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| So... updates... for those who read this (and I think there are 2 or three of you)... I am transitioning again to full time work but in a totally different area of Student Affairs. I will now be entering Residence Life Education - which is foreign territory for me since I have always functioned outside of the terrain of residence hall livelihood. Going for the job, I knew it was a long shot - but I was able to really comprehend and apply everything I have learned to this environment and thankfully they are taking a chance on me. Also, my schooling disposition put me in a place where I needed something full time, and the compensation, although not as fancy as I want, is something I can't complain about - in addition to the skimpy salary, you get an apartment (since the position entails oversight of the goings-on of the residents) and a decent meal plan/discretionary stipend.
As for school, you may be wondering why I decided to slow down - well, i am done with coursework and have one seminar left in regard to tailoring my dissertation proposal, which can be taken any time in the future... so I decided that being a full time student/academic was not the lifestyle I wanted to lead - and plus, i know in my heart that i would rather be a Practitioner/Scholar than the other way around...
ok, so the title of this entry... this process of the job and moving into the apartment has been a long, drawn out series of months... so... my official start date is this Monday the 17th... and as the day comes near everything is falling into place - but the pieces are falling quickly like comets hailing from the sky... I dont even have time to smoke a cigarette... or breath. So im waiting and waiting and waiting for the OK to move into the place (since 2 weeks ago) because my lease was up - been living with some homies in the financial district, a place I like to call Club 99 since many of my fun "preparty" and drinking excursions began there in the past two years. But living out of a suitcase is rather cumbersome... although it cut down on my "what to wear" time in the mornings... bc i only had a collection of tee-shirts, button ups, shorts and jeans... it is still a pain. But the day has come! I can move in tomorrow... I was notified last week that I will be the "Community Development Educator" (CDE) otherwise known as a Residence Hall Director for the NYU Greenwich Hotel Residence Hall (long name I know). Its perfect, exactly what I was looking for in the position... you see, the residence hall are all uniquely different in terms of the student populations they serve, the types of programming, and other responsibilities entailed by the CDE. This one provides me the opportunity to do everything I want... work with faculty, RA's and Peer Educators... which I wont go into detail - but its phatty catty.
A major plus - G-Ho (which is the sexist nick for the Greenwich Hotel) is in the West Village - an area of Manhattan I have no idea about... been on the outskirts of the W. Vill.. for dining and drinks - but never really grasped the community, environment, and the streets... its a lil messy down there because the streets go criss-cross and intersect at weird points... anyway... so it will be amazing to spend (hopefully 2 years) some time there as an official resident. I am near the Hudson River and it is a dramatic change from the Upper East Side - real dramatic... I am moving to the furthest, most opposite corner of Manhattan from which I lived. Ok... well... and as the job start date comes near a crapload of assignments are already being emailed to me about contacting my staff, setting up my appointments, etc etc... let alone next week is a week of (meaning M-F 8am-6pm) of BOOT CAMP... which is a series of tranings they put the new professional staff through regarding every nook and cranny of the department from the budget maintenance to general campus information... I have a feeling I know some of this stuff already considering I have been at NYU for 2 years, but refreshing my mind and learning some new things about what I already know ain't bad....
So yeah, when it rains, it pours... I don't think its a consistent life motto I live by but it seems to be happening more to me here than ever... So I will try to post pics or something and update on my new chapter in the West Vill... but I shall be dormant for a while since I will be unpacking and organizing my start "downtown" - hollaaaa! | | |
| I must say that this has been one of the most eventful weekends I have had in a while... so here's the laundry list...
1. Learned how to bake a blackberry cornmeal cake (courtesy of Martha Stewart Living).
2. Went to Long Beach and soaked in the sun - the beach here isnt that bad.
3. Watched a grip of movies... a) The Squid and the Whale, b) March of the Penguins, and c) The Devil Wears Prada.... I know, the last one is slightly off, but I have to admit it was entertaining and much needed to get away from the humid and hot weather... being in the theatre was nice and I was pleasantly surprised with the movie and the dialogue...
4. Cooked a Chicken, Capers, and Artichoke dish with some Kale and Quinoa (pronounced Keen-Wah)... it is actually mightly tasty- and decided to get Iron Chef on the Quinoa and put shitake mushroons in it while cooking it in chicken stock... very good.
5. Did 3 loads of much needed laundry - currently living out of a suitcase - which isnt the best, but manageable...
6. Mentally organized my school trajectory... kinda daunting, but still its organized...
7. Worked out everyday for at least an hour.
8. Went out for a few drinks and got home by 1am... which is usually when I end up going out.... pretty good.
9. Read the "Times" (Michelle gets the weekend edition, so its free)
I have to say that it has been productive... =) | | |
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I guess people think NYers are abrasive and rude... but an undercover study says otherwise... In my own experience, most NYers have been nice - its usually the tourists that are terribly rude - but sometimes I think its a defense mechanism too - I am assuming they feel that they have to put up their guard ten fold becuase of the terrible assumption that everyone else here is ready to be mean to them - so its kinda funny if you think about it - because I guess that would mean that tourists are just mean to other tourists just exacerbating the image...
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New Yorkers are polite? Yes, says mag
By PAT MILTON, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jun 21, 8:27 AM ET
New Yorkers are a polite bunch.
No, really, they are. So says Reader's Digest.
The magazine sent reporters "undercover" to 36 cities, in 35 countries, to measure courtesy. New York was the only American city on the list.
In a city with a reputation for being in-your-face, New Yorkers seem to be expressing themselves with a new one-finger salute: a raised pinkie. In fact, they seem to have even better manners than people in London, Toronto and Moscow.
In its admittedly unscientific survey, the magazine's politeness-police gave three types of tests to more than 2,000 unwitting participants.
The reporters walked into buildings to see if the people in front of them would hold the door open; bought small items in stores and recorded whether the salespeople said "thank you"; and dropped a folder full of papers in busy locations to see if anyone would help pick them up.
New Yorkers turned out to be the most polite: 90 percent held the door open, 19 out of 20 store clerks said "thank you," and 63 percent of men and 47 percent of women helped with the flying papers.
In short, four out of five New Yorkers passed the courtesy test.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he's not surprised.
He told reporters Tuesday that whenever he travels abroad, he hears nothing but praise for the Big Apple's good manners.
"We are so jaded," he said. "We want to think the worst of ourselves, and people from around this country and around the world think exactly the reverse."
The rudest continent is Asia, Readers Digest said. Eight out of nine cities tested there — including last place Mumbai, India — finished in the bottom 11. In Europe, Moscow and Bucharest ranked as the least polite.
Reader's Digest, which has readers in 21 languages, is publishing the results in its July issue. | | |
| My life has been rapidly changing. Well, not at light speed, but quick enough that my mind spins from time to time. So then, to handle the cornucopia of thoughts in my head I maintain a "to do" list. Today, as I began to jot things down (and yes folks, I do write my things to do on a sheet of paper and create small boxes next to the items so that I can manually check them off - doing it on Word or Outlook is to trendy for me), I realized that I tend to prioritize things too much. I rank things in order of what needs to be accomplished - not just tasks but major life goals and projects - such as the several hurdles that I would like to complete regarding my degree as well as career plans etc. Things that are intangible - but yet are so concretely defined that they are real tasks at hand.
As I wrote, I stopped myself and thought, "wait... why do things have to be in such an order and hierachical in nature?" Really, they can be concurrent goals that I can progress through without having a sequential order. I think many people handle their goals, the ones you can't really see or hold, in this fashion. I guess in many ways these mental or tangible lists give us perspective and a roadmap but we have to be careful how we mitigate or negotiate these things - but its natural. I understand, schooling teaches us about these "life" goals and molds us into thinking this way. We progress in school systematically and through a hierarchy. You go to first grade, then second and so on. Even in college, its first year or freshman to senior. And the sense of accomplishment and reward is so satisfying that we become conditioned to look at our lives in such a manner... think about how people talk and why societal assumptions, perceptions, and situations become difficult. Even until this day I think people become wary when they hear successful women want to maintain a family and career. Why not? Well, because it is always either or in the way many people see things.
Where am I going at with this? Not sure... but I know that if I can manage to hold down some saavy with multitasking I should be okay these next few years.
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| Last night I went to watch the midnight showing of X3. Although I go to sleep in the wee hours of the night... I forgot that going to watch a midnight showing of any movie can be "slightly" tiring. I am pretty pooped this morning, but I have to say it was worth the energy. Without going into too much detail - it was good. I mean, I think this is where my age comes into play. I think my youger self would have loved it to bits. But for some reason, the first thing I thought when the movie was done was..."I am very pleased and was pleasantly entertained." And I am being totally serious that those were the words the floated in my head. There were great moments that move you because you see the essence of team work, the imbedded message about social realities and how it is paralleled with the X-Men storyline, and the crazy CGI and effects. But I wasn't overboard with how much I loved it like that the other "younger" folks outside the theatre post-movie.
But then again, I don't think I ever was like that. Right? Anyway... so yeah... I think my age at have something to do with it. I'm still thinking about this - or am I so desensitized to visual effects and stuff that I overlook that now and just take the story for what it is (talking about any movie)?
Another observation - Opening nights/midnight showings in LA are much more civilized, organized, and maintained (ok, finally one major critique, which is so stupid tho, about LA vs. NY). The people here, and I have no idea why, are much more rowdy in a bad way - like the "anything to cut or run/rush towards an open door" kinda thing.... it really reminded me of massive raves where people had to push to get in and we're all crazy and shit. | | |
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