NYC daily activities, summer '06
These days bring forth a pattern. It emerged a week after arriving here. Not sure if it is going to hold, I really hope it doesn't. But who am I to say? I feel like a visitor here most of the time, thinking that I will be back to familiar realms soon enough. But I know that won't happen, we've come too far now.
Progress is a such:
Awaken at 6 am to a searing sun barely hidden behind sheer curtains.
Feel the room boil and temperature rising upon first breath of new day.
Begin daily, never ending sweat.
Stumble out into kitchen area where it does not get any cooler.
Turn on room air conditioner and envision this as your little cell, a place you don't see yourself venturing beyond.
Turn on computer.
Check email with optimistic outlook. Outlook quickly turns bleak as soon as you've deleted all of your spam emails and assorted "bang women in your area!" type sexual solicitations.
Notice a few "real" emails from yet again more temporary/staffing agencies. Feel good for a moment, feel needed. Good feelings quickly fade once you realize that you've visited three of these places in one week and nobody has since called you for any type of work. Suddenly realize that this whole process is a BIG PILE OF BULLSHIT.
Eat cereal or other leftover food from the night before. Also, drink shitty Zabars brand acidic coffee. Mmmm, them intestines love it!
Continue to sweat profusely because you've left the realm of the air conditioner.
Think of new jobs to apply for, think of connections that you might have forgotten about, think of actual businesses that might hire you WITHOUT using the bureaucratic process of staffing agencies. Get frustrated.
Think of how you left a well paying job in a comfortable climate to live here. Wonder about this for several minutes. Finally snap out of it.
Listen to the fucking fat Greek landlords below with their television set blaring at 8:30 am. Curse them incessantly.
Plan something, anything, that will propel you through another day in the sweltering heat of the city.
Go into bathroom and look into the mirror. Realize that you are not getting any younger (see balding and gut rapidly growing), and you don't know how much more of this you can take. Remember the times in the past when you were looking for work and how much that really sucked and made you depressed.
Contemplate going out skateboarding for the day, but the weather is so horrible, and New York is not really a very skateboarding friendly city.
Wish you had your drums set up, or had a space to continue making your art. Get depressed 'cause you don't have any of that yet, and you don't know if you ever will again.
Finally, take a shower and get the fuck out of the apartment.
Take the subway into Manhattan. Emerge from the underground lost and disoriented. Get caught up in the sea of people. Feel very alone. Miss friends. Miss a steady job. Miss pleasant weather. Miss your old life.
After what seems an eternity, get lost finding your way back to the proper subway station.
Finally find the correct station after 30 minutes of taxing and unnecessary frustration.
Sit on the train exhausted (hopefully it has a/c) and notice all the people there with blank expressions on their faces.
Close eyes or read something (you brought a book, right?)
Get off the subway and walk into the impenetrable wall of heat that lingers on the platform.
Walk out fast and up while singing Ween's "Big fat fuck" just under your breath.
Exit the subway station and pass the steaming "Halal" meat carts, greasy Greeks, and fat, dopey teenagers with NY hats all flattened out on their rotund heads.
Smell weird hallway on the way up to the apartment. Reminds you of the used microwave you bought while in college.
Stop and listen to the the angry Greek landlords yelling at each other. Also, hear the mysterious bark of some huge, menacing dog that the landlords keep locked away all day in their apartment. Consider calling the SPCA and turn them in.
Turn on the a/c. Sit there. Maybe rest for a while. Curse current life. Figure out what to eat for dinner. Discuss life and woes with wife and roommates.
Sleep the sleep of the anxious, confused and sad.
Repeat from beginning.
Progress is a such:
Awaken at 6 am to a searing sun barely hidden behind sheer curtains.
Feel the room boil and temperature rising upon first breath of new day.
Begin daily, never ending sweat.
Stumble out into kitchen area where it does not get any cooler.
Turn on room air conditioner and envision this as your little cell, a place you don't see yourself venturing beyond.
Turn on computer.
Check email with optimistic outlook. Outlook quickly turns bleak as soon as you've deleted all of your spam emails and assorted "bang women in your area!" type sexual solicitations.
Notice a few "real" emails from yet again more temporary/staffing agencies. Feel good for a moment, feel needed. Good feelings quickly fade once you realize that you've visited three of these places in one week and nobody has since called you for any type of work. Suddenly realize that this whole process is a BIG PILE OF BULLSHIT.
Eat cereal or other leftover food from the night before. Also, drink shitty Zabars brand acidic coffee. Mmmm, them intestines love it!
Continue to sweat profusely because you've left the realm of the air conditioner.
Think of new jobs to apply for, think of connections that you might have forgotten about, think of actual businesses that might hire you WITHOUT using the bureaucratic process of staffing agencies. Get frustrated.
Think of how you left a well paying job in a comfortable climate to live here. Wonder about this for several minutes. Finally snap out of it.
Listen to the fucking fat Greek landlords below with their television set blaring at 8:30 am. Curse them incessantly.
Plan something, anything, that will propel you through another day in the sweltering heat of the city.
Go into bathroom and look into the mirror. Realize that you are not getting any younger (see balding and gut rapidly growing), and you don't know how much more of this you can take. Remember the times in the past when you were looking for work and how much that really sucked and made you depressed.
Contemplate going out skateboarding for the day, but the weather is so horrible, and New York is not really a very skateboarding friendly city.
Wish you had your drums set up, or had a space to continue making your art. Get depressed 'cause you don't have any of that yet, and you don't know if you ever will again.
Finally, take a shower and get the fuck out of the apartment.
Take the subway into Manhattan. Emerge from the underground lost and disoriented. Get caught up in the sea of people. Feel very alone. Miss friends. Miss a steady job. Miss pleasant weather. Miss your old life.
After what seems an eternity, get lost finding your way back to the proper subway station.
Finally find the correct station after 30 minutes of taxing and unnecessary frustration.
Sit on the train exhausted (hopefully it has a/c) and notice all the people there with blank expressions on their faces.
Close eyes or read something (you brought a book, right?)
Get off the subway and walk into the impenetrable wall of heat that lingers on the platform.
Walk out fast and up while singing Ween's "Big fat fuck" just under your breath.
Exit the subway station and pass the steaming "Halal" meat carts, greasy Greeks, and fat, dopey teenagers with NY hats all flattened out on their rotund heads.
Smell weird hallway on the way up to the apartment. Reminds you of the used microwave you bought while in college.
Stop and listen to the the angry Greek landlords yelling at each other. Also, hear the mysterious bark of some huge, menacing dog that the landlords keep locked away all day in their apartment. Consider calling the SPCA and turn them in.
Turn on the a/c. Sit there. Maybe rest for a while. Curse current life. Figure out what to eat for dinner. Discuss life and woes with wife and roommates.
Sleep the sleep of the anxious, confused and sad.
Repeat from beginning.
posted by Joe @ 12:54 PM
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