Talents

How fun is this t-shirt...I found it at none other than the store I am definitely too old to go into now, and yet it tempts me from the corner of 14th Street and 6th Avenue every single Thursday, Urban Outfitters. (Stay tuned for a photo of the St. Patrick's Day t-shirt I bought there last week!) Hey, in defense of me, this shirt is totally soft and comfortable and perfect for an Urban girl who recently went to London and lives in New York. Right? Anyway, my work day was alright today for a change. I'm learning a lot of new things, and allow me to preface what I'm about to say by saying I refuse to talk about my job here, not in this day and age. It's what lands people in the unemployment line, or whatever. Or whatever, it just isn't for me - chronicles of work can stay at work, where they best belong. Nevertheless, today I received a most interesting compliment from a new boss of mine. In my new position, I'm assisting with...let's call it interviewing. During the interviewing process we are obligated to read aloud a very massive document detailing job descriptions. Today was my first opportunity to read aloud to several people in a conference room, and my boss told me immediately following that I am a great narrator, that my reading voice reminded him of a history channel narrator...hum, whatever that means! I thanked him profusely because secretly, I was fairly proud for the fact that I haven't read the document in its entirety in my head (though I've sat in while others read from it) and yet I never stumbled over any of the words! I was also secretly appreciative that my effort was noticed. Cheers to you, new boss, for making one of your juniors feel good during the regular work week!*So I left work a little early, then, to head to class. My first mission, on the train, was to read a piece written by a classmate and comment. After that, I popped in the ear buds and listened to some tunes other than Regina Spektor, thank you very much! (nevermind the fact that I am presently listening to one of her CDs that a classmate graciously burned for me and gave me tonight...) I'm here to say, and mean this: there is nothing in the world like listening to music and riding the subway. The entire world is turned on its head. All of the intricate and intimate details of the manic pace of New York come together to make sense. Daily routine boils down to a subway ride; precious moments can be summed up in a subway ride. I am possibly the biggest fan of subway riding you will ever meet. It settles me right down when I'm anxious. Especially, it does so, while I'm listening to music that I love. And so anyway, I guess it's appropriate to note what a small world it is: around Rockefeller Center this guy got on my F train car - he was somewhat artsy in appearance, maybe European, but had a peculiar scarf I didn't understand tied around his neck and extremely long dress shoes, ski-like in nature. What I noticed most of all were his weird glasses frames. So what, right? I notice all kinds of people and their details all the time - it's part of wanting to be a writer so badly - consuming human details. The faux-Euro guy got off at 14th Street in front of me, and disappeared into the crowd. Needless to say, following my class two hours later, I brushed past the same faux-Euro guy on my way out of my school building! I'm not kidding - it's a small world, so be careful what you say and around whom.*Class was alright tonight. We discussed some stories I'm not all too on board with, but it was okay. I love the instructor's passion, still. I left class, took the L from 14th Street to 14th Street (so much less confusing than the Tube in London, I swear!) and made my transfer to the Uptown Express platform, where I experienced absolute and utter chaos in my head while I attempted to listen to Modest Mouse from the iPod and tune out the mad live percussionist who pounded his beat using an empty bucket and the neighboring steel trash bin. He was thrashing his sticks so furiously into his makeshift drum set, it was making my head swim. Finally my train showed up, I got on it, got back to the neighborhood quickly and discovered, by calling my Craig to instruct him what Chinese to order, that he was shaking and shivering with flu-like symptoms! For those with loved ones, hopefully everyone has loved ones, relate to this fact that when the person you love is sick, it's excruciatingly painful. You want to help so badly, but there's barely a thing you can do but tuck them into warmth and feed them water. I showed him my new t-shirt and through a thin smile, poor guy, he said he thinks it's so cute. Now he's asleep and it's getting to be that time again. I don't have any more live performances at work this week, so tomorrow will be quiet, thankfully. I'm just genuinely looking forward to crawling into a weekend. Hopefully Craig will feel better soon.*