My sister had a baby! She is beautiful. My mom flew out from AZ to help her before and after she had her. She is very pretty and has blue eyes and brown hair. Then my mom flew to NYC to visit me while my sister and her husband took care of the baby during his 1-week off from work.
I had a fun time with my mom, who stayed w/ me in the little studio. Luckily we get along well, as it is a verrry small space. We had a nice time and I wanted to show her the sorts of things I actually do, as she had already done most touristy things anyway. So we got Indian food on 6th street (which is where Little India is and they have about 20 places), went to a couple of my favorite coffee places, and got some Thai food, etc.
We also saw The Phantom of The Opera. I really liked the music and the effects. My only problem was that Christine's character was so outdated. I'm not sure if it is how it is written, or how she played it, but there was this overly weak seeming "oh no!!! I'm going to faint!" thing about the character that sort of bothered me. It made me wonder why we can't update these plays. I mean, especially My Fair Lady. But I guess it just makes me thankful that we don't have to run around fainting and sobbing and saying neutral polite things all the time. Overall it was great! I really liked the Phantom.
Avenue Q, which I've wanted to see for a while, was great. Just about all of the topics were true to life, so it wasn't so much laugh out loud funny as it was "yup, true." I really liked it though. There was a drunk older woman next to me who kept laughing and saying things so loudly that everyone else kept turning around. She flung her coat onto me a couple of times, and I pushed it back and then she looked at me. There were a couple of girls (sitting on the other side of my mom, so they were fairly far away from the drunk woman) and they kept complaining about her also. We all hoped she'd just leave, but she was about 5 minutes late after intermission. Still, I think it was one of my favorite plays and was fun to see it with my mom.
We also went to Central Park to see the snow and wandered Columbus Circle for a while, and did a lot of wandering in the Lower East Side, East Village and West Village. We also wandered around Union Square, and I even took her to 7A for a late dinner after a show (I think we were the only non-hipsters there :)
I attempted to cook a couple of times, which was kind of fun/funny as the place is so small. I don't usually "cook" for myself and instead just eat random food items. But it was a fun challenge, having only one pan, so there is a lot of putting things in other containers, or trying to use the oven, etc.
So it was nice seeing her.
What else...oh my jacket lost a button. That was too bad.
I told more people about my bastard book. I usually don't like to share a lot of the things I do -- and you should all be glad for that, as I have mountains of some pretty hideous bad poetry -- but I guess I figured this one was too potentially helpful to other people (and there are so many bastards out there). I felt the same way about posting all of that info on players. I wrote it for my own amusement, but then it seemed useful to others as well. Better to learn from other people's mistakes I figure.
I've been thinking a lot about the economy. The economy was bad in Dec '02 when I graduated college. Then it seemed to improve slightly, but not much. About three years ago it was pretty good (I actually got a job in NYC then, but didn't take it), and right after that it seemed to nose-dive -- this is all based on my responses to my job applications over the years, and also how well/bad my writing business did.
Anyway, ever since I graduated, I've been very careful to not focus on the bad economy. I really believed that mindset could overcome competition. It also doesn't help to harp on factors you can't control. And with that attitude, I remember getting all kinds of hard-to-get interviews, one being a grant writing interview where the receptionist said "congratulations" as she held up two reams of paper to show me the resumes that didn't get through. And I was only in my early 20's then. But now, I'm now becoming lured into the economy and its problems. Even worse, is the negativity that is convincing everyone to give up. Maybe this is the effect of getting older? Letting doomsday stuff override your idealism? Both are just outlook choices of course, neither really better than the other.
This blog, Sad Guys on Trading Floors, is sort of fascinating. And sad, of course.
But I do see the effects. I hear about people applying for ten jobs a day and not getting interviews for $12 an hour jobs (who are not recent grads). I had one guy tell me that a LOT of his banker friends were forced to leave the city when they were laid off. It makes me wonder where they all fled to. Kansas? I think it's the common fear of most New Yorkers to be forced to move to Kansas.
I overhear a lot of people on cell phones saying they are out looking for work. I don't see "help wanted" signs in windows anymore. But they say that even in the Great Depression, it wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. There is always opportunity, even if not directly, I guess it's a chance to put things in a bigger context, and perhaps learn some important lessons. It is a good reminder that none of us are in control and that is the whole point -- everything has the potential to end at any moment, and that's why we need to appreciate it. Maybe things have been a bit too sunny for too long, and this is a wake-up call. A dark cloud to remind us all to enjoy our suntans while they last. To put things in perspective, ask ourselves how happy we really are, and question what things it takes to make us happy.
I wonder sometimes if I wouldn't be happier in a tent somewhere. We really don't need very much. I think the quality of our relationships is really what matters most.
I'm also curious if the bad economy will lead more people to consider starting businesses. They say they putting all of your eggs in one basket -- a basket that could be stomped on at any moment of "downsizing" is a bad idea. Starting several businesses that you enjoy could be better, except that not all people enjoy doing that. Different personality types like different types of situations, some value security and stability more than the risk of starting something new. It's hard for me to remember not everyone likes risk. So...
Maybe we need a new job structure that diversified work the way a stock portfolio does. Selling your time to one large company that perhaps is a better version of a temp agency -- so you could actually be open to doing several job functions if you wanted, you'd get insurance, and you wouldn't really need to be laid off, as you'd be working for several different types of companies during your day. Maybe employees could even go to the same office every day, with the same computer, but their tasks would be sent through project managers from a whole bunch of companies. Of course, there could be privacy/competition issues. Or maybe that wouldn't be as much of a problem as it'd seem.
Or employees could even just log into something, where there would be task lists posted in all kinds of areas, and each task would have a certain number of points or whatever. They'd check off all the items they did that day (which may end up being for 5, 6 different companies) and completing let's say 10 points would be "enough" work to get their paycheck and benefits. Sort of like freelance, but without the risk to employees, in that they wouldn't need to find their own clients. Plus, employers would be paying directly for work product, instead of wading through office politics to see who is actually performing vs. promoting themselves.
I dunno, it's late and I'm rambling. But there just has to be a better way.
Turf
In other news, NYC wants to ban turf. Yeah, turf. That stuff you play sports on. In general, it means even more competition for fields, and it's already fairly nuts trying to find anywhere for recreation in Manhattan.
It's not a huge deal to me, as I'm undecided if I'm going to bother getting another soccer permit. I sort of just fell into organizing this, since I hadn't played soccer since I was about 12, and started out barely even remembering what a corner kick was.
It's been more work than I realized organizing a soccer group and it has been a pretty cold winter, with one game as low as 9 degrees...But I guess they want to ban the turf because 2 out of 10 fields may contain more lead than they should -- definitely a problem, especially for young kids. But for adults? No one really touches the turf (and in the winter w/ all of the clothing we're wearing, even a fall wouldn't bring you in much contact w/ the green stuff).
For a lot of soccer leagues and organizations (and many other sports as well), it's a big bummer.
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