample:

#1 Coffee - Three a day.
#3 Film Festivals - Check. MIFF, SIFF, SKFF, Tropfest, the works.
#10 Wes Anderson movies - Except for the Royal Tenenbaums.
#11 Asian girls - Um. Check.
#12 Non-Profit Organisations - Work for one.
#17 Hating their parents - Tried that for a few years. Didn’t work out.
#19 Travelling - Just back from two months abroad.
#23 Microbreweries - See #19.
#28 Not having a TV - Mine isn’t plugged into the aerial.
#34 Architecture - I mostly photograph buildings.
#36 Breakfast places - Even when I have no one to go with, I go out to cafes for brekkie.
#41 Indie music - See Goodnight Believer.
#49 Vintage - See the clothes I brought back from #19.
#51 Living by the water - Inner East, represent.
#60 Toyota Prius - Slightly more of a Honda Civic hybrid fan, but yeah.
#63 Expensive sandwiches - See the avocado thing I ate yesterday.
#68 Michel Gondry and #69 Mos Des - How good does Be Kind Rewind look?
#71 Being the only white person around - As seen on my #19s to Malaysia and Thailand.
#73 Gentrification - See #51 and the hookers on my street corner.
#75 Threatening to move to Canada - For the entire Howard Administration.

They can add to the list “Analysing yourself based on websites”.

I started my new job this week and - touch wood - it seems to be going well.  In a lot of ways it’s just like previous jobs, so I shouldn’t be surprised that I know what I’m doing.

But the thought hit me yesterday that I’m still moving rapidly up some kind of ladder into scary territory.  I’ve usually wondered whether my age is an issue and whether work contacts don’t take me seriously.  What I discovered last year is that they take me seriously and then mentally adjust my age to fit.  It seems I have a gift for faking competence and confidence I don’t actually possess.

All I can think to do is just keep on moving and hope that eventually I catch up with where I am!

I just got back from the “second most boring city in Australia” as Caleb described it. I had a good weekend regardless.

The City of Churches was a church for two different religions this weekend - V8 Super Car racing and indie rock.  You can probably guess what I was there for.

The Laneway Festival played host to a bunch of amazing acts yesterday including Okkervil River, Feist, Gotye and Broken Social Scene.  Standing on your feet for twelve hours is exhausting and festivals aren’t always the best way to enjoy live music.  Take the rudely loud chatter going on during Feist and Gotye’s sets - most noticeable during their quieter, more emotive songs.   But there was plenty to enjoy about the whole experience.

And there are some cute girls in Adelaide - even if the average age of the crowd was probably about 19.

I’ve been occupying my (temporarily) unemployed self with Series Two of The Office - the US version - and it’s been a source of much joy.  In so many ways it’s the equal of the British original, even if that show holds a very special place in my heart.

When Ricky Gervais’ sitcom first crossed my path, it was 2004, my first year of full-time employment.  So it made a big impact on me, possibly bigger than on most, simply because it expressed two things that were just becoming apparent to me:

1.  How tedious and soul-destroying most office jobs are.

2.  How important your co-workers can become to you.

Point 2 was especially relevant, because at the time I even had my own Dawn/Pam figure - a girl about my age who sat a few desks away.  We ate lunch together every day, played jokes on co-workers, emailed incessantly.  We were comrades in the War on Boredom, teammates in a struggle for sanity.  And she had a long-term boyfriend.

Since then, my friendships with co-workers have involved a lot less infatuation on my part - and much more of an older brother/sister vibe.  But I’m still struck by how much of your life you end up sharing with the people who are placed (largely by accident) near you for eight hours a day.

Perhaps that’s what the US version of The Office has that the original lacked - a sense of the interlocking web of likes and dislikes and annoyances and idiosyncrasies that make up any workplace.

I wonder what my next one will be like.

It appears I’m an even worse blogger when I’m at home.  Partly because unemployed laziness does not constitute exciting material to share with you, gentle reader.

But all of that is about to change, because it seems I will have a new job shortly.  Yes, my flirtation with non-working life has been short-lived and I will soon return to the 9-5.

Ask me what it is, if you’re interested.  It’s a lot less evil than my last one.

Maybe it’s because I’ve spent a bit of time here and overseas with some “save the world” types, but I’m starting to wonder where my own passion went.

It wasn’t so long ago that I had my own big dreams and plans.  Now I think I’m just looking for comfort and security.  Or at least happiness.

And I remember from time to time that the best way to find happiness is to focus on things outside yourself - but selfishness is a bitch of a habit to break.