Narcissistic Personal Update, in Which Only Glancing Mentions to Recent Tragedies are Made
It’s been pouring rain in New York City. Marvelous to walk through to and from work while listening to Beck’s Mellow Gold. Fall is beautiful.
There were about three days of fall perfection in Manhattan recently. The sky was so pure it almost sent me into a fugue state. It was cool out, and incredibly sunny. Fall has a strange light to it, casting the buildings, the trees, everything in an antique gold. I think Jorie Graham wrote a poem about something like that. It was so gorgeous for those three days that after work I would wander the Village in a daze, walking down all these residential streets, gawking at the trees, the brownstones, the flower boxes sitting on windowsills. I could see inside some of the windows, and in one room was a grand piano, in another a chandelier.
It’s beautiful when it’s raining, too, though. There’s been a strong wind to go with the rain, and all the trees have been bowing and shaking, looking like we’re all under water. The trunks of the ginkos are unbearably green.
I need a pair of galoshes. Badly. Two days now I’ve arrived at work soaked to the skin, my shoes soggy all day long. It’s been over 24 hours and they’re still not dry yet. All of my coworkers are the same. We all come to work wet and bedraggled, dripping onto the carpet, shaking out our umbrellas. One of my coworkers takes off her shoes when she gets in, and won’t put them back on until they’re dry. We have a mini space heater in my workspace that we’re not allowed to use because it will blow a fuse in the building. I have secret plans to steal the mini-heater and take it home to my apartment. It’s way too cold at night in my bedroom. I have a little radiator in the room, but it’s truly tiny: it’s about as big as a lapdog. It doesn’t give out nearly enough heat for me. I have very poor circulation. I have yet to spend a full winter in NY. We’ll see how that goes. Apparently the winters here are vicious.
* * *
I have been living in Manhattan since February. Astonishing. Even more astonishing, I haven’t left the five boroughs since February, either. That’s nine months I haven’t stepped foot out of NYC. Bizarre. I’ll be flying back to the Midwest in November for Thanksgiving, visiting family, and that will be the first time back home for me, the first time since moving here that I’ll have left the City.
New York suits me. I hadn’t really planned on it suiting me. It’s a nice surprise. Working full-time with a salary also has been going well, which is a shock. I truly never thought I’d ever have a salaried, full-time, respectable job. This time last year I was unemployed and depressed, and then in December I was working the holiday season at the JC Penny’s jewelry counter and depressed. God I hated that job. Then I stood in the snow in January and tried to get people to go to H&R Block for their tax returns. I mostly just ended up reading a book and breathing on my fingers to keep them from turning to ice. I don’t think I got anyone to go to H&R Block.
If there’s one thing that getting a “real” job has taught me, it’s that anyone can succeed, given enough time and perseverance. If I can get a nice job, anyone can. Of course, I’m lucky. My rent is really, really cheap. If I had to pay what other people have to pay for rent in Manhattan, I wouldn’t be able to afford to live here. I got lucky. Also, I worked at it, and tried hard.
My apartment is very cute, except that the kitchen linoleum is black and hideous and the kitchen itself is kind of scary and needs to be renovated and the bathroom has corners and walls that I avoid touching at all times. Also, my apartment has mice. I have caught and killed five adorable tiny mice (three in my bedroom) in the past two months. Killing the mice is not fun. The last three woke me up. I use the most humane and painless traps possible-the springed ones that snap shut on a mouse and break its neck. Instant death. Only, of course, that has turned out to not be entirely true. Three times in the night a loud SNAP! has woken me out of a sound sleep. Then, wide awake, I’ve listened to small thumpings and thrashings as the snapped mouse died, twisting and writhing, in the trap. In reality this thrashing and writhing only lasts a second, two at the most. It’s a long two seconds, though. Then I have to get up and throw the dead mouse away. Usually this happens at four in the morning, and I’m too freaked out to get up and throw away the dead adorable mouse right away, so I think to myself, “I’ll deal with this later” and try to go back to sleep, with the dead mouse in the trap, lying still, not three feet away from me. Ugh.
I’m planning on moving as soon as I can possibly afford it. Right now I have a roommate. Very eccentric roommate. Likes to cook. Doesn’t work, lives off of disability checks. I suspect very strongly that Roomie, who’s had the apartment for years upon years, and her father had the apartment before she did, has rent control, and only pays about four hundred dollars a month for rent and utilities. She then takes my rent (quite a bit more than four hundred dollars) and lives off of it. Which is fine, since we have a very nice working arrangement. I don’t bother her, she doesn’t bother me. Generally. Sometimes she annoys me so much I want to do something violent-but overall life is good.
Life is good. For me anyway. What with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the earthquake in Pakistan and the thousands and thousands of deaths sprung from natural disasters all around the world, not too many people seem to be having a very good year. But life for Raietta is good, even with the bomb threats.
I do hope the rain lets up soon, though. I’m running out of dry shoes to wear. I’d like a little more of that incredible crystalline fall weather. I’d like some more brilliant autumn. Bright leaves, smoky air, sharp sunlight. When the light is just so I can walk along the street and just watch as the whole city seems to go back in time. It’s astonishing to see. I’ve been transported back to my childhood, or maybe a different era altogether, and New York has gone with me.
Can’t wait for Halloween. Gonna be fun.
Okay, that’s it for me, for now. I’m off to create badly Photoshopped/Illustrated icons and dream up a template for this LJ. Sounds like fun. Hope everyone’s doing well, having a good year, keeping in good health, being happy.
There were about three days of fall perfection in Manhattan recently. The sky was so pure it almost sent me into a fugue state. It was cool out, and incredibly sunny. Fall has a strange light to it, casting the buildings, the trees, everything in an antique gold. I think Jorie Graham wrote a poem about something like that. It was so gorgeous for those three days that after work I would wander the Village in a daze, walking down all these residential streets, gawking at the trees, the brownstones, the flower boxes sitting on windowsills. I could see inside some of the windows, and in one room was a grand piano, in another a chandelier.
It’s beautiful when it’s raining, too, though. There’s been a strong wind to go with the rain, and all the trees have been bowing and shaking, looking like we’re all under water. The trunks of the ginkos are unbearably green.
I need a pair of galoshes. Badly. Two days now I’ve arrived at work soaked to the skin, my shoes soggy all day long. It’s been over 24 hours and they’re still not dry yet. All of my coworkers are the same. We all come to work wet and bedraggled, dripping onto the carpet, shaking out our umbrellas. One of my coworkers takes off her shoes when she gets in, and won’t put them back on until they’re dry. We have a mini space heater in my workspace that we’re not allowed to use because it will blow a fuse in the building. I have secret plans to steal the mini-heater and take it home to my apartment. It’s way too cold at night in my bedroom. I have a little radiator in the room, but it’s truly tiny: it’s about as big as a lapdog. It doesn’t give out nearly enough heat for me. I have very poor circulation. I have yet to spend a full winter in NY. We’ll see how that goes. Apparently the winters here are vicious.
* * *
I have been living in Manhattan since February. Astonishing. Even more astonishing, I haven’t left the five boroughs since February, either. That’s nine months I haven’t stepped foot out of NYC. Bizarre. I’ll be flying back to the Midwest in November for Thanksgiving, visiting family, and that will be the first time back home for me, the first time since moving here that I’ll have left the City.
New York suits me. I hadn’t really planned on it suiting me. It’s a nice surprise. Working full-time with a salary also has been going well, which is a shock. I truly never thought I’d ever have a salaried, full-time, respectable job. This time last year I was unemployed and depressed, and then in December I was working the holiday season at the JC Penny’s jewelry counter and depressed. God I hated that job. Then I stood in the snow in January and tried to get people to go to H&R Block for their tax returns. I mostly just ended up reading a book and breathing on my fingers to keep them from turning to ice. I don’t think I got anyone to go to H&R Block.
If there’s one thing that getting a “real” job has taught me, it’s that anyone can succeed, given enough time and perseverance. If I can get a nice job, anyone can. Of course, I’m lucky. My rent is really, really cheap. If I had to pay what other people have to pay for rent in Manhattan, I wouldn’t be able to afford to live here. I got lucky. Also, I worked at it, and tried hard.
My apartment is very cute, except that the kitchen linoleum is black and hideous and the kitchen itself is kind of scary and needs to be renovated and the bathroom has corners and walls that I avoid touching at all times. Also, my apartment has mice. I have caught and killed five adorable tiny mice (three in my bedroom) in the past two months. Killing the mice is not fun. The last three woke me up. I use the most humane and painless traps possible-the springed ones that snap shut on a mouse and break its neck. Instant death. Only, of course, that has turned out to not be entirely true. Three times in the night a loud SNAP! has woken me out of a sound sleep. Then, wide awake, I’ve listened to small thumpings and thrashings as the snapped mouse died, twisting and writhing, in the trap. In reality this thrashing and writhing only lasts a second, two at the most. It’s a long two seconds, though. Then I have to get up and throw the dead mouse away. Usually this happens at four in the morning, and I’m too freaked out to get up and throw away the dead adorable mouse right away, so I think to myself, “I’ll deal with this later” and try to go back to sleep, with the dead mouse in the trap, lying still, not three feet away from me. Ugh.
I’m planning on moving as soon as I can possibly afford it. Right now I have a roommate. Very eccentric roommate. Likes to cook. Doesn’t work, lives off of disability checks. I suspect very strongly that Roomie, who’s had the apartment for years upon years, and her father had the apartment before she did, has rent control, and only pays about four hundred dollars a month for rent and utilities. She then takes my rent (quite a bit more than four hundred dollars) and lives off of it. Which is fine, since we have a very nice working arrangement. I don’t bother her, she doesn’t bother me. Generally. Sometimes she annoys me so much I want to do something violent-but overall life is good.
Life is good. For me anyway. What with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the earthquake in Pakistan and the thousands and thousands of deaths sprung from natural disasters all around the world, not too many people seem to be having a very good year. But life for Raietta is good, even with the bomb threats.
I do hope the rain lets up soon, though. I’m running out of dry shoes to wear. I’d like a little more of that incredible crystalline fall weather. I’d like some more brilliant autumn. Bright leaves, smoky air, sharp sunlight. When the light is just so I can walk along the street and just watch as the whole city seems to go back in time. It’s astonishing to see. I’ve been transported back to my childhood, or maybe a different era altogether, and New York has gone with me.
Can’t wait for Halloween. Gonna be fun.
Okay, that’s it for me, for now. I’m off to create badly Photoshopped/Illustrated icons and dream up a template for this LJ. Sounds like fun. Hope everyone’s doing well, having a good year, keeping in good health, being happy.