For auld lang syne
How do you measure a year? 365 days, 525,600 minutes. To appreciate the madness that was 2013, we have to go back to how this year began. On NYE last year, I was sitting in the office of the Employee Health Service at NYU Langone Medical Center. I was being told by the nurse there that I needed medical clearance before I could start as an intern there. And that required me to get a TB test again as the ones I took to get cleared for Coler-Goldwater earlier in the year didn’t meet the one year requirement that I can use them. That moment of disappointment went away knowing that later in the evening, my family would have dinner that night with my cousins. Only to find out at 9:40PM that our cousins started partying hours ago and couldn’t make it. My mom was Pissed Off and that sucked all the joy out of the room. The highlight of dinner was my dad being pissed that we had white wine at dinner, instead of the customary bottle of Merlot. The bottle of Asti Spumante was taken out of the fridge and at midnight my mother was already in bed. We were all in their bedroom at midnight and said “Happy New Year” to each other. It was all over at 12:05AM on New Year’s Day as is the case during every other NYE.
Getting the TB test wouldn’t be easy as my doctor didn’t have any appointments until January 25th. But I waited and by February, I got my clearance. The only problem now was where to place me. I thought I was going to be in the Compliance Department but that didn’t happen due to them undergoing re-accreditation. I waited again until a place opened up with the Employee Health Service in late February. I trudged through the snow to meet my supervisor the first Friday in March and got my ID photo taken two weeks later. On Monday March 18th, the long wait was over and the work readiness program began. With the first task given, I felt I was in over my head. I had to use their computers to document whether the employees were current on their flu shots. I didn’t realize I was doing it wrong until after the fact. I would then be working out of the medical records room filing away their charts. I would be finished with a certain amount only to have the staff put more on the cart. As one member of the front desk staff put it: “We have so much to file away, you’ll be here forever”. All of this began to build up a frustration as I left the building more times that not in a crappy mood. It came to head on Monday May 13th. It seemed like a normal day but then my counselor comes into the room to observe me filing amidst allegations that files were going missing. Everything went okay but she still wanted to see me in her office at lunch. I had a bad feeling about it as she usually summons me after I get out of the office at 2PM. I was told at the meeting it would be my last working there. I was devastated by the news and I had to go back to EHS and get my coat. Once there, my supervisor pulled me aside as I was a teary mess kicking myself as I said goodbye without anyone else seeing me. The only reason it went down like this was that they couldn’t find someone to stay with me in the room the whole time there to make sure everything was going smoothly. I later found out that it I would be moving out of there but it was no consolation.
I was trying to make sense of what had happened, when on Thursday of the same week my counselor calls and tells me she found another site for me. After the ensuing disaster, I was all too eager to move on and told her to set up the meeting for the following Tuesday. It was 90 degrees on Tuesday afternoon the 21st of May but I arrived at the Housing Works Product Distribution Center in Long Island City. From the moment I walked in the building and met my new supervisor, I knew things would be radically different. My first day was Thursday June 6th. In any new situation, I have difficulty in opening up to other people and this was no exception. The first tasks were to turn a stack of loose papers regarding operations of their thrift stores into one long Word document. As the month wore on, I was introduced to the staff of the Donation Call Center and would spend a portion of my five hours every Tuesday and Thursday sorting out the donation receipts as they came in. By July, I had already settled in and was enjoying working at the PDC, despite it being really hot in the building. Around mid July, I was introduced to someone new, an angel disguised as the assistant floor manager. I kept thinking why is she showing me so much affection, I didn’t even know her or do anything to deserve it. But being with her helped me bring out the person I wished to be, confident and sociable instead of the meek and timid person that actually exists. I was supposed to have finished my internship on August 6th but it was extended to get to the exact 40 business days the program called for which meant it would end on October 29th. As I felt the love from the entire staff upon my exit and still do, the 4 1/2 months working at the PDC was the best moment of this year.
It was a busy year, aside from the search for employment . I went to four concerts this year, Rush at Nikon @ Jones Beach Theater in June, Red Bull Sound Select featuring The Gaslight Anthem in July, Queens of the Stone Age @ the Barclays Center and Erin & Her Cello’s A Holiday Spectacular at the Rockwood Music Hall in December. Weather was the one connection between these four events as it rained at Jones Beach, it was a hot day heading in to Irving Plaza, it snowed and rained in Brooklyn the night of QOTSA and there was snow and ice on the ground making walking an adventure on the Lower East Side. I also saw five theatrical productions this year, four of them I won tickets to: Forbidden Broadway:Alive & Kicking, F**** Up Everything, Let It Be on Broadway and Luce @ Lincoln Center Theater. The one show I paid for was The Last Five Years @ Second Stage, which I went to with my sister and nearly didn’t happen as tickets were selling fast but we were able to get the 30 under 30 tickets for the penultimate performance. I also visited John Jay twice. In April, it was for the Alumni reunion at the urging of a certain friend. I was on my own and it was looking like a forgettable evening but until a girl happened to notice me from walking the halls and it both saved the night and I made a new friend. I came back to campus Thanksgiving week for the Homecoming basketball doubleheader against CCNY. I enjoyed myself that night, especially the Men’s game that went to overtime but thankfully both teams won. The month of November ended with the assistant floor manager’s birthday extravaganza at her apartment in Brooklyn. Despite my dad’s fears about my safety, I thoroughly enjoyed myself that Saturday night and early Sunday morning of my birthday, made many new friends and made it home in one piece.
The one thing I didn’t get to do this year was travel. As the year began, I didn’t want to let go of my trip to Paris & London as it was the best moment of the post-college years so far. I found out the DK Travel was giving away tickets to the New York Times Travel Show the weekend of January 18th and I jumped at the chance to go that Sunday. With so many companies and destinations on display, it made me wish I had enough money to travel again. The show only reintroduced the travel bug. But this year I had to settle for living vicariously through my sister & mother as they traveled and the pictures of other friends and their travels.
As this year is coming to it’s end, there might be a glimmer of hope on the horizon.Last Friday after two weeks of twists and turns, I interviewed for the Donation/Dispatch Associate position within the PDC at Housing Works. I enjoyed seeing everyone again and it took away my anxiety that comes during every job interview. No matter the result, its a badly needed measure of progress for my job search. You never knew, this might be the year I finally find paid employment after five years of trying. These words of the immortal Stephen Sondheim and his song “I’m Still Here” from Follies could be an apt description of 2013: I’ve run the gamut, A to Z,Three cheers and dammit, C’est la vie,I got through all of last year, and I’m here, . If not for the encouragement of friends, this blog would not exist. To my family, friends and blog followers, a healthy, joyous and Happy New Year!
