One of the best parts (she said sarcastically) about being unemployed is well meaning people telling me what jobs I should look for. Somehow it always starts the same;
Well meaning person, “So Lucy, what are you doing these days?”.
Me, “Well actually I’m unemployed, but I’ve been doing a lot of…”.
Well meaning person interrupts, “You know what you should do?!”.
Me, with fake excited sparkle in my smile, “What’s that?”.
And they go on to tell me something that is kind of unhelpful but telling me with such conviction that I actually consider it for a day. Some of the most recent ones have been;
~ College tutor (since I’m good at English and stuff),
~ Vet tech (since I like animals),
~ Nanny (since I babysit sometimes? I don’t know, people just assume I like children, and I do, but still),
~ Teacher (since I’m good at English AND I babysit)
~ Onsite elderly re-locator (apparently this is a real thing)
~ Party planner (since I'm organized and detail oriented)
~ Research assistant (since we live close to a big university, and trust me I’ve tried to get this one, but I’m just not qualified),
~ Personal organizer (this one I agree with, but I don’t want to work for myself and have to find my own clients, but I have done some organizing jobs for family friends).
My mom still thinks I should go back to school and get a tech degree so I can be an ultrasound technician, (this isn’t a bad idea, but I feel like I should be able to find a job with the degree I already have).
And really what I think I’d like to do is editing, of almost any kind. But all the ads want me to not only be an expert in the English language but also be able to edit web pages and nonsense like that. Or be an editor and a journalist. Editing is a job by its self, but I guess it doesn’t hold enough value on its own.
And if I’m being really honest with myself, I would like to write. But I would want to write my stories, not whatever was needed for this issue of Whatever Monthly. I’m really not great under pressure- which is why I’m not a journalist (!).
I have real support from the few people that truly matter to me, they want me to be happy and write and be successful. Sometimes that in its self is too much pressure.
But if I have to work, I don’t want to work for myself, find my own clients and figure out how much money I have to withhold for taxes. I don’t want to drive to a new place every day, getting lost just when the GPS decides it can’t talk to enough satellites. I don’t want to work at a place where I don’t use my brain, like retail, and end up going crazy and quitting after a few weeks. I just want to work at a place where I can show up, do work I don’t hate and go home at the end of the day having made money. Apparently that’s too much to ask for from a job.
Where are those jobs they always show on ads? The boring, monochromatic offices with cubicles where all you have to do is show up and do boring repetitive busy work from Nine-to-Five. Where your biggest problem is deciding what fast-food to eat for lunch or getting your fingers super glued to your phone so your office mates can steal your candy bar.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
The Caretakers
My parents, well whole family, has always taken care of things. Be it people, animals, pets, plants, property, anything at all really. If there was something that needed to be taken care of, we wouldn’t, couldn’t say no. Usually it was fine. I remember one holiday season where everyone in our old neighborhood was out of town and they all overlapped for a few days. We were feeding all their pets, taking in all their mail and watering all their plants in this empty street. Our kitchen junk drawer had spare keys to everyones houses.
As out family friends have gotten older, we have taken on a new type of roll. Either they downsize, move into retirement homes, or pass away and something must be done with all the leftover things. Who you gonna call? The Roses!
I don’t know when the last time you tried to give away 20-40+ year old furniture, clothes, appliances, etc. But only some places take certain things. We are now well versed in which charitable donation places don’t want any more old couches. And who is already stocked up on records or books. There isn’t one place you can call to come collect things left behind. Even if there was one place, you shouldn’t call it because usually certain things are left for certain people or places, and keeping all the straight is it’s own challenge.
There are also things sometimes like cable bills, and magazine subscriptions to cancel. My Dad (with permission) will get on the phone pretending to be that person so he can cancel things or figure out what needs to be done.
No matter how much stuff you set aside for so-and-so, take to all the various charities, throw away and otherwise- there is always a little bit leftover. Something that someone will come to get, but not yet. Something that is too unique to just be donated and needs to find the right person. Etc, etc, etc. If New York is the city with a million stories, how many stories do we have in our house full of other peoples things?
I am happy and proud that my parents can be so helpful to their friends and family who need help in a time in their life that is difficult. It’s best if these things can be done over time, a few days or a few weeks, or if you know something ahead of time, even a few months in advance. The house we live in now has three generations of stuff, plus odds and ends of other peoples things. It all needs to be sorted and paired down for our own eventual move. We have done a lot of that work around the house, but there is still so much to do here, and meanwhile we are taking care of all of them.
As out family friends have gotten older, we have taken on a new type of roll. Either they downsize, move into retirement homes, or pass away and something must be done with all the leftover things. Who you gonna call? The Roses!
I don’t know when the last time you tried to give away 20-40+ year old furniture, clothes, appliances, etc. But only some places take certain things. We are now well versed in which charitable donation places don’t want any more old couches. And who is already stocked up on records or books. There isn’t one place you can call to come collect things left behind. Even if there was one place, you shouldn’t call it because usually certain things are left for certain people or places, and keeping all the straight is it’s own challenge.
There are also things sometimes like cable bills, and magazine subscriptions to cancel. My Dad (with permission) will get on the phone pretending to be that person so he can cancel things or figure out what needs to be done.
No matter how much stuff you set aside for so-and-so, take to all the various charities, throw away and otherwise- there is always a little bit leftover. Something that someone will come to get, but not yet. Something that is too unique to just be donated and needs to find the right person. Etc, etc, etc. If New York is the city with a million stories, how many stories do we have in our house full of other peoples things?
I am happy and proud that my parents can be so helpful to their friends and family who need help in a time in their life that is difficult. It’s best if these things can be done over time, a few days or a few weeks, or if you know something ahead of time, even a few months in advance. The house we live in now has three generations of stuff, plus odds and ends of other peoples things. It all needs to be sorted and paired down for our own eventual move. We have done a lot of that work around the house, but there is still so much to do here, and meanwhile we are taking care of all of them.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Meal Planning
When Justin and I lived in Korea it was really expensive to eat out. Also the food was terrible. Just to clarify, I enjoy Korean food, but American Korean food and the stuff you find in Korea is really different from each other. But besides that any place that spoke English served “American” food- which was terrible. So it was really disappointing to go out and eat terrible food. One night, it might have been our one year anniversary dinner, we went out to have fancy Italian food. “How could anyone mess up Italian food?” I thought naïvely to myself. It.Was.Terrible. Justin and I looked at each other and shared a thought, We can cook better than this. And we started trying.
We had cooked a little before, but now we had goals and were ambitious in our cooking. We attempted all the types of food we couldn’t find overseas. We had Italian, (American) Chinese, Mexican, and good old fashion foods we perfected like hamburgers, pizza and steak. We felt proud and excited that we MADE food and it was good!
Fast forward, we are back in America and can once again get good food- but it’s still expensive, so we try to cook at home 99% of the time. The catch, living with my parents we also share a kitchen with them and have very, Very different views on food. Things like how much fridge space should be taken up by condiments, and how long food is still editable, and what constitutes a meal. After basically giving up eating anything but cereal Justin and I were grumpy and missed our own cooking.
I had always planned on cooking for all four of us when we moved in with them. Partly as a way to say Thank You, partly so we would all eat healthier, and mostly so I would have edible food (I was familiar with my parents cooking after all). But somehow it didn’t Just Happen, and if we didn’t start cooking soon enough one of my parents would start cooking something which usually involved boiling foods way past when it was done. We needed a plan.
Meal planning was the obvious choice, but I wasn’t going to pay a website to give me recipes that I might not like or know how to make (and you know, saving money not paying someone else to save me money). Even thought it would be nice to get grocery lists and meal schedules delivered… Justin and I thought we could do it ourselves. We would start with meals we had made before, I had some recipes from when I started writing them down for our family cook book that I was penning. We made the schedule for the first week, made the shopping list, went shopping and settled on a dinner time.
I didn’t even feel like cooking dinner the first night, but Justin encouraged me and lead the way with cooking- dinner was awesome. We had everything we needed to cook a good, tasty dinner and it was ready before 8:00pm. Success was sweet.
Day two, I think I was more helpful but I really couldn’t tell you, you’d have to ask Justin. Dinner was tasty again AND our ulterior motive we had leftovers that made for a tasty, non-sandwich lunch!
The week continued, Justin and I giddy with non-cereal, non-sandwich nourishment. Saturday came and it was time to make the next week’s schedule and shopping list again. That’s the part I’m worst at, not that I’m good at getting dinner started either, but I’m still worse at the planning (unusual for me, I know). Justin led the way again and we had a list and a plan. We got to the store late the next day though and I over salted the sweet potato fries that night into in-edibleness.
Monday rolled around again, and while I knew how good dinners could be now, I was already drained by cooking starting at 5:30 and clean up ending somewhere around 8:30-9:00. It was my whole night. Mom gets a free pass b/c she already did this for years, plus she has work at 4:00AM, and her body hurts. Dad offers to help cook or clean, usually I let him but when he does the dishes they come out kind of oily still and just need to be rewashed. And Justin has homework most of the time, so I end up cleaning. I kind of can’t imagine having a young family that needs attention and doing this every night, forever.
Week three started today. We ordered pizza and both took naps.
We had cooked a little before, but now we had goals and were ambitious in our cooking. We attempted all the types of food we couldn’t find overseas. We had Italian, (American) Chinese, Mexican, and good old fashion foods we perfected like hamburgers, pizza and steak. We felt proud and excited that we MADE food and it was good!
Fast forward, we are back in America and can once again get good food- but it’s still expensive, so we try to cook at home 99% of the time. The catch, living with my parents we also share a kitchen with them and have very, Very different views on food. Things like how much fridge space should be taken up by condiments, and how long food is still editable, and what constitutes a meal. After basically giving up eating anything but cereal Justin and I were grumpy and missed our own cooking.
I had always planned on cooking for all four of us when we moved in with them. Partly as a way to say Thank You, partly so we would all eat healthier, and mostly so I would have edible food (I was familiar with my parents cooking after all). But somehow it didn’t Just Happen, and if we didn’t start cooking soon enough one of my parents would start cooking something which usually involved boiling foods way past when it was done. We needed a plan.
Meal planning was the obvious choice, but I wasn’t going to pay a website to give me recipes that I might not like or know how to make (and you know, saving money not paying someone else to save me money). Even thought it would be nice to get grocery lists and meal schedules delivered… Justin and I thought we could do it ourselves. We would start with meals we had made before, I had some recipes from when I started writing them down for our family cook book that I was penning. We made the schedule for the first week, made the shopping list, went shopping and settled on a dinner time.
I didn’t even feel like cooking dinner the first night, but Justin encouraged me and lead the way with cooking- dinner was awesome. We had everything we needed to cook a good, tasty dinner and it was ready before 8:00pm. Success was sweet.
Day two, I think I was more helpful but I really couldn’t tell you, you’d have to ask Justin. Dinner was tasty again AND our ulterior motive we had leftovers that made for a tasty, non-sandwich lunch!
The week continued, Justin and I giddy with non-cereal, non-sandwich nourishment. Saturday came and it was time to make the next week’s schedule and shopping list again. That’s the part I’m worst at, not that I’m good at getting dinner started either, but I’m still worse at the planning (unusual for me, I know). Justin led the way again and we had a list and a plan. We got to the store late the next day though and I over salted the sweet potato fries that night into in-edibleness.
Monday rolled around again, and while I knew how good dinners could be now, I was already drained by cooking starting at 5:30 and clean up ending somewhere around 8:30-9:00. It was my whole night. Mom gets a free pass b/c she already did this for years, plus she has work at 4:00AM, and her body hurts. Dad offers to help cook or clean, usually I let him but when he does the dishes they come out kind of oily still and just need to be rewashed. And Justin has homework most of the time, so I end up cleaning. I kind of can’t imagine having a young family that needs attention and doing this every night, forever.
Week three started today. We ordered pizza and both took naps.
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