Are We There Yet?

Feelin' good today. I woke up early early... got a website structure put together. Caught up with mom. Made a healthy breakfast. Talked to that cute man. Talked with Dear Friend Emily. Helped Tamara clean our lovely apartment.

The reoccurring theme in all the conversations was "So do you feel like a New Yorker yet?"

If you mean aggressive, yes. 

If you mean work driven, yes. 

If you mean busy, yes. 

If you mean City That Never Sleeps, no. 

If you mean Like It Is In The Movies, no. 

If you mean Are You An Opera Star, no. 

It's not bad. It's hasn't changed my life in a significant and amazing way though either. I'm working more than I ever did in Idaho. Making more money to live in my more expensive city. Ultimately, I'm working, paying bills, sleeping enough and trying to eat like a healthy person... The same things I did in Idaho. 

 I'd say a part of me thought that I'd be flourishing and taking this city by fire. Another part of me anticipated this hard work... the effort it takes to get on your feet after your first big move. 

BUT - Even as we speak this is changing. This week... comedy show, coffee with a new friend from work, an evening with the mister. Everything is this giant state of flux. Pay days are getting more consistent and better (financially recovering from the storm) and it's enabling me to get out and DO STUFF! 

I'm making a concerted effort to break my work/eat/sleep routine. 

• Brother and sister in law are coming to visit. 
• I am going to a Selected Shorts reading at Symphony Space. 
• I am slowly furnishing my room... November = Full size mirror. December = box spring. January = Bed frame or a bookshelf (toss up, really). 

Now... the second question that everyone's asking is "Are you happy?" 

Yes. But that has nothing to do with moving to or from somewhere.

Also, I'm becoming a cat lady. This is Vincent. 

That's the major life lesson I've picked up on here. No matter where you go, there you are. I still want to improve my work situations. I still crave better communication. I still like organizing and scheduling my life. I still budget and then blow it by eating out/ordering in. I still value my alone time... and yet still crave to be more social... and yet when I'm more social... I crave to be in my pajamas and lounging around my apartment. 

I still yearn to find that THING... that thing I'm so passionate about that it drives me. That I want to get paid to obsess about it. 

If that's being a New Yorker... I'm succeeding 100%. 

Love, 

Nanette

Happy New Year, 26!

Well...   Birthday came and went. I got a hurricane for my birthday. Subsequently, I also got a week off from the doc because that dangling crane thing happens to be outside of my office.

There have been so many terrible stories. A mother having her children swept away from her by a storm surge. Houses ruined. People killed by falling branches and uprooted trees. Food shortages. Power outages. Gas shortages.

I've survived Hurricane Sandy. I more than survived it... I had power, internet, heat and plenty of food. I got to take some time off from work. I got some quiet time. Went on a few runs. Got sick of being in the house. The only thing that was cumbersome was the subway system being slow or out of service. But MTA has done such a great job of getting things up and running. I can't complain too much. It also forced me to figure out different ways to get places. So if anything, I know my way around better now because of it. I'm more adventurous!

Anyway..

It's time to prep for year 26. My new year list.

1. Read 26 books. llll
2. Save $2400
3. Get down to 250lbs.
4. Learn some Spanish and French
5. Buy a keyboard for my house and get back to singing.
6. Write a 5 minute stand up bit and go do it!
7. Run 100 times
8. Write a thankful thing every week when I journal.
9. Go swimming.
10. Get in the ocean.
11. Get a pedicure.
12. Pay off Discover.
13. Pay off Tamara.  11/27/12
14. Pay off Sarah.
15. Put a dent in student loans.
16. Keep searching for a career path.
17. Buy the Tim Minchin Album.
18. Practice being more fancy.
19. Stretch every day.
20. Wear out 5 pairs of shoes. IIII
21. Drink more water.
22. Travel home to Idaho.
23. Furnish my apartment.
24. Have one Fancy outfit.
25. Eat more like a diabete.
26. Go to 15 places recommended in the 100 best places in NYC and blog/facebook/take photos.
27. Rebuild my art supplies.
28. Get back to art journaling.

This is the year of REDUCING DEBT. Body debt, fun debt, consumer debt. As my friend, Sarah, and I tease... I'm working on becoming a real person.

A real person is responsible and thoughtful. A real person remembers to pack q-tips, pays all the bills and flies less by the seat of the pants - more by the freedom that comes with keeping up with life.

Nanette

Calming Down...

Since moving into the new apartment, there's been a great calming down. Something about the permanence, or semi-permanence of a lease and knowing that my room is MY ROOM lends to that feeling of refuge.

I got a phone call Friday night. It was from Kidville. I'd interviewed with them a while back (about a month) for a Front Desk Admin position and didn't get the job. But the location where I interviewed passed my resume on to a new location that's opening up on October first. The franchise owner wanted to meet for an interview Saturday morning.

Saturday morning we met at a great coffee place just off of 14th called "Think Coffee." The owner guy bought me coffee and we talked numbers and business. And I got hired. That brings the count up to 2 freelance jobs, 2 regular have-to-show-up jobs. Sooooo...   here's what life looks like now...

Mondays
Morning: freelance work & Run.
1:30 - 8:00 Doc

Tuesdays
8:00 - 6:00 KV
Laundry

Wednesdays
Morning: freelance & Run
1:30 - 8:00 Doc

Thursday
Morning: freelance & Run
1:30 - 8:00 Doc

Friday
8:00 - 6:00 KV
Grocery shop

Saturday
8:00 - 6:00 KV/alternating day off.

Sunday
8:00 - 6:00 KV/alternating day off.

I'm going to be TIRED. And it's going to be tough to not have 3 days off a week. But I'm going to do it. And I'm going to pay off all my debts. And I'm going to be able to buy a nice dresser and set of bookshelves... and a box spring/bedframe.

But isn't that the balance we always fight?  

Not working enough = play time but no play money.
Working too much = play money, but no play time.

I wore through another pair of shoes this week. Now when I say wore through... I don't mean that they look tired or are uncomfortable or that the innards got all scrunched up by the toes... I mean that if you take the shoe off and look at the hole in the bottom, there's daylight on the other side. Tamara said we should probably take pictures of the shoes and build a photo memorial on the apartment wall "Shoes Nanette Killed." Like the heads of deer people keep... my walking trophies.

Things are calming down. I'm settling in... Getting more comfortable.

For example.. Last month -  MTA charged my debit card $104 for an unlimited card and did not give me the card. I cried in the subway station.

This month -  MTA charged me $104 twice and only gave me one card and not a tear has been shed. It'll be okay. It'll sort out. I have a reliable income and know that I'm okay. I mean it really pooped on my finances, but I'll get the money back AND have rent paid on time.

Consistency...

I've had a lot of conversations and facebook stalking epiphanies this week about consistency. I believe I've wanted to move to NYC since I was in 6th grade... as a notion to become a broadway actress, film star, opera singer... and other narcissistic careers. I guess we all have those dreams. That larger than life striving.

I want to become an astronaut!

I want to become a writer!

I want to become a superhero!

I may not be singing, acting or actively creating for money. But I'm living my dream. I made it out here. I said I would and I have. Even if I change my mind later and decide that NYC isn't for me anymore... I can definitely say I'm not a quitter. Never have been. If anything I'm guilty of sticking through for too long. Bullheaded. I want things to be a certain way. They will be a certain way. I will give them a chance to turn out a certain way. When they don't. I have committed 5+ years to that certain thing and it hasn't happened yet... but not out of lack of fortitude. I'll tell you what.

So I'm learning new things about myself. 25 and still learning. I hope to say that when I'm 50, 60, 70 and beyond.

I may not be succeeding, but I'm learning about the need to go with the flow, to let go.

I'm learning that in a fast-paced city, patience is even more important than anywhere I've been before.

I'm learning that stress is a constant. It will be everywhere. There is no escaping, only changing your approach in coping and stress management.

It's been crazy starting my life over. In so many ways, I feel like it's a throw back to freshman year. Knowing it will take time to get on my feet. To land that job that allows me to go on vacations, pay off debts and have a fiscal peace of mind. It takes time to build a steady group of friends and construct history, disagreements and understanding. It is a beautiful thing. It feels odd to go through this sorta late in life though... a second freshman year at 25.

25. How weird...   many of my peers have children or spouses or even second or third spouses. Many of my peers are in their career paths or have master's degrees. I wonder if they go through some of these same feelings. Probably, as we all have much more in common than we talk about. Is that where they saw themselves. Are they living their dreams? It's none of my business... I know. But that doesn't keep me from being curious.

Life sure is interesting.

Right now it's settling. Landed in the apartment for the year. Slowly learning to walk my infantile self down the streets of NYC. A regular job. Supplemental income.

I organize and prep myself for that moment when things can come together and I move from walk to RUN.

List re-evaluated.

- Read 100 books.
- Move to NY 
- Graduate (ACTUALLY THIS TIME).- eta May
- Save $3000 by June
- Throw one thing away every day for a month.
- Continue to lose weight... -100 LBS total...   that's the goal.


Remember that list? This is what it looks like now... 


- Read 100 books.
- Move to NY 
- Graduate (ACTUALLY THIS TIME).- eta May
- Save $3000 by June
- Throw one thing away every day for a month.- Continue to lose weight... -100 LBS total...   that's the goal.


I'm down 72 lbs. I've only read 24 books. But I got the important things out of the way. 


Just signed a lease for an apartment... thus making me a real new yorker! I have a job at a Doc office and I'm looking for another one. My landlord is some awesome guy at ConEdison and they owe him a couple favors... like hiring his tenant to be an executive secretary?! YES! Meh, well... we'll see. But with good work ethic, I can be making 6 figures in the next 5 years or so.


Making new friends, missing my old ones. Exploring a new city, slowly, I've got time. I live here now. :) 


Paid off a credit card. Deferred my student loans. Things are good in the debt dept. 


Trying, though not hard enough, to lose weight. Things are still going in the right direction, just not as quickly as it has been for the last few months. I'm also not working out nearly as much. My days are ridiculously long. I'm beginning to understand why people complain about commuting places. It KILLS your day. My 8 hour shift is really 10 hours with the hour commute each way. LAME! But the pay is nice out here... and the energy of the city is so high. I love it. I can't wait until it cools down just a little and then I'll want to be outside. 


Starting to make a new goal list. 

- Get a full-time Job. 

- Pay Tamara back for fronting the deposit money for the apt. 

- Pay off Discover. 

- Buy a queen size bed. 

- Cook at home more than I eat out. 

Only Kinda...

I hate new years resolutions.

A - Shouldn't they happen on your birthday since that's when your new year ACTUALLY starts?
B - We've weakened the word "resolution" by applying it to goals that only last 30 days, if that.

But I do love a good excuse to make lists. So here's the deal folks. This is the list of goals I've been working on... and will continue to work on. GOALS. None of that break-a-promise-to-yourself "resolution" garbage.

- Read 100 books.
- Move to NY
- Graduate (ACTUALLY THIS TIME).- eta May
- Save $3000 by June
- Throw one thing away every day for a month.
- Continue to lose weight... -100 LBS total...   that's the goal.

Life is so good right now. I'm half dating a NICE boy. I'm working! I'm working out (with a trainer, even)! I need to practice. But I actually WANT to. Tax return is on the way. So many of those goals are close enough to taste. I have a routine... but it's flexible and includes such things as: going to the library once a week, exercising my body, writing blogs, working and doing an hour of creativity a day. This is the life.

Know what's really awesome!?

I don't have to go to school this semester.
I just need to finish my piano proficiency test.
Then I have a degree (useless? not sure yet).
I don't have to buy books, or give motivational speeches to get myself to attend.

Also, I get to keep my two campus jobs.
And Probably get a third.
I'm considered an Alumnus.
So I get to keep my gym membership at a discount rate.

My body weighs 43 pounds less than it did at this time last year.
I've learned a whole book of new recipes.
Stuff is slowly disappearing from my apartment - in a good way.
Life and Scheduling should be simple.

Dr. A's grant fell through.
He can't offer me the discount.
I don't have to take choir.
I don't have to deal with "environment vs cost, is it worth it?" anymore.

I have a back up plan for NYC.
Just in case my savings doesn't cover enough.
Time to polish up several versions of my resume.
Time to money diet, food diet and resource diet like a champ!

Big Fat Uncharacteristically Positive Love
Nanette