Impressions of Our Modern Society

Here are a few things I've heard/received at work lately:

"I'm never gonna get married because I'm BLACK!"

"A catalogue really would have helped me with my holiday shopping for all my little friends back on the mainland." (MAJOR WTF).

And at the tail-end of an apology from an employee for stealing from (our) employer:

"P.S. PLEASE let a sister keep her (store issued credit card)!"

Wow.

Imaginary Life

Sometimes I wish, or maybe wonder, that my biography will open with these lines:

God grant that the reader, emboldened and having become at present as fierce as what he is reading, find, without loss of bearings, his way, his wild and treacherous passage through the desolate swamps of these sombre, poison-soaked pages; for, unless he should bring to his reading a rigorous logic and a sustained mental effort at least as strong as his distrust, the lethal fumes of this book shall dissolve his soul as water does sugar.

-Comte de Lautreamont, Les Chants du Maldoror.

I've been on a surrealistic/symbolist French poetry rampage. Feeling bummed that I can't read in French.

Something about winter makes me want to sit at home in pajamas and glasses and read about evil.

I do highly recommend the above, in addition to:
Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal
Rimbaud, Collected Works

Special thanks to James for contributing to the beginnings of my collection.

Last week, when I picked up the Rimbaud, my sort-of-buddy Rich who works there told me how Rimbaud, by way of Dragnet, got him in to literature, and acid.
Apparently he was watching the show, when the detectives or whatever were called to 'a nightmarish scene'at a house where a teenage boy was dipping a paintbrush into the can and licking it. On the floor were copies of Les Fleurs du mal and Une Saison en Enfer. Rich thought this was pretty cool.

I'm out.

RAAAR

Okay, I'm officially losing my marbles at work. They did buy us pizza today, which was pretty cool, but man. It was Pizza Hut, so we all felt pretty sick after.
Then I asked Tena what "word to your mother" meant. She burst out laughing and I belched.
That's the extent of cube entertainment.
Now I'll post some pictures in case you haven't seen these elsewheres:


Shooting Guns on the Rez


These are the people I spent Highschool with.


These are my parents.


These are my brothers.


This is me and one of my favorite ladies, Edwina Margaret Kelly.

There is a snapshot of my summer existance. Ah, for the days of yore!

HERE I AM!

Okay, I'm actually going to start blogging again. I was on a real rampage for a while there, and then I just randomly tapered off. I will now offer a brief synopsis as to why this tapering occurred, and then I will return to your regularly scheduled content (as if I have any readers at this point), which includes mostly the mothballs which roll around in my brainial crevices, and random shit I find on the internet (even though I suck at the Internet).

So, here's the order of operations as pertains to the world of KtP:

1) Remember when I got that awesome art-dealer-assistant job, and as a result, that awesome apartment all to myself? Well, I got laid off. To this situation there were both pros and cons.
-Pros: I got paid to do jack shit at the gallery for about a month, as a sort of severance.
-Cons: The above is actually a pro and a con. This lay-off flung me into the pit of despair, and the resulting lack of duties at the gallery gave me no 'pupose.' So, I went on a crazed drinking escapade that lasted much longer than it should have, culminating in an unintended flight down a stairwell and almost-broken-hand.
-Back to the Pros: The combination of these aforementioned elements lead to forging two wonderful/pretty cool new friendships. Numero Uno would be Aubry, a Guamanian Princess of surpassing beauty and intelligence, and the kindest of hearts. She is now counted among my BFFs. Thank god for her. She almost single-handedly made life bearable, and made me love Karaoke more than my left pinkie.
Numero Dos is Mr. Nicholas Pichet, who has been one of the more entertaining acquaintences I've made to date. He is a very clever man, with many talents and many gadgets, which I love to tinker with, or just to watch him tinker with. He also has a gorgeous singing voice, which augmented my already feverish enjoyment of Karaoke.

2) Then Aubry moved to LA. ULTIMATE SAD FACE. SADSADSAD. Why do all the good ones flee away? Tell me! Anna and Maureen in New York, Shelby in Madison, Aubry out West. Sons of bitches! But I still have Jocelyn and Sheila. The girl tally, which must be consciously maintained lest I return to my less-than-satisfying tendancy to only associate with men, is less than 50/50 as pertains to MPLS. Damn.

3) Now I'm working for the Target Corporation, sitting in my little cubicle with my awesome cube-mate Tena, and writing blogs cause I have nothing better to do at the moment. Hence, my return to the blogosphere.

That was pretty boring. This probably will be too:

I have, yet again, a NEW LIFE PLAN. This one is for real, motherfuckers. I'm going to be a teacher! A Highschool Lit Teacher, to be more precise. Here are the steps I am taking towards this end:

1) I'm going to start Substitute and/or assistant teaching for the Minneapolis Public School system, or perhaps at a Charter or Alternative school. As you can see, this stage is still in formation, as I am currently employed and only researching/preparing at the moment. BUT I'M REALLY SERIOUS I SWEAR.

2) Grad school. I'm going to get an M.A. in Comparative Lit! This is very very exciting, because it means I have an excuse to go study whatever I want, and get to move to New York for a spell. My fear of grad school is gone, for it has now been bestowed with purpose. FUCK YES.

3) Teacher's Licence. Teaching Job. Maybe here, maybe elsewhere, we'll see.

Now, you may ask, why do you choose such a career, Ms. Peterson? Well, allow me to further ellucidate:

1) Teachers can be themselves. There is no cookie-cutter expectation for the personality or lifestyle of a teacher. As in, you may choose to relate to your students on your own terms, and you can teach anywhere. Out on the plains, in a big city, in a small town. The options are really (somewhat) endless.

2) You know your job is contributing to society in a way which can only be positive. I firmly believe that education is the most important foundation of society, and if I can make it better, then I will die happy.

3) It's the right level of challenge for me. I'm not a ladder-climbing careerist. It just doesn't interest me. I've given up on glamour. I want peace of mind and personal fufillment.

4) I'd be good at it! My biggest strengh is my ability to relate to people, to convey my views and feelings in an honest way, and to be open and receptive to the people around me. And I like kids.

5) Overall, being a teacher is an excuse to spend a lifetime learning, interacting, and doing good things, without all the bullshit of University Academia, which, in my opinion, sux.

So there's my update. As I said, I'll soon return to my usual drivel.

Love,
KtP