Ode to Unemployment

Well, it's nearly official- Paul received an offer package from his future employer this morning!

We are excited that a new chapter is beginning. I've read in the news recently about how stressful unemployment is for so many people- particularly for men when the burden of provision in our culture is still heavier upon them. But not for this one. I suppose Paul and I are different in that I always need something busy and "productive" to do, and he is content and cheery whittling away the hours on various other types of activities- including, but not limited to, playing fetch with the dog, video games, reading random things on the internet and then telling me about them, writing music on Garage Band that sounds like electronic eurotrash, putting that music to a slideshow featuring pictures of our dog, playing basketball with the Filipino high school kids in our neighborhood, doing transcriptions on Sibelius for me, listening to audiobooks, and today, the most bizzare thing of all time: he voluntarily went shopping for me.

I have a concert this weekend in New York for which I've been picking an outfit for. I bought a new top at a sample sale last week and was having second thoughts about it. He wasn't totally sold on it either, but I decided I would just wear it since it was a sample sale and I can't return it anyway. I like it just fine and I really don't care all that much. I also don't have time to hit the mall between now and Saturday and things approrpiate to wear for a performance are hard to find for me.

So he insisted this afternoon to head to Macy's and basically raided the women's department. I told him my sizes, and that I generally like long-sleeve tops that have some sort or sparkle or interesting sleeves or something a little flashy for the stage. What did he bring home? About 20 different tops with some sort of sparkle or interesting sleeves in more colors than the rainbow can hold, including mustard yellow, pale gold, and magenta. He said he would return whatever I didn't want. Unfortunately, after trying on these nearly 20 different tops that were all pretty unflattering, I have decided to stick to the original top that I bought at the sample sale and fire him as my personal shopper.

Well, I was pretty blown away at his willingness to subject himself to the mall in an effort to help me, and we had a pretty good laugh when I tried on the mustard yellow top that made me look like a Star Trek character, the pale blue frilly top that should have been part of a clown costume, and the magenta top that I am convinced was some sort of maternity wear. All I can say is that I am excited for his new job to start and I am certainly glad that it's not in the fashion industry.