Cashmere Mafia got me thinking....
Yes, I know how wrong that sentence is. The fact still remains however, despite my questionable taste in television programming may be, that it did.
Work Vs. Love
I want love. I'm not afraid to say it. In a city full of plastic douche bags and waxed and waned clones... I want to find someone to grow old with, I want a partner, picket fence, two dogs, a non legally recognized commitment ceremony... but I want all that PLUS a full successful career. And this is not an industry that allows for easy relationships.
Where is that balance? Apparently I am unable to find it. Though maybe it’s not something to find, maybe that balance is something that happens between the right two people. Or maybe all systems tend to move towards maximum entropy, barring the input of external energy. Maybe listening to Tom Waits late at night while chain smoking and contemplating my own existence isn't the best use of my time.
Love is so much blustering wind, and sound, and fury..... and requires effort, care, dedication, patience, understanding, compromise..... Much like being a hair dresser. Dedicating the better part of your life to people who, when it really boils down to it, don't appreciate you as much as they should. Or at least don't appreciate just how hard it is to do what we do (yes, this is an incredibly skilled trade and no one is perfect every day of their life).
"My layers are too short."
"Do you think I should get bangs?"
"I don't want to lose too much length, but...."
"I want more volume."
"Are these sides even?"
"My hair is too brassy."
"My hair is too ash."
"I'm not blonde enough."
"I'm too blonde."
It is hard enough to maintain relationships with clients and I only see them once a month at most usually.
Add on to this the fact that half the time I feel like a slightly less neurotic Bridget Jones, and things really get difficult.
In an increasingly isolating world, where even the comfort of sifting through old vinyl and plastic has been reduced to buying a song from iTunes, connection seems to get lost in the muddle. All those sweet comforts of our youth, or at least mine, have been slowly moved into this digital world where humanity is tenuous at best.
So work, for me, is so much more than what I do for a living. It is where I connect, where I find my balance, where I can always find a shoulder to lean on or someone who cares enough about me to at least listen. It’s not what I do, it’s who I am. Its where my world begins. And usually ends.
