Winding Down the Week

It's a stressful day at my job with a financial services company so I'm taking a few minutes to write and will try to get my rapidly beating heart under control.

William Faulkner supposedly said, upon quitting his job at the post office, "I reckon I'll be at the beck and call of folks with money my whole life, but at least I won't be at the beck and call of every sonuvabitch with 2 cents for a stamp."

The weekend is coming up, thankfully. I have a date with Suburban Melissa, who just got back in town, for Saturday. I exchanged emails with Uzma and asked her out for last Saturday, but she had plans with friends that night and Sunday she was spending (Mother's Day) with her family. I didn't email her back. If a girl says she's busy on a certain day, I'll suggest an alternate day. If she can't do it then, it's up to her to suggest an alternate. If she doesn't, I don't call/email her anymore. Call it a matter of dignity. Anyway, Melissa is much more confident. Confidence in a woman is always sexy.

I call her Suburban Melissa to differentiate her from Urban Melissa, a friend of mine. Urban Melissa is a student and has a part-time gig as a film critic for one of Chicago's independent papers. We caught a film at Midwest Budhist Temple last weekend that sucked. Her boyfriend is a saxophone player in a jazz band.

My upstairs neighbor Bethany came over with homemade cookies Tues. night and I love her for them. She works at a bar, and was complaining about all the PBR-drinking hipsters. It's been THE beverage of choice among the hipster set, both because it's cheap as hell and for the retro 70's iconic status. Tons-0-fun to slum! Anyway, the hipsters will ask her how much a certain beer costs. She'll answer and they'll just say, "...gimme a pbr," and she know the tip will be marginal. Her boyfriend Travis is also in a band. Every waitress in every bar in Wicker Park has a boyfriend who's in a band. It's a good gig.

Of course, PBR is still shitty beer. I'm not in college anymore---I prefer micro-or-imports.

But, I will confess to buying a high number of my clothes from Urban Outfitters. Yes, Urban Outfitters, the store which offers thrift-shop chic at high-end retail prices, and competes with the genuine thrift shops on the same block. Am I too old to wear Urban Outfitters? Could my shopping habits be yet another symptom of a mid-life crisis? Should I resign myself to relaxed-fit khakis and polo shirts?

Or is it true what they say---that 40 is the new 30?