So…I’m back. I called in sick to work on Friday, because 1) I was the kind of sick of the pounds o’ phlegm and a voice like a mafiosa variety, 2) I had a tutoring interview that I had already postponed once that week wayyyy in Brooklyn that I had to get to at 3, and 3) my parents were in town. I I had to get up really early and call in sick, but no one at the school would answer the phone. Once I left my message with a polite administrator (that doesn’t have to be an oxymoron), I dozed a few more hours. My parents and I met up, ate breakfast at West Way Cafe, and I changed into my grownup uniform. It was still raining buckets. I told my parents I really didn’t need to be escorted to the interview site, but I’m glad they were around for the ride. It was a long one. We waited FOR the Q, then ON the Q, and then we walked blocks and blocks…in the wrong direction…TOGETHER. Quality time, if you ask me. I’m not all that familiar with Brooklyn, so I don’t know what the charming neighborhood I went to was called, but it was very Jewish. At one point, all the signs were English and Yiddish. I felt like the Aryan outsider schlepping around in my stilettoes. (Yes, in rain! All because I thought this would keep the hem of my pants from getting wet[ter]. I was wrong).
I got the job, which will pay me $30 an hour for individual sessions and more for group sessions. I get to choose my own hours, too. This recent good fortune - the new AIS position at I.S. 666 and now the tutoring job - makes me wonder if the universe is trying to tell me something. I have to believe that things happen for a reason. Maybe my NYC goals are supposed to pan out? My life sneaks up on me sometimes. Obviously, I still have goals and structure, but I feel so tentative. It’s unnerving.
Let’s see… The rest of Friday was spent hanging out with my parents. We perused some Upper West Side shops for galoshes, because the rain continued to drum down and my toes were swimming in my pointy black BCBG aquariums. I was wringing out my tights on the train. Alas, no galoshes. We went back to my neighborhood and got ready for a dinner cruise. My mom bought each of us the $100 meal ticket upon the recommendation of her friend a few months earlier. We went to Chelsea Piers and watched gymnasts and hockey players before boarding the ship. Good food, live music, great views. The rain even stopped long enough to walk on the deck, look at the velvety sky with all the glittering lights, and feel…infinite. So close and so far away from everyone and everything else. It was a beautiful night.
Yesterday was a shopping day. We headed to Koronet for lunch and my parents loved the pizza. Then off to the Manhattan Mall in search of galoshes, but again, no such luck. My mom wanted to buy a delightfully tacky knockoff bag for the doctor she works with, so we went to Chinatown. Ugh. I can enjoy going on a Tuesday morning when no one else is around and the fashion crack dealers (really, that’s all that these purse people are) come when you snap your fingers. Haggling is much easier then, but Saturdays are so crowded and touristy. My mom settled on an orange faux python Prada knockoff. My dad looked at ridiculous Louis Vuitton knockoff coin purses for my 87 cousins under the age of twelve. Do kids under the age of twelve care that much about what they’re putting their lunch money into? Probably not. I guess it was all about being able to say that the items were from New York so far, far away. My dad goes into this really silly secret agent man act in Chinatown. He imagines he can haggle for anything and acts really touristy by trying not to seem touristy. Buying bootlegged dvds is really as dangerous as he gets.
We went back to the Manhattan Mall after the Chinatown excursion to force my mom to buy a pair of shoes she saw and loved, but didn’t purchase. I also got some new pairs of shoes and picked some out for Megan. We visited Central Park, Riverside Park, and CompUSA. My mom imparted another valuable lesson for living on my own: make s’mores in the microwave. She also taught me that marshmallow cream is widely available at grocery stores and thus, to spread marshmallow fluff on something and stuff it in my mouth rather than constantly muse, “For some reason, marshmallow cream sounds really good right now…” We made s’mores at my apartment after my dad fixed my Internet. Yay! I now have Internet all the time and don’t have to tap into someone else’s wireless. I have been saved from my evil deeds. (I have also disabled my own wireless, so what went around can’t come around. Heartless, I know).
My parents left at 3:00 this morning. It was great to have them visit. I feel healthier due to the potent antibiotics they provided. No doubt, the love and company also helped me get well. I miss them, but now it’s time to focus on two more full weeks of school and then a visit from Sam. I’ll keep on keeping on. It’s apparently much easier to do without phlegm.
I am looking forward to your posts.