going going...gone

Friends from work at the Amalia Bar - minus Mollie.

Halloween Dogs in the Lower East Side. He's my favorite.

Me and dad at the Boat Basin in the Upper West Side.

James and I at the MacStore on 5th Ave. One of a series of pictures.

Diana and Lily! Always a memorable gathering.

My bedroom.

It has been almost a full circle since I've touched foot in new york city.

From borrowed couches and beds, hopping around Manhattan on foot, and landing a job beyond my expectations, I can safely say that I survived with a generous heart in tact.

Here's where we are since I left off:
A job as a Medical Technician at the tucked away Pediatric Ophthalmic Consultants in the Upper West Side provided a 1) Income 2) Potential friends 3) a reason to stay.

Initially I had a difficult time fitting in at work, maybe it's the competitive natures or a NYC-thing, but the intimidation factor was Hiiiiigh at POC. A lot of the girls I worked with were...very difficult to get to know. Imagine working with 8ish other girls your age and 2/3rds of them not looking at you in the face when they're talking to you. Imagine this lasting for 3 months. Imagine no one caring. Two of them were nothing like this and to this day I'm grateful that they (also new) were so patient with me. Once the other girls learned i wasn't a complete ninny they opened up to me and I daresay we are friends. By January we started having bi-weekly dinner or drinks after work. It was really thanks to them that NYC started to feel like a home to me. Amazingly there was rarely rarely any girl drama and we all had a similar sense of humor, I just hope they'll SAA me and my kids in the future when they're all doctors.

a little tidbit:
everyone buys lunches in NYC. If you bring a lunch it's generally not PB&J, it's probably a healthy and hearty leftover. I learned this by being teased for the first few months about my hardly varied PB&J, Tuna Sandwich or Turkey Pesto Sandwich rotation. Once I started saving money I elected to order with the other girls - this became a bonding mechanism. Like employees during break sharing a smoke, but not quite.

Getting a hang of my new surroundings was tough. NYC is not kind to the lower income bracket. I couldn't afford to do a whole lot and I relied on weekly dinner dates with friends from WA to emotionally fuel me forward. As well as the NY Public Library on 42nd Street...thank god for free books.

January 2009 arrived with a pleasant snow storm with an iron will and moody blizzards. I had never really endured such snow day-to-day, but apparently it was just as formidable in Steilacoom. In any case, I mastered the art of layering my clothes - especially when the temperature dropped to the teens.

I joined the gym in Harlem when I got back from Xmas Break. Somewhat conveniently located at 125th and Malcom X Blvd, I was able to take a bus and be a block away. Having a gym was super handy as it was affordable and a productive use of time (which otherwise would have been spent laying around my room reading or watching The OC/Sex and the City/Mad Men/Arrested Development/The Office/30 Rock, etc. I read and watched a lot, much like our President Obama when he first moved to Chicago all by his lonely self.

I especially loved all of my visitors! It was wonderful to host everyone that could schlep out to the City and into Harlem.
Just for my own records: My mom was first in October, Andrew visited me in Nov/Dec on his way out to Europe, Maureen & Marlee in March, James & my parents & Clinton in April, Robert once a month, Diana & Lily in August and my mom once again this weekend.

As for now, we're back into August and one week ago I moved all of my life in a 14ft U-Haul down I-95 to Washington DC where I'll be attending Georgetown U for completion of my pre-med courses. It's going to be hell.

On Monday - after seeing the Podiatrist for my infected hematoma under my toenail - I will send myself off on a bus and say goodbye to NYC.