Disorientation

After 7 years at Bloomberg, I resigned on Monday. The day was surreal, anticlimactic and a long-time coming. Everything felt right until I was on the train home around 5pm and I couldn't think of what to do next. I have been living a comfortable routine being distracted all day long with work-related trivia. Now, I had a whole afternoon with nothing work-related to worry about. I have some interviews to prepare for, and of course the Foreign Service Exam to study towards, but these require a formidable self-motivated drive to get accomplished. This is not one of my fortes. I'm more of a laid-back procrastinator than a time-charting, self-organizing machine. And I am panicking now, 2 days into my new-found, scary freedom.

So, I did what any guy going through an early-mid-life-crisis would do - I bought a car. Only it's a Passat station wagon and the colors Connie wanted are non-standard and it will take months to get it. But, we are closer to having a car, which we've been planning to get for over a year now. Our new place has a parking garage under the building. I was unwilling to play the mad parking game in our previous neighborhood. So getting the cable hooked up properly, and getting a car, and pulling out my last two wisdom teeth have been keeping me busy (read: distracted). But what's next? The options are laid bare on the table. Spend two months studying hard for this pie-in-the-sky job with the U.S. State Department, or get another softwrae job (still have a shot with Google and Goldman Sachs next week). I need to hunker down and get into a routine. I need to have three meals a day and looks like I have to arrange for them to be preapred as well. I need to continue unpacking the boxes and making the guest room/office and kitchen more habitable. I need to prepare for interviews. I need to create a study plan. And I need to rent a car until my rare-color Passat arrives. I hope writing this down will make it easier to follow through. There's a part of me tempted to get used to watching TV and playing viedo games all day - I'm still waiting for my first Gamefly Wii game to arrive...

Anniversary I & Boston Breather

Monday, October 8th was our first anniversary. Connie reserved a table at Jean Georges (complements of Dimitris & Susan - gift certificate was a wedding present), but I made sure they knew we were celebrating, and I bought a little something at her favorite Jewelry store. However, the real clincher that night was my greeting card. I made her cry, which is always a good sign of successful mush-prose. Hey, what can I say? I love her! There were two things that went wrong that evening: 1) foie gras with passion fruit seeds. I mean, why ruin a perfectly good, silky-smooth piece of goose with sour, black, crunchy bird food? 2) Yankees lose to Indians ending their season and our already-unlikely chance of getting World Series tickets through the post-season ticket lottery scheme. Regardless, we had a fantastic evening. We needed it.

The next day we rented a company car and drove off to Boston. Due to a reservation issue - Seinfeld was onto something - they couldn't give us a normal sedan so we drove off in a Ford Edge SUV beast. It was brand new and smelled awful, but at the same time it was luxurious and I enjoyed driving it. The only thing that wrinkled the smooth ride was Connie insisting on playing the book on CD version of Harry Potter 7 the whole way. We just finished reading the book a couple of months ago (after standing in line with some kids at midnight)... Sometimes she drives me crazy with these obsessions of hers. Other times I find it cute.

In Boston, we had a nice room overlooking the Charles and Cambridge from Copley. I drove her around during the day from one campus to the next, and helped setup a few info sessions when my help was needed. But we ate lunches with Scott or Cris, and had dinners with Scott & Marissa every night. They were really good sports as they were staying up late with us every night and going to work at 6am the next day. Connie's work days didn't start till noon. We had an unfair advantage. They are gracious hosts, though, and we had great times at their immaculate (and almost done) apartment, gay dbar in Dorchester, and exquisite Oishi in the South End.

We spent a night at Cris and Margo's new place as well. It was the first time I stayed with Cris at his place rather than mine or Scott's his parents' cottage in Thousand Island Park. Margo has really done a great job of settling him down and I was surprised to feel cozy and comfy in his apartment. We spent Saturday night watching an amazing Indians/Red Sox game. As Yankee fans, we have to cheer whoever is playing the Red Sox. Cris was not amused by that, but teh game itself was fantastic and lasted past my bedtime. Connie kept waking me up to announce updates until the Indians finally clinched it with a 7-run 11th inning :)

I spent much of our conversations with friends, colleagues, and strangers that week convincing myself that quitting was the right thing for me at this time. This was supposed to be a week of relaxation for me so that I could calmly take the big plunge and resign on Monday. It worked!

Moving In

We somehow managed to get through the last two weeks with only a few permanent bruises. We got everything packed on time, as I was home alone for half the week and had nothing better to do. The moving day was predictably chaotic and Connie was at her worst/best. She was overly stressed out and unpleasant to be around, but getting things done right and not giving up on the small stuff. By midnight, we had our bed made, and the toilets were usable. It didn't take longer than the first night to realize that we had made a terrible mistake on picking this apartment. We knew it was on Queens Blvd (the Boulevard of Death - a ten lane road serving as the main east-west artery of the borough), but somehow thought the air in-between ground and 12th floor would filter out the noise from the sundry vehicles making their way along it. The two times we visited the apartment it seemed quiet enough. It was a hoax. There are moments of near-quietness but they are far and few between. And the between is a mess of bus screeches, sirens, un-mufflered vibrations on loudspeakers, motorbikes on crack...

On the upside, we can't hear each other from one room to the next because the place is gigantic compared to our last apartment. I can't wait to get a car and a space in the garage. Laundry is also working out well, because there's a valet service in the building. You just call them up, leave your dirty bags in the lobby, and pick 'em up the same or following day clean as a whistle. Also, the neighborhood is nicer with more non-Hispanic shopping and dining options. Our first night in the apartment, we got hungry at 10pm. After a worrying episode of being turned away from several eateries - places close early in this family-oriented neighborhood - we stumbled upon a Greek taverna. The host was charming, and the grilled octopus made our month.

So there are good and bad things here in our new home, but we are doing our best to try and get it up and running and enjoy it to the fullest. We know we will only be here for two years max. Now I have to make sure I survive my project without making too much of a mess, and then I have a week off cruising Boston with Connie (another recruiting trip) and making peace with my scheduled resignation.