Times They Are A-Changin'

For me at least.

As of tomorrow, I am no longer a nanny. As of Monday, I am an after school teacher for 6th graders in Queens and an ESL instructor for Spanish-speaking adults. All this came about in the past three weeks.

It begins with, my year nannying was coming to a close and I was back and forth about staying. I love the girls and the pay is great, but being a nanny is not my career goal and can actually hinder me from getting jobs in the future (i.e., when I apply to jobs with groups of low-income youth and my resume is two years of nannying for only two girls in the Upper East Side, I may get laughed at). The job itself also had aspects that were difficult for me and I was struggling with the culture of the Upper East Side in general. So I decided to leave, but as there were only two weeks before school began and we were all under the assumption I was staying, I gave Linda a semester's notice, saying I would stay through December.

She was not pleased (or reasonable). Our interactions were far from ideal, but after about a week of stress, she decided to find a new nanny immediately and hired this great girl who I trained yesterday and think will be an awesome match (prolly better than me, for Linda at least, because she's more conservative and family-oriented and homebodyish than me). Even though I brought this on myself and am happy for the change, when Linda decided to find a new nanny right away, I freaked. Working with the girls for only two more weeks? What? I really love them and feel almost like I'm betraying them by leaving. And what would I do next?

So, after many resumes and cover letters and interviews in my $3 button up shirt, I secured a job with the Beacon Program, a nonprofit that works in IS-5, a public middle school in Elmhurst, Queens. I'm really excited to be working with this population and to be teaching adults, and love the people who run the program. It's really small, so there are only three people in charge who are all really sweet Latina women who are not afraid to tell you what's up but will then give you a hug after doing so. The program actually runs a lot of stuff for the community so they are overworked and basically live at this middle school, but what they do is awesome. Their services include free, after school programs for 1st-6th graders, fieldtrips, ESL for adults, hip-hop and step classes, ESL for recently immigrated children, homework assistance/tutoring, basketball coaching for 7th-8th graders, other sports activities for kids and adults, and just general space for people from the community that want to run karate or music or dance classes or whatever at no cost. I get to design what I teach and have an aide, this awesome high school girl who has her shit together like crazy. I'm really excited about the work and it pays well, but unfortunately by the hour. When I first begin, I'll only be working 22 hours a week so it won't be enough money, but the director is organizing a Saturday ESL program for kids that I'll lead, so once that gets going, the finances will improve. I'm still going to pick up a day at a restaurant or cafe or something to make sure I'll have enough money. But I don't want to be working over 30 hours a week because I'm so serious right now about focusing on my writing. I've been applying to local newspapers and blogs and online zines, and just generally writing my ass off. If I can make the extra income off of my writing, then I've reached my career goal of New York already: to work with low-income children through a nonprofit and advance my writing career.

I'm not counting on these writing jobs for my income though. They are wildly competitive and depend on connections more than talent. I'm already envisioning the late nights sitting around a restaurant full of drunks that just won't leave, clothes that smell like food and coffee no matter how many times I wash them, and achy legs from standing and walking for a whole shift. Is it weird to say I kinda miss it?

I guess I have to change my info box on this site. No longer am I nannying on the Upper East Side to make money, but I'll be teaching in Queens to make some money, while continuing to pursue the writer in New York thing. Wish me luck!

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof is OnLine!

I recently discovered a website called "Notes and Grace Notes," which is an online literary journal formed by writers where anyone can post their story to be read and commented on by viewers. Then, each month, the stories are judged by published authors and a winner is chosen. I just posted one of my stories, entitled "The Roof," and would love for everyone to read it and post HONEST comments.

Thanks so much!

Here's the link:
http://notesandgracenotes.com/index.php?option=com_myblog&task=tag&category=Fiction

I believe it's the third entry from the top. Enjoy!

Help For the HTML Illiterate!

So here's the deal:

I wanna put adsense on my blog and make all of ya'll click on the ads so I can earn some money. But, because I'm dumb with HTML, I have tried multiple ways to get this shit up and have failed. Can anyone help me??

Basil Being Bad

Basil did the worst thing today he has ever done. It was actually our fault for giving him too much freedom, but hot damn he made my stomach churn and heart race for a half hour!!

The story goes:
Dave and I took him to the park, which is also across the street from a grocery store, to play in the dog run while one of us shopped. To decide who got to play and who had to shop, we did best six out of eleven rock/paper/scissors, which I just barely lost. Then Dave, who has a hot head about how good of a RPS player he is, decided that he'd give me an extra chance and would flip a coin. I chose heads and it landed on tails, so I was for sure the one doing the grocery chore.

We got to the park to discover a closed dog run (they're re-wood chipping it), but there are all kinds of fenced in grassy patches within the park, far from the cars, so Dave and I agreed it'd be cool to let him run around there while I shopped. Well, it turns out Basil inherited Dave's hot head and on our way back from the store, he pulled so hard that he yanked the leash out of Dave's hand and took off running down the sidewalk. We shouted stop, no, and come, but he was not responsive at all, just kept running. We dropped our bags and bolted after him, and he took a sharp left and ran across the side street we were on to the other sidewalk. Holy shit my heart pumped into my throat!! Luckily, there were no cars so I chased after him, shouting, "NO, STOP!" but he just picked up the pace!

He's sprinting like the speedy hound/terrier he is down the sidewalk, and I'm chasing, shouting for the other people to grab his leash. Dave's running down the middle of the street in case Basil bolts out again, and then we approach the corner of Nassau and Eckford. I'm close to him but not close enough to get the leash, and if he runs any further, he'll run onto busy Nassau where he will inevitably get hit by one of many cars.

Then, he just stops. He stops running and turns around to me with this goofy grin on his face, like we were playing chase and here he is letting me catch him. Dave ran over and we yelled at him, telling him he was a really bad dog. He looked super sad, but after he sat down for a minute, we loved on him and told him he was a good puppy but that he did a very bad thing. Damn, I was totally panicking, like, envisioning a car slamming into him on Nassau! I'm so happy he at least understands to stop at a busy street (we've been working on stopping at streets before crossing), but god, Dave and I were freaking. Especially poor Dave, as he saw his first dog get killed by a car when he was six! Dave was just sprinting with this dazed look on his face, like, going to a happy place, going to a place where dogs don't get hit by cars. It took us a good half hour before we were breathing normally again!

And during that half hour, we analyzed the situation and what contributed to him doing this (he has never pulled away from us before). We definitely gave him too much freedom for a puppy in the park (and in KY!), showing him that he can run around off leash and have us chase him. But he's still a puppy and can't put together to not do that on the sidewalk, so no more off leash time until he is perfect about stopping at the street and not tugging on the leash. Hoo boy, what a fright.

Weirdly, it also made me realize how terrifying the world can be to a parent. This is our dog and we were FREAKED. It's so nuts how the process of adopting a dog is complicated and drawn out, checking references and calling landlords, yet anyone can just have a kid. Even accidentally! People accidentally have KIDS! The responsibility and love that comes along with a dog makes being a parent mind-boggling.

So, all's well that end's well, and Basil is currently a very happy puppy, sitting at my feet and devouring his rawhide. Dave and I are chilled out now, and the lessons have all been learned. Oh puppylove.