Reader Poll: Was I Too Candid With My Boss?

Hi (name withheld to protect the innocent),

Against my better judgment, J**** persuaded me to join him at his coworker's birthday party, which was located at a karaoke bar. Further against my best interests, he convinced me that one should be drunk in order to work the courage to sing karaoke. From my experience, that appears to be true, but the merging of alcohol, karaoke, and Thursday nights doesn't look quite so pretty from this end of things. Being a lightweight who rarely drinks, I am making the executive decision to not come to work today, and will instead alternate between sleeping it off and watching Six Feet Under. Hangover food might be procured as well.

My apologies for my recklessness and inconsideration of the fine institution of the full time job. I plan to shorten my lunch hour for the next two weeks by half an hour a day, so as to make up the time, and spend some QT with the Ricordi section. Don't worry, it's unlikely that this will ever happen again.

Have a good weekend,
D****

File Under "W" for WTF?

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Vacation Planning

Plans for my birthday trip to Albuquerque and Santa Fe are starting to come together! I'll be in New Mexico from October 6 through October 13, and will be spending half a week in each location. I have my heart set on visiting the Georgia O'Keefe museum and (hopefully) taking a hot air balloon ride, since, coincidentally, the Balloon Festival will be happening all that week.

I'm wondering... have any of you faithful readers been to either location, and if so, do you have any recommendations for can't-miss attractions in the area? I'll take any and all suggestions into consideration.

Thanks!

Anniverse

Our first anniversary of living in New York passed by rather unremarkably last Monday. Because a day such as that is perfect for nostalgia, I've created this little list:

In the past year (and some odd days) I:

• left my job as a barista, my freelance horn schedule and "job" as a horn teacher of 10-12 students and moved to NYC
• made my way through a huge hassle with a sneaky broker to find an apartment a million miles (aka 9 subway stops) from Manhattan
• found out just how patient New Yorkers must be to secure basic facilities in such a big city with such a long waiting list (read: one week for cooking gas, 16 days for internet)
• secured, hated and subsequently quit a job at a mind/body/spirit bookstore, and found that not all people who claim to be spiritual are kind
• obtained an internship where I learned quite a bit about marketing and managing an orchestra, and was sorry to leave so soon in order to find a full time job with a decent living wage
• found that it's very easy to make one's way in the field of amateur orchestras, and not easy enough to transcend the limitation therein
  
• successfully interviewed for my first full time position and am learning to deal with the trappings of full time employment
• rediscovered yoga
• maintained a relationship with J. despite some pretty heavy times
• failed to accrue enough cash to move to Astoria when my lease was up
  
• survived a complete failure of mass transit, and relived what it must have been like to live in NYC during the '06 power outages and transit strike
  
• had a few wacky only-in-New-York moments...
• patronized many of the city's fabulous vegetarian restaurants
  

After all of this, it's easy to wonder if, between then and now, I've managed to negotiate what it means to live in a place so distinct, vast, and populated. Admittedly, there are days when I'd like nothing more than to high-tail it out of this absurd place, back to the safety of Chicago, or Mediumsizedtown, USA.

When all is said and done, however, I doubt that I will have regretted the time I have spent here. I've learned so much about myself, so much about how I deal with life in an extreme version of the Heisenberg principle. I may yet find that city life just ain't for me, but at least I'll always know I tried.