A man tries to sleep
In the sunlight as children
Throw garbage at him
I wanted to strangle them with the sleeves of their crested prep school blazers. Instead, I asked them how they could possibly treat a fellow human being like that. They found my question hilarious. I guess that was my answer.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Day 211: Rain dance
I'm a sodden mess
My forgotten umbrella
Is laughing at home
Also, I smell like a wet sheep.
My forgotten umbrella
Is laughing at home
Also, I smell like a wet sheep.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Day 209: Sympathy, Exhaustion, Insomnia
A small sigh escapes
From a mother absently
Pushing a stroller
She looked so sleepy and wistful. I think she was daydreaming about switching places with her two children for a few minutes. I for one wouldn't mind being pushed around the park in a stroller until I dozed off, and I don't even have a baby keeping me up at night. I look at a woman like her (a mom who looks genuinely nice, not the bossy and entitled type that you see so often around here) and it makes me think "wow, I have no reason to feel tired."
Although in my defense, being unemployed and frighteningly broke does severely impact one's ability to sleep. Especially when your dreams involve muggers handing you an eviction notice as they beat you up and take your wallet.
From a mother absently
Pushing a stroller
She looked so sleepy and wistful. I think she was daydreaming about switching places with her two children for a few minutes. I for one wouldn't mind being pushed around the park in a stroller until I dozed off, and I don't even have a baby keeping me up at night. I look at a woman like her (a mom who looks genuinely nice, not the bossy and entitled type that you see so often around here) and it makes me think "wow, I have no reason to feel tired."
Although in my defense, being unemployed and frighteningly broke does severely impact one's ability to sleep. Especially when your dreams involve muggers handing you an eviction notice as they beat you up and take your wallet.
Day 208: Bargain hunting fail
Even castoffs from
Your brownstone castle are far
Out of my price range
I've been haiku-ing far faster than I've been posting lately. Recently, Brooklyn Heights hosted a neighborhood-wide stoop sale in conjunction with the Atlantic Antic, a massively popular street fair that gives me severe agita . Brooklyn Heights is a gorgeous , affluent *** neighborhood full of palatial brownstone townhouses, many with historical and architectural significance.
However, these people could learn a thing or two about stoop sales. I walked by a stoop sale where a woman was looking at a glass candy dish. Nothing fancy. The kind of thing you'd expect to pay $1 for at a stoop sale in most places. When she asked the homeowner how much the dish was, the answer was $30. She put it down like it had bitten her. The next door neighbor's cheapest stoop sale item was $150. No, not $1.50. One hundred and fifty dollars.
***And yes, the property in the link above rents for $11,500 a month. I guess price tags like that skew your perception of reality. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a $300 salad fork to sell.
Your brownstone castle are far
Out of my price range
I've been haiku-ing far faster than I've been posting lately. Recently, Brooklyn Heights hosted a neighborhood-wide stoop sale in conjunction with the Atlantic Antic, a massively popular street fair that gives me severe agita . Brooklyn Heights is a gorgeous , affluent *** neighborhood full of palatial brownstone townhouses, many with historical and architectural significance.
However, these people could learn a thing or two about stoop sales. I walked by a stoop sale where a woman was looking at a glass candy dish. Nothing fancy. The kind of thing you'd expect to pay $1 for at a stoop sale in most places. When she asked the homeowner how much the dish was, the answer was $30. She put it down like it had bitten her. The next door neighbor's cheapest stoop sale item was $150. No, not $1.50. One hundred and fifty dollars.
***And yes, the property in the link above rents for $11,500 a month. I guess price tags like that skew your perception of reality. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a $300 salad fork to sell.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Day 207: Hand in hand
A small quick-eyed girl
In a pink plastic raincoat
Clasps her father's hand
She was just taking it all in.
In a pink plastic raincoat
Clasps her father's hand
She was just taking it all in.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Day 206: Blue on blue
Bright sunlight cascades
Off a sea of broken tiles
A trash mosaic
I think they were a casualty of the ever-present remodeling in the neighborhood.
Off a sea of broken tiles
A trash mosaic
I think they were a casualty of the ever-present remodeling in the neighborhood.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Day 205: Burning questions
To stay or to go?
How can we afford to live?
Yet how can we leave?
Intrepid Boyfriend and I are in a bit of a crisis right now. I've lived in Brooklyn for over 5 years; IB for a little more than 3. We love our very small, comparatively affordable apartment. We love our building, which has an elevator, a non-creepy laundry room, and the kind of superintendent that other renters in this city dream about. We love our neighborhood, Kensington, which I think of as Park Slope's secretly hip maiden aunt.
Here are some things I don't love: Our increasingly futile search for even the most humble jobs in the legal field. IB and I thought we had enough in savings to bridge the gap between graduating from law school and finding jobs. Guess what? That gap is more of a chasm, really. I don't love the fact that the only job I have been able to find is a part-time position that is not in my field, and for which I receive an embarrassingly low hourly wage. But the thing I love least of all is being told that said hourly wage, while laughable when measured against rent and student loan payments (forget about groceries, utilities, and transportation) is enough to take us out of the running for any kind of publicly funded health care program. Strike that. The thing I love least of all is this feeling that I am completely powerless to change any of these things.
So, we are faced with a question: How much longer can we live like this? Meaning, how much longer can we afford to live in New York City? It's not a question of refusing to apply for certain jobs as a matter of pride. Neither of us has much pride left, and we get a lot of "we can't hire you because you have too much experience" or "you'll just quit when a law job comes along" when we apply for non-law jobs. We can't even find temp agencies to take us on.
It's starting to look like our only option is to move in with my parents, who live in another part of New York state (about as far as you can get from New York City without leaving the state), and to live there until we can find jobs in another (cheaper) city.
We've made a home here. It's not perfect, but I'm not sure I'm ready to uproot -- especially when the job market doesn't seem much better anywhere else. Is it worth it to pay more than we can afford to live where there are more jobs, but also more recent law grads vying for them? Or is it better to move someplace significantly cheaper where there are fewer jobs, but less competition?
How can we afford to live?
Yet how can we leave?
Intrepid Boyfriend and I are in a bit of a crisis right now. I've lived in Brooklyn for over 5 years; IB for a little more than 3. We love our very small, comparatively affordable apartment. We love our building, which has an elevator, a non-creepy laundry room, and the kind of superintendent that other renters in this city dream about. We love our neighborhood, Kensington, which I think of as Park Slope's secretly hip maiden aunt.
Here are some things I don't love: Our increasingly futile search for even the most humble jobs in the legal field. IB and I thought we had enough in savings to bridge the gap between graduating from law school and finding jobs. Guess what? That gap is more of a chasm, really. I don't love the fact that the only job I have been able to find is a part-time position that is not in my field, and for which I receive an embarrassingly low hourly wage. But the thing I love least of all is being told that said hourly wage, while laughable when measured against rent and student loan payments (forget about groceries, utilities, and transportation) is enough to take us out of the running for any kind of publicly funded health care program. Strike that. The thing I love least of all is this feeling that I am completely powerless to change any of these things.
So, we are faced with a question: How much longer can we live like this? Meaning, how much longer can we afford to live in New York City? It's not a question of refusing to apply for certain jobs as a matter of pride. Neither of us has much pride left, and we get a lot of "we can't hire you because you have too much experience" or "you'll just quit when a law job comes along" when we apply for non-law jobs. We can't even find temp agencies to take us on.
It's starting to look like our only option is to move in with my parents, who live in another part of New York state (about as far as you can get from New York City without leaving the state), and to live there until we can find jobs in another (cheaper) city.
We've made a home here. It's not perfect, but I'm not sure I'm ready to uproot -- especially when the job market doesn't seem much better anywhere else. Is it worth it to pay more than we can afford to live where there are more jobs, but also more recent law grads vying for them? Or is it better to move someplace significantly cheaper where there are fewer jobs, but less competition?
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