Temporary relocation, shameless self-congratulation

Just taking advantage of this freezing white-sky endless afternoon to write that I am going to have a change of scene for the next couple of weeks. I'm cat- and housesitting for a former boss of mine and am now, like, halfway across Brooklyn from my own house. By which I mean travel options between the two consist of:

-20 minutes of subway + 15 minutes of walk
-15 minutes of subway + 7 minutes of bus/20 minutes of parkside run
-10 minutes of ride in my father's car

It was very nice of him to drive me here, I think!

I've never been a fan of underanalyzing, so this venture has given me an opportunity to reflect on my life this past year. I c-and-h-sat for these folks around the same time last year, and, goodness, what a lot has changed! Even curmudgeonly old me has to acknowledge that it's for the better. When last the lovely mustachioed Laszlo and I hung out, I had a dwindling part-time internship at a start-up publishing company, a day of store-minding and tutoring at 826, and...not much else. When I wasn't reading (hazy memories of Jonathan Carroll novels and Anne Carson's Grief Lessons spring to mind unbidden upon my return to this apartment), or letting L. nosh on my laptop, I spent my time dragging myself out to cafés (like the sadly-now-closed Tea Lounge) to write job applications and fiddle with my resume. I recently spoke with a friend who's looking for a job, and told her how that's a full-time job in itself. I really believe this; it was quite a taxing workday to sell myself, write scores upon scores of letters, get my heart set on yet another position that wasn't going to work out.

At the same time, even my part-time internship was ending. I emerged from the subway on my ostensible final day of employment to a message from my employer, telling me that he didn't actually need me to come in that day; I came back here and cried.

This place stirs up a lot of positive memories for me, too, though, because it's where things finally started to turn around jobwise. A couple of hours after my pathetic admission of defeat, I got an email from a publishing company offering me an interview; though it and its labyrinthine set of interviews, proofing tests, and meetings did not come through, my current job did. And so here in this very apartment I feel like I began my transition from starving-unpaid-proofer bum to lazy-gainfully-employed-arbiter-of-justice bum.

Socially, I feel like things've picked up too (though they don't quite resume their college high note). Last year I had some people over here for my birthday—unfortunately, what with one thing and another (especially crappy weekend F-train service) not too many of them made it out. Tonight, in contrast, I am shortly to embark upon an epic dinner followed by bowling. I hope this will go well, as I am crap at a) logistics involving more than 2 or 3 people, and b) bowling.

But all and all, onward and upward! And I am pleased to have L. here. No doubt he will reprise his famous role of lying across half the keyboard, rendering typing any words involving left-hand letters an acrobatic feat.