Sunday, December 20, 2009

First Snow

Well I finally got a new computer, after having my faulty door locks replaced.
I've been tuning it into my personal settings but there's still quite a ways to go.

Other than that and the added violation of losing two new sweaters and a pair of gray tights out of the dryer I was using at the laundromat across the street, I am very happy here.

Now, les temps have granted me a 10 inch blanket over all the grime, and my window is frosted with clean white snow. Mahi Mahi and I were out on the town when it began to come down and had an all around great day around Madison Square Gardens.

I've really enjoyed work at the bookstore, and this season gets me pumped about the success we face as a business. It doesn't hurt that I'm on a full weekday schedule now, either, as the Mistress of Receiving. Since we only get deliveries on Monday through Friday, I have taken advantage of three whole weekends since coming back from Thanksgiving.

I know I need to write more, but until then, I'm signing off to watch the "7th Voyage of Sinbad."

"Hungry men don't ask, they take."

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Even MORE Writer's (Building) Blocks

Nu. The first and second loads in a bunch of blogging I have neglected are dripping and pinned to the line.

I've stopped taking the subway so much, and it seems to me that I feel better than 90% of the rest of New York right now, sans flu shot. Washing hands that I keep out of my eyes and other points of sinusoidal entry fairly frequently helps too.
In the meantime, I've fallen in love with the buses in Brooklyn. I now have a transfer free commute to work, and I can still walk a decent amount being no more than 10 blocks from work (though my stop runs close).

I've been doing fine getting to work on time, though I was chastised on Halloween for answering the phone while at the cash-wrap. 'Twas an accident, but a careless move, nonetheless. A mistake I shant repeat, since I was up off my swollen knee (which I had sprained the night before) and working on an Purchase Order. When the phone rang towards the end of my shift, I picked it up absentmindedly and was reprimanded rather quickly by my boss. Learning takes reinforcement.

The incident put a little pep in my step, and I've been blowing through receiving cartons and greeting cards. Ah, retail.

MB, or Mahi Mahi, as she'll henceforth be known, and I held a HouseWarmingPotluck this past Sunday, which was well attended by our friends. There were plenty of great dishes, and now our "Bushwhack" fridge is packed with leftovers.

Today was a day off, and I spent it with the family of friends.

One of the best parts of New York City, is that it's fun to do the tourist thing once in a while, and walk from the High Line in Chelsea to Times Square, eat some Halal food, stroll to Grand Central Station, marvel at the structure and big-fuckoff-ness of the new Bank Of America building (a bank holding about 25% of the country's deposits), go up to the Observatory on the Empire State building and still make it back to Brooklyn before rush-hour.

Until next time.

More (Building) Blocks

Hello family, friends and friendlies, the noon hour is approaching!

So, in an effort to respect attention spans, I have broken this long overdue update into building blocks. The FIRST of which can be read here.

I had taken a Wednesday off from
Greenlight to chaperon a field day in Prospect Park, then do some Laundry, Reading and Scribbling on Thursday.

Friday, it was back to work, which meant putting books on the FINALLY FINISHED (and finely finished) shelves! I also got to take a stroll around Fort Greene and Clinton Hill to put up fliers announcing the launch party for the store.
It took about two and a half hours to go up Dekalb and down Myrtle, jaunt down Flatbush and then back to Fulton, putting up the hand-printed posters.
When my coworker and I returned, we witnessed the very first sale! A local businessman came in to buy a book about brewing beer right out of the box!

The very next morning, I was trained on the cash register and Greenlight was go.
We had a whole week of a soft-open where we were cash-only and still made plenty of sales. By the time Saturday's launch took place, it felt natural to be open in Fort Greene, and the whole community had welcomed us with a very nice big hug. We've been officially open about a month now, and it's been very positive.

We have a lot of local authors coming in and telling us about their books, lots of community members stepping in to share their praise and thanks.
If the pictures of the crowd at our launch party are any indication, Greenlight has been very warmly received. I mean, it was buckets of cold rain were falling out of the sky, and we were having to turn people away at the door, because we were so packed. I was on sticky-finger patrol, but if anyone had wanted to rip us off, they would have had a hard time getting out the door.

I have been put in charge of receiving at the store, which means I check in all the shipments, count quantities, verify details and put the stock on-hand. It's a nice increase of responsibilities and it's something I like to do.

I'm still interested in other work.

Grad School, for instance. You may recall that I applied for Grad School
(I would link to that entry, but I don't know the HTML for directing a window to open at a specific place on the page, so the reader might be forced to actually read the entire entry on the screen before finding the exact reference.)

Anyways, I have only one out of the two letters of recommendation, the second of which is apparently hinges on a dialogue of one participant. I was short on time, in any case, and money as well. So I opted to pay rent and buy a new I-pod shuffle since the charger for my old one broke, in place of the application fee.
Currently, there is a change jar labeled "APPLICATION FEE", and the History Masters program at CUNY has rolling admission. So, a February deadline and a chance to be exceptional, I'm going to seek out scholarships now and get a competitive age for a bout with the admission process. Ditto FAFSA, which I can submit in January.

Also, there is a Marine-Theme Highschool on Governor's Island, which is basically MAST on the Hudson. They need a bilingual secretary, but Mom's right, I could easily learn Spanish. Time to purchase a Spanish-English dictionary. I can already comprende plenty. I think the easiest thing right now, is to volunteer, perhaps as a crew coach, and get to know the school that way.

Nu, it's time to move the first load down the line and find room for the second and start washing the third.

Writer's (Building) Blocks

Good morning family, friends and friendlies.

I'll admit, it's been way too long since I've offered an update. Blogs are a bit like laundry.
The longer you go without doing it, the more you're going to have to do when you finally decide to sort every dirty scrap and take it to be washed--probably requiring more than one trip to the machines--assuming you had enough clean underwear to get away with that sort of thing.

I'm wearing clean underwear, and doing laundry, so why don't I begin at the beginning and tell you what's happened since I last washed my unmentionables--er, updated this blog?

Load One:


I'll start with the field day my friend AJ--let's call her Miss Bones, planned back for October 14.

First of all, the honor for being the reason she was able to help organize such a great day for the freshman class at the school where she teaches goes to THE COLLEGE BOARD. The Oak-leafed Testing Bureaucracy had scheduled the Preliminary S.A.T./National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which most high-schools administer to the Sophomore and Junior Classes.

As a C.A.P. advisor last year, my 15 hours a week at MAST allowed me to plan an incredibly boring last minute college fair and financial aid lecture for the Senior class, while the rest of the school got familiar with the ol' College Board. A chilly morning in Prospect Park was way more exciting.

Miss Bones and her co-workers (mostly Humanities teachers at the Brooklyn School) organized a well-structured event, broken down into Alpha platoon and Bravo platoon. In each platoon about five rotating squads of soldiers, supervised at each activity station by at least one teacher and one other warm body.

I was assigned to work with Mr. Knife, the freshman History teacher (His name is from the French for blade, lame)
Our station was equipped with two big buckets of water, two liquid measuring cups that held 4 cups, two tablespoons and two teaspoons. Miss Bones had me carry some hula hoops to the park, for her station which involved the students holding hands and not being able to let go, while they maneuvered the hoop around each person in the chain.

Each squad that appeared at our station was divided into two fire teams whose objective it was to safely transport a tablespoon of water from the bucket to the liquid measuring cups. Whichever filled it first, WON!
It could have been really exciting for the first group except Mr. Knife has, like the most monotone voice EVER, and refused to get excited about a water game. He mumbled the directions and didn't think to explain the situation to the students, so natch, they got bored quickly and began to dissolve into chatty little pockets, talking big for the young teens they were.

When the second arrived, I stepped in to help whip some enthusiasm, and behavior reinforcement into the kids. For some reason, little kids impressed by shiny tend to pay attention to me, so it wasn't hard to keep the other groups motivated, despite Mr. Knife's incongruous position. Knife is a second year teacher, and if his classroom manner is anything like his presence on that bright, crisp morning in Prospect Park, I'm sad for the students who probably aren't learning much from a guy who doesn't seem to be able to shoot straight in the dark.

Needless to say, after a day like that, Miss Bones and I were exhausted, so I took a long nap instead of going to the premiere for "Where the Wild Things Are," which I've heard described as an hour and a half of Spike Jonze chasing some Hollywood Ganymede through the skeleton of a burnt forest while James Gandolfini muttered to a Karen O. soundtrack. "Lovely, yet devoid of content," were my friend's words.

With that, the first load is washed and hanging on the line.

On to the second.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Chapters

First of all, can I just say how excited I am that Kandinsky is at the Gug through January and I don't have to buy a plane ticket to get there? I can just get on the train!

Oh the train! I hear it every six minutes or so whistling into the station, a faint little time keeper when I get ready in the mornings to go to work. It's also a nice place to read good books and write.

Lately, it doesn't take much to get ready for work. Does that sound awful?


The Greenlight Bookstore blog posts have been about as regular as my own, which goes to show how much work it takes to open a business. Jessica and Rebecca have inspiring stamina, and while the process can be painfully slow, it also feels amazing to know that everyone is working really hard to get the job done right. Since there is still sawdust and wood stain and wood sealant all over the place (and maybe some oil-based primer for kicks), I have been wearing my grubbies to work.
That is, the same pair of jeans and a variation of band t-shirts for the last month. In that time, Hugo's Crew (the Chinese dudes) have finished painting the ceiling, installing the lights and building the bookshelf unit around the airshaft. (Click zee link, Brownstoner is a cool website for residents on the *other side* of the East River, but there are more than real estate postings for under a mil., too.)

Yesterday Hugo's Crew pulled up 75% of the cardboard around the store, revealing a bright and shiny new dance floor! No, it's just a slick wood floor that is a prime dancing surface, but also useful for traversing in the instance that one might be browsing for a particular codex.

Meanwhile, with local sculptor/carpenter Iris cutting wood, constructing the basic frame for shelves as well as a beautiful cash-wrap up front, his colleague Orien has been building the front window benches, and Greenlight's team has been sanding, staining, buffing, cleaning, sealing, buffing, cleaning, sealing again and buffing once more EVERY surface not covered by white paint, cardboard or tarp (the books are stored safely under the last two). The process is easy with shelves. The shelves are flat and easy to maneuver, don't take much time. The bookcases are a different story, so Jessica and Rebecca invited community members to come by and help out.

It was a twenty-first century barn-raising, I'll tell you what. And after copious touch-ups, the store looks amazing for a volunteer/amateur effort. We would probably be months behind schedule if it weren't for all the volunteers! It's good to see that even in New York, people aren't too busy to get a little dirty for the benefit of their community. I even met one volunteer from South Carolina, visiting friends in Brooklyn. She just heard about it and decided to come by while she waited for her friend to get off work.


(Speaking of helping out the community, UM Alumni, your alma mater's radio station needs you:

http://wvum.org/radiothon.php


THINK INDIE!)



I never thought I'd be able to add this kind of work to my resume, but the Team is lucky enough to have an incredible Project Manager behind us. She does an amazing job of assessing the daily situation, outlining tasks and delegating responsibility. No wonder, Tianna spent the summer as the Project Manager for the Swimming Cities of Serenissima.

Most of the details are taken care of, the bookcases are all stained and sealed, all the shelves are ready to be put in place, all the pilaster strips have been measured out (wouldn't want crooked shelves, now) and nailed into place. We spent yesterday finishing the stain process for the front bench pieces and all that's really left to do is finish the cash wrap, put the books on the shelves and open our doors to the public.
Thankfully, that will mean I can play around with my full-time hours a bit more, and may be able to start making services at Romemu on a regular basis. When Uncle James was up here the Shabbos before Yom Kippur, I met him on the UWS for shul. Honestly, it felt like putting on a sweatshirt, which I guess is an odd metaphor for Judaism. In any case, I was able to go to Yom Kippur services on Monday and it's the first time I've spent five straight hours in Temple and felt completely engaged the entire time. The Reb shared the traditional parsha (Aaron performing the rites of Yom Kippur, Lev. 16:1, in Hebrew folks), and invited the congregation up for whichever aliyah they felt applied to them. (So nice to know that I matter to the community, whether or not I write a big fat check). I'm still at odds with faith, but I like the tradition of Shabbat services. The Jewish Renewal aspect is intriguing, but I would like to shop around some closer congregations, too.

Speaking of shopping around, I applied to CUNY Brooklyn on Monday. I've asked some people at MAST for letters of recommendation, but the application wasn't daunting at all. I've applied for a M.A. in History, but I'd like to focus on scientific history. Father's daughter, something like that. I'm thinking student loan rates aren't too bad in this money season, and of course scholarships are available as well.

Well mischpachah, it is my day off and time for me to play samurai laundromat. Maya also bought a window garden box, so I'm going to poke around some neighborhood hardware stores and see if I can't find some pots in which we will plant an herb garden. Living with her has been awesome, she brings me all sort of delicious dishes from work (the company serves employees lunch every day, trying out different recipes for the restaurant in the East Village.) I just finished a nice gnocchi (which I heat up the oven that runs on the gas I pay for).

Coming Attractions: Next Wednesday, I'm helping out my teacher friends while they have their highschool's freshmen have a field day of sorts while the sophomores and juniors take the PSAT. Later in the evening, I'm going to a screening for Where the Wild Things Are (bookselling has its perks, after all). I'll report back later.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Hammering away

It's my day off and I'm here in our apartment with the maintenance guy. He is here to fix the windows that don't have a track and hopefully, by the time he leaves, the windows will be able to stay up without MB and I having to wedge objects into place.

It's a grey, somewhat chilly day. The past few have been absolutely gorgeous, and I should know, I've been watching them go past the big windows at the Greenlight Bookstore.

I started work on Thursday morning and have pretty much been working non-stop until today. We've been slaving away with all sorts of things around the store. The floor is installed, but it's pretty much the only thing that is "complete."

So what have we been doing?

Well, for starters, we have a local artisan carpenter building bookcases. The employees (a.k.a. Team Awesome) have been staining and buffing the shelves that will fit into the cases. But also, we are working around a crew of Chinese construction workers, which made for an interesting disaster not long ago.
Day One we spent clearing out our backroom space and carrying in huge shipments of books from Ingram and Random House. I got to drive around Brooklyn with my bosses, picking up a really cool drafting table that serves as our temporary desk, and our computers which now sit upon the table. It was nice to get an idea for driving (and parking) in King's County.
Day Two we didn't have our inventory system set up yet so it was a "get dirty" day in the building's basement. Our staff got to work staining the 207 shelves that will be a part of the cases that the carpenters were installing upstairs. It's a beautiful "Golden Oak" water-based stain that will really bring out the pale wood of the floor. Also, the characteristics of each plank of wood really stand out. Hilarity ensued while three of us were downstairs staining and, even though the super had shut off the water so that the construction team could work on some pipes, all the water that had been sitting in the pipes came flooding out into the store. None of our books got wet (thank the sweet lord), but it was funny because we had no translator between ourselves and the Mandarin crew. It all got cleaned up, and in retrospect, it's better that those types of disasters occur BEFORE the store actually opens.
Meanwhile locals have been strolling past our big windows and poking their heads in. There is a huge amount of community interest, which is great.

Day Three we had the tutorial for our inventory system, Booklog. A lovely bookvendor from uptown taught us all about it. Her bookstore is called Archivia Books (and she mentioned being familiar with a certain Brookline Bookseller, who sells her some inventory).

If you've worked in an indie bookstore before, you're probably familiar with a DOS system, which can be straightforward in the sense that you have to type specific commands to achieve tasks, but also aggravating because sometimes careless managers might squirrel away important information in obscure caches.
Booklog is modern (and similar to the Follett system I worked with) and pretty easy to use, so it's been fun to play around with and interesting to screw up with. For instance, in Booklog, once a Purchase Order is finalized, you cannot change it, which is problematic because it's very easy to accidentally finalize a P.O. (I've done it twice already), of course, now I also know how to fix that problem.
Since Saturday (day three) my co-workers and I, as well as a team of incredible volunteers, have been slaving away at a shipment of 95 cartons from Ingram. We finally finished yesterday evening, having scanned every single book into a P.O. that we will receive once the workers are done with all the wiring and painting. I can't wait 'til I don't have to wear grubby clothes to work and I can get down to some good old fashioned book-selling. And maybe some new-fashioned bookselling, because in the modern world, my bosses have worked out a system where locals can order their books online (an independent amazon, if you will, supported by Ingram).

So now it is my day off and I am enjoying it, blogging for yall, and looking for more lucrative work online. I have a few galleys* that I'm reading, one by a local writer, Michael Greenberg. It's pretty good, and he will be one of our community lenders at the store, so I'm excited to be able to meet him at some point.

Tomorrow, I'll be waiting for a package from home with all my towels and curtains and winter clothes. If I miss the delivery man, I'll be miffed. I missed a package on Saturday, and even though I got to the P.O. 15 minutes early Monday morning, I still had to wait in line for an hour.
That got me thinking about the so-called "DMV" argument, as I realized I was going to be late for my job which does not offer me health care. If the government cannot afford to pay the salaries of enough Postal Workers to keep lines running smoothly and if the government cannot afford to pay the salaries of teachers who are actually enthusiastic about education, who is going to pay for the doctors that earn twice, three, four maybe five times as much as these lowly public servants?

I'm optimistic about change, but at the moment, I think the Greenlight Bookstore has a much better chance than the Health Care reform currently on the table. Meanwhile, I think I'm doing important work, whether or not I have insurance.


*(for those not in the know, galleys are uncorrected proofs that publishing houses throw into shipments to incite the book dealer to order/sell a title that is in line for publication. Who doesn't love advance copies of free books? I also have the new Nick Hornby, and the Brit actually scrawled his John Hancock on the front page!)

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Keep on keeping on

I went camping in the Catskills this weekend, a nice way to bring my first month in New York to a close.

I have at least one job now, and as soon as my shuffle finishes charging, I'll be on my way to pick up the keys to our apartment.


Last Wednesday, AJ and I went to BAM to see Cold Souls a brilliant new movie by Sophie Barthes. It stars Paul Giamatti in a Charlie Kaufmanesque role as Paul Giamatti, struggling with the gravity of his part in Chekov's Uncle Vanya. His soul is troubled, and then he hears about a new service where one can have his soul removed and stored, leaving just enough residue to give the body animation. It was very well written and the cinematography of Russia in the winter gives the film an opportunity for contemplation. On our way home, some of AJ's teacher buds invited her to go camping, and figured they could squeeze one more (yours truly).

It was steaming in New York, but also showing signs of rain. Thursday morning, AJ and I packed light, and I recalled my Girl Scouts motto so I also packed a can opener, plates, bowls, cups, silverware, cans of tuna and a can of black beans. I didn't want to bring too much, because the plan was that five of us would cram into a car with tents and sleeping bags and whatnot. Before we left the apartment I said, "I feel like I should bring jeans and a sweatshirt," but we really weren't sure where we were going, so I didn't. When the whole group met up around 2pm, it hadn't rained yet, but one of the gang looked at AJ and I like we were nuts. She told us to go home get blankets and jeans and sweatshirts, because we were going to the mountains.

We finally were able to leave NY by around 4, and pulled into our campsite about a 1/2 hour from a town called Livingston Manor off route 17 in the dusk. We set up our tents, and Amanda and I worked out sleeping on a single person air mattress, 2 pillows, 1 heavy quilt and 1 10 person tent. In the morning, it was fairly pleasant, but the sky promised rain, and did not intend to break that promise. Luckily, with the huge tent, we were able to have a nice night in the tent playing card games and telling stories around a citronella candle. Unfortunately, it also brought a lot of mud and water into our tent. I slept on a root and woke up when it finally got light. I went for a walk down a muddy foot trail, but it was right by the lake and breathtakingly beautiful.
Later, I went for a swim in the lake right in front of our campsite and felt warm all day, despite the chilly winds and cloud cover. We drove around the area, to different general stores to invest in tarps and rope to make a shelter so that we could have a fire that night.
One lady's general store was particularly fowl. She had chicken, geese, ducks, and roosters. She told us that the wood the supermarket sells in Livingston Manor is actually the worst because it holds so much water, so we bought a bunch of wood from her, and it was true, it was nice and dry and didn't spit sparks out at us.
While we set up the tarp, our Russian neighbors blared Russian techno from their car speakers, but I think it was just so that their young daughter could shake her sillies out. They seemed to be professional campers, they had a nice shelter and they moved in and out with great efficiency.

All in all, even though the weather was foul, everyone got along very well. We could tell our stories and also all sit around enjoying the quiet. I was able to work through a lot without stressing out. The last morning it was gorgeous and sunny, but it was time to face real life.

So, I've set up Gas and Electric in our new place, and MB is taking care of internet. I have to go out to Queens to get the key, but I'll stop by Target and Sleepy's on the way back here. Seeing as how I've just spent 4 nights in a tent with AJ, I'm ready to give her plenty of her own space back, but the apartment isn't quite ready for us to move in. Tomorrow, I'll clean from top to bottom, and hopefully, MB and I will have our beds delivered. I also have a staff meeting at the Greenlight Bookstore, but that should be pleasant and not take too long either.

Then, I'll rest easy.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

More players, more moves

It's been a busy couple of past days.

Last Friday, I went to see a show in Gowanus with a friend, RH, who had won free tickets through twitter. RH has a music blog and writes reviews for other websites, so it goes without saying that she answer a trivia question and win tickets to one of the best bands currently on the face of the planet.

Dungen is a Swedish group with incredibly skilled musicians. It's a psychedelic and yet completely serious Rock and Roll sound. They've got a great sense of harmonies and their overall musicality is quite fresh. I've been listening to them for some time now, ever since a friend recommended their latest album, 4. Check them out.

Saturday, I went to the MET (finally!) with my friend PC. We hit up the Egyptian wing, the sculpture garden and wandered a bit through European art. We looked at Michelangelo's first painting, The Torment of St. Anthony. It was small, but it was breathtaking.

I imagined finding a similar sketch on a some middle schooler's notebook. The painting is a copy of an earlier sketch, but there's definitely something magical in the paint.

PC and I also checked out the Asian art room, where these ancient avatars from Japan are on display. It was a guided tour of sorts, as PC pointed out the countless similarities between Hindu traditions and Japanese Buddhism. The mandalas on display were intricate avatars of leaders who were balanced in compassion and wisdom.

We didn't go to every floor, but we hit up the roof, and pretty much got to each wing on the 1st and 2nd floor before heading back downtown to Brooklyn. Our friends' band was playing a show in Williamsburg, so we had to make a loyal appearance.

Sunday, Summer Stage (an organization that puts on mostly free concerts, shows, etc. in Central Park) was having it's final show of the summer. I hopped on the 2 a few blocks away from here in Lefferts Gardens and rode it all the way up to the West Side. I got to the summer stage around 3:30, and listened to a few bands play before the headlining act, DINOSAUR JR. played.

I had to suffer through my second live performance with The Walkmen, which is not a band that I dislike. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have Walkmen songs in my iTunes library, but they pretty much blow at live performance. No stage presence + no understanding of their sound in a large venue= BORING.

Dinosaur Jr. finally went on at around 5 and played for about 2 hours. It was incredible. J Mascis, the lead guitarist, is an inspiration to anyone who has ever wanted to play air guitar. These musicians know how to rock out. And it was free! I had gone to the show by myself, since most of my other friends were lazy and full of lame excuses (e.g., "the sound will probably not be good." except you'd think that after 24 years of putting on shows in Central Park, someone would have figured out how to make it sound amazing--which it did.)

PC's coworker and former fellow NYU school mate, actually ended up going, so I hung out with some new friends for a bit. After the show, I hopped back on the 2 and took it to the L to go to a friend's rooftop BBQ in Williamsburg again. It was stunning, watching the sun go down behind the most famous skyline in the world.

I didn't stay out too late though, because Monday morning I had an interview at a new bookstore that will be opening up in Fort Greene (in Brooklyn). The Greenlight Bookstore looks like it's going to be a really cool local bookstore. There's apparently a bit of a Frenchie ex-pat community in Fort Greene, so the lovely lady who interviewed me was excited to learn I "habla francaise."

Bookstore wages are comparable to teaching wages, but it's a job to hold the water budget over while I find something more "career" oriented.
I have been working more and more on organizing my journaled thoughts and polishing verses of poetry, too.

Yesterday, I had no internet all afternoon, which was super frustrating, but it gave me a chance to think about more free stuff in Brooklyn that I won't be able to do when I'm working. Tuesdays, for example, are free at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Also, I'm planning a route to the Brooklyn Bridge, and maybe even a stroll around Coney Island, they might even be hiring carnies.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Players, the Moves.

Given some of the e-mails, I suppose I should take some time to introduce the main players here. MB is my awesome roommate. She's very saavy and very kind. Before we agreed to live together, we worked out a list of 100 or so qualities that we look for in a roommate.

Me: I love to vacuum and sweep.
MB: I hate to vacuum, but love to mop.

Me: I need a clean bathroom.
MB: Me too, every week.

We worked out dish washing, food in the fridge, expenses we want to pay for, etc.

I met MB through my friends, it's a rather sprawling network of close ties. We hit it off like old pals. MB majored in Art and is currently doing marketing for a wine company. She's staying with family in Long Island until my sublet is up (end of August.)

I'm currently in Lefferts Gardens, an appropriated name for a neighborhood around Flatbush in Brooklyn. Flatbush runs mostly North and South through Brooklyn, into Queens, parallel to Bedford Avenue for a ways, until Flatbush veers out towards Coney Island.

I'm about a 15 minute hike from the most "convenient" trains.
I have an arsenal of three or four transfer stops, and I'd say about four or five trains I use regularly.
The most common right now is the Q train. Unfortunately, the Q only runs every 15 minutes, so missing one train means one will most likely lose employment. It's about a 30 minute commute into Manhattan, accounting for stops along the way. One nice thing about the Q is it runs on the Manhattan bridge, so there's a good view of the city if you're not too wrapped up in a book or the opportunity to check your phone on the moving train.
I usually take the Q into Union Square, and hop on the L, which is a short track, it runs along 14th St until 8 ave (West of Broadway) and deep into North Brooklyn, a neighborhood called Bushwick that may as well be in Queens county. The nice thing about the L is it is very reliable, since it pretty much only takes Brooklynites into Manhattan and vice versa.
You can get on the L and ride it east out to Broadway junction and then get on the A to JFK. Or you can ride it west to Union Square, get on some yellow trains, or maybe take the 4,5, or 6 (green) up to the Met, in the Upper West side. If you wanted to go to the Upper East side, you could take the L all the way to 8th Ave and get on the A or the C (blue) and ride up to the Museum of Natural History, or even more north (Harlem, Washington Heights).

Another stop in my arsenal is West 4th, which is a train junction in the Village. If I get on the B at my stop here, it'll take me about 25 minutes to get to West 4th, where I can walk to a lot of trains, or transfer to a different line back into Brooklyn.

One of the annoying aspects of living off the Q, is that most transfers to different trains in Brooklyn are only available in Manhattan, so I have to figure at least two hours traveling time into any visit.

The L is much easier in this aspect, because you can ride the L to Lorimer and just get on the G (a lime green). The G never goes into Manhattan, but it runs like a curl into Brooklyn from Queens. The G is hardly reliable. Sometimes it's every 7 minutes, but I've waited almost 20 minutes for a G train. It's also a short train, meaning there aren't very many cars, so if you are relying on the G to get to work during rush-hour, you're in for an interesting commute.
The Q does not have any transfers to the G, but there is an option of taking the Q to Atlantic, another important junction, getting off the Subway and walking to the G stop at Fulton, a few blocks away. Of course, it's $2.25 to get down into the subway, so if you don't have an unlimited Metro Card, you've got to think about the expense.

I'm still jobless, but I sent one letter out today for a job. There was another opening at the Alliance Francaise, so maybe I have a second chance at that organization.

Now, while I have the chance to take the day for myself, I'm going to hop on the Q, ride it to Union, get on the 6 and go see this, and this, and most likely the Egyptian Wing.

Today is moody, looks like rain, which should inspire some prose through the glass windows. I've written a few pieces that feel substantial enough to polish further and send to some lit. mags.
That's all I have right now, or I'll only have a little under two hours to look at the art.


EDIT:: Scratch that. I'll go to the MET tomorrow, at an earlier time. The Paley Center for Media is open until 8, and I can just take the B up to Rockefeller. Sweet. I love New York.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Magic Hours, Migrant labor

A week in, and still unemployed but hopeful.
Since MB and I looked at and agreed upon apartments (read: not actual lease-signage, but looking at places together) this weekend, I can throw myself into Job Season, full force.
I submitted a number of resumes and cover letters last week. Vigilantly checking my inbox for replies seems to be keeping that lucky e-mail away, so in the meantime I'm focusing on looking at more and more job listings.

Craigslist, mediabistro, a few staffing sites couldn't hurt and Time-Warner all offer postings.

Today's plans include more of the same: scouring listings and polishing cover letters. I'll post something selling my services in dog-walking, which, before you misunderstand and flip out, is not the ideal zenith of my career. I like walking dogs, I do it well, and I can make good money as I look for something more substantial, shall we say. Ditto retail clerking. But if there's one gem of savage wisdom we can take from John Smith, "He who works not, eats not." The gold ain't gonna show up on my stoop.

The apartment we found is super cute, super cheap and super safe. MB and I spoke with a girl living upstairs and she was looking to stay. Regardless, I'm already familiar with the neighborhood, since it's where I've always (98% of the time) stayed on trips to Manhattan/King's County.
The landlord has dropped the rent (well within a budget) and is currently renovating, so our wood floors will be shiny and finished, our gas will be coming through new pipes, and out walls will have a fresh coat of paint. There's lots of windows, it's not very wide but it's long, not quite railroad style. Laundry and Groceries across the street, extremely close to the subway. We filled out an application so hopefully it shall be ours.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Call me...Ishmael?

Well, 12 hours in the airport contributed to a very long day, but it wasn't my worst airport/airline experience ever. I once ran around the three terminals at Newark because the airline kept changing the gate, that was pretty harrowing, and that was only in the span of a few hours.

I decided instead to look at it as just another one of the many challenges that make up our lives, and instead of holding in frustration, used the time to scour the job postings on idealist (didn't see anything quite right on Saturday, but it's Monday today!)

The weather here in King's County is peculiar, if you go off the almanacs. It rained most of yesterday, and it's overcast today, but it's not exactly sweltering. (Is climate change the culprit?) The temperature should make today's job-hunting expedition all the more pleasant.
I plan on stopping by a cute little vintage shop I've been to once or twice, see if they are hiring. I don't want to be in retail for much longer, but I can do it, and it would be a good platform.

I've put an APB out among my friends and friend's friends, and continue to pore over the postings on Idealist.org and craigslist. It's exciting to start completely fresh, I know I'm young, but I feel even younger, only with much more experience.

Thanks for all your comments and e-mails, keep 'em coming. They don't fall on deaf ears, or blind eyes.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

a sign or a free mojito

Perhaps it was divine intervention, perhaps it was a test in determination.

At 5:30 this morninga sideways turd "breached security" at La Guardia Airport.  The airport reacted the way they are supposed to in this day and age and shut down my airline's terminal. But of course, it took until the whole flight had boarded and buckled up for the news to reach the pilot at 7:50 or so, when he got on the intercom and informed us that the flight was cancelled. Get off the plane. That's it.

I sat in my seat thinking, "does this mean I should have taken the job at MAST?" 

The airline reps ushered a bunch of frustrated passengers (many of whom had overseas or cruise connections in New York) to the service desk (conveniently located next to the bar).

I struck up a conversation with a nice couple in line behind me. The gentlemen hypothesized that it was actually his own karma which had cancelled our flight--apparently he has the worst luck flying, last week his flight was delayed three hours. We shared a few chuckles and thought of different ways our airline could make up for the inconvenience. I said, at least a free drink in the Admiral's Lounge. He thought perhaps since there were only two agents behind the service desk, the airline could spare another agent to pass a tray of complimentary Mojitos through the long line. Either way, plying customers with a refreshing beverage would certainly make for a pleasant consumer experience. Take note, Apple.

La Guardia reopened the terminal not too long ago, and with that news, the airline managed to throw together a later flight. So I will be able to fly into New York (several hours later than I planned, but none the worse for wear), and I guess the terrorists have not won after all.



In the mean time, Miami International has been lobbying for the installation of slot machines to raise county(or is it city?) revenue. Local law prohibits slot machines unless they are located at a horse or dog track. Dave Barry has his own opinion on that. 

I'm still wondering if it was a sign from God, but for now I'll take the event as pure coincidence, or at least the nice gentleman's terrible record in commercial flight. That's enough of a gamble for me.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Sinking in, swimming out

Here, I will invoke the powers that will guide, disrupt, challenge and inspire me as I hack it out beyond my comfort zone.

MAST called to say there was probably going to be an opening in the haunted position of Activities Director this coming school year. Another hat that I could easily wear, assuming MDCPS-S--having banned any sort of certainty for me--would allow my Alma Mater to actually hire me.
I politely declined, reasoning that 1-it's not a certain offer and 2-it's not exactly a subject I could "teach."

I believe in patience, sure, and I suppose I could handle the responsibilities that come with running every single school function for a year while the school board gets its act together.
Unfortunately, most faculty vacancies are being filled with surplussed administrators, and I don't feel like putting off my wild, irrational dreams while waiting for the chance to work a "dream job."

So Saturday morning, I'll leave with two suitcases, a strict budget and a stomach twisted with nerves. A cozy sublet awaits.