Normally I don't like to post on consecutive days... But I'm pretty impressed with myself today.
Today I...
...decided once and for all on a studio apartment after learning that a one-bedroom is out of my price range because the pay works differently than I had though at this job of mine.
...caught 7 out of 8 subway trains exactly as they arrived at the station--that hardly ever happens once in a day!
...interviewed for another part-time job to fill my work week and learned I'm pretty used to interviewing now. No big thing. Except the school is on the fifth floor of another school... that'll be quite the hike if I land the job...
...ate no meat. Mostly because I'm low on it. Not really that big of a deal but I couldn't tell you a day in the last several months that I went without meat, even in Tanzania. So now I know I can!
...pondered finishing my collage. The night is still young...
=) KP
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Oh wait...
Beautiful run this morning, meeting with my prospective landlord (one or two days away from signing a lease!!), got some errands done... And then I return home and collect my mail that includes a big packet of info from my job. Yay--details!
Then the minor freakout.
[My internal monologue will appear in brackets]
2 days of 4th/5th general music on the Upper West Side.
[Way cool! Short commute, standard music teaching, ease breeze].
I read on: 3 days in the Bronx
[Mm ok not what I was expecting but that's cool]
I look up the commute
[1 hr 15 min... which means I have to allow 1 1/2 hours... Ugh ok...]
And then... Bronx assignment: 1 day general music, 2 days beginning band
[I did not sign up for this. I've never been in a band. I almost passed out playing the flute. 6 hours of commuting for band? Is this what a panic attack feels like??...]
A polite call to the employer later ("I have an interview for a one-day-a-week job tomorrow... Should I cancel this or would you still like to fill a 4-day position?") reveals that they had copied/pasted erroneous information into my letter. My placements aren't done yet and will likely be 4 days a week at one school, all general music.
[Ooook. We're calming down, let's eat some lunch]
=)
K
Then the minor freakout.
[My internal monologue will appear in brackets]
2 days of 4th/5th general music on the Upper West Side.
[Way cool! Short commute, standard music teaching, ease breeze].
I read on: 3 days in the Bronx
[Mm ok not what I was expecting but that's cool]
I look up the commute
[1 hr 15 min... which means I have to allow 1 1/2 hours... Ugh ok...]
And then... Bronx assignment: 1 day general music, 2 days beginning band
[I did not sign up for this. I've never been in a band. I almost passed out playing the flute. 6 hours of commuting for band? Is this what a panic attack feels like??...]
A polite call to the employer later ("I have an interview for a one-day-a-week job tomorrow... Should I cancel this or would you still like to fill a 4-day position?") reveals that they had copied/pasted erroneous information into my letter. My placements aren't done yet and will likely be 4 days a week at one school, all general music.
[Ooook. We're calming down, let's eat some lunch]
=)
K
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
I'm not homeless!!
If all goes through according to plan, I will have my very own living space as of August 1! It's in Inwood, the neighborhood of my current sublet and it has everything I'm looking for--close subway, grocery, laundry in building, and even a courtyard! To clarify, courtyard was not on my "must-have" list. But it's pretty sweet. Though I wouldn't have admitted it if I was still going for the West Harlem apartment I originally applied for, this one is in a much safer neighborhood, especially with regards to the nighttime crowd, so that's probs a good thing. =) I'll start giving out the address once it's *official* so I don't jinx anything... Nonetheless you will for sure have a place to stay when you visit beyond a cardboard box under a bridge. Great news bears.
August 1--and with it, the month of August--is this Saturday. That's nuts. I have to finish my collage, which at this point just involves glueing, but I feel it's going to take a while to get things "just so" with my decorative perfectionism... Perhaps having a deadline is a good thing with respect to creative neurosis.
Aaah AND all this moving business coming so soon means my family is here next week!! I'm so excited to show them the city and neighborhoods... and buy some sweet IKEA furnishings! =) Operation: Find Fun Stuff for the Family to Do is underway...
Love & Hugs & New Apartments!
KP =)
August 1--and with it, the month of August--is this Saturday. That's nuts. I have to finish my collage, which at this point just involves glueing, but I feel it's going to take a while to get things "just so" with my decorative perfectionism... Perhaps having a deadline is a good thing with respect to creative neurosis.
Aaah AND all this moving business coming so soon means my family is here next week!! I'm so excited to show them the city and neighborhoods... and buy some sweet IKEA furnishings! =) Operation: Find Fun Stuff for the Family to Do is underway...
Love & Hugs & New Apartments!
KP =)
Friday, July 24, 2009
Big kid stuff
Just filled out an application for an apartment in West Harlem... that's still being renovated... fingers crossed that it'll be done in time for the fam to move my stuff in! Otherwise it's back to square one...
It seems like busy things happen in clumps out here... like apartment hunting yesterday and today, dinner/show tonight, volunteer project tomorrow... and then nothing scheduled until Thursday. I suppose that gives me some time to work hardcore on the collage I've been planning for months now! I'll have pics of the ongoing process on Facebook soon (as well as some of the epic weekend party night), but I'm way excited for the finished product!!
In less than a month I'll be moved and working and a real deal adult. Which will be awesome once it's a month from now but remains ominously surreal (surreally ominous?) for the moment.
In other news, I like cooking. I've decided that purchasing the necessary items for high-quality meals is going to be my one and only splurge category here. I may forgo owning a TV, and I may never attend cultural events with a price tag, but I will eat pesto chicken and fried plantain chips and cous cous and whole wheat rigatoni carbonara and fresh fruit and soy milk. All together. All the time.
=)
K
It seems like busy things happen in clumps out here... like apartment hunting yesterday and today, dinner/show tonight, volunteer project tomorrow... and then nothing scheduled until Thursday. I suppose that gives me some time to work hardcore on the collage I've been planning for months now! I'll have pics of the ongoing process on Facebook soon (as well as some of the epic weekend party night), but I'm way excited for the finished product!!
In less than a month I'll be moved and working and a real deal adult. Which will be awesome once it's a month from now but remains ominously surreal (surreally ominous?) for the moment.
In other news, I like cooking. I've decided that purchasing the necessary items for high-quality meals is going to be my one and only splurge category here. I may forgo owning a TV, and I may never attend cultural events with a price tag, but I will eat pesto chicken and fried plantain chips and cous cous and whole wheat rigatoni carbonara and fresh fruit and soy milk. All together. All the time.
=)
K
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Here we go again...
I've decided to reboot the whole blogging thing in an effort to stay better connected... and saner myself... amidst the hustle and bustle of this new and permanent New York City life of mine. In other words, I keep thinking of good things to say that would look awkward in a Facebook status update.
A month plus into "real life" here and I have about half my life put together. Which I suppose is decent considering I have roughly half a summer left. Job--check. I'm working at least 4 days a week (fingers crossed for 5...) teaching music in one or more public schools around East Harlem through an independent organization called Education Through Music. Basically, I'm a public school teacher receiving my pay not through the Department of Education but through ETM. But the chances of getting hired by the school system within the first 2 years is very high, which is excellent news for my prospective salary and health benefits, both of which I will have with this job but would be improved once hired by the DOE...
So that's more or less taken care of. Housing not so much... Seen a few decent places but currently no one's returning my calls... If I were a broker I imagine I would want to, you know, stay in contact with clients who seem eager to pay me for my services, but maybe things work differently out here. Here's hoping that I won't have to venture into the sleazy world of craigslist...
Please please please keep me nice and updated with all your lives and I want each and every one of you to visit!!! ...Once I have an apartment. And please don't all come at the same time.
Love & Hugs,
Kate or Katie or KP or basically whatever you want to call me (within reason)
=)
A month plus into "real life" here and I have about half my life put together. Which I suppose is decent considering I have roughly half a summer left. Job--check. I'm working at least 4 days a week (fingers crossed for 5...) teaching music in one or more public schools around East Harlem through an independent organization called Education Through Music. Basically, I'm a public school teacher receiving my pay not through the Department of Education but through ETM. But the chances of getting hired by the school system within the first 2 years is very high, which is excellent news for my prospective salary and health benefits, both of which I will have with this job but would be improved once hired by the DOE...
So that's more or less taken care of. Housing not so much... Seen a few decent places but currently no one's returning my calls... If I were a broker I imagine I would want to, you know, stay in contact with clients who seem eager to pay me for my services, but maybe things work differently out here. Here's hoping that I won't have to venture into the sleazy world of craigslist...
Please please please keep me nice and updated with all your lives and I want each and every one of you to visit!!! ...Once I have an apartment. And please don't all come at the same time.
Love & Hugs,
Kate or Katie or KP or basically whatever you want to call me (within reason)
=)
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