How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Unemployment
Okay, maybe learned is a bit premature. I'm learning. It's a process, like most things in life. After weeks (er, months) of down-on-me, down-on-my-lifestyle bitching and moaning I've recently come to terms with some of the joys of working from home. It sounds like a dream come true to all of my 9-5 friends: stay at home, eat what you like, watch bad daytime TV (I know more about paternity tests than I'd like to admit, thankyouverymuch Maury), stay in sweats all day. But those are exactly the things that I loathe about it. One of the greatest skills one learns in college is supposedly time management. I must have been too busy sitting on a booth and pondering the support of my latest tube top on Jack & Coke Tuesdays at the 9-0, because it seems that time management was something I didn't pick up. Now that I'm working from home (the good news - I have enough freelance projects to keep me mildly occupied) it's time to learn how to create that work/play balance. Some of the pros and cons:
PRO: Long Lunches
An old, dear friend (let's call him Ted...because that's his name) is kind enough to work in the hospitality industry, leaving him with a slightly malleable weekly schedule. The result? Ted, a foodie, intellect, opera aficionado, and all around interesting guy, has the free time to play with me on a Wednesday afternoon when the rest of my peers are watching youtube and falling asleep in meetings. Ted has taken me shopping - who knew men's clothes were so boring? - and to lunch at not one but two of my favorite Batali haunts. On a recent outing at Otto, we sat for almost two hours in the restaurant, sipping quartinos of wine and gorging on delicate thin-crust pizzas (incidentally, Ted's favorite food, the one he would choose if stranded on a desert island). The prosciutto-arugula version sat before me in technicolor: bright bitter green, vibrant sweet red, glistening pink pork. It brought me back to my days in Sicily. Okay, not really, but wouldn't it be cool if I did, indeed, have "days in Sicily?" A week-long roadtrip there with my dear friends Corinne and Nina many moons ago did actually flash before my eyes. There was a night (perhaps in Siracusa?) where we were the only people in this massive restaurant and dined on a pizza with the very same colors and textures. It didn't have quite the same feel but it came close. Even though he hates Olive Oil Gelato, he kept me company while I indulged in the coppetta Otto is so famous for. Served with stewed quince, pomegranate and blood oranges, and topped with a sprinkling of maldon sea salt. It had the bitter, acidic aftertaste that makes extra virgin olive oil so satisfying and distinct. When we finally left, satiated (or rather, just plain stuffed) and ready to face the freezing temps, I realized that the place was practically empty; a rarity for this particular resto. Being able to get a table and great service at the usually packed pizza joint made unemployment seem even sweeter.
BONUS PRO:
Having the free afternoon also enabled me to go to the Apple store in Soho without the throngs of obnoxious Saturday tourists. Not only did I get the attention, time, and patience I feel such an investment deserves, I also got a free printer. Kickass. Another pro of unemployment? Being able to go home after the aforementioned purchase and play with my new MacBook like the computer geek I wish I was.
CON: DVR
In this age of overly accessible media, it's hard to remember there was a time before DVR. And digital cable guides. Could you imagine actually having to look up TV programmings IN A MAGAZINE? Oh, the humanity. Unfortunately, cable also poses a problem for the out-of-work and weak-willed. All of the sudden I find myself enraptured by things I would normally scroll right over. Remember when The X-Files was good? No, not good, fantastic? A little known fact about the Chaden sisters - we picked up a bit of our father's engineering genes (I am the woman to have around when your TV or toaster isn't working) and our mother's nerdy fantasy fanatacism (not so much Star Trek, but we loved the miniseries V). Whenever I don't feel like settling in to do my work I know I can turn to Scully and Mulder. Bonus if the Lone Gunmen are in the episode - such loveable guys. Oh, and of course Australia's Next Top Model. TV may rot the brain but makes you feel oh so good. "Well, I'll just watch one episode of The Hills. I mean, I have to see if this Spencer guy's as bad as LC's making him out to be." Three hours later and about a million brain cells shorter, all you can say is "Heidi is making a HUGE mistake. Doesn't she remember what happened with Spencer and Audrina? Poor Lauren - she's totally failing at her internship..." Thank you, MTV Networks, for bringing such time-sucking entertainment into this world.
PRO-CON-PRO
The good news is I've started cooking and baking again. On a recent evening the old Food Network crowd came over for an Asian feast. I had the free time to cook prawn and chili potstickers, Vietnamese chicken salad, and a steak and soba noodle hot-pot (sort of an interactive main course). And coconut rice pudding for dessert. It was fun. So fun, in fact, that they ended up staying until almost midnight. On a school night. How I adore my former coworkers - even though only two of them still work at the company.
Lia, of This Little Piglet fame.
Karlyn and Doug, the proud parents-to-be:
Potstickers and Vietnamese Chicken Salad:
The bad news is that working from home and having leftovers and other such goods in the house (who doesn't keep pancetta in the fridge? Or truffled pate and cornichons? you never know when guests could call), is that if you're home all day you are destined to eat it. Get up to take a break from your work - hit the fridge. Feel like watching an hour of TV? Grab a snack. It's lethal. I would end up like Sally Struthers (minus the whole save-the-children thing) if it weren't for the final pro here:
The gym. In my building. Where by now, everyone knows my name. Sure, it's a pain in the ass but come on - you know you feel so good afterwards. And that way I don't feel guilty about sitting around my apartment for the rest of the afternoon. You can work out anytime of day when you don't have to look presentable. As a matter of fact, I'm sitting in my workout clothes right now (courtesy of Hanes and Champion. Which essentially put me through college. Please, buy them). And I'm sure I smell lovely. But you know what? I'm home alone so who cares!
Somehow with all of this free time, however, I still don't always get things done. When you live in Paris, you tell yourself you'll visit the Eiffel Tower "another time," because you can. When was the last time any NYer went to Ellis Island? Or the top of the Empire State Building? Bills go unpaid for spells, a brief phone call with Alanna Jane in Holland turns into three hours (that one is definitely a pro, btw). Pictures don't get to the framers. Eventually things get done, just not the way they do when you're working full time. Like Mrs. G told me this weekend, "Haven't you ever heard the old adage? If you want to get something done, ask a busy person." Surprisingly true, and surprisingly the only adage in the English lexicon that my mother hadn't already taught me.
PRO: Long Lunches
An old, dear friend (let's call him Ted...because that's his name) is kind enough to work in the hospitality industry, leaving him with a slightly malleable weekly schedule. The result? Ted, a foodie, intellect, opera aficionado, and all around interesting guy, has the free time to play with me on a Wednesday afternoon when the rest of my peers are watching youtube and falling asleep in meetings. Ted has taken me shopping - who knew men's clothes were so boring? - and to lunch at not one but two of my favorite Batali haunts. On a recent outing at Otto, we sat for almost two hours in the restaurant, sipping quartinos of wine and gorging on delicate thin-crust pizzas (incidentally, Ted's favorite food, the one he would choose if stranded on a desert island). The prosciutto-arugula version sat before me in technicolor: bright bitter green, vibrant sweet red, glistening pink pork. It brought me back to my days in Sicily. Okay, not really, but wouldn't it be cool if I did, indeed, have "days in Sicily?" A week-long roadtrip there with my dear friends Corinne and Nina many moons ago did actually flash before my eyes. There was a night (perhaps in Siracusa?) where we were the only people in this massive restaurant and dined on a pizza with the very same colors and textures. It didn't have quite the same feel but it came close. Even though he hates Olive Oil Gelato, he kept me company while I indulged in the coppetta Otto is so famous for. Served with stewed quince, pomegranate and blood oranges, and topped with a sprinkling of maldon sea salt. It had the bitter, acidic aftertaste that makes extra virgin olive oil so satisfying and distinct. When we finally left, satiated (or rather, just plain stuffed) and ready to face the freezing temps, I realized that the place was practically empty; a rarity for this particular resto. Being able to get a table and great service at the usually packed pizza joint made unemployment seem even sweeter.
BONUS PRO:
Having the free afternoon also enabled me to go to the Apple store in Soho without the throngs of obnoxious Saturday tourists. Not only did I get the attention, time, and patience I feel such an investment deserves, I also got a free printer. Kickass. Another pro of unemployment? Being able to go home after the aforementioned purchase and play with my new MacBook like the computer geek I wish I was.
CON: DVR
In this age of overly accessible media, it's hard to remember there was a time before DVR. And digital cable guides. Could you imagine actually having to look up TV programmings IN A MAGAZINE? Oh, the humanity. Unfortunately, cable also poses a problem for the out-of-work and weak-willed. All of the sudden I find myself enraptured by things I would normally scroll right over. Remember when The X-Files was good? No, not good, fantastic? A little known fact about the Chaden sisters - we picked up a bit of our father's engineering genes (I am the woman to have around when your TV or toaster isn't working) and our mother's nerdy fantasy fanatacism (not so much Star Trek, but we loved the miniseries V). Whenever I don't feel like settling in to do my work I know I can turn to Scully and Mulder. Bonus if the Lone Gunmen are in the episode - such loveable guys. Oh, and of course Australia's Next Top Model. TV may rot the brain but makes you feel oh so good. "Well, I'll just watch one episode of The Hills. I mean, I have to see if this Spencer guy's as bad as LC's making him out to be." Three hours later and about a million brain cells shorter, all you can say is "Heidi is making a HUGE mistake. Doesn't she remember what happened with Spencer and Audrina? Poor Lauren - she's totally failing at her internship..." Thank you, MTV Networks, for bringing such time-sucking entertainment into this world.
PRO-CON-PRO
The good news is I've started cooking and baking again. On a recent evening the old Food Network crowd came over for an Asian feast. I had the free time to cook prawn and chili potstickers, Vietnamese chicken salad, and a steak and soba noodle hot-pot (sort of an interactive main course). And coconut rice pudding for dessert. It was fun. So fun, in fact, that they ended up staying until almost midnight. On a school night. How I adore my former coworkers - even though only two of them still work at the company.
Lia, of This Little Piglet fame.
Karlyn and Doug, the proud parents-to-be:
Potstickers and Vietnamese Chicken Salad:
The bad news is that working from home and having leftovers and other such goods in the house (who doesn't keep pancetta in the fridge? Or truffled pate and cornichons? you never know when guests could call), is that if you're home all day you are destined to eat it. Get up to take a break from your work - hit the fridge. Feel like watching an hour of TV? Grab a snack. It's lethal. I would end up like Sally Struthers (minus the whole save-the-children thing) if it weren't for the final pro here:
The gym. In my building. Where by now, everyone knows my name. Sure, it's a pain in the ass but come on - you know you feel so good afterwards. And that way I don't feel guilty about sitting around my apartment for the rest of the afternoon. You can work out anytime of day when you don't have to look presentable. As a matter of fact, I'm sitting in my workout clothes right now (courtesy of Hanes and Champion. Which essentially put me through college. Please, buy them). And I'm sure I smell lovely. But you know what? I'm home alone so who cares!
Somehow with all of this free time, however, I still don't always get things done. When you live in Paris, you tell yourself you'll visit the Eiffel Tower "another time," because you can. When was the last time any NYer went to Ellis Island? Or the top of the Empire State Building? Bills go unpaid for spells, a brief phone call with Alanna Jane in Holland turns into three hours (that one is definitely a pro, btw). Pictures don't get to the framers. Eventually things get done, just not the way they do when you're working full time. Like Mrs. G told me this weekend, "Haven't you ever heard the old adage? If you want to get something done, ask a busy person." Surprisingly true, and surprisingly the only adage in the English lexicon that my mother hadn't already taught me.
posted by Chaden at 5:26 PM
1 Comments:
Dearest Alexandra,
You are so honest, bright, amusing and real I continue to be honored to be your Mom....one comment though....STAR TREK was the very FIRST SCI FI SHOW of its kind...the Picasso of the genre...there is no "nerd" in the word Trekkie (just eek, kir, tie and irk).....we are pioneers!!!
Go forth and prosper...
Love,
Mom
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