I have a new piece up on The Smart Set! This one is about seeing Gallagher and trying to figure out why he's popular. Check it out.

And as a bonus, here's the giant couch video I reference in the article:

Last week The Smart Set published my newest feature, "Small Town Cinderella." It's about my hot-and-sweaty, ballgown-wearing summers as an amusement-park employee in northern New Hampshire. Working at an amusement park in high school was awesome. Working as Cinderella sucked.

The top story on Reddit this morning, meanwhile, was the somewhat-similar "Pirate's Booty," a tale about a guy who played Jack Sparrow at one of the Disney parks. I've heard a lot of horror stories about working at Disney, and the article does a nice job at highlighting some of the ridiculous goings-on. Even though the park I worked at was tiny, it's interesting to see the parallels. Like annual/season pass holders—those people are terrifying. I mean, amusement park characters are built around the idea that guests see them once a year. But when guests keep coming back, they expect to see something new from the characters, and there's only so much a character can keep in her bag of tricks.

Anyway, watch out for more former-amusement-park-employee articles soon. I think if it reaches three, it's officially a trend.

Writing about work on the internet is a bad idea. But writing about work on the internet is what allowed me to quit my job (voluntarily!), so let me tell you about it:

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article for The Smart Set about my time working at QVC. I was rather nervous. Even though I consider the article to be balanced and even complimentary to QVC, I was still terrified that I was going to get hunted down by a pack of lawyers. Corporations are so protective of their identities that I wasn't sure whether something I said might be taken the wrong way. I had visions of waking up in the middle of the night to find that the adult version of the tooth fairy had slipped a cease-and-desist order under my pillow.

Thankfully, that hasn't happened. What has happened is that The Smart Set asked me to write for them every month. And so I gave notice at work today, and when my two weeks are up, I will be striking out in the world as a full-time freelance writer. It's not a new story; lots of people have done the same thing before. But I'm absolutely thrilled.

This is where I give the obligatory mention: if you or anyone you know needs a writer, consider dropping my name. Articles, help at work, whatever. I also have totally sweet marketing experience. You can email me at meg.favreau@gmail.com.

So, yeah. Life's a pretty sweet fruit.