summer in the city

I've recently discovered that summer in this city is boring as hell. Everyone keeps leaving town which leaves me with nothing to do. I don't know where they keep going. It's not like anyone I know has a summer home in the Hamptons. All I know is that this past weekend for the second time, I was without anyone to go out with me.
Of course, I didn't let that stop me. After calling everyone I know in the City, I decided to go out by myself. After all, I have my usual happy hour place. It's my very own Cheers. So I went to the place where they know my name, and I know theirs. My plan was to have just two drinks, then head home to watch a movie. I ended up staying their late as I talked with old friends and made new ones.
The next day I invited one of my new friends to join me in Central Park to lay out. It was fun. He kept me company while I worked on my tan. Later that evening I headed back to my usual happy hour place again. Where I met more new friends. This time I did only have two drinks. And I did go home to watch my movie.
The next morning I woke up feeling stressed and depressed. The realization and fear of having no job and no place to live was overwhelming. I just stayed in my bed thinking of a happy place. It just happened to be a beach. And while I was in bed thinking of my happy place, a friend called. He invited me to join him and some friends at the beach. I quickly changed into my cutest bikini and headed to Penn Station where I got the Long Island Railroad to Long Beach.
It wasn't the prettiest beach, and the water was cold. But it was exactly where I needed to be. It was yet another mini-vacation in a summer void of all the trips of the previous summer. I got to work on my tan, meet even more new people, and just enjoy being out of the City. After all, the rest of my friends were out of the City.

wet, stressed, and possibly homeless

This morning I woke up after a night filled with anxiety dreams feeling not very rested at all. Why am I anxious? I didn't get the apartment I wanted which means I still have to find one. If I don't find one by August 17th I will be homeless. I also need a job. One of the main reasons I can't get an apartment is because I don't have a job. The cycle just continues. As does my search.
This morning I went to the earliest open house EVER. It started at 7am. I got there around 8:40. The apartment is in a GREAT location. It was only slightly bigger than the previous apartment. Still two bedrooms, but only one closet. It was more expensive than the other one I wanted, but the location is also better. I put in an application. Of course so did at least 7 other people. I'm pretty sure most if not all of them have jobs. Which means I might still be homeless. I'm very stressed.
This afternoon I made plans to leave work early so I could go to yet another open house. I walked there in the heat only to find out no one was around to let me in. When I finally got a hold of the guy, he told me he had to reschedule. I let him know that I had taken time off of work just for this open house. He promised to show me the place in the morning. It is the sketchy characters like this that you find on Craigslist. I was considering returning in the morning to view the apartment when I became very aware of the neighbors I would have. Across the street, before I had time to react, several kids aimed the fire hydrant water they were playing in directly at me. I chose not to yell out all the inappropriate words going through my mind. Instead, I kept walking. Several of the adults hanging out on their stoop at 3:45 on a Monday afternoon asked me if I was okay. I said, "Fine. Just wet."
I walked back home wet and pissed. And still without a place to live.

3 and counting

So far I've submitted cover letters and resumes to 3 companies. I'm afraid I'll be submitting a lot more before I'm hired. The apartment hunt continues as well.
I'm really hoping I don't end up jobless and homeless.

when nothing is better than something

It was nearly 100 degrees in New York City today. Trust me, it's hot... especially when you live in a place where most buildings don't have central air conditioning. As I was getting ready for work, the thought of putting on clothes just made me hotter. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure it is against the dress-code policy to go to work naked.
I'm already looking forward to going north to Syracuse this weekend. It is supposed to be cooler there. You know you are hot when you think 80 degrees sounds cool.

like a daily fortune cookie

Each day, Yahoo! Alerts sends me my horoscope for the day. Sometimes the proverbial truths of the email are right on. Here's the one I got this morning:
Aren't you tired of the same old social lies? Just what are you gaining by going along with this program, hmmm? You deserve so much better, so go out and get it. Speak up and refuse to pipe down.

just like the movies

There are plenty of movies with an idealistic girl who moves to New York City with plans to find a fabulous job and an equally fabulous apartment. Of course, in the movies that girl usually has to suffer with a job and apartment from hell before any of the fabulousness begins...
I vowed that I would start looking for an apartment and a job in the City after I returned from my vacation. So that's what I did on Monday when I wasn't at work. I began my searching for two of the most difficult things to find in New York City. First I started looking for an apartment. Seems I'm more worried about where I'm going to live after August 17 than how I'm going to pay the rent. I planned to limit my search to the no-broker fee apartments listed on Craigslist. I found two within my price range and in my neighborhood of choice. Even better, there was an open house that day! So I left work slightly earlier than I was supposed to leave and walked the 20 blocks over to see a 3 bedroom apartment.
There really was no need to hurry over there. When I arrived there was no one around to show the apartment. Soon a group of 10 was congregated in a very tiny corridor waiting to see the apartment. Finally, a somewhat sketchy man arrived and told us go up to 4E. Um, why couldn't he just tell one of us that over the phone each time we called asking where he was? The minute I walked in I wanted to turn around and walk out. The kitchen looked like it should be declared a hazardous area. I didn't even dare to venture into a very disgusting-looking bathroom. As I made my way through 3 openings considered the "3 bedrooms" I wondered if this is the torture of apartment searching I should anticipate. By the time I reached the 3rd bedroom, I was warned not to go in it. Apparently a very unlucky mouse did not want to live in that apartment either. Perhaps the ugliness of the place was the cause of death. For some reason, I agree to let this very weird man show me three other apartments. I can say the others weren't nearly as bad. They were all renovated with new appliances, plumbing and whatnot. But I just couldn't get past the fact that there weren't really 2 or 3 bedrooms. Simply areas with a wall. And only 1 closet. I don't think so...
The job search began today. It's all really very overwhelming. I'm hoping things will sort of just "fall into place." But I doubt it. In the meantime, I think I will need to devote a little time each day to searching as well as writing cover letters and sending resumes. I've actually been offered a job in the office where I am now. It is so tempting to take it. After all, a job means money. But I feel like I've finally figured out my career goals and so I feel I should do something on that track. Maybe life was easier when I didn't have any clue what I wanted to do.

my summer vacation

Two years ago I went to Europe. Last year it was S.E. Asia and two Caribbean cruises. This year my big vacation was to... Texas. That's right. This world-traveler went to her favorite place in the world- the family lakehouse on Lake LBJ. As much as I loved seeing Westminster Abbey in London, the Acropolis in Greece, the Parthenon in Rome or Angkor Wat in Cambodia, none of these places can match my favorite place. I've been going to this particular Texas lake since before I was born. At 6 months of age, my too-young and not-so-wise parents had me strapped in a car seat in a boat. When I was 6 years old, I learned to water-ski on this lake. I've fished, sailed, and canoed at this lake. I've watched it change over the years due to nature's many storms and flooding as well as the construction of some of the biggest mansions I've seen.
So this year, faced with the fact that I'm a poor student I decided to head back to Texas for my summer vacation. For a week, I did nothing except read fluffy, no-thinking novels, work on my tan, enjoy boating around my favorite lake, riding the wave-runner looking for hot, single guys (only to realize that I'm too old to be looking for hot, single guys), drinking beer on the boat, margaritas for happy hour, and wine with dinner, eating lots of Texas BBQ, and hanging out with my family.
Now I love spending time with my friends. It's usually the first thing I do when I get back from New York. But more often than not, I end up giving my family just a fraction of my time. And that's really not fair. After all, they've had to put up with me for 27 years. So I flew to the lake, merely stopping in my hometown for a 1 hour layover. While I didn't get to go anywhere exotic and I didn't see my friends, it was still a great vacation. I was at my favorite place in the world. I got to spend the week with my family. And that is always a good thing.