Moving to NYC without jobs and living off savings which was purposely saved with this exact goal in mind is an interesting position to be in. I've told a few people it's similar to going to Six Flags and just sitting in the parking lot all day eating homemade sandwiches and reading a book. A world of blissful fun is at your fingertips... but then again at the same time it's not. It felt incredibly safe, yet at the same time there was always an underlying sense of urgency to find a gall damned job. We knew we'd be fine for quite a while, but every time money was spent on anything from groceries to a slice of pizza to a bag of crack (just kidding on that last one, I think) there was a lingering cartoon bubble over my head of a gunnysack labeled SAVINGS getting kicked by a big hairy guy named Vinnie resulting in a few dozen origami butterflies made of money flying out of it every time. And then that would trigger another cartoon bubble; one containing the scene towards the end of Back to the Future where Marty McFly is holding the picture of his slowly disappearing family - but with us substituted for Marty and a picture of the NYC skyline disappearing instead.
It was getting rather discouraging the past few weeks after sending out well over 150 cover letters and resumes over the span of the past month and a half and hearing NOTHING from any prospective employers. It didn't matter how much I tried to correspond and follow up. Out of the 150+ aforementioned cover letters and resumes sent out (each one tweaked to accommodate the job posting I was responding to, mind you) I only heard back from three people: 1. The hiring manager of the place I started at last week, and 2: Two "thanks but no thanks/we'll keep you in our database" emails from other companies. But persistence paid off - all it took was that one hiring manager to make me an offer I couldn't refuse (no, it's not a job with the mafia).
SO. As of now we've both finally secured ourselves jobs that we love, and they tie in with our personal interests to boot. Uncertainty has since been replaced with reassurance that we're going to be able to "keep" New York after all. Thank goodness for that, because I really don't think we would be partial to a 1200 mile drive back to MN in a moving truck crammed full of our stuff with no jobs, nowhere to live, and our tails between our legs. From what we've been told by the locals it's a pretty impressive feat to have only been here 8 weeks and already have jobs, so I'm just going to go ahead and take that as a glass-half-full sign of things to come.Commuting to work in NYC is a rather peculiar experience having come from MN where for the past four years I could conveniently bike to my last place of employment in 15 minutes. Now in order to get to work I take the morning train. I take the B from 7th Ave in Park Slope to Columbus Circle in Manhattan and quickly learned that it just so happens that basically everyone and their mama get on the train prior to my stop. People are literally packed in like sardines... it's similar to being in the front row of a really, really crowded standing room only concert sans the loud music and alcohol. Now that I think about it I suppose depending on which train you take and what time of day it is it's highly probable that there will be loud music and alcohol on the train, but that's another story...
There are only so many poles on the subway to hold on to and stabilize yourself when the train stops/starts/turns, so when it gets packed and you can't find something to hold onto, well... tough shit! Such was the case on Friday - I was part of an aimless subway inertia mosh pit with a few other riders who only had their feet and surrounding people to fall back on. We danced and we danced hard. I'm starting to get the hang of riding without bracing myself on a post though, it's actually a pretty good workout on the calves. It's all good; as long as I have my trusty iPod to keep my brain happy I'm set. It's New York City, after all. For someone to voluntarily move here and then complain about something like that is, and I quote Paul Stanley in an interview from the 80s when he was washed up the first time, "... like winning the lottery and complaining about the taxes. If you're lucky enough to get what you wanted, then shut the fuck up." Thankfully my rides home are much more mellow than that and there's always multiple open seats. I'm much happier it's that way after work than the other way around...
And now It's FINALLY time to focus on the music and being creative, which is what pretty much led us here in the first place. I've been corresponding with numerous musicians via online musicians wanted ads and it's mind boggling how flighty people can be here (not just musicians, either - people in general). One minute they're really interested and the next minute they fall off the face of the earth never to be heard from again. It will happen, though, there's no doubt in my mind about that.
In the mean time, it's time to make it to that first paycheck which will cement in the notion that this all really is for real. And maybe start exploring and getting out to some new places that we've been eyeballing since we've been here. There's this restaurant in Atlantic Center we've been meaning to check out called McDonald's... I've heard really good things about it, so maybe it's time to go see what it's all about. With a name like that I'm guessing it must be some sort of authentic Irish or Scottish cuisine.
