My Cardboard Balcony

The Loneliest Ornament by Belinda Roddie She's too high up to converse with the tinsel, and too "lowly" for the star to interact with. She was placed on the middle bough for one main reason: She's the most beautiful of all. But she wishes her glass didn't reflect the lights so vividly, and she wants her pattern to be more muted. Or perhaps she could become heavier, so she can be hung at the bottom of the tree with the metal Santa Clauses and the porcelain fictional characters. They are fascinating to talk to, and they listen, too, and as the wrapped gifts convene for their annual meeting, she'll eavesdrop on their agenda, wishing that her layers could be peeled away to reveal something worthwhile.

I thought that I would try a number of jobs once I got out of college. And I did - I tried out marketing and advertising. I tried out retail. I tried out banking. I worked at a Renaissance fair over the summer selling swords and axes and pretending I understood Shakespeare. I even decided to busk for cash, playing an old guitar of my father's with two missing strings. Somehow, I still landed two hundred bucks one night.