Tuesday, February 15, 2005

“So anyway, back to me.”

The Movie: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, 1994 (Stephan Elliott, director and screenwriter)
Who says it: Guy Pearce as Felicia Jollygoodfellow (aka Adam Whitely), a drag queen
The context: Felicia, Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and Bernadette (Terrence Stamp) share confidences on their bus, Priscilla, as they travel to Alice Springs.
How to use it: To acknowledge your own narcissism.

It's been a while since I've seen this movie, but Felicia says this immediately after either Mitzi has revealed that he has a wife and child or Bernadette mourns the loss of her husband. The line is both mean and funny, and it's one of the reasons I love the movie.

Last week was the first real vacation I've taken in a very long time, and the longest I've been away from a computer in almost six years. I'm sure it was good for me, but I also think that I'm not really the kind of person who takes vacations. In many ways, my entire life is a vacation: I don't go to an office, I rarely have to sit through meetings, and I wear stockings only at weddings and black-tie functions. But I also work every day, at all hours of the day or night, as deadlines and my obsessive-but-lazy nature demand.

It's a lifestyle that feels natural. When I had an office job, I overslept almost every day; I dreaded the alarm clock, and was still perpetually late to work. Now I never set an alarm clock, but wake up on my own (or with Dizzy's help) much earlier than I used to get up in Washington.

This is why I can't get terribly worked up about the debate over Social Security, too. I don't expect to retire; why would I need to? I do worry about health care coverage, because I'm underinsured, and would be in serious trouble if I developed a chronic illness. But I can't imagine a time when I wouldn't be working, not just because I need to but because I want to. What else would I do with my time?

1 comment:

Madley said...

Welcome back! And I'm right there with you -- everyone I know works freelance and isn't dependent on SS money at all (of course, that doesn't include Mom and Dad). What is SS anyway?!

(PS Hear, hear re: vacation... every day is like that -- I'm so lucky!)