This morning I woke early, got cute and met up with Ini to head downtown to Times Square. We were on a mission for applications. I may have dreamed about coming out here and falling into some amazing, degree-utilizing, kingdom-furthering position, but ideals and reality are seldom in cahoots. The reality is that getting any 'real' 9-5 job is going to take time and considerable effort. I do not lack in the latter, but time is rather crucial given my situation. I am 800 miles from home with no source of consistent income. Oh sure, I have savings, but I also need to feel productive and I do not want to live til my last dime. That all being said, I decided to fall back on what I know I am good at: Serving and customer service. So, this morning I headed off to try to break into the world of downtown restaurants. We went to Applebees (duh!) in Times Square. I had spoken to the manager here before I moved and he told me to come in when I arrived, unfortunately he was busy. We also hit up TGIFridays and Ruby Tuesday and Dallas BBQ (a chain specializing in, amazingly, BBQ and rotisserie chicken). A lot of places were quite honest about their position, i.e. "we aren't hiring," but it's ok to try, especially since all of them have more than one location in the city.
When we had made our circuit, Ini got me back to the train and then left me to go see about some business of his own, promising to pick me up an application from Bubba Gump Shrimp Co (a family style restaurant based on the movie Forrest Gump, complete with movie memorabilia). I was on my own in Times Square! Ok, not really. I was a little too nervous to get back out of the subway station, at a high risk of getting turned around and lost. I dont know what it is about big cities; in my neighborhood, I know my directions, I know intrinsically where North is. I dont get lost, even after getting out of the subway (ok, that took a few tries). Once I get downtown, be in in Manhattan, Chicago or Grand Rapids I am suddenly at a directional loss. Personally I blame it on an excessive amount of concrete and my inability to sense such things as bodies of water or the sun's placement in the sky. Either way, I easily get turned around in the middle of downtown areas and decided to stay put in the subway.
Since it was Friday and I had all weekend to fill out the applications and prepare to bring them back on Monday (I refuse to drop by places of business on the weekends to seek a job, it seems tacky to me, so I do most of my 'real' job work on the weekends and my more customer service-based things Monday through Thursday), I decided to head back to 125th St in Harlem and do a little shopping.
Before you think it, I will say it. Shopping while I dont have any source of steady income does not seem to be the most frugal of ideas. Sometimes though, a girl just needs a little distraction. That's all :) And Harlem is full of cheap distractions! I had seen a few things I liked when I was there with Ini the other day and now I kind of wanted to explore on my own. I got up from the subway and just headed right. Luckily, this was the direction I wanted to be going in :) I found Old Navy and a few other chains, but I was zeroing in on those local discount stores I had seen further East. I stopped in every store I passed just to look. I ended up in this place called High Energy which had some cute stuff, most of it too trendy for me. I lean more towards classic items that can be worn year after year and no one has to know how many seasons old they are.
*Editors Note: Fellas, ignore the next paragraph*
The following little blurb is to demonstrate how not-bad I really am being here when I go shopping. Before I moved, I got rid of most of my bras, they didn't fit and they were no longer comfy. However, I have only ever been able to find my bras at Lane Bryant as I am a more unusual size. This is all fine and good, except a bra can easily set me back $40 bucks at that store, as I was saving for my move, I never bought new ones before I left and I arrived here in Manhattan with one really old one and two new ones I had purchased off ebay that I really didn't like. I was in need. Obviously, this shopping had not occurred with Ini when we were last here, but I had noticed my size floating around at a few places. At High Energy, I bought a total of 5, count them, FIVE, new bras for a total of $22! Have I told you how much I love the cheap shopping here? Blows my mind!
After wandering all the way to the end of the major shopping, I hitched a ride on the Bx15 back to broadway where I caught the M4 bus back home... good times good times. A movie marathon and a quiet night at home were waiting for me :)
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