bethofalltrades

Obscure band of the evening: Liars.

Liars made a concept album about the Salem Witch Trials. On this album, there is a song called "Hold Hands and It Will Happen Anyway."*

I don't love the song, but I think of the title often when faced with situations that seem inevitable.

When you have no power, when an event is preordained, when you see the headlights a second after you pulled into the intersection... the only question is, do you hold hands?

"And the answer is?" my friend asked as I mused to her about this last night.

The answer is, of course you do.

I regret far less of my choices now that I remind myself daily to choose to hold hands.

Love,
Beth

* Other tracks include "There's Always Room on the Broom," "If You're a Wizard Then Why Do You Wear Glasses?" and my favorite, "Read the Book That Wrote Itself."

For those of you who haven't seen it already, Neil was amused by my last blog entry.

It is 2:25 AM and I am just now settling down to try to go to sleep. My sleep schedule is ridiculously malformed at this point.

A lot of people commented on the past few entries in my journal with some variation on "you're so lucky" or "I'm so jealous." I have mixed feelings about this.

Being inside of my life, I know that, no matter how cool my job can be, it can be equally frustrating. 90% of my job (probably more) is the same stuff you hate doing. Tedious returning of emails, paperwork, organizing things. The hours are longer than you can imagine, vacations are non-existent and the pay is super low.

BUT... do not think I am complaining, because I recognize that 10% of my job is insanely cool. The perks to this gig are awesome. And I get all the groupies I can handle! I think that alone is worth the $35,000 pay cut from my last job.

...

Lucky. I struggle with the idea of "lucky." There are huge parts of my life (this job, for one) that would not exist if it weren't for fate. Fate put me on a plane next to a person who changed my life by connecting me with Amanda.

Fate opens the door. Had I not worked my ass off developing a wide range of skills at a ton of soul-sucking jobs, I never would have landed this gig. Had I not been brave enough to take the risk of saying, "I'm good at what I do and I think I can help you," I would not be here, now, lying on a mat on the floor of the Cloud Club, looking up at the plants and the Christmas lights.

Fate could blow and writhe all day long, but if one does not also act then it is but a hollow play for impressionable children.

When I got my wrist tattoo, I decided on "aut viam inveniam aut faciam"-- "I'll either find a way or I'll make one"-- but I still think fondly of the runner up.

Audentes fortuna juvat.

Fortune favors the fearless.