Dean is working on me to work on my powers of positive thinking, and along those lines, I’ve decided to assume I will get a real job for next year, despite some indications to the contrary. A corollary to this is that I will, most likely, be leaving NYC in about a year. I think I am okay with this. I think, actually, maybe it is what I want. All told, I’ve lived here 9 years and some months, and lately I have been feeling ready for a new setting, a new set of streets to figure out, a new set of future favorite hang-outs to discover. So in preparation for what feels like a probable departure, and in order to balance out some of the stresses ahead that are necessary precursors to leaving (finishing the diss, going on the market, getting a few more publications out, finishing the diss), I’ve decided every week to do at least one special NYC thing. I want to get back in touch with some of the wonderful parts of this city that are not always easy to access when you’ve gotten used to this place and caught up in the mundane details of everyday life. This week, a double-header launch. First: Tuesday night, for seasonal inspiration, went to a free screening of Wet Hot American Summer at the McCarren Pool. I didn’t mind the crowds, and I LOL’d plenty. My future husband Ted said the screening was the most hipsters you could possibly gather in one place, in the epicenter of hipster culture, doing the most hipsterish activity imaginable. I noted that if a bomb was dropped on us, American Apparel would go out of business. Second: Tonight, sick of myself and my dissertation and my office, abandoned my books and walked to MOMA, stopping along the way to eat an expensive but delicious sandwich in Bryant Park. I didn’t realize it was Free Friday until I got to the museum–the crowds were kind of unbearable. But then I found a quiet corner on the third floor, an exhibit from the drawings collection, with nobody but me and a handful of Europeans to quietly enjoy the works on paper. I saw a few favorites–Malevich, Albers, Maholy-Nagy. Something about one work by Kandinsky got me sentimental, a mood I’ve yet to shake.
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Please don’t go.
That said, I’ve been spending lots of time at the Met lately, and am a superfan of the Friday and Saturday nights they advertise on television. Call me, or if you want to actually reach me, leave a comment on my blog. I’ll show you my favorites.
Glad to hear you’re practicing positive thinking. I could use some lessons in that direction myself.
Well, if you move to LA you can find new favorite hangouts AND hit up your old favorite hangouts! Here’s to positive thinking!
oh, I and I love that you have two links to your old blog in your new blog. that’s class.
and I hear that that Ted guy is hot.
I love the step-outside-and-see-what-happens afternoon. When I was finishing my diss I found it helpful to go ahead and continue living my life as if nothing big was due. It was actually helpful.
I will join the job market positive thinking game with you. My advice? Don’t spend too much time at the websites where your peers are all freaking out. It never helps.
Jack: You know I’d re-join you in Los Angeles in a heartbeat. Especially now that you are hanging out with Big Brother celebs from our past. Thanks for the voicemail, would love to chat as soon as I dig myself out of the current dissertation sink-hole I’m in. Really, I’m fine.
Emily: The Met advertises on TV? Not just the Mets? I’m intrigued… And positively thinking on your behalf.
Kate: Sage words. Those websites only make me feel insecure and panicked. I’m sticking to blogs about bikes, lunch, and home decor from now on.
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