How Much Do I Love Being Underestimated?
Question of the week: "Can you handle it if I take a day off?" Yes, that's the quip I've gotten lately from coworkers and other people in my life. I say DO I HAVE THE WORD HALF-WIT WRITTEN ON MY FOREHEAD???!!! Everyone takes days off, my world keeps on going!
I came from a nutty family: bills weren't paid on time, there was little food, no money, I wore the same winter coat from 1989-1993. The sleeve fell off before I replaced it. I still managed to get through high school with a B+ average, got through college on what little money I could scrounge (NO ONE would hire me the moment I said I was taking 21 credits for 3 semesters in a row), and I came out starting to pay the interest on my student loans myself with again, a 3.0 GPA, a B+. I've had bad relationships, rotten jobs, I worked 2 jobs part time in 1997 pulling 17 hour days with 6 hours of sleep to get me through each day WHILE I resumed figure skating, working with not 1 but 2 different teachers! One for moves in the field, one for pairs and freestyle. I did this on $25,000 a year, and skating ain't cheap. And now, I can't handle if someone takes a day off? Do these people believe the world is flat, too? Will it not spin if it is round after all? I mean, how stupid do you think I am? The last batch of asshole administrators saw fit to grind me into the pavement with only 10 vacation days IN 3 YEARS!!! 3 years with 10 ten days off in a row! People reach for drugs/booze/sleeping pills to kill the monotony if not themselves. Did anyone ask me how I was? Did I feel ok? Did I need to sleep a bit later to recharge? Nooooooo. Guess what? I'm still here! I'm still breathing! And I can't handle a few people who take a vacation? Thanks for the backslap, people! I'm obviously a yutz from the sticks. Can't tie my own shoes or find my way to the door in the morning. I'm an idiot, that's right, I might even need a translator, I'm too stupid to read or speak English, my native language. Maybe if I act stupid, they'll leave me alone? Because I'm fairly intelligent now, and I get treated like a special ed student.
Whatever....
In other news, I've found the greatest pastry places in NY, and they're all lined up in a row at Chelsea Market (15th and 9th ave, nyc). Eleni's Cookies, Fat Witch Brownies, and Ruthy's bakery Cafe. The cookies are heavenly, the cakes are gorgeous (they actually baked a sit-up style cake in the shape of Elmo from Sesame Street), but the winner-take-all shop is Fat Witch Brownies.
I watch the Food Network religiously and there is little gem of a show that has great "food finds" from city to city, coast to coast. NYC was featured, and pastry was the theme. I heard about Fat Witch, saw how they make these little buggers, and I bookmarked the website onto my browser. Well, I went there yesterday, sauntered up with my $2.25 and asked for a caramel brownie. OH MY GAWD!!! Joy, bliss, levity. Shame I didn't have a pint of milk with me, but I would've floated out the door with no broom, very un-witchlike, scaring small children. My Caramel Witch brownie was made of 2 gorgeous layers of buttery cocoa goodness with a thin stream of caramel piped across the middle and a crunch crusty top. I have found a new reason to live!!! I'm going back once a week to try all of their flavors. They've recently added a lemon blondie, which is more like a cake bar than a brownie, and a "red witch" flavor---chocolate brownie with chopped cherries inside the mix. YUMMY these little witchy poohs are!!! Sigmund and the Sea Monsters would be very, very proud.
