I am definition of summer-anticipatory ADD today. Can’t! Focus! It’s sunny outside and the party this weekend was just the most spectacular dip-of-the-toe into all the fun, flirty, belly-laughter and festival wonderment that make up my favorite summer moments. Now I have all these things to do (day job! editing book! remembering to change my pants!) and all I want to do is run around squealing and dancing and hooping and gossiping and hugging and! And! And! WHO WANTS TO GO RIDE BIKES!
See? Total ADD. Check back with me in October. My mental accuity will have returned by then.
- Previous: Time is running out
- Next: The evolution of dance:
10 Responses to “Pity my coworkers”
Leave a reply
Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
You're reading a page from the archives. Check the homepage for current content.
Broch
May 9th, 2006 at 10:04 pm
That’s the crap thing about coming into your 30’s… regardless of the spring crazies, you have to keep at the task, and remember why you’re in it. We should all be so lucky to stay in the days of our teen angst, but it isn’t reality. The sqealing, gossiping, hugging, and whatever else comes to our minds… it simply doesn’t pay the bills. When you become a homeowner, you have to let a bit of the yesteryear stay there… Please don’t look at this as a criticism, it certainly isn’t. I’m just giving a little bit of wisdom from someone who has been there. I was raving in 1986, long before the craze was huge. It took me far too long to get out of the scene.
It isn’t ADD at all. It is just a bit of trying to hang on to the glory for a little bit too long.
Ariel
May 9th, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Wow, Broch. I find your comment really offensive. How does looking forward to a summer full of weekend travels to the events I love somehow translate into me trying to hang onto the glory for a little too long? Even when I was 21, I never let squealing get in the way of paying my bills. I’m not talking about quitting my job to run off and join the circus here.
I’m not quite sure what you’re reading into my post, but regardless your comment tastes bitter even to me, and I lean towards the pretty jaded, acrid side of things.
Ariel
May 9th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
No wait, I’m not done. This pisses me off in about 10 different ways. I’m livid and don’t normally respond to comments that make me angry because theyr’e usually from trolls, which you’re not, Broch.
1. Did I say anything about raving?
2. At the gathering I attended this weekend, I went to bed at 10pm on Saturday night. That’s hardly hard partying.
3. What does having a house have to do with this? I work my ass off to overpay my mortgage monthly. Why are you presuming I’m somehow flaking out because I went camping this weekend?
4. I’m sorry to hear it took you too long to get out of a scene you were uncomfortable in. That’s part of why I bailed on the mainstream rave scene when I quit Lotus. In 2001. The events I go to now look more like Rainbow Gatherings than raves.
5. How does teen angst fit into this? I wasn’t an angstful teen at all. I was a sober straight-A student.
6. I have friends in their 30s, 40s, and yes, even 50s and 60s who continue to go to festivals like Burning Man each year. These people have careers, mortages, children, and very rich full lives.
7. That’s cool you were raving before it was a huge craze. Now, how does that relate to the fact that you seem to think I’m going to fall into a state of irresponsible destitution because I travel to parties during the summer?
8. Did I imply that I was going to quit my job to squeal and hula hoop? I don’t even really know how to respond to your assertion that those things “don’t pay the bills.” Yeah, no fucking shit: that’s why I work my ass off both at a day job and on freelance projects.
9. I appreciate you feeling that you have wisdom to share — but your delivery here pretty much killed whatever message you may have been trying to convey.
10. How in the hell is giong to a few festivals during the summer mutually exclusive to being a responsible adult? What, now that I’m in my 30s I’m not allowed to dance outdoors with my friends any more? Broch, I’m sorry if your experience has led you to this place. Mine has not.
Moral of the story for Broch and everyone else: you can criticize my choices, you can tell me I’m naive or jaded or ill-informed or just plain wrong. But do not ever EVER fucking tell me I don’t have my shit together. I live my life “on-task” to the point where it’s bordering on a neurosis. I am obsessively stable and dogmatic about my fiscal responsibilities. I refuse to be lectured on my website about how, now that I am over 30 and own a home, I can’t go camping and dancing with friends on the weeekend. This is straight up fucking bullshit.
Ariel v.
May 9th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
These types of snap judgements drive me up a wall. Earlier this week some random asshole pulled up next to me and called me a white bitch for no apparent reason other than the car I drive. Which, incidentally, I jokingly call the bitchmobile because it *does* scream white bitch… but that’s beside the point. The point is that this man knew nothing about me. And the irony? He was a black man, and had probably had to deal with snap judgements being made toward him, based on his appearance, all his life.
Broch, I can appreciate where you’re coming from, I really can. Yes, life does change as you grow older and your repsonsibilities become more serious. But does that mean that you have to forego things that feed your soul? I will more than second Ariel’s assertion that she totally has her shit together - like she said, almost to a fault! In her post she was simply expressing joy at the fact that her weekends (her personal time) are filled with yummy stuff. Who wouldn’t want more of that?
Myself, I see Ariel as a role model: Someone who balances a career, a rich and productive set of projects (which, incidentally, are a gift to the community), and at the same time feeds her soul and in turn feeds the souls of her friends and family.
Sara
May 9th, 2006 at 11:40 pm
I think Ariel most definitely has her shit together. She’s got a book deal, remember?
And I don’t care if you’re 12 or 92, hula hooping kicks ass. By the way.
People (who are usually unemployed) often give me crap about the fact that I have a full-time job that I have to wear nice clothes to, and yes, sometimes it gets in the way of fun. BUT the key for me is balance. If I work late on Friday night, I sleep late on Saturday.
On a more upbeat note, I would LOVE to ride bikes! I rode 40 miles on Saturday!!!!!!!! *SQUEAL*
Broch
May 10th, 2006 at 12:38 am
My delivery was definitely in poor form, not the tone I intended at all. I apologize for my tone, it wasn’t deserved at all. The point that I was intending to make was completely missed, so I won’t begin to try to explain it at this point. Ariel, I’m a big fan, so please take it from that vantage point. Namaste’
IVY
May 10th, 2006 at 7:28 am
Dear Broch:
You are an asshole. I think ending your post with namaste may be the biggest fuckwit thing ever. So disingenious. So we shouldn’t squeal, gossip or hug anymore? We should just get all lame, forget what makes us happy, dig in and trudge along like a pack mule? We should sell out our values and happiness all together to entrench ourselves into some comformist, middle-class paradigm? Fuck no! My parents didn’t do that and I certainly will never. I don’t own a house and it’s not really an option since I live in NYC. I pay an obscene amount of rent and still manage to do so while hugging, giggling, squealing and generally running around. I’ll never sell myself out just so I can be perceived by some standard that I don’t adhere to as “responsible” or what a 30 year old lady should be doing. Oh yeah, I’d like to add that I have a kick-ass job affecting political change for women. Wait, I guess I should abandon my feminism/radicalism so I can make more $$$ and buy a house and drive a fancier car and not shop at H & M. Should I even be shopping at H & M and dressing like an old lady hipster now that I am 30?
In closing, I’d like to add a final fuck-you to Broch. Have fun in the suburbs!
Lily
May 10th, 2006 at 8:21 am
I want to ride bikes AND hoop at the same time while squealing and giggling mercilessly! And I’m 36 w/ a mortgage to pay!
gr00vy
May 10th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
ugh, broch, yeah, what exactly states that you have to stop having fun once you take on some “adult” responsibilities?
if that’s how it goes, someone please assist me with my suicide should i ever approach growing up…
until then, this nearly-33-year-old raver is STILL recovering from the past four nights of spontaneous dancefests… bring on the bass!
just as long as i can get up early enough the next day to responsibly take care of the business i own and head off to the bar i tend every night… yeah, just as long as i can do that…
Dawn
July 4th, 2006 at 8:52 am
“2. At the gathering I attended this weekend, I went to bed at 10pm on Saturday night. That’s hardly hard partying”
Laughing so hard it hurts. Girl, I love you to pieces.