Well, I think we can safely say that it has been entirely too long since I’ve written in this blog, and it isn’t because nothing exciting has happened! Quick recap:
On my New Year’s resolutions for 2011 (I am fully aware of the fact that we are 3 months into 2012)
1. No traffic violations: Great success! I was marginally afraid when I visited some friends around Christmas out in Beaverton, where they have photo-taking cameras on the signals and it went off as I was running a yellow, but so far no violations have been sent by mail.
2. Get a new job: Great success! In fact I have two now, but more on that later. I was helped into getting a new job by relocating myself to New York City in August and therefore having to find work or die.
3. Work out- for real! This went about as well as it ever goes. I have a week of bursting energy, writing “You can do it!” on my bathroom mirror, shopping at Whole Foods, tracking goals, etc- then someone invites me out to pint night somewhere and I drink too many beers and sleep in and later realize I have eaten an entire pizza and left the box as evidence for myself to find the next day. Currently I am taking a kettlebell kickboxing class once a week (that is ENTIRELY too early, btw) and probably attending pint night the other 6 days a week.
4. New Car. This was compromised- my new car is the New York City Subway. It’s much cheaper than driving, has assisted me in goal number 1 (can’t get tickets if you aren’t behind the wheel!) and probably lowered my blood pressure significantly since I’m avoiding traffic. I am, however, missing personal space, cupholders, and getting to sing audibly to Britney Spears on my way to work. You just can’t have it all.
5. Learn to cook… no progress to report. Since moving to NYC, my refrigerator has been out at least twice (for multiple weeks at a time) , frequently spoiling my groceries and seriously not motivating me to make anything that may lead to my ingesting bacteria and having horrible diarrhea all day. I eat out a lot. Tuna and hummus are almost the only things I keep at home. Fortunately, one of the two jobs I now have is in a restaurant, so I also eat there quite a bit.
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For Portlanders on a budget, try OMSI laser
light show on mushrooms for a similar effect | | |
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Now that the basics are wrapped up- some important information! I obviously moved to New York City- quite the difference from my native Portland. Since I’d visited twice before, it wasn’t as much of a culture shock as it could have been. There are still some very different things in the city though. People order seltzer and lime, for example. Gross. I’ve also found that I almost never get exact change for anything (if it’s $4.27 and you give them a five, you’ll probably get 3 quarters back. Close enough) Networking is also extremely effective, unlike all of the Young Professionals of Portland meetings that turn into a speed dating scenario. It is, in fact, how I got both of my jobs.
Job 1: Restaurant. This worked out pretty well. Before I moved to New York, I reached out to everyone I knew who knew anyone or had ever had any experience with the city. (If there’s one thing I hate, it’s failing. In fact, I hate failing so much that I won’t even try if there is a possibility. This is why it takes me so long to make decisions) Anyway, a guy I had worked with on an event marketing project in Portland was from New York originally- when I asked him about the city, he busted out a rolodex of people I needed to contact. Two such people were a woman who did PR in the jewelry business and her business partner. Their business had dissolved (on bad terms, no less) but they were both very connected in the marketing and PR arenas.
The first woman called me back right away. She was busy and didn’t have much time to talk, but she told me to come to her birthday party. That night. In the Meatpacking district. I had been in the city all of a week at that point and had nothing appropriate to wear, but decided to go anyway. (At least I was invited out!) At the party, the woman I was supposed to talk to got incredibly drunk and I didn’t have a chance to talk to her much, but I did talk to her brother who told me about a restaurant on the Upper West Side that he went to a lot that he thought I could get a serving job at. I don’t have any restaurant experience (and I’d heard that in Manhattan, you won’t even be considered if you don’t have NEW YORK experience) so I wasn’t feeling too optimistic, but I went to the interview anyway. Shockingly, even though I was honest that all of my customer service had been over the phone and mostly in dealing with helicopter-part shipping issues, they gave me the job and trained me. I love the people I work with and the regulars are worth writing a book about on their own.
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| This is where it gets NOT like my workplace. |
Job 2: The Diamond district. I actually owe this one to the same guy from Portland. The first woman invited me to that birthday party; her former business partner called me about a month after I’d left her a voicemail (I’d already written her off at that point) and she told me her husband was actually looking to hire someone part time to do office assistant types of things and marketing once he had some bigger projects. So now I work for him! I have to say, I see some of the craziest things I’ve ever seen in my life working here- the District is literally just one block in midtown Manhattan, largely inhabited by Hasidic Jews, and requires that I show ID, take a picture, and give a fingerprint every morning to enter the building I work in. Then I go upstairs, use my key to buzz me through one set of bulletproof doors, disarm the alarm, and buzz myself through the second bulletproof door to get into the office. It’s very much like the introduction to the movie Snatch, just before the gypsies rip their fake beards off and start shooting everyone in sight.
Since I live in Manhattan, (Upper West Side! Only 3 blocks from the restaurant!) I work practically all the time. Usually 6 days a week, sometimes only one job, sometimes both. The 7th day is usually reserved for laundry, a bank run, and a trip to the library. I try to entertain myself for free a lot. It also involves a fair amount of just walking around the city looking at things.
I live in an apartment that is about 500 square feet and have two roommates. The roommates are 2 guys I met on Craigslist- one who has been in this apartment for 6 years and is subletting the other two rooms to me and the other guy. My rent is very reasonable for the area, but I get what I pay for: a 6ft X 7ft room with a lofted bed above a desk, a window, and no closet (although I built myself a shelf with a bar.) The apartment has no closets and no living room. Just three bedrooms awkwardly positioned around a tiny kitchen with miniature appliances that occasionally work and a bathroom that perpetually smells of weed (due to one of my roommates) that has a scalding hot pipe running up the wall next to the shower. The best way, I have found, to determine if you will have hot water for your shower is to hold your hand next to Hot Pipe and see if you can feel the heat radiating off of it. If you are in danger of being burned, this is a good sign. You may have hot water for up to 5 minutes!
Ultimately, I am glad I moved here since I had been wanting to for so long, but, ultimately, this is not the place for me either. I’ve been here for just over 7 months now and I’ve got 3 weeks left before I return to Portland. I definitely wish I had kept up with NYC stories as it was happening, but maybe that will be my 2012 resolution: be a better blogger!
I work in a diamond dealer’s office, which is probably one
of the sketchiest places a person can work. Apart from the constant keeping of
paperwork to prove that you are not a money laundering agency, there’s cameras
in every office, plenty of insurance fraud throughout the industry, and pretty
much every other dirty underhanded trick in the book. Most of the industry is
made up of religious Jewish people- many from Israel or Long Island. Almost
everyone is in the industry because they grew up in it and their family runs
the business. This only contributes to the sketchiness in most cases.
