Ch-ch-ch-changes

So, it's been quite a while since I've put anything up here...I'm going to blame the initial lack on a disastrous roommate situation last summer that lasted far too long, which lead right into the beginning of a crazy busy semester/year of school. I'm now two short months away from being done with school (again) and entering the real world (again). I took two years off after finishing my undergrad, so I had a little taste of "adult life" then, but I knew the whole time that I'd be going back to school, so it was just sort of killing time. I could always go back to school again, if I decided to get a doctorate, but right now I'm not sure I could handle another 3 years of school. Which leaves me with scary adult life....

Luckily, I have a little bit of time before I have to really get into that world, which is partly why I decided to start back up here. I have some interesting/big decisions to make over the next couple months, and I thought that maybe getting it all out here, and who knows, maybe getting some feedback, could be helpful.

I'm so incredibly blessed and lucky to be getting to go to Europe this summer with my school orchestra. We're going to be playing for a summer opera festival and will be overseas for 6 weeks. The best part is, it's all expenses paid!!!! My lease is up here right after we leave, so before we take off I'm going to have to move...somewhere. I honestly have no idea where to though. My current best career option is playing on a cruise ship for a while, making some moolah, paying some student loans. I have a friend who's done it before, so I have some contacts. I think it's a good option for me right now, because, well, there just aren't tons of jobs out there in the music field (I know, *shock*!). If I do that though, one of the perks is that I hopefully wouldn't have to worry about paying rent somewhere, so I can actually be making the moneys. I would, however, still need to put all my stuff somewhere. I'm in Kansas, my parents are in Tennessee. If I wanted to put my stuff at my parents house, it would mean getting it back to TN, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to really leave Kansas yet. So there's my first big dilemma. Any KS friends want to stash my life in their basement/garage indefinitely? Yeah, that's what I thought....

Well, we'll see if I can make this whole blog thing a little more regular!

Adventures in Retail?

For almost a year now, I've been working in a freestanding department store. It's been my first real retail job-I've worked food service, a hotel, as a nanny, and teaching violin, but it took me all summer last year to land this gig. It's a job though, and I'm thankful for it. One of the main reasons I've been able to stand it this long is that I work with some great people (a few not so great ones, but mostly great) and, to quote one of the songs that plays 18 trillion times on the store playlist, "we're all in this together". And by "this", I mean having to deal with some of the most ridiculous people that I've ever come across. A friend suggested to me the other day that I should start a blog called "Adventures in Retail" to tell my stories, since some of them are pretty nutso. So I figured I can share some of them here, if I ever end up with any readers. I went out for cheap beers with some friends tonight, and even though we were all music people, we ended up talking the whole night about our retail experiences. It really is true that everyone should spend some amount of time in their life working food service and working retail, just so you appreciate what those workers deal with when you're on the other side. One thing we all agreed on tonight was that we're so much more inclined to help a person out, honor an expired coupon, etc., if said person is nice about it. One of the things that can be frustrating in my store is that we're sooo so nice that we can and we have to do just about everything the customer asks, but it makes us want to do it so much more if the customer asks nicely, instead of rudely demanding that we honor a coupon that's a month and a half expired (since they know we'll do it). (whew!) I'll be back with some actual stories soon....I've got plenty! But please, in the meantime, keep my coworkers and I in mind next time you shop. We'll love you forever, and maybe give you the hookup if you're nice to us!

Hello, World.

About a year ago, I somehow stumbled upon a blog that grabbed my attention, which led me to another blog, and so on and so forth. I've been drawn into this online world full of so many different people and their stories, and I've found myself reading these stories daily. Tonight I decided that it's been a year, I should get it together and start my own blog, join this world. So I did. I'm a musician, a violinist to be precise. I was born in the north, spent ten years in the south, and am currently in the midwest attempting to get a masters degree in music, while working retail (and trying to stay sane), and doing my best to enjoy the bit of life that's leftover. Besides my geeky music passion, I also have a hair obsession, which comes from years of trying to control the crazy mop on my head. And I'm sure I'll find plenty of other things to share on here as well!

Looking forward to "meeting" you all,

Em