I Need a Break
When I left Chicago two years ago, I wasn’t unhappy. I had a good job. No, actually, I had a GREAT job. I had an active dating life. I had wonderful friends. And, I had a beautiful 2-bedroom apartment to myself — complete with a 15-foot garden path that led up to the building. So, the obvious question is: why did I leave? Well, truth be told, I wanted more. I kind of felt like I’d hit a plateau because there wasn’t room to advance any further. In addition to the career plateau, I didn’t feel like I was growing as a person anymore. Every day started to feel exactly like the previous one. Each month no different from the one before. I don’t mean to imply that I didn’t like my life in Chicago. That’s certainly not true. I loved my life there. I’d just stopped growing. I knew it. My friends knew it. My supervisor knew it. “If things don’t work out in New York,” I remember the big guy told me, “we’d always welcome you back here with open arms.”
So, off I went to New York.
Truth be told, I thought that I’d pick up in New York exactly where I left off in Chicago. I knew there would be minor changes. For example, I’d resigned myself to the fact that I’d have a smaller apartment. But, I thought I’d have a 1-bedroom instead of a 2-bedroom. Oh, oh, oh. Little did I know that I’d crash with three different friends in two boroughs, live with a psychotic roommate and then get priced out of my new apartment (that had a mouse, mind you) before settling into my current building. And, all of that occurred within my first 16 months here.
If the living situation was shaky, life on the job front was unbelievably tumultuous. I’m not going to go into detail, because I never blog about work. For now, suffice it to say out with the old and in with the new. I’ve been with the new company since last summer, and I like it. It’s a day job that supports me while I finish my part-time MA program and pursue my creative projects.
Speaking of my creative projects, oddly enough, that’s the one area of my life that has worked out fairly well here in New York. It’s nothing that I could have ever predicted, but it’s definitely a very welcome surprise. I’m publishing more articles in print. Online, I’m ever-thankful for the gig with Nerve; it gives me the freedom to write about my life in a more sexual way than I’m used to. And, on air, my internet radio show & podcast (Dating Roadkill) returns for another season soon. Everything has worked out so well, that I’ve actually had to scale back a bit. For a while there, I routinely pulled 14-hour days. I would work a full-time schedule at the day job, run to my nighttime MA classes and then jet back to do the late-night radio show Once the show was over, I would stay up even later to write my blog posts and send out freelance gigs. When I had time, I’d fit my homework in between everything else that I was doing. It was too much. And, I needed to free up my schedule for new proposals that were coming my way.
At the moment, I only have the day job, the freelance writing gigs, and a few new things brewing that I can’t discuss yet. On other fronts, I still have a short while before Dating Roadkill starts up again. And, I’m not taking the MA classes this summer because I need the time off. Speaking of time off, it’s worth mentioning that I leave for a short trip tomorrow. As I mentioned a week ago, I’m going to Barbados with my friend Raj for 4 days. I’ve attended a wedding in the Hamptons last summer, flown around the US & the UK for for work a year ago, and I’ve gone to Illinois and Vegas to see family. But, the Barbados trip will be the first real vacation — i.e. no agenda-related travel — I’ve taken since the summer *before* I moved to New York. So, yes, if you’re counting, that’s three years without a vacation. I wanted to get away sooner but, at times, I didn’t have the money. At other times, I was busy trying to cope in New York. With the constant changes in my work and living situation, I couldn’t imagine going on vacation because my worries and problems would have just followed me right along on my journey. But, those days are behind me. New challenges, rewards (I hope) and other adventures are ahead.
Less than 24 hours to Barbados. I’ve never needed a vacation so badly in my fucking life.
June 13th, 2007 at 4:21 am
Hope you have a blast there!
June 13th, 2007 at 5:32 am
hey FBC enjoy ya vacation. I went last year after 5 years of no breaks and trust me if feels goooohoooood. In fact i will tell you it will feel so good you will never leave Barbados again.
Hell if that happens, you can broadcast Dating Roadkill from over there hehe.
Take care and have a safe trip
pG :)
June 13th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Enjoy your holiday!!! I’m also off on vacation tomorrow to Montreal and I understand the sentiment, I haven’t had a real vacation in 2 years…drink a fabulous Carribbean drink for me and I’ll drink a fabulous French glass of wine for you!
June 13th, 2007 at 9:32 am
Have an absolutely fabulous time!
June 13th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
looking forward to hearing about the trip!
June 13th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Damn, I’m tired just from reading about your 14-hour days! SO glad you are headed for some downtime! Have a great time and don’t think about *anything* back here while you’re away. Easier said than done, but I’m sure you’ll do just fine. :o)
June 13th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Have ann amazing time in Barbados FBC!
June 13th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Feeling a little burned out, eh? You know what’s good for that? Boinking. Here’s what you do: go to Barbados, sit on a beach for a while, get some nookie, have a drink (preferably containing rum), and get a massage, not necessarily in that order. Dr. Doodlius promises that you’ll feel like a million bucks.
Aloha!
(I know, that’s Hawaiian, but hey it’s still a tropical island so six of one, half-dozen of the other. Whatever, don’t give me a hard time about it because I’m stuck on the mainland and NOT going on a tropical vacation so you should be nice to me or else I might BLOW A FREAKING GASKET FROM ALL THE PRESSURE… ’scuse me, I need a beer. Or something.)
June 13th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
Wow, I can SO relate to this post. The reasons you moved to NY sound like the SAME reasons I moved to Phoenix.
In any case, enjoy your vacay!!! Sounds like you need and deserve it!!!!
June 14th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Whatever happens…
DO leave the hotel, and DO get a CAR while in Barbados… (if not for the whole week, at least for a couple of days). Yes, you’ll have to drive on the left, yes you’ll have to honk the horn when turning the corner whilst racing through the sugarcane fields, but without a car you’ll really miss the BEST places over there (FYI, Bridgetown and St. Lawrence Gap really suck eggs these days).
I hear they just spruced up the place (long overdue) in preparation for the cricket world cup. Make sure you see Bathsheba, have dinner overlooking the cliffs, spend a couple of bucks at the Coach House restaurant, try to weasel yourself into the Sandy Lane or Glitter Bay, check out the golf courses.
People there can be a bit proud and ‘rough’ Just smile…
Oh, before I forget, make sure you get a proper map, because directions often include such familiar places as “turn left at the house where crazy Harry’s donkey ran into a tree”.
EB
PS Normally you’d find us there around this time of year too, but this time we’re off to St. Lucia for a gay wedding (involving a latently homosexual man and a thoroughly religious woman). A story for another time…
June 14th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Have an awesome time in Barbados! I’m sure it’ll be fantabulous!
June 14th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Have a great trip!!
I have no idea how you squeeze all that into the day. (Do you sleep?? At all??) You definitely deserved a vacation ages ago.
June 15th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
I hope you have an amazing vacation complete with everything listed above, but I also hope that you able to come back!
June 17th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Have fun on vacation, but we’ll miss you while you’re gone! :-)
June 18th, 2007 at 12:58 am
Darwin: It was GREAT!!! One of the most beautiful beaches that I’ve ever seen.
Papigiulio: Heeeey, I like that idea. Dating Roadkill – the island edition. Now I HAVE TO go back to Barbados so that I can broadcast from there. :)
Alicia: Did you drink a glass of wine for me? I drank an extra Rum Punch topped with nutmeg for you and each and every one of my readers!!! :-)
Lala: Thanks! It was really nice.
HippieChyck: Details coming soon!
AmyD: Yeah, I didn’t think about anything except the sun, beach, waves and drinks while I was away.
Amy: THANKS!!!
Baba Doodlius: Sadly, there was no boinking. But, I did meet a Male Gigolo.
Childfree Chick: I read your blogs, so I soooo know that you can relate. :)
ErrorBoy: THANK YOU for the tips!!!! I really appreciate it. About your ‘rough’ comment … I wasn’t sure what you meant until I met a guy selling jewelery on the beach. He asked me if I wanted to buy. I said no. He asked again. I said no again. So, then, he looked about the necklace that I was wearing and he said, “Why not? It’s much classier than what you’re wearing.”
Firefly: THANKS!
Stefanie: Yes, believe it or not, I do sleep! :-)
Nics: I’m back!! :) Now it’s your turn to travel.
Rochelle: We’re on for drinks this Friday!!!