salience

View of Manhattan from my Living Room window y'all. See the Empire State Building and the Chrysler building? That is the Queensboro Bridge, it ramps into 2nd Avenue and 59th Street.

And same view at night:

1. "M'aam? Excuse me? Hey, miss! I'm talking to you!" an older, toothless woman shouted at me. I was walking out of Gristede's, the island grocery store. I'd stopped by after work to pick up cat food for Sphinaco and bread for my sandwiches I take to work as my lunch every day. She hadn't realized I had already seen the knife in her right hand; she was leaning heavily against the corner of the building, and I was walking quickly to cross the street and head back to my apartment building. If I book it, it takes seven minutes. "Miss," she continued, "please, help me cross the street." She stumbled towards me with her right hand coming from behind her. I didn't even stop, but as I passed I said, "I'm so sorry, my hands are full, you see." Later in the island paper we'd read about a woman attacking young women after she asked them to help her cross the road. No motive was apparent. Of course, the case was still under investigation.

2. After the conglomerate wide holiday party downtown, the head of our group insisted on going out afterwards. "Anyone who leaves this party before I do is fired. Don't even bother showing up to work tomorrow." As you can imagine, very few had the courage to leave early. As a new hire, I was in it until he called time. Wall Street is not a friendly neighborhood. It is very much a corporate hub, and it is pretty dead after hours. We went to two bars after we were kicked out of the firm party. The first one closed within minutes of them letting us in, go figure. The second was a dive bar, two flights of stairs underground. As we walked in, our lawyer made the mistake of leaning on a guy's coat draped over a barstool. The owner of the coat immediately came out of the shadows to ask what his problem was. Our boss quietly said, "Chill, man. You bought it at Macy's. It's not like it's a prized possession, alright?" This only angered him more and suddenly half of the research team slowly filled in behind the lawyer just in case someone decided to get overemotional. The guys began shielding me as irritated Coat Man's friends started to stand up. Very deliberately Boss Man said to the guy puffing up next to Coat Man, "You do realize if your friend here (Coat Man) does get up the courage to throw a punch, you'll be the first one I kill." In an instant, Friend Guy eyed Coat Man and his crowd dispersed. The guys began to relax around me, but still stayed close. Eventually Coat Man and his crowd left. We all hung out and talked and laughed until almost 2AM. Boss Man insisted on paying for my cab home, and that a fellow analyst accompany me "just in case." Welcome to the family, indeed.

3. "What you worried about, beautiful? You're my prodigy, you know this. And besides, you look great doing it. Relax." Even with the lights out and the multi-colored spots on, the music pounding in my chest, I knew he was right. Break a glass? No worries, you can navigate around the shards. I was one of two to pass both the hour long written exam and pouring test for licensing on the first try. I knew from the first day I walked into the skinny 12 floor on 34th street it'd work out. The doorman said, "Let me guess? Modeling?" And I said no I wasn't there to see the folks at the modeling agency, I wanted to go see the folks at Authentic Bartending, please. He said he used to be a bar manager and that my height would be instrumental in my success. "You'll be able to reach over everything and everyone, best of luck to you." Even though my schedule was a mess, I wasn't in a steady class, I attended when I could. I had a two week lapse due to being out of town over the holidays. But Devin let me in his class on weeknights from 6-10PM. Mixing drinks is the easy part. Most folks don't know what they're asking for, so once you have the basics down, you can wing almost anything based off of flavors. For those who are specific, they tell you exactly how and what they want. I've always wanted to learn to bartend. If ever out at any club I would always look at the guys behind the counter and think, I really am on the wrong side of this bar. The guys at Authentic are great; all are working bartenders/managers who don't mess around. The set up is formidable: a 20' by 10' space with an L shaped bar set up, complete with liquor racks, ice bins, speed racks and soda guns. Lights and sound system mandatory. You'd think it'd be a huge mess of people wanting to be in the program, but I met some really down to earth folks in a pretty short period of time. I'm sure I'll go back to practice and refresh. I think what I enjoyed most was being a part of a group, a random mix of people coming together to learn. It reminded me often of being at BC and being at a rehearsal. I hadn't realized how much I had missed that kind of interaction until doing this program. I've gotten used to working: individual projects and team assignments we divy up to meet deadlines. There isn't a continual exchange of ideas or constant jokes and stories spilling out people's mouths. It's very proper, very contained. Very corporate. Being at Authentic was a nice reminder: I really do love meeting quality people. If only I could avoid the lame ones. :) That "people" I definitely do not enjoy. But, I digress. Now it's time to get my resume in line and hit the streets to find work. It's not so much that I absolutely have to get a second job, it's that I've managed to learn a skill I've always admired. Why not use it? If I can pay down my student loans faster, by all means I'm going to. Authentic will help me to find placement in a safe, reputable establishment. I'll let y'all know how things go.

In other news, the holidays are over. It was a mixed bag for me. I managed to not kill myself in Christie's wedding with my bum left foot. It was completely asleep halfway through the ceremony, so walking back up the aisle was interesting. I do have a villain, AFO brace to wear at night now to keep my blood circulating. I call it my peg leg: it makes this clinking sound when I walk. The doctors say I should have most functionality back by next month. My aunt and uncle dedicated a week and a half to my dad's house to fix it up for him so he'll be able to sell it. It looks amazing. The twins are not taking it too well. But so it goes. Alex got to see Alpharetta and hang out with my family. I think my favorite parts of the whole trip were him bonding with Christie's mom at her rehearsal dinner over band stories and spending New Years Eve Day at the Islands of Adventure theme park. (Yes, the family drove down to Orlando for New Years. Yes, Alex drove our rental car the entire eight hours. Yes, he is perfect these days. He has a killer three piece, pin stripped suit I wish I had taken a picture of him in after Christie's wedding. With the pocket watch and chain, claro.)

Some pictures from the Orlando trip:

It's 2007. A new year. I've got a lot to look forward to y'all: vacationing with the Jung family, twins' graduation, Alex's graduation. Hopefully Alex moving back East, but I don't want to jinx anything. (!!) I'm re-registered to take the CFA I exam in June. I've made a simple, short list of resolutions, but I'll keep them to myself for now. I really am looking forward to just working on things I'm getting to do, it's like I'm finally making it in this city. Not living a two hour commute away, not living in a crap apartment, and not working a job I hate. All quite the opposite: virtually non-existent commute, breath taking apartment, and a challenging and fulfilling job. So I have a great deal to be happy about. Definitely. I will say I want to enjoy more this year. Appreciate and enjoy. You only live once, right? :)