dilemma:

[starfrosting]

Alright, so after all I've been talking about wanting to go work down the shore this summer and all that jazz, I hear word from Will Horn about the creepy/good ole Indian Rock Inn and am now seriously waffling as to whether I will go back to work there. (For those of you who don't know my boring work history, this is the place at home in Pennsylvania I've worked the past few summers.)

The only draw? He is the chef who I fucken love to bits, as most of you who know me know. The prospect of working under him again is really appealing, because he is fabulous and I think I would derive a lot of joy and strength from being around him in that kitchen again.

The many What are to me pretty long hours (50ish hours/week in a sweltering kitchen) doing work that while sometimes enjoyable is mostly just repetitive, and stressful for short bursts of time as well. Working in the same place I've worked for the past couple summers which seems sort of pathetic to me for some reason. Not being down the shore. Not being down the shore. ('The shore' not only being the place close to the ocean, but also the place where I envision being able to work fewer hours because I wouldn't feel beholden to the people I'm working for/with, and be able to ride my bike a lot and go work out at the art center, and in my imagination have enough time to take a French course at a nearby community college as well as throw my board/body down on the waves.) Not being down the shore.

So I don't know what to do. Either way most of the people I love (aside from my family, whose love I will get to bask in til I burn no matter where I work) will be in Philly or New York so it's not as though one location is more desirable in that regard, though I do have friends at home and have, you know, the ocean and whatever at the shore.

This is the last summer I'll have where I'll be between these two family-anchored geographic options (which is part of the reason I'd wanted to work at the shorehouse originally, cos I have these vast sweeping ideas that I'll graduate and move somewhere and my access to Harvey Cedars will drop off the face of the earth.) And you know, other transitional considerations.

But I mean, Val!

Please offer sound or unfounded opinions lads, I could use them.

Comments

[strauss.livejournal.com]

I think the shore sounds nicer, but I also understand that it is hard to leave a long-held activity/job. You have to face that you probably won't keep going back. Is it better to leave now or later? My thoughts are now, because there are very few summers that you will have choices about where to be, and you should experience as many different things as possible. of course, this is coming from the kid who went to the same sumer camp for seven years. i still think change is better. after all, i eventually left. some of the people i cared about from camp stayed with me (one came to wes and will be a coworker next year...we'll have known each other for 11 years this summer. friends for 8. craziness)
anyway, good luck.zach

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

I think all this is very wise and empathetic and I'll probably end up at the shore. Val is such a Daddy figure to me and I guess it's good not to base one's decisions as to where one is working/living for the summer on that, hm.
<3.

[shlomarosenberg.livejournal.com]

1 pro: I have loads of friends down that way, and I am no stranger to 10 hour drives. YOU, my darling dear, are someone I want to meet, for nosh, kvetch, and kvell. Just imagine the fun and trouble in which we could get! I NEED, after my convalescence, such things, and I need big hugs from just such a person as you :-)

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

Ooh, noshing and kvetching and kvelling! If you could see the grin on my face. Um, down which way though? The way of Bucks County PA or the way of Long Beach Island NJ, or both?
yours in trouble,
Oli

[jaclyn325mink.livejournal.com]

You know, if I were in this situation I would say to myself, "don t" be a sissy."

It s a problem I have, in addition to a weird problem with my parents keyboard relating to apostrophes and my inability to use them. Yar.

Anyway, it s definitely a leap to go someplace else and work, leave longtime strongholds, etc. I m doing it this summer, and I m a little uncomfortable about it, but I know that hesitance means I should totally do it.

Go to the beach, bask in the sun and waves, etc. etc. We will come visit you.

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I hardly think of the shore as brave new territory. On the other hand, the beach. Clearly I just need Val to adopt me (without taking me from my actual parents.)

I can't wait to see you Digs.

[enchanteddesert.livejournal.com]

I say shore. Cause no matter how wonderful Val is, do you really want to see Mr. Burns all the time at the Indian Rock?

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

ahaha. So, so true. I found myself explaining Olive Oyl and Mr Burns and their yippy little children to some folks over here and it's really only when you haven't been working 12-hr days there that you can step back and get an even better perspective on how g-ddamn bizarre the place is.
So, I'm leaning toward the shore. I just need to come home and see Val first.

[enchanteddesert.livejournal.com]

Yeah come visit Val, and all the rest of us that miss you too! And it's a bit past midnight so happy birthday!

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

Thank you Lisamou! Chances are I'll see your little face before I see Val's slightly bigger one, and I look forward to both of these reunions very much.
love,
Oli

ps-I'm in Istanbul! It's so sunny outside.

[taxishoes.livejournal.com]

I think Zach's comment is smart.

Apparently Martha is very sad that I'm not coming down to Miami at all. So. I feel your pain and sadness (in a way). :^(

Plus I never did get to meet Val.

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

Aw, you had to pull the "trading people we need to meet" card, didn't you? So clearly this just means that some two-or-three day block when we can both get off from work you can come down and kill 2 birds (my house/family/friends from home bird and the Val bird)) with one stone.

[taxishoes.livejournal.com]

Brilliant idea.

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

I know, thank you ;)
(Also I want to reply to what you said re: my conversation with Jenny the butch from Galway but I might do it when I get home cos this is my last night here and I'm about to pass out.)

my opinion

[hacivat.livejournal.com]

without a milli-second of hesitation, i'd say minneapolis. with all the ice-fishing, boat fishing, kayak fishing, shore fishing, and tournament fishing, there is so much to do here, it is unbelievable. oh shit, i really gotta go and catch up right now. later.

si

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

come to the shorehouse with me, and wear that hat.