sunnyside up!

(leave your worries on the doorstep)

juggling joblets

Haven’t posted here in the past few days.  I was off on the North Fork of Long Island visiting with GS, who is working on a very interesting film and said she could use a little help in the form of an associate producer.  I hadn’t actually expected the trip to turn into a work thing, but since I don’t have enough work and have been looking for something more meaningful and creative to devote myself to, G’s offer was a welcome one.

For those of you who don’t know G, you can read about her work here on the re-launched Jezebel website (courtesy yours truly).

I have done this type of work before — it’s challenging and exciting.  Mostly it’s pitching the film — writing and talking to people — two things I love to do.  The question is whether I can continue to live on the nickles and dimes the small web jobs bring in while trying to come up production financing.  While a large part of me LOVES being independent again, a small part of me is missing the income and benefits that come with a full-time position in white collar America.

Of course, I’ve been looking for that full-time position for a couple of months now and there’s no reason for me to believe that I will find one anytime soon.

All things to be considered…

red and black party tonight!

Hey, don’t forget that tonight is the 2009 Red and Black benefit for the New York Writers Coalition.

Galapagos Art Space
16 Main Street, DUMBO Brooklyn
7 pm.

Read more and buy your tickets here!

Paul and I will be there.  Even though I bought a V.I.P ticket you will NOT see me trying to fill up at the open bar between 7 and 8.  At last year’s party I had two chocolate martinis over the course of 4 hours and experienced my first ever alcohol-induced blackout.  So sick and miserable was I the next day that I could not be convinced I had had a good time the night before until Paul showed me proof in the form of photographs I seem to have posed for after we arrived home.  I am seated on the floor in front of the toilet bowl, naked, smiling up at the camera between heaves, waving drunkenly at my mischievous partner.

weekend recap

An eventful weekend, beginning with Saturday morning’s rush to catch up with preparations for dinner as I did not get to the ragout as intended on Friday.  I spent too much time trying to fix my cake, which came out perfectly (thank you Duncan Hines) and left me feeling hopefully about my baking skills — until I tried to frost it with cream that I hadn’t whipped up stiff enough.

I kept hearing that song, “MacArthur Park” in my head — the Richard Harris version, not the Donna Summer, although I love that, too — the part about someone having left the cake out in the rain.  (Truly, there never was a more bizarre pop song.)

Anyway, the cake tasted great (I sandwiched more strawberries and sliced bananas between the layers) and was a hit with my guys.

This Saturday, “my guys” included AZ, who is always great company and is very non-judgmental when it comes to things like cake aesthetics and being misinformed about the quantity and quality of beer we had on hand.  Good thing he picked up some Jenlain at the Superior Market on Queens Blvd on his way over.  They are truly superior when it comes to beer selection.

On Sunday, a trip up to Pleasantville to see our young friends, FOB & WW.  The invite came about after I filled in a Facebook meme, “25 Random Things About Me,” and noted that I like hiking and don’t get out of the City enough.  FOB read that, and although I wouldn’t generally describe her as “angelic,” her invitation to join them for brunch and then a “winter walk in the woods, weather permitting” was certainly sent by the cosmos.  It fed so many neglected personal hungers — the need for exercise, for fresh air — and fresh faces and ideas!

FOB & WW have made a really lovely home in a quirky old house (cir. 1850) on a woodsy hillside.   You can feel the love and warmth in that place the minute you step through the door.  FOB served us coffee and yummy muffins (clearly NOT Duncan Hines)  and a perfect veggie fritatta, and caught us up on all the news of her sprawling family.  WW spoke mostly of emergency response plans to various disaster scenarios — a favorite topic, touched off by a comment on the disocvery of the source of the maple syrup smell plauging New Yorkers in recent months.  Then we moved on to public health and food safety issues, which led to a less worrisome conversation about locally grown produce.  The couple struck a deal with a local farm whereby they receive a box of fresh vegetables every other week.  I benefitted from FOB’s not liking onions and took home a bag full of lovely yellow and red onions and a handful of cipollini.

After brunch, as promised, a not-too-strenous walk in Rockefeller State Park Preserve.  We hiked the Eagle Hill trail, spotting families of deer foraging in the melting snow, up to the highest point from where you have a view of Pocantico Lake.  It’s been a week since I smoked my last cigarette and drawing a deep breathe of that crisp/clean air was my first reward to myself.  Thanks a million, FOB & WW, for the your gracious hospitality.  Therapeutic — and great fun.

close to home

Sticking close to home again today — not too much “work” work, so I’m focusing on what to make for dinner. I already know what I’m making for tomorrow night’s dinner: fresh pappardelle with a spicy sausage and pork ragout. I’ll make the ragout today and let it stand until tomorrow.

I also know what we’ll be having for dessert tonight — I baked a Duncan Hines Devils Food cake which I’m going to layer with strawberries and bananas and frost with whipped cream. I was inspired by a strawberry shortcake my sister-in-law served me a few weeks ago, and now that I’m out of work I’m trying not to spend money on the over-priced yummies available at Sugar & Joe, the new cupcake cafe that opened up on Greenpoint Ave some months ago.

I discovered one of my neighbors has already posted something about Sugar & Joe — I have to agree with her about the service and the beverages.  I ordered a Mexican hot chocolate recently, waited FOREVER for it (although I was the only one in the place), and was terribly disappointed when I finally tasted it.  I could have saved myself the trouble and just mixed a little cinnamon into some Hershey’s cocoa at home.

For a better cup of Mexican hot chocolate, the answer is De Mole.

cumulus clouds (for tags and for real)

Above, the view of Manhattan from the rooftop parking deck of my local Stop and Shop.  It’s a glorious site — makes you feel at once humble (so small in the great big city) and yet so proud to be a part of it.

I had a thought while looking at the City: the only other time I felt the need to blog was right after 9/11.  I spent a lot of time gazing westward then, too, worrying about what the future had in store.  But I also felt totally alive to everything around me — and compelled to share some of my better-articulated thoughts publicly.  It was therapeutic, I produced some decent pieces, and I also made a couple of friends via that blog that I still cherish, regardless of how infrequently our paths might cross these days.

So, maybe my losing my job in December has ignited the blog-urge — I don’t know.  I do know that I have time on my hands, I feel the need to do more personal writing, and I might as well take advantage of the medium and you, my network of friends and acquaintances, to critique and comment.

Maybe I’ll use this blog to pitch for work — I’m starting to feel like I don’t want another job for a while.  I really am happiest when I’m free.  More on the subject of work and employment later.

I’ve implemented the cool “WP Cumulus” tag cloud widget for WordPress by Roy Tanck.  It’s cool — really much nicer than a flat tag cloud and fun to play with your cursor to influence the direction and rotation speed.  But OH! why can IE 6.0 not deal with it correctly?  Or should I not be worrying about IE 6.0 these days — anyone?