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What an intriguing day. Your life always sounds interesting to me. I'm glad the ladies were nice. YOu never know, do you.
No, you don't. The only thing I was confident about was that their checks probably wouldn't bounce. Sometimes, though, people just want something to do, and book you because the presentation is free. Then they don't buy anything so your whole evening becomes shit. That happens mostly with sororities, though, not with older women.
Hey, I live in the northern suburbs and we ALL my friends are pretty Liberal (our suburb went 89 percent democratic in the last election) and my kids school is thirty percent hispanic and there are 12 different languages spoken in the homes of students. I won't deny though that there are alot of SUV's in the parking lot.
BTY, what is sooo offensive about using a half dollar as Jewlery. If a kid was wearing a necklace that had a little stone in it that cost fifty cents, would you be horrified? I'd understand if they were wearing hundred dollar bills but don't get the outrage.
Dude, my neighborhood would give you a conniption fit 
The teenagers don't wear pure unadulterated money, though - it has to be filtered through the Gap or the Bon before it can touch their bodies. And they mostly don't work retail - I think that minors are bussed in from the surrounding communities to staff the Starbucks et. al. One of my tutees (who drives the smaller Lexus SUV) organizes high school volunteers activities for Children's Hospital, but I'm pretty sure her mom does all the actual work.
And you know what? I was a much happier teenager than she is, with my 1987 Plymouth Reliant and my sucession of crappy slave jobs. So screw it. Money buys dysfunction IME.
Maya, I'm not offended, horrified, or outraged by the 50 cent piece jewlery, nor do I think that *all* the northern suburbs are conservative - just the singular, unnamed one that I went to.
I thought it was an amusing touch, considering the incredible wealth of the neighborhood, and was making a joke about it.
Interesting interpretation of the post, though.
I grew up and still live in the northern burbs. Sometimes I am horrified by what I see, and sometimes I am merely amused.
Glad you were treated well. Glad they bought. You can come to my neighborhood any time.
Sorry Flea didn't mean to misinterpret. You did imply you felt "hatred" or something close at the thought of those teenagers wearing that jewlery ("the hatred my neigbor directed... I'm not like that..but I had my moment..staring at the ..teenager..).
To me its no different than the "penny loafers" in fashion in the 1950's. A penny in the 50's is prob worth about 50 cents today.
I had to laugh reading this. Recently I attended a knitting circle in an Ivy League town in NJ (aka Princeton). This is the first and only time I've been asked to PAY to sit in a store and knit... that should have been my first clue. Then these women talked about their second homes either at the Cape (cod that is) or up in the mountains. And I realized that as much as I liked to knit, I just did not have enough $$ to PAY to sit there and knit and listen to them complain about the up keep on their Beemers.
Nice people yes, but in a completely different circle.
Hey Morrigan - would that be the Glenmarle Woolworks you experienced? If you want a real knitting group, let me know....
I loved your story, Flea. My mother grew up in the Northern suburbs of Chicago and her family alwasy regarded me as an exotic species of mutant. My uncle H. never stopped trying to give me a subscription to the National Review.
I remember some movie from the 80's where a Valley Girl was wearing cut up credit cards as earrings - I expect coin necklaces are the current version of that kind of insulation from finacial worry.
Flea, do you know or know of, anyone who does parties in Central NJ? My girlfriends and I would like to do one, but I want to make sure that the presentation is a quality one, not a nice girl in human resources making money on the side, but unable to answer any questions that weren't covered in her oirientation lecture.
always....financial...orientation
Oops, have degree in English (not, as must be obvious, in spelling), must be more careful......
Money as apparel, ha.
The 1950s penny-loafers and 1980s credit-card earrings point out something interesting about the trendiness of currency and the values shoring it up, if you ask me.
Hey, does anyone else remember that AmEx gold card dress from the '95 Oscars?
http://tinyurl.com/2pu4u
Glad the party was a success, flea! I personally can't fathom being dressed and awake enough to be interested in attending a sex toy party at 9 a.m., which I suppose says something about my own gauche footwear (no, I didn't misspell Gucci).
that's the other thing that freaks me out about that place. I don't even have to mention the name of it, and everyone knows what store I'm talking about!!
Actually, there is a knitting group meeting this Wednesday at Cleo's Italian Bakery and Coffee Shot, 68 Raritan Avenue, Highland Park, NJ around 7pm. Check us out Cassandra
(and thanks Flea for the hook up!)
You knitters crack me up.
you're just jealous :p
Maybe.
Hey, Scott grew up in Highland Park!
ok, now this is getting freaky... Does he still have family out here? If so, you better drop me a note next time ya'll come visiting!!
The credit card earrings were in "Earth Girls Are Easy" - for some reason, it's one of my favorite movies.
A sort of unrelated thought about wearing money... In cultures where women cannot inherit propery, often everything of value they have is what they can wear. So wearing gold and coins for them is not just decorative.
Flea, I love reading your blog! Thank you for putting so much into it. It almost makes me not hate the word "blog"...
Thanks, Snakelet!
I wear a necklace made from a Sacagewea dollar. It's to remind me of a woman who did her job as the lone woman in a group of men, in the wilderness, while carrying her baby on her back. It keeps me from whining about my cushy suburban life. It reminds me that I am part of a long line of strong women. It is a statement about how I value motherhood, not how I value money.
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