Dear loyal readers
I would like to conduct a postal experiment which really means this is a shameless attempt to get you to send me stuff in the mail.
I am pretty much a religious believer in the power of mail. Hear that US Postal Service? In this electronic age, there are still believers! I send at least 1 letter/card per week and sometimes a lot more. I just can't get enough of making letters and stationary and sending people a smile in the mail. The sucky thing is that people never really send me stuff back. And I'm kind of resigned to the fact that output never equals return. I don't really expect others to send me stuff back cos that is just setting myself up to be upset.
But now is your turn to participate in a movement of postal love in the direction of Lynsee. So sharpen your pencils, break out the nice stationary or wacky postcards, and get scribbling!
You can send me stuff at:
Lynsee Melchi
2918 Brookside Ave
Waukegan, Illinois
60085
USA
Send whatever you'd like. Postcards, full on letter, other postal silliness...I'll take it all. There will be prizes: 1st letter to come to me, letter from farthest away, wackiest letter, letter from someone I don't know. So...don't forget the return addresses!
I am leaving this address on December 17th...so what can you all do in that time??
Bring it on!
I suppose I will write an update some time soon cos there is a lot happening. Life changes and what not. And I'm writing a book. Yeah. So, stay tuned.
Much (postal)Love
Keep the faith and spread it gently
Lynsee
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Musical jobs
Butcher, baker, candlestick maker...surprisingly these are 3 jobs I have not held...yet.
I meant to write a long and hilarious account on the ups and downs of being a substitute teacher in Waukegan Public Schools (my job since March). It may still happen...we'll see. I just got caught up in time. Months piled up and now school's no longer in session. Musical jobs begins.
Musical jobs has made me start to think about all the jobs I've held in my 28 years on this planet. My first real job was at 12 so I guess just about 1/2 of my life so far has been touched by the working world. While I'm no Homer Simpson...I'm starting to amass quite a wacky list of trades.
To date I have been employed as:
paper delivery girl
veterinary assistant
secretary
textbook associate
note taker for university classes
summer camp counselor (arts & crafts director, nature assistant)
waitress
sheep farmer
phone interviewer for surveys
supervisor
stock girl for Toys R Us
foreclosure data collection
voiceover artist
research assistant
genetics lab monkey
pond manager
housesitter
petsitter
drunk lady sitter
meeting hostess
(and maybe a few other things)
Since I've been home I've worked as:
flower delivery person
substitute teacher
photo shoot assistant
driving instructor
"lead procurement" for local business
Many of the people I went to school w/in SA had never had jobs. I don't know if it's a cultural thing, as in Americans LOVE working (it's part of our identity). As in many African families take care of their kids and don't want them working (or don't expect it). As in the job market in SA is a bit tighter. Probably a combination of those things. All I know is that I know more people in SA who had never worked a day in their life, while at their age I had already had about 7-8 different jobs.
I was fortunate enough to not have to work while in school in SA. A first for me. So I can see the value of not working while in school. I get that argument. But I also thought about all the things (good and bad) these people have missed from not being a part of the working world: boss bullshit, time clocks, taxes, hungover summer morning wakeups for work, general job bullshit that comes from the "you pay me to do stuff" contract we enter into, financial freedom, all the people I've met, all the fun and random things I've done from raising dragonfly larvae to shearing sheep to cruising around bringing flower joy, all the skills I've acquired through job duties. I can't help but feel they've missed out a bit.
A friend of mine is your classic workaholic. He would spend 20 hours a day at work if they let him. We were once talking about work and freedom and he said "I don't know what I would do if I didn't work." My reply: "Anything you want!" Imagine if you didn't have to go to work everyday...you could literally do anything you wanted.
Our formative years are spent preparing us for the working world. Wake up early M-F. Go to this central location. Do what you are told (and certainly don't question the authority of those telling you). And we are told this is something you must do to get anywhere in life. While this may be good training for the masses who aren't thinking outside the box and crave being told what the structure of their life should be...I certainly think it's not a system set up with anyone's best interests in mind. It's just something we "have to do." Suck it up! This must be achieved!
Right now I'm supposed to be a most ferocious work machine. A model that has never suited me. I've almost always taken crappy pay jobs so I can retain a modicum of freedom and flexibility all while getting experience "for the future." That's why sheep farmer appears on my laundry list of employment as opposed to more lucrative positions. It's also why I'm broke as a joke. Win some, lose some.
So "school's out for summer" and I've hopscotched my way into a new job doing "lead procurement." Some fancy marketing word for getting the word out and enticing people with our services. I call folks on the phone or contact them otherwise to tell them about the business and services we offer. Anyone I contact that uses our services means bonus money for me! The company is a document storage and shredding company, so it's services I can get down with. I'm not working for the devil or selling people crap they couldn't use...like a new vacuum cleaner or knives. Seriously if you are in the market for storage/shredding...talk to me! We operate in Southern WI and the Chicagoland area...so get at me if you need something like that. It's a small company so no job is too big or too small. And there's a sweet reward in it for me :) You can check out their website at: accessyourdocs.com
I'm also training to be a driving instructor. Hilarious...considering I haven't owned a car in about 7 years. Provided I pass the test next week, I start teaching immediately.
Eish! The things we do for money...
If you take nothing else from this conglomeration of working words then take this and think about it:
What would you do if you didn't have to work???
...anything you want!
Keep the faith and spread it gently
Love Lynsee
I meant to write a long and hilarious account on the ups and downs of being a substitute teacher in Waukegan Public Schools (my job since March). It may still happen...we'll see. I just got caught up in time. Months piled up and now school's no longer in session. Musical jobs begins.
Musical jobs has made me start to think about all the jobs I've held in my 28 years on this planet. My first real job was at 12 so I guess just about 1/2 of my life so far has been touched by the working world. While I'm no Homer Simpson...I'm starting to amass quite a wacky list of trades.
To date I have been employed as:
paper delivery girl
veterinary assistant
secretary
textbook associate
note taker for university classes
summer camp counselor (arts & crafts director, nature assistant)
waitress
sheep farmer
phone interviewer for surveys
supervisor
stock girl for Toys R Us
foreclosure data collection
voiceover artist
research assistant
genetics lab monkey
pond manager
housesitter
petsitter
drunk lady sitter
meeting hostess
(and maybe a few other things)
Since I've been home I've worked as:
flower delivery person
substitute teacher
photo shoot assistant
driving instructor
"lead procurement" for local business
Many of the people I went to school w/in SA had never had jobs. I don't know if it's a cultural thing, as in Americans LOVE working (it's part of our identity). As in many African families take care of their kids and don't want them working (or don't expect it). As in the job market in SA is a bit tighter. Probably a combination of those things. All I know is that I know more people in SA who had never worked a day in their life, while at their age I had already had about 7-8 different jobs.
I was fortunate enough to not have to work while in school in SA. A first for me. So I can see the value of not working while in school. I get that argument. But I also thought about all the things (good and bad) these people have missed from not being a part of the working world: boss bullshit, time clocks, taxes, hungover summer morning wakeups for work, general job bullshit that comes from the "you pay me to do stuff" contract we enter into, financial freedom, all the people I've met, all the fun and random things I've done from raising dragonfly larvae to shearing sheep to cruising around bringing flower joy, all the skills I've acquired through job duties. I can't help but feel they've missed out a bit.
A friend of mine is your classic workaholic. He would spend 20 hours a day at work if they let him. We were once talking about work and freedom and he said "I don't know what I would do if I didn't work." My reply: "Anything you want!" Imagine if you didn't have to go to work everyday...you could literally do anything you wanted.
Our formative years are spent preparing us for the working world. Wake up early M-F. Go to this central location. Do what you are told (and certainly don't question the authority of those telling you). And we are told this is something you must do to get anywhere in life. While this may be good training for the masses who aren't thinking outside the box and crave being told what the structure of their life should be...I certainly think it's not a system set up with anyone's best interests in mind. It's just something we "have to do." Suck it up! This must be achieved!
Right now I'm supposed to be a most ferocious work machine. A model that has never suited me. I've almost always taken crappy pay jobs so I can retain a modicum of freedom and flexibility all while getting experience "for the future." That's why sheep farmer appears on my laundry list of employment as opposed to more lucrative positions. It's also why I'm broke as a joke. Win some, lose some.
So "school's out for summer" and I've hopscotched my way into a new job doing "lead procurement." Some fancy marketing word for getting the word out and enticing people with our services. I call folks on the phone or contact them otherwise to tell them about the business and services we offer. Anyone I contact that uses our services means bonus money for me! The company is a document storage and shredding company, so it's services I can get down with. I'm not working for the devil or selling people crap they couldn't use...like a new vacuum cleaner or knives. Seriously if you are in the market for storage/shredding...talk to me! We operate in Southern WI and the Chicagoland area...so get at me if you need something like that. It's a small company so no job is too big or too small. And there's a sweet reward in it for me :) You can check out their website at: accessyourdocs.com
I'm also training to be a driving instructor. Hilarious...considering I haven't owned a car in about 7 years. Provided I pass the test next week, I start teaching immediately.
Eish! The things we do for money...
If you take nothing else from this conglomeration of working words then take this and think about it:
What would you do if you didn't have to work???
...anything you want!
Keep the faith and spread it gently
Love Lynsee
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Thoughts from the bread aisle
Overall I’m not a fan of shopping. Malls freak me out with their neon glow and polished surfaces condoning and encouraging extreme consumerism. Buy me! Buy me! Bust out the credit card! I often get lost in them, even ones I’ve frequented. The sting of long hours in changing rooms packed into ill fitting clothes. Going home empty walleted. All this I’d rather do without. The thrift store is my Mecca, not the mall. But grocery stores, oh baby! I love me some grocery stores.
I don’t know what it is that I love about food emporiums. If it’s all the food. The joy of expectation as I construct future meals in my head. Comparing the extra jumbo can of tuna to the small can to see if 3 smalls = 1 large is really saving me 4 pennies. The equality that stems from the reality that we all must eat. The hilarity of the “ethnic foods” aisle with its pasta and tortillas. Spotting food stuffs I’ve never encountered and hypothesizing exactly how I’d turn it into an excellent meal (or a failed meal on the way to an excellent meal). In SA, trying to read the aisle names in Afrikaans.
All I know is that I love the grocery store. So much so that when I was in Pretoria I used to go there to calm down even if I just needed a loaf of bread. I can literally spend hours in a grocery store over a loaf of bread…ask anyone who has had to give me a ride to/from the grocery store.
My first real grocery spree was a few weeks ago at a store in Waukegan. It was another glorious piece sewn into the homecoming quilt. In Waukegan we have your usual big box chain grocery stores but we also have a number of fruit markets that cater to the large Latino population in town. They are just as big as the chain stores, but I think more independently owned/operated. I absolutely love these stores: cheap produce, weird vegetables, signs in Spanish advertising specials on pechuga (chicken breast), lechuga (lettuce), and leche (milk). Plus there is usually a ton of food items I’ve never seen before or even heard of. All in our humble town. Waukegan has between 100 and 150,000 people and we have about 4 of these “fruit markets.”
Besides an overwhelming calm, a few thoughts passed through my head as I marvelled at Honduran coffee, the myriad types and brands of asian noodles, and Mexican sweets and sodas the likes of which I’d never seen but must be some-kid-some-where’s favorite splurge item. But mostly I thought “man these grocery store people really have it figured out.”
In the USA I’m lead to believe that many Americans sternly disapprove of immigrants. “Why can’t they speak English?” “They are taking our jobs and government services.” And so on. I’ve heard surprisingly similar sentiments in South Africa directed at the immigrant populations there. The USA wants to build a super wall on the border between USA/Mexico to keep our neighbors to the south out. I’m sure we will learn the hard way, if the wall is put up, that no wall is too big to keep out those that want in. People brave hostile oceans on plastic rafts to get here…there’s no “Great Wall” that can extinguish that hope. The allure of the American Dream is too great. We’ve marketed it all over the world, yet we still want to keep folks from the last step. I don’t get it, but maybe it’s all part of keeping demand high. The unattainable goal. All I know is that it hasn’t taken our country long to forget those words inscribed in stone on the Statue of Liberty:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
But these grocery store people have it figured out. Instead of whining about how immigrants pollute what it means to some people to be a “true American” (whatever that means) the grocery store operators have taken advantage of the situation and given people what they want. A little taste of home to nourish the journey toward the American Dream. It’s genius and I’m sure it turns a pretty penny.
I don’t know what it is that I love about food emporiums. If it’s all the food. The joy of expectation as I construct future meals in my head. Comparing the extra jumbo can of tuna to the small can to see if 3 smalls = 1 large is really saving me 4 pennies. The equality that stems from the reality that we all must eat. The hilarity of the “ethnic foods” aisle with its pasta and tortillas. Spotting food stuffs I’ve never encountered and hypothesizing exactly how I’d turn it into an excellent meal (or a failed meal on the way to an excellent meal). In SA, trying to read the aisle names in Afrikaans.
All I know is that I love the grocery store. So much so that when I was in Pretoria I used to go there to calm down even if I just needed a loaf of bread. I can literally spend hours in a grocery store over a loaf of bread…ask anyone who has had to give me a ride to/from the grocery store.
My first real grocery spree was a few weeks ago at a store in Waukegan. It was another glorious piece sewn into the homecoming quilt. In Waukegan we have your usual big box chain grocery stores but we also have a number of fruit markets that cater to the large Latino population in town. They are just as big as the chain stores, but I think more independently owned/operated. I absolutely love these stores: cheap produce, weird vegetables, signs in Spanish advertising specials on pechuga (chicken breast), lechuga (lettuce), and leche (milk). Plus there is usually a ton of food items I’ve never seen before or even heard of. All in our humble town. Waukegan has between 100 and 150,000 people and we have about 4 of these “fruit markets.”
Besides an overwhelming calm, a few thoughts passed through my head as I marvelled at Honduran coffee, the myriad types and brands of asian noodles, and Mexican sweets and sodas the likes of which I’d never seen but must be some-kid-some-where’s favorite splurge item. But mostly I thought “man these grocery store people really have it figured out.”
In the USA I’m lead to believe that many Americans sternly disapprove of immigrants. “Why can’t they speak English?” “They are taking our jobs and government services.” And so on. I’ve heard surprisingly similar sentiments in South Africa directed at the immigrant populations there. The USA wants to build a super wall on the border between USA/Mexico to keep our neighbors to the south out. I’m sure we will learn the hard way, if the wall is put up, that no wall is too big to keep out those that want in. People brave hostile oceans on plastic rafts to get here…there’s no “Great Wall” that can extinguish that hope. The allure of the American Dream is too great. We’ve marketed it all over the world, yet we still want to keep folks from the last step. I don’t get it, but maybe it’s all part of keeping demand high. The unattainable goal. All I know is that it hasn’t taken our country long to forget those words inscribed in stone on the Statue of Liberty:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
But these grocery store people have it figured out. Instead of whining about how immigrants pollute what it means to some people to be a “true American” (whatever that means) the grocery store operators have taken advantage of the situation and given people what they want. A little taste of home to nourish the journey toward the American Dream. It’s genius and I’m sure it turns a pretty penny.
I'm under the impression that the booming immigrant population in the
Until next time
Keep the peace and spread it gently
Love, Lynsee
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