Haunted Humpday IV - There's Nothing Up My Sleeve!

Happy Haunted Humpday IV

The skeleton crew is joining Marfi at Incipient Wings for some spooky fun leading up to Halloween.  

This week Ivy is playing dress-up with my Halloween jewelry while His Madness and I explore Dublin. No one knows what Burt might be up to.

For more years than I care to admit, I worked at a job that was pretty much a nightmare. At about the same time I entered into that unfortunate situation I also acquired a passion for costume jewelry. If it was whimsical, gaudy and BIG, I was in. My mom was always horrified I might decide to wear some of it to church. Not that I actually attend church but I would go with her when I was visiting and she had her standards to uphold. She also thought my collection was overly excessive whereas I felt it  simply had depth. Ok, she was probably right about that last part. 

I graduated from college with a degree in art. Obviously I did not think about what sort of employment options there might be after I finished with my education. Surprisingly there actually were places that needed people who could draw and I found a job in the advertising department of a major art supply company as a graphic artist. It was a great place to work but when a big opportunity came along for HM in another state, I wasn't so lucky with the next employer.

The next stop on my so-called career path landed me in advertising specialties. It was basically a trophy shop for the business world. Who knew such places even existed? It was a job and there were lots of executives who wanted their fighter jets, container ships, engine parts, drilling rigs, chemical plants and oil refineries immortalized in hand done drawings. Corporate America loves to congratulate itself and their pockets are deep.

Now I need to be clear that the actual work I did was not that bad and some very nice people were employed in my department. What made it so awful was the stress from a toxic mix of continual deadlines and really bad management. The guys in charge were unapologetically sexist old men who would look us straight in the eye and say that all artists were crazy - like Van Gogh! Wages were crap, there was no advancement and raises were scarce. Fitting in meant conservative clothing, no perfume and no personal phone calls. I think the Amish might have been less restrictive.

One day on my lunch break, I passed a store with a display of costume jewelry watches. Some were covered with dozens of stars, studded with crystals, while others had enamel butterflies scattered among flowers, crystals and intertwining vines. I was hooked. The funny thing was that all of a sudden I started to see elaborate costume jewelry everywhere. At the time the few pieces of jewelry I owned were real but small with tiny stones and I'd received them as gifts. That was about to change. What began as one watch has expanded into quite a horde after a couple of decades.  

One day in late October I had the morning off and decided to wear my new watch when I went out to lunch with friends. Later, that afternoon, back at work, in the middle of another endless meeting I looked down at my wrist and realized I had forgotten to take off my Halloween watch! I was worried that the boss was going to notice it so I pushed it up my arm as far as it would go and pulled down the sleeve of my blazer and kept my hands under the conference table. How sick was that?

It was a relief to get out of the conference room but kind of a rush to realized I'd gotten away with it, Ha! Seriously though, I had to ask myself, why did I stay at a company where I was worried about getting on the wrong side of the boss over a watch? It had felt good to have some little piece of sparkly magic amongst all the mind numbing dullness of catering to the whims of businessmen. I worked there for many years, nothing ever changed but every autumn I'd find a new bracelet to hide up my sleeve or a brooch to secretly pin beneath my blazer and that really cheered me up.

Thanks for putting up with my long story on a silly subject.

HM and I are currently traveling. Our first stop is Dublin where we got some sage advice from one of Burt's friends. Apparently they're everywhere and always helpful when you're lost in the rain.

After exploring Ireland's many contributions to literature . . .

. . . we found a couple other things to appreciate, too.

Thanks for visiting and a belated Happy Humpday to all!