IN WHICH The Girl Goes Country

What a year? I think we'd all agree that 2016 has been a crazy roller coaster. While I've certainly been feeling those bumps along with the rest of America, I've also had quite a few changes in my personal and professional life in the last six months.

Last I wrote, way back in the spring, I was trying to catch my own heffalump of a college teaching position. Well that heffalump has been located, caught, and successfully trussed up with a bow! Does that sentence even make sense? It's finals week, so I'm down to about two working brain cells. In other words, I am now a tenure-track college professor. Yippie!

It's been quite the stretch of highs and lows. I spent all spring applying and interviewing for jobs across the country, swinging from hope to disappointment again and again. But then it happened! Someone wanted to pay me a real salary! With benefits! I was starting to think I'd be an adjunct forever. But getting my dream job also meant moving from bustling Chicago to a small town of about 12,000 halfway across the country. All the feels.

Come summer, I moved to the boondocks: a cute but very small midwestern town with lots of antique stores and no Starbucks. Yes, there are apparently places in the world without Starbucks. It's been an adjustment. It's possible I may have received an inaccurate picture of small town life from Gilmore Girls (did everyone watch the revival?) and Hallmark Christmas movies. It doesn't seem to be quite as quirky as I imagined and no cowboy has come to my rescue yet. Nevertheless, the portrayal of Christmas spirit seems on point. The main street, actually called Main Street, is adorably lit up and decorated. Plus, there's a big lighting display in the park that you can ride a horse and carriage through on the weekends. In the Hallmark movie, this is the time when I would accidentally trip while trying to step into the carriage and a strapping country boy would catch me and fall in love with me instantaneously.

As of yet, no Knitathon in Stars Hollow Style

But lest you think I've been wallowing in loneliness, the mad rush of new classes and students has kept me busy straight through to today. I'm very smart and decided that on top of learning all the intricacies of teaching new classes at a new school, I would also overload my schedule. When given the choice between a little more money and sanity, choose sanity.

In the midst of all this change, there's been little time or energy for writing. I have been reading though, and I'm actually closer to my Goodreads goal than I predicted. My reading has also reflected the chaos in that I've mainly only read light and fluffy books because I can't handle anything too dark and serious at the moment. If 2015 was the year of the young adult fantasy, 2016 was the year of the contemporary romance, both adult and young adult. Once finals are over, I'll post my favorites from the year.

Now, let me turn in this "What did you do this summer?" essay to my teacher... Heffa nice day!

IN WHICH The Girl Wants Waffles

Random question of the day: do people actually meet up for breakfast on a weekday? While watching Friends the other day, I noticed how often the characters eat breakfast together. In fact, this group waffle time is quite common on television. Now this might just be my abhorrence of all things morning speaking, but really? These people take the time to move to another location and hang out together before heading to work at a normal time? I don't buy it. However, maybe real people do this regularly, and I just missed the invite. 

Let's address this one point at a time. First point of contention with television portrayals of breakfast: the characters actually eat a full breakfast at a designated place - i.e. not on the go. Yes, yes, I do know that people do this; I've just rarely really seen them. When I was very young, my mom got out the cereal and all that, but from my teenage years on we were each responsible for our own breakfasts. Therefore, mine usually consisted of a yogurt consumed standing while waiting for another family member to grab his coat or in the car on the way to school. These habits followed me into adulthood. As I mentioned, I hate mornings. I'm a night owl at heart and give myself the least amount of time physically needed to get ready in the morning. As a result, I always eat breakfast at work instead of at home. I've noted this habit in a good deal of the people I've lived and worked with as well. So, while possible, I find it unlikely that most people - real or fictional - give themselves enough time to eat a nice sit-down breakfast before work.

The young women of Gossip Girl at least eat fairly realistic breakfast items on the go, such as yogurt and muffins. However, they actually got up in enough time before school to meet before classes started. I remember a couple special occasions where my friends and I went to breakfast before the bell rang in high school, but there was no way I was dragging my butt out of bed early every day, even for social brownie points. Hmm, maybe that was the reason I wasn't part of the in-crowd. 

Point number two: these shows imply that people often get together for breakfast. I see this the most in sitcoms, such as Friends. Granted, I understand that all of the characters on this show live near each other except for Phoebe. It's not like they have to travel across the city. However, this still seems unlikely. I've lived in a Friends situation before where I lived with one friend, another lived on the floor below me, and another lived right across the street. We were pretty cool if I say so myself! Nevertheless, we never once got together for breakfast on a weekday. I don't think it was ever even suggested. On that matter, I've never eaten a weekday breakfast at home with a roommate. Everyone is in a hurry and on a different schedule in the mornings. Now, weekends are a different matter. I do love to brunch.

Last point: if the characters aren't cooks themselves, they venture out to get a full breakfast instead of grabbing something ready-made like yogurt. The women of Gilmore Girls go to Luke's diner almost every morning before school/work. For one, this takes even more time than eating at home due to transport, even if it's just a couple blocks away. Plus, you have to be completely ready before you leave.  It also cannot be good for you to eat all the yummy breakfast foods - eggs, bacon, waffles, pancakes - on a daily basis. I know I'm getting old when I really worry about the food a television mom gives her daughter. Almost all the meals Lorelai and Rory eat are bad for you. Lastly, isn't this an expensive habit?

If you are rich enough, however, you can get a cook to make you a nice fancy breakfast at home. Oh the beautiful lives of the Upper East Side. I must be craving a Gossip Girl binge. 

I know not every television show provides such idyllic morning gatherings, and some people probably do have a similar daily ritual to the Friends clan. But how common is the breakfast meet up? You tell me.