Of Getting a Life September 14, 2007
Posted by Jen in : Journal , trackbackOh. God. Tonight, this very Friday night, I am doing something brave. I am feeling a bit weak and nervy. The reason for this scaredyness? I am venturing beyond the village confines, after dark, to Have Some Fun. Eek.
I am going to a party. There will be alcohol and ‘nibbles’. It will be the first time since mid-July that I’ve actually spoken to anyone apart from the beastly boys, lovely bf or the postman. I will, however, be able to practice talking this morning. I will be talking mainly about what I am doing at the weekend and whether I have any holidays planned. Yes, dear reader, it is time for my twice-yearly hair cut.
Now, the party I’m going to is with some of my ex work colleagues, one of whom is ‘celebrating’ 10 years in Retail Hell. But. I haven’t seen them for 8 weeks. What if they look at me and think things? What if they say I have become fat and feeble and have lost my funny? Because, I sort of think I might have?
So. Grey hairs obliterated. New do will be provided by the finest hair chopper Tunbridge Wells has to offer. Clothes, hmmm. Yes, I will definitely be wearing clothes. Shame she isn’t having a pyjama party. I’d be good at that.
I’m a silly goose. These people are my friends. They won’t say anything mean to me. Of course they won’t. They are nice friends. I shall hum a merry tune as I go about my pampering business and try not to worry.
But. They still might think things though. Aaaarrghhh. Perhaps I’m not cut out for the real world anymore?
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Yeehaa! I know exactly what you mean, my friends are always so well turned out as regular partygoers, but I struggle to get my bar-face on. On the plus side you’ll have such a good time cos it’ll never get old!
Oh Jen, I feel your fear. I do. Even going out for dinner with people I work with now, people I see every day mind you, fills me with apprehension. Hah, but at least you talk to your post man. I rarely see mine! And seeing as I have no lovely bf, that only leaves the Small Ones and their father who is, it must be said, not a conversationalist at the best of times.
But you will have very pretty hair and will look lovely.And you can think smugly to yourself that, while they’re toiling away in Retail Hell, you are in your pj’s and fleecy jumper writing exciting and novel-ish things in the sunshine. You are an artist. Exotic. Possibly eccentric (which is always preferable to plain ‘mad!’) They will be Envious. Just you wait and see. And being an artist, you have even freer rein to guzzle red wine and call everyone ‘dahling’, while wafting past in a flurry of scarves and scent.
Have a wonderful time. I’m sure it will be fun after your first few minutes of anxiety pass. xx
You are a nut job aren’t you? You will look fabulous. You’re face will look calm and pristine as you haven’t been working in Retail Hell for so many weeks. Unlike theirs…
They will be envious. They will wish they had the guts to give up their job to follow their dreams…without sounding all cliched and Hollywood, you are ‘livin’ the dream’.
You will look fab and say fab things…just practice a bit what you are going to say about your writing first. I always flounder and think afterwards ‘why didn’t I say such and such’.
You aren’t fat, you aren’t feeble and you are very funny.
love from one Nut Job to another. xx
They WILL be ‘thinking things’. They will be thinking ‘Cripes, I wish I was more like her, with her fabulous hair and her writerly ways and her witty jibes’….and other thoughts such as these.
Have a great time and have a drink for us poor stuck at homes:))
xx
Hellojed - that’s it, my friends are all young and yumptious… I shall feel like Widow Twanky
LQS - actually, your comment inspired me to dig out a vintage Whistles green and fuscia tunic which I’ve never worn before. May as well play the mad artist card for all it’s worth. Thanks!
Helen - Aw, fanks Lovely. Pfffff… what if I accidentally become plastered after one glass of wine and puke behind the settee? I’m not used to partying or drinking anymore. Good thinking about practising saying fab stuff.
Aw, Lane, they’re probably glad they don’t have to listen to me prattling on all day. I do hope they have the right thoughts.
God, I’d forgotten fun was so angst-inducing. Am off to romp around the fields and mess my hair up now
I’m terrible for worrying about what other people will think. You have to learn to switch that part of your brain off (easier said than done sometimes though!)
Just hold your head up high, know that your hair and clothes make you look glamourous and have fun!
When they ask how the writing’s going, you will be truthfully be able to say that you are half way through a novel. Or….lie and say you’ve finished it and its with your agents as you speak. Flick your lovely hair back as you say this. Remember to drink loads too. Real writers, like what we are, do that.
‘they might think things” - paranoia is setting in. It must mean you’re definitely becoming a real writer now. All ‘real’ writers are neurotic mental cases, aren’t they???
Well, WELL? How’d it go?
Couple of glasses of wine guzzled and I bet you had a lovely time.
Update please.
JJx
Hope it went well
Getting dressed up what’s that like then? My make up bag has a layer of dust and the hair straighteners haven’t seen the light of day for six months. Hope you had a great time Im sure they are all talking about you and how lucky you are to of escaped retail hell
A Writer - worrying what other people think is so draining, isn’t it? There’s a lot of that in my novel, unsurprisingly.
Fiona - swooshed my flossy hair about. Didn’t manage to drink very much though. Does that mean I’m not a proper writer?
Beccy - neurotic mental case - hurrah! I clearly AM a proper writer after all then! Phew, glad we got that cleared up.
JJ - I did have a lovely time. I’d forgotten what fun having fun can be! Lots of gossip and a smidge of bitching. Perfect.
Liz - yes! I might even have some more fun one of these days.
Karen - it was actually rather nice, getting dressed up and piling on some make-up. Until I got there and discovered that they’d changed their minds about dressing posh. They all had jeans and jumpers on while I shivered until midnight in the garden in a skimpy slip of a thing. Hey ho. It was a good excuse to buy new stuff. Am back to scummy and barefaced for the next 6 months too now.
Huh! The last time I Went Out my mobile rang, and it was a blog reader who knows me warning me that my Ecologist post needed to be sorted out bloody quick. It seems I’d inadvertently linked an image straight off somebody’s website (instead of linking to my copy in Photobook), and the bandwidth suck had dragged the poor man’s site down to hell. He’d responded by replacing it with an offensive image…
…kind of put the cramp on my evening!
I’ve just found your blog - and glad I have done. We seem to have a bit in common - Sussex, writing and liking of cows (well, I’m guessing you like them seeing as you have them on your pages!)…
Hope the party went OK in the end…I know what you mean about not talking to anyone for ages…I always think I will lose the power of speech and just start stuttering or mumbling incoherently (before I’ve had a drink, that is). Usually, it’s fine though…Do you find that people are interested if you tell them you are a writer? Most people I talk to seem to think that it is the most exciting thing in the world to do, and then others (if I’ve known them for a while, including my family) seem to think that you can produce a book within a few months - not years; so I feel embarrassed in the end saying that I’m still working on it!!!
Hedgewizard - my mind is boggling frantically as to what sort of offensive image was emblazoned on your blog? Going Out can be fraught with danger, can’t it?
Hannah - Hello! I’ve had a sneaky peek at your Cow book - it would never have occurred to me to write a book about cows. Having grown up in Jersey, I am rather fond of the eyelash-batting cattle. Not so sure about English moos though; they all look like Jamie Oliver to me with their big, fat slobbery tongues! People are funny when you tell them you’re a writer - they all have a tale to tell about their own writerly aspirations. It’s quite nice really!!
Seeing that you just provided me with my laughter quota for the day, you definitely haven’t lost your funnies.