seat-swivel view from the office

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an apartment!

Kind of. A future apartment, more like. After 42 craigslist emails, 18 replies, and 7 visits, I've found the lucky spot. From June 1st to August 31st I'll be living in "Hell's Kitchen," a neighborhood just blocks from Times Square. Yes, Hell's Kitchen. The apartment belongs to two girls who are taking off for the summer, and is the nicest, closest, cheapest place I saw. By "nicest" I mean the 5th floor of an old building without an elevator- ha- but it's a little bigger (almost has a living room!), a little cleaner, and a lot better taken care of than many (all?) of the others I looked at. By "closest," I mean 25 minutes walking to everywhere I'll frequent- work, the park, shopping, etc- and by "cheapest," well, we won't go into that. The neighborhood seems really clean and safe, and there are piles upon piles of restaurants, bars, and coffee shops close by.

The catch: I'll be living with "Chris," (a random guy) which was not part of my original plan. I did already meet him and he seems nice enough... maybe a little younger (?), from Florida, works with video/film. I must admit I'd originally hoped to live with 2-3 other "young professional" girls, but the apparent lack thereof- combined with the "nicest-closest-cheapest"- roped me in at the offer. Ah, and I'll have Internet (whew), rooftop-access, and A/C eventually. I can't say there's a whole lot of space, but I can say that visitors are more than welcome. Sign yourself up.

variations on voicemail

I did a very embarrassing thing last night. I "signed" a voicemail. I'm not sure how else to describe it.

It started off as a normal- if rambly- "welcome home" message to my little brother, but ended horribly with the words "talk to you soon. Wendy." Wendy? Wendy?! What is that?!? Granted, I'm just working my way back into telephones, but that's ridiculous.

and kind of funny.

the big move

So here I am in New York City.

I must admit it hasn't yet sunken in that I'm living here. I think it will fairly soon, though, as my days are much more business than pleasure. Still, I'm loving it. Here's what little is going on so far:

The Living Quarters
Temporarily staying at Meri's as I search for a ("cheap"?) place to live.

The Office
45th floor of 1345 Avenue of the Americas (6th) between 54th and 55th... let's just say I have an unobstructed view of all of Central Park at the swivel of my seat. I'm currently working on the corporate banking portal, a new effort to connect branches and information throughout Central and South America. I like it. I don't particularly like the dress code, which requires a full-on suit jacket. People in my office are from everywhere (23% American, I think?), and I definitely hear more Spanish than English. Above all, everyone has been really nice.

The City Life
Working on it!