A Pretty Awesome Friday (and Happy Canada Day)

First, I want to wish my Canadian friends and followers a very happy Canada Day! I celebrate myself; as someone who is working towards moving and getting re-invited for permanent residency, I have celebrated for the past two years. I found a video of singers singing both the Star-Spangled Banner and O Canada! before a Maple Leafs game – to me, the video is symbolic of our countries’ friendship to one another and my hope for this Canada and US Independence Days is that our nations can still remain BFFs despite the Trump administration.

On Friday after work, I decided to go roller skating. It was 94 degrees and only managed to skate for 25 minutes – it was way too hot to skate for long. I ended up overcoming my fear and riding the Ferris wheel. Thank goodness that the awesome operator didn’t stop it at the top – that is my major fear: heights and getting stuck or falling to my death. The operator took my anxiety into consideration and it was a pleasant experience. Next time I will try it without telling anyone about my anxiety.

After skating, I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for Final Friday. This month’s theme was the Jazz Age and they had a burlesque show. I have never been to a burlesque show, but I thought why not? It was the art museum and it would be tame. Not really, but it was so much fun. Apparently, Friday was the day I overcame anxiety because during intermission the performers wanted volunteers. I volunteered and I had to do a striptease, involving only taking off my shoes.

I have a lot of social anxiety and I get anxious in situations where people can make fun of me. I was bullied and taunted a lot in middle and high schools (I am big busted, people always made fun of me for that). It’s hard to be “sexy” taking off your shoes and the other two volunteers were comical as well. The audience clapped for us, and I took off my socks as well – the emcee said, “oh, folks, we have someone being adventurous with their socks!” They all clapped and it made me feel great.

The volunteers won free admission to a burlesque show; I might check it out, but I would go to the gay guys one. Josh was my favourite and he was entertaining. After, I had the chance to meet him and another performer (I forget her name). I introduced myself to everyone and they were all really nice. I enjoyed talking to the performers and found them down to Earth. I find some of the more controversial performers are actually the kindest of people.

On Friday, when I returned from my evening in the city, I had a package from Talbots waiting for me. Confused, as my order had already arrived, I opened it and saw a red box with a note attached. I pulled off the plastic bag and opened the note first, then the box.

Turns out the saleswoman from Talbots who sold me interview outfits four years ago and helped me pick out work clothes a few weeks ago sent me a gift -a charm bracelet. She remembered I was a writer when she worked with me in 2014, then we caught up a few weeks ago about looking for a new career and working toward my goal of moving to Canada. What a lovely gift! This made my day even better. Verklempt doesn’t quite describe it.