Day Eighty-Seven: Sunday Night Dinner Party

My friend Alex invited me to a dinner party at his place tonight.  He recently moved to the neighborhood.  Lyla and I arrive and we are greeted at the door by Kara, Alison and Marisa.  Alison and Marisa went to Cornell and graduated two years before me.  It’s refreshing to meet nice, fun and smart girls.  Gustavo whips up some homemade ravioli, which we enjoy with some delicious wine. 

I tell the girls about my trip and my plan to drive to California with Lyla to see what happens there.  I could rent a short term apartment and perhaps settle in LA or San Francisco.  I love New York, but I want to try the west coast. 

“There is so much stimulation in New York,” Marissa offers.  “This city has ADD, when it comes to the the places we go, the people we’re with and the career we’re pursuing.”  It’s what make New York so great, but it also makes it an exhausting place to live.  People lack balance. 

I’m ready to try living somewhere else.  I think Lyla and I will like California.

Day Eighty-Five: Champs!

I love being on a team.  It brings me back to high school.   Sports were an escape in high school and college.  Every day, after the school day was over, we would go to the locker rooms and get ready for practice.  Soccer, basketball, softball.  Everything else going on in our little lives was put on hold.  The social stigmas disappeared for two hours after school, every day.  Despite our differences, we were all working towards something.  A common goal connected us.  It felt so good to be part of a team.  We truly shared our accomplishments.

Dan, Stephanie, Rob and Jack at post-game drinksFirms appeal to this by pitching the “teamwork” element of a job.  I liked the people on my team at my old job, but the bureaucracy and the hierarchy always made me feel so small, no matter how large my contribution.

It’s so good to play soccer on a team again.  We won the chelsea piers winter league championship tonight.  It feels amazing and nostalgic to share the victory with my friends. See more pictures.

Day Eighty-Four: New Directions

I haven’t sent my resume to anyone this week.  I don’t want to go work for a bank or another financial institution again, ever.  I want to work with something tangible.  The job I came back for was ideal, but did it ever exist?  Can I find it again elsewhere?

Business development for a start-up is what I would like to do, but I need to find the right business.  I need to talk to people.  Perhaps I should stay in California after Coachella and head to San Francisco, the start-up capital.  Do I come back to New York first to pick up Lyla and then drive out there?  I can that decide later, but I am going.

Jay is my date tonight.  We are going to a fundraiser for Seeds of Peace, an organization that supports young leaders in the Middle East.  It’s good to see some old friends and catch up.  See more pictures.

Sima and me at Pacha for Peace Market 2011Me, Sima, Olivia and CamilleJay and Nicki at Don Hills for the after party

Day Eighty-Two: Spring Cleaning

I wake up this morning and I want to do something really productive.  It’s raining.  Time for spring cleaning.

I go through the line-up for Coachella and download some new music to play as I clean.  On today’s playlist:

The Strokes
Kings of Leon
Mumford & Sons
Kanye
Nas & Damien Marley
Ratatat
Cut Copy

I can’t wait to see all of these bands.

Lyla had to ride in the cart in Bed, Bath and Beyond

Six hours, one bottle of fantastik, four bags of clothes for the salvation army and seven trash bags later, my apartment is clean.  I went through the piles and stacks of magazines.  The little things I tucked into corners in the apartment in a chaotic manner were aggregated, compartmentalized, labeled and organized.  Even Lyla got a bath.

Now I just need to get the rest of my life in order…

Day Seventy-Eight: Unemployed

I pull myself out of bed at one in the afternoon.  Lyla lets me sleep.  It’s raining.  Lyla pops her head up when I sit up in bed.  She comes and cuddles with me for a while before I pull it together.  I’m giving myself today.  I put on Toots and the Maytals and dance with Lyla as I clean the apartment.  Another day unemployed.

If everything happens for a reason, this new development will lead me to something else.  I’m back in New York, but maybe the job isn’t the only reason.  I have to hope it’s not the only reason.  I need to see what happens here.  Life has a funny way of shaping us.  One opportunity is gone, but thats ok.  Maybe the next thing will be better.  Maybe I should think about starting my own thing.