and then i quit my day job.

Here it comes, friends: my last day at Mast. What to say, what to say.

Well, for one thing, I think I'm doing a pretty good job of pretending that I didn't quit so I could write more. There goes that semi-secret. Here's to hoping I actually do something about it. Me without a job, in the past, has been a lot like me without a personality, a will of my own, a spine, or a purpose. It was not fun, before. Granted, I had not started writing, before. I had not started writing (the way I am now), or blogging, and I was stuck in a lasting, college recovery/just married laziness. Perhaps I shall overcome it this time. I won't really be writing full-time, which is wise, I think. I'll be volunteering, too. And possibly moving, though we have no idea where.

I have several other lofty and unattainable goals for my foreseeable future. Please, try not to laugh so loud that it disrupts your neighbor. I want to clean this house. Scrrrrrruuub it, the way you want to scrub the gunk out of the waffle-cuts on your Chacos. And I want to throw stuff away. And organize things. Ha! Me! Organized! It will never happen, but I may as well dream (my mother is having a good time with this one).

I want to learn how to cook. OH! That's the real kicker. I hate cooking. I love the outcome, sure, but I am so terrible at the execution (and so baffled and frustrated by the whole "clean up" issue), that it's hardly worth it. Now you see why I'm so lucky to have married a boy who enjoys and excels in cooking. I will not have to live on spaghetti for the rest of my life. And, once I learn how to cook, he won't either.

Yes, please. [from this article]

I want to be outside more. This one's not too funny, because, unlike cooking and cleaning, it actually speaks to who I am. Ironic, no, that ever since I started working at an outdoor store, I haven't had one single chance to go backpacking? Oui. Or... I guess that's not technically "ironic" (I always feel like I'm stepping on someone's toes when I claim such things), but you get what I mean.

I will miss Mast, though. One cannot ask for a better company, a better retail experience. And boy howdy if I didn't meet some of the most wonderful people while working there, both co-workers and customers. I won't miss selling things, but I will greatly miss all the laughter, the camaraderie, the dogs, the break-room fridge (full-sized!), and the way everyone who works at Mast General Store feels like they are part of something important and beautiful.*

It's been a good run for me at 402 S. Gay Street. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Let's make our last eight hours together something special, yeah? Never mind that it's Sundown tonight, and things might get crazy. If nothing else, I'll go out with something memorable.

[*The fine print at the bottom: these are my opinions, and not those of Mast General Store. Though, I'm pretty sure they'd agree.]