365: So Bourgeoisie

One of the perks of finally arriving in my career and making good money is the ability to have someone else prep and file my taxes. We're generally low maintenance, do-it-yourself kind of girls, but this year, with all the complicated factors of moving, domestic partnership, two different states, etc. etc. I knew I couldn't handle this whole thing and wouldn't be sure I was even doing it right and maximizing our return. So we hired a CPA to do it all for us. I was feeling super weird about it until we picked up our taxes today. All we had to do was sign six forms (5 tax forms and a CHECK for the accountant naturally) and we were done. He is e-filing our joint CA return and our separate federal return (because that whole separate BUT TOTALLY EQUAL thing re: gay marriage) and they had the Indiana returns all packaged up and labeled and ready to be dropped in the mail. It was like the angels were singing down from heaven. Totally worth the money we paid just for that alone, but on top of it we got some great money back for the first time in forever. The only thing we owed was $3 on Ange's Indiana return (which is ridic, but whatever, we'll take it). I can get used to this.

Another blog about being an adult...

Apparently my public persona has changed. I know I haven't actually changed, but apparently I have recently come off as "conservative" to some people. I know, I know, those of you who know me are probably re-reading that sentence to make sure you read it correctly and are now cracking up. That's exactly what happened to me and my other witnesses when they heard/read that statement.

Whilst having dinner last week with my love, my JC friend Chesney, NY Diva and the man-child (MC) I am trying to hook her up with, we were casually chatting when MC says "Well, Lindsay, you are so conservative." To which there was deafening silence, I looked at Ange and NY and just bust out laughing for several minutes. MC says that I act very proper and subdued. Clearly he just doesn't come out of his room enough. Another reason to NOT be addicted to WoW.

And as if that was not enough, I picked up my spring teaching evaluations the next day and was glancing through the written summary comments. I literally had to stop in the middle of the sidewalk and crack up when I read one comment: "She seems very conservative about the topic of sex in general." WHAT??? Are you kidding me?

In response to the class eval comment I decided there may be two explanations:

1. As a teacher I think it is really important to reserve your opinions for the most part, and I think it is particularly important when talking about an issue that has so many diverse opinions. I tried to make all students in the class comfortable enough to share their viewpoints in a safe environment where they won't be judged. I think that when a professor goes on and on about their personal feelings it sends the message that their opinion is the only opinion that counts and that they are trying to force it on you. If someone asked me straight up I would tell them, but for the most part I kept my personal opinions to myself and tried to let the students engage each other in thoughtful dialogue and debate. Maybe this is what made the student think I was conservative on the topic. Although I still find it a bit perplexing since I also tried to push students to their limits of comfortability and was always bringing up hard to discuss and controversial topics. So if I were really conservative I don't think those would make it to class. Who knows?
2. The student must not have been in class the day I talked about my friend who started an amateur dominatrix business and the time she invited me to observe and participate in a session with a client. The students were absolutely fascinated. How anyone could have sat through that class and come out thinking I am conservative is beyond me. Morale of the story: don't skip class and pay attention!

So we all know I am NOT conservative. But apparently as I grow into adulthood this is the image a project to those who don't know me well. I'm not totally bummed by it. I guess for a professional it is better to be not be a total wackadoodle. But, since I am in sex-related field I also don't want to be seen as a conservative. Especially since I'm not conservative in the least bit. So I guess Part 3 of my transformation is to work on a balance between sex-crazed lunatic and conservative prim & proper. I'm thinking "Sexy Librarian/Researcher" is the way to go. Smart, yet wild. Must work on that.