I Hate Vacations

No, I do. I really, truly do. They tease you with their fancy hotels and expensive champagne, and then - BAM! One week later you are sitting on a cross-country red-eye filled with annoying kids and reruns of Lock Up Raw. You've guessed it! I've just come home from an amazing (all expenses paid!!) trip to California, only to be stabbed by the cold knife of reality.

Now that I am back in New York, I am only reminded of the stressors that I have to face: the heat wave, contest deadlines, bills, and my never-ending job search. Meanwhile, I am doing all of this with jet lag. Gone, are my blissful memories of walking along the cost of Sausalito and sipping champagne cocktails at The Fairmont; all that remains are my unpacked bags and the awkward tan lines on my chest.

The oddity of it all comes from the fact that - despite working on a deadline - I was never stressed on my trip, not once. I never thought about the jobs I should be applying for or the draft of the script that I need to edit. I only focused on myself. And it was amazing. Is there a way to take that type of peace with you when you leave? Because I sure as hell want to.


E

Leaving on a Jet Plane

A Writer-Friend of mine recently pointed out the fact that I never stay in one place for very long, that I am always traveling and moving, changing things up and looking for a new start. However, the reality of this didn't really set in with me until today.

Being unemployed has given me the gift of travel. In a way, I am living the New Yorker's dream: I spend my waking days in the city and my weekends on various trips out to the "country" - as one friend put it. I have been back in Brooklyn for three hours after going down to Virginia to surprise my dad for Father's Day and am already re-packing my bags for a woodsy camping adventure at Hollywood Club up in the Adirondacks. Three weeks after that, I am jetting off to San Francisco and Napa for a week, then heading back to Virginia with some friends, and then possibly spending a few days in the Poconos.

But is all of this for the best?

I am, without a doubt, having a blast on all of my trips, whether it's going to the races or to a party in Rhode Island, but I am then - in turn - spending a considerable amount of time away from the work place. I am writing less, applying for jobs less, looking for apartments less. Is a balance of all of this possible, the reality and the play?

-E

The Job Crunch

So, to keep my sanity levels in check, I have decided that I must live under the assumption that I am the norm for young writers. And by norm, I mean unemployed.

Is there some sort of twisty trick to making this unfortunate reality go away? Just disappear? Because currently I am sitting in an apartment that I can barely afford trying to figure out a way to make my job application - out of all of the thousands that these companies are getting - seem worth while. I am one VERY small fish in one VERY large pond.

And by fish I mean amoeba. And by pond I mean ocean.

On one hand, this lets me live a great New York life. I go out of town almost every weekend and I have plenty of time to write for my self. I get to set my own schedule and act as my own boss. And - for the first time - I can get a tan AND work at the same time.

But there comes a point when none of this pays, when my ConEd bill comes and I have to figure out how to dish out the extra cash to support my AC habit. What then?

-E