New Beginnings (at last)

  A month ago I was working on the power of positive thinking.  I had a second interview at an investment firm and I was sure that this was "my job".  When I got the email from the office manager saying that they had decided to go with a different candidate I was devastated.

  I let myself have a day or two to have a good cry then I got back to Craig's List and to my contacts.  A friend gave me an introduction to a recruiter in the New York City office of her firm. I had a wonderful interview and although they were still interviewing I really felt that I had a good chance of being offered a position.  While I was waiting for a call back a recruiter that I had met with several months ago gave me a call and told me that she had an interview for me to go on.

  She said the job was a temp to perm position and they needed someone to start on Monday (this was on a Wednesday).  Well, I had no interest in being a temp and as much as I dislike "un-named retailer" I could not in all good conscientious leave without giving notice. But I had not actually received an offer from the job I had recently interviewed with, so I was not in a position to turn my back on any opportunity.  I tried to stay mindful and prayerful and asked that if this was going to be the right job for me that all of my wish list must be met.  My list included,  1) location - midtown Manhattan, 2) enough money for us to finally enjoy life in one of the most expensive city in the world, 3) respectful and friendly work environment, 4) reasonable daytime hours, 5) a job requiring the skills I have and not the skills I wish I had, 6) and finally a company that does not have a problem with my "older worker" status.

  When the employment agency gave me the address I was thrilled to see 30 Rockefeller Center.  I could not dream of a more mid-town address.  She also sent me the estimated salary which was well above my wildest dreams. During the interview the receptionist who is being promoted into another position told me that average employee has been with the company for five years.  She herself has been there for seven years (and at age 55 was being promoted to work for a managing partner).  I asked about the temp to hire situation and they said that they do not just call an agency and hope that any temp that shows up works out.  They interview the candidate and bring them on with all intents of bringing them on as permanent employees. When they asked me when I could start I told them I would not be able to start for another ten days. As I was walking out the current receptionist said that she was so glad that I had said I was not available for another week because she herself was not ready for the transition until after the 4th of July holiday.  They asked me to start on July 7th.   I accepted.

  As I was leaving the building looking up at the famous Rockefeller Center landmarks I literally had to pinch myself.  A line from the Rogers and Hammerstein "Cinderella" came to mind.  "Can this be real?  Or am I in a dream?"  It was everything I had dreamed of.  There was even the added perk of a television in the reception area tuned into CNN (I'm a t.v. junkie). 

  So I gave my notice at "un-named retailer".   I burned through and did what I needed to do to leave on good terms.  Don't worry, I have a book in the works to detail my 2 1/2 year journey from beginning to end with all the highs and many, many lows of my retail experience.

  Today I got up and put on a pretty dress and a pair of heels and headed off to work. 

  There is really not a lot to say about the day.  I scheduled conference rooms, answered phones, and sorted mail.  I looked down on the skating rink at Rockefeller Center and looked out to the south on the Empire State Building.  I spoke to friendly, professional people, and began and ended my day during civilized daytime hours. When I got home Jeff said that I seemed depressed.  I am not depressed or disappointed,  After years of racing at "un-named retailors" to keep up with an endless pace for a thankless management team I think I'm stunned.  Stunned but thankful.

Don't Push People or Touch Their Cars

I know I recently wrote a blog about sidewalk congestion, so I hate to get stuck on a point, but today I pushed a tourist in the morning and I almost got beat up at noon causing me to step back and take a look at my own "road rage".

Most of the revolving doors in New York City that are in hotels are automated so that they revolve on a motion detector.  When you step in they start to move.  But the majority of revolving door in all of the other thousands of buildings in New York City (and the world) revolve the old fashioned way by you actually having to push the door. Every day I see tourist walking into these doorways and minimally pushing the door forward.  If you watch them they get about as far as halfway through and stop so that they are caged in the doorway standing frozen waiting for the door to revolve.  I work across the plaza from the Today Show, so my day begins with cheering fans making their way from the subway and area hotels towards the shows audience pen.  I understand that they don't know the area and are confused by the Rockefeller Center complex with eight very similar looking buildings, but when they emerge from the subway and need to proceed from the building onto the city sidewalk watching their confusion as they try to pass through a revolving door is almost mind boggling.  Today I was in a rush.  I saw three woman (all wearing matching bright orange t-shirts) heading towards the same revolving door that I needed to use.  The first woman pushed the door slowly and proceeded, the second woman got through on the momentum from the first woman, but the third woman was trapped in the door.  I honestly did not realize that she had stopped mid turn until I gave the door a good push and she went flying forward as the door hit her in the back.  She was not hurt, but she was startled.  She went stumbling out and she and her friends burst into laughter.  At least they had a sense of humor about her not knowing how to work a revolving door and the fact that it was my push that sent her flying.

You CANNOT speed through a crosswalk!

The second incident was my fault.  And if I had seen Jeff do what I did I would have given him an earful.  At lunch time I was 49th and Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue).  The walk sign lit up white and the throngs began to walk through the crosswalk.  A dark blue SUV turned the corner from coming uptown on Avenue of the Americas onto 49th Street.  Anyone knows that a car turning onto a cross street at that time of day may have to wait until their green light is almost red again before there is a break in pedestrian traffic to make the turn.  This woman barreled through and almost ran over some people.  I was literally face to face with her when she plowed into the crowd.  I knocked on her car window and yelled something at her (I honestly don't remember what because I was so startled by her driving).  She glanced at me and proceeded forward.  She had barely proceeded a quarter of the way down the block before she stopped her vehicle practically in the middle of the road and got out.  I was walking down the sidewalk by this time, but I had glanced back.  Then I saw her standing on the corner scouring the crowds in my direction. I realized that she was looking for the crazy woman that had deigned to knock on her car window.  I know better than to touch a person or their car in New York City.  In a town where we rub shoulders daily on the subways, in elevators, and in shops the unwritten rule is that you never purposely touch a person or their belongings with your hands. I had just reacted spontaneously and now a nut was out of her car looking to hunt me down to seek revenge for me knocking on her car window.

I ducked into a bank for safety.  I've seen one too many iPhone videos on the news where the crowd watches someone being beat up and no one intervenes, and I had no interest in being a You Tube sensation.  I figured if I was in bank the security officer would be obliged to break up the attack and their would be security cameras to capture the woman's image for her arrest. After a few minutes I lost track of the woman in the crowd, but her car stayed in the street for about three minutes from the time she stopped in her madness.  I was safe, but shaken.

Lessens learned.  Unless I want to knock a tourist off of her Sketchers I need to push revolving doors with care, and NEVER touch anyone's car. I tell myself that I can handle the masses and the every day pressures of living on an island with 8,000,000 people, but I must admit there are days when it gets to me. 

The Homecoming

  We left Colorado two and half years ago, leaving the home that the five of us lived in for 11 years.  As much as we all look back on our beloved home on South Pine Road in Evergreen we have all come to appreciate that home is were the family is and not the physical address that we reside.

  Both Hunter and Jordan flew from their lives in Colorado and Japan to spend Christmas with us in New York City.  It has taken several years to feel like I have truly nested into our new lives here.  But for them coming home is more than just being at a physical address it means coming back to the safety and familiarity of "home". Everyone's family has a certain feel, smell, and flavor.  When you go home you know the smell of the towels and you can expect the classic foods in your refrigerator/cabinet.  For weeks before the kids arrived Cameron and I would be shopping and I'd grab something off the store shelf and say, "Oh, I have to get these for Hunter" or " Jordan will want me to have those.  She loves them."  They may have never bought Sunshine Snack Mix or Queen Anne's Chocolate Covered Cherries for themselves, but you feel compelled to make sure those flavors of the past are available to them when they visit.  As I'm buying all this junk food for Jordan and Hunter, Cameron is asking me why I'm buying all this crap for them but she never gets any treats.  Of course, she can't understand that six years from now when she is visiting from college I will be sure to have Nutella in the cabinet although she may be long past that teenage food fad. 

  Jeff and I have a queen sized bed in our bedroom, Cam has a twin, and we have fold-out queen in the living room.  Between the five of us we had rotating sleeping arrangements.  Jordan being the only person who does not have a regular bed (she sleeps on a futon in Japan) had less fold-out couch time than anyone else during her 10 day visit. The one (and maybe only) desirable thing about the fold out couch was the memory lane bedding, including the Toy Story and Lion King pillow cases, flannel elk patterned sheets, and the Olsen Twins comforter from Wal-Mart circa 2000.  There is something humbling and comforting about sleeping on childhood bedding.

  So the kids are home and snuggled in.  And now we all regress.

  One afternoon after I got off of work I met the kids down on 5th Avenue and 42nd Street.  Hunter had never been to the New York City Central Public Library so we went in for a bathroom break and a photo shoot.  When we were out front taking photos of the lions Hunter framed a photo and said to me, "Ok, Mom, stand here and shoot when I say when."  Before I knew it Hunter had nimbly scaled the lion and was sitting on his back.  You have to understand that as a mother what I see is not a great photo op, but instead a missed step that sends my baby plummeting to the concrete below or the sound of a cop's whistle calling him down to issue a ticket for trespassing.  Thank god none of that happened and it was a great shot (see below).  But in that minute of taking the photo I am no longer the mother of a 22 year old man, but instead I regress to the mother of a 14 year old boy who is climbing to the top of a 50 foot pine tree in the backyard and wants me to take a photo of him, which I oblige just to get him to come down.

  Cameron is a wonderfully self-assured and accomplished high school girl.  But after a day running around the city with Jordan and Hunter she was a puddle of tears telling me that they didn't pay any attention to her and disregarded her knowledge of the city. Jordan and Hunter are both well traveled but no one knows the city like Camie, but they negated that with her little sister status.

  Jordan is sunshine and light, except.... for a secret side of her personality that Hunter and Cam call "Sheila".  Forget that Jordan has graduated from college and now lives in Japan.  She can't resist being the big sis.  She has an opinion on who's turn it is to do the dishes, spending Mom and Dad's money, who's turn it is to walk the dog, and which subway line is the safest way to their destination. 

  My children have all grown up to be so self-sufficient and responsible, yet somehow when they are sleeping under my roof I have the need to know where they are, where they are going, what time they will be home, and who has Cameron with them.  When they are spending their own hard earned money I can't resist asking if they really have money for that or if they really need that.  My two older kids have tackled the subways of foreign cities and Cam navigates the NYC subway city on a daily basis, yet when the three of them head to Soho together I insist on them calling me once they reach their destination so that I will know they are not lost somewhere in Queens.  

  Between everyone's holiday "must" list we accomplished a lot.  Hunter wanted to go shopping in Chinatown for his Fayus shoes and teas (check), Jordan needed to go the dentist, get a flu shot, and exchange a game at Game Stop (check), and Cameron wanted to hang out with Jordan and Hunter and go see "Frozen" (check).   Jeff wanted to get through the holidays without getting caught up in a work IT emergency (check), and I wanted to stop time while we were all snuggled on the couch watching "The Waltons - A Homecoming" (fail). 

  Last February we adopted a dog from Bark Animal Shelter in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  When we lost our beloved Golden Retriever, Trooper three years ago we never imagined replacing him, but we truly believe that our little Oliver is blessed by Trooper to be our new dog.  Just having him in our apartment, making his walks in Central Park part of our daily routine, and hushing his barking at the noise in the general hallway makes our apartment feel like a full house.

  Life in New York City is so hard and so wonderful.  But when we are all together eating the same delicious Christmas feast that Jeff used to make in Evergreen we are a family without a city.  We are a family cherishing our history, our independence, and each other.


 


 

Me, Social Media, and New York City

  I will readily admit that I am slow to jump on any form of technology, including various forms of social media.  I joined Facebook back in-the-day and stopped at that.  My seventeen year old daughter, Cameron, informed me this summer that I am "old school" and "out of the loop" not being on Instagram and SnapChat, but at the same time she said that those social medias are not for moms.  I had her set me up with SnapChat, and I pressed a few buttons and much to my surprise I downloaded Instagram to my phone.  The part that I have not figured out is how any of the people that I follow or who are following me connected on these mediums.  I guess if I want my followers to grow I need to figure that out, but for now I'm just trying to figure out the nuances of those accounts.



M7 bus love for SnapChat

Cameron has informed me that I am doing SnapChat totally wrong.  I like to take a photo and send it to all the individuals that I want to follow me on SnapChat, but I also post it to My Story, because I like to create little daily vignettes of my life (particularly my daily life as I traverse the street of NYC).  She said that the people who I send individual photos to don't need to get them individually, but in fact can just look at My Story.  I would argue, how will they know I have added to My Story if I don't keep them updated?  Yesterday I thought I had a particularly visually interesting day combining photos and mini video so I was sitting on the coach replaying My Story for my own enjoyment.  Cameron came out of her room and saw what I was doing.  "Oh, my god, Mom, I can't believe you are watching your own story over and over."  I told her that I wanted to review the interesting images that I had captured.  She informed me that "NO ONE DOES THAT".  She said that SnapChat is supposed to be used like texting except with photos and short captions.  Hmmm..., well, then I would agree that I don't do that at all.  If I want to have a conversation I will text someone, or better yet, call them.  For me SnapChat is a way to communicate to my friends the funny little things and people that I come across as I go through my day walking to work, shopping during my lunch hours, commuting on the subway home, and just generally being in New York City. 

Instagram worthy pancakes

  So you might say that that is what Instagram is for, but I disagree.  For me Instagram is more artistic.  I don't want to just post any photo (that's for Facebook).  I want my Instagram account to reflect my artistic view of me and what I see in the city.  The trick with Instagram is that I don't know how to get people to follow me.  Actually, I was complaining about this to Cameron the other day and she said that I am supposed to be using hashtags (#'s) so that other people using the same hashtags will look at my pictures and if they like what they see they will follow me.  So now I'm having to think of catchy, yet common, tags for my pictures (i.e. #cafeamrita, #dayatLongBeach, #farmersmarket).  I can proudly say that a farmer's market in Montreal is now following me after I posted a picture of the Rockefeller Center farmers market near my office.

Stealth Snapchat shot

   The most challenging thing to do for any of these mediums is to get the candid photos that I want.  I like to do fashion "hits and misses", which can be tricky.  Besides being stealth my older Andriod phone does not take the clearest pictures so I really need to be close and still to get the shot.  Well, as you can imagine, standing two four feet away from someone and getting a still shot is rather obvious.  My friend, Charlene, said some day someone is going to beat me up. Last week I was with Cameron walking down 5th Avenue and I saw a girl who was my "fashion DO" of the day.  She was walking quite fast so I had to practically run after her.  Cam got a video of me stalking this girl. LOL!  I found humor in it, but I might need to consider being a little less obvious.

  My brother, Clinton, was recently visiting and I asked him to download SnapChat so that he could get a dose of NYC whenever he wanted it from my daily stories.  He looked at me quizzically then began to laugh.  He said, "Do you actually have followers on SnapChat?"  I told him I do.  He asked how many of them were over the age of 13.  Rude.  Yes, I will admit that my foundation is based on Cameron's friends, but my network is growing.  I write my blog for myself.  I have been keeping this form of a journal since we moved her in June of 2011.  There have been many entries that only have as many views as I can count close family members, but that does not dissuade me from writing.  So.... just like writing I like snapping photos of what I see in the city.  If my observations are better appreciated by the younger generation, then so be it.  It's all in fun and I hope no one is judging anyone on what they post an something as trivial as SnapChat or Instagram. 

  For now I am writing, and snapping, and posting all of the quirky little things that I see in my daily life. Read, view and respond, or don't, but for now I'm enjoying documenting my observations, chasing fashion Do's and Don't down the street, and posting it all online.  So what if I only have 39 Instagram followers, I'm just getting started!