Nothing New

So why am I writing when I have so little to say? No observations about life at this very moment, no new developments in my world, nothing much really. I get a raise in a week, but that's about it.
My one-year "blog-versary" is coming up... July 3, I believe. Also, my three-year "life in New York" anniversary is coming on July 2. I suppose I will write entries for those. Some years-in-review, or something along those lines.
I'm a bit sad I didn't start this blog two or three years earlier, when my life was much more exciting and I could regale my friends with tales of travel, drama and intrigue. Instead I chose to begin writing when life had settled down, when I'd found a steady boyfriend, when I was no longer hopping from place to place or set to set or guy to guy, and when I no longer went out to cool places with hip people on a fairly regular basis.
At the same time, I'm glad I didn't post all my thoughts and feelings back then because I think I may have embarrassed myself.

This Commercial is Hilarious

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GQI2KlAurOg

So I Don't Seem Like a Complete Square

Sad that I have to qualify it, eh? I went to see the Eels play last night and danced like a madwoman.

Rambling Post Where I Defend the Value of My Corporate Job

Today the BF told me about a woman (producer) his works with at his freelance gig that is having trouble dealing with her corporate client. She doesn’t quite understand the corporate world, and I speculated that perhaps she’s never worked in it or with it. He said that, no, she hasn’t and she curses it. I find this “curse of the corporate job” common among media production freelancers and professionals who work outside the corporate environment. As a matter of fact, many people I’ve met in all kinds of fields express this same distain for corporate work. Myself included. I have never been much of a corporate cheerleader as far as policy and practice are concerned, especially in the case of mass mergers and over-inflated CEO compensations. Business in general strives to make a profit, and I believe that business will naturally corrupt if it is not continually checked by outside agencies. Often these are government agencies. But policy and economics aside, corporations aren’t such a bad place to work and I can’t take someone’s curses seriously unless they can back them up with personal experience. Many of these people have a vague but inaccurate idea of what it's like, and of course it seems undesirable from a distance. (If it appears I’m building a straw man here, I probably am so don’t quote me on any of this. Even so, my straw man is based on personal observation of co-workers, namely young, middle-class creative types with a higher education.) In my own experience, my non-corporate work was varied and interesting and exciting. Yet the hours were crap, the pay was crap, and there were no benefits. I could potentially join a union if I paid a large sum of money to take an infamously difficult test, and if I passed that expensive test I could round up personal recommendations from different union members, and after that the union may or may not admit me, upon which I’d have to pay another large sum of money, and then I wouldn’t be guaranteed any work but I wouldn’t be able to do non-union work. On the other hand, my corporation allowed me to join their union, and all I had to do was be hired and sign a paper. My corporation not only pays for my comprehensive medical and dental care (I contribute about $13/mo before taxes), they take out pre-tax money for my transportation, and they will reimburse me for a good deal of my tuition. The department is still small, the hours are decent, the co-workers are friendly, and the product is high quality and widely recognized (even if I don’t agree with all of its opinions, its quality is indisputable). I’m getting a 2K raise after 3 months on the job, I get paid for vacation time, and I may even get a bonus at Christmas. Many small businesses or large non-profits don’t offer these perks to their employees, mainly because they are costly and small businesses must struggle more to make ends meet. The Opera paid their managers less than I’m paid as an associate, and they didn’t have dental coverage or tuition reimbursement. The mom-and-pop-shop where BF used to work required long hours with no OT, low pay, and also no dental coverage. I’m not saying that all corporate jobs are great, and people bash that sort of work for a reason. I’ve met plenty of people at small production houses that used to be stock brokers or whatever, and they are happier now coordinating crews from sun-up to sundown. Hell, I’ll probably be sick of this office job soon enough and will look for a change of working environment. Yet so far I can’t say they don’t treat me well or that it’s at all an undesirable job. Hey, let people believe that it’s undesirable; the more people want to do this work the more demand will increase and wages and benefits will decrease! Except for the top of the elitist food chain! That’s what happened to the tv/film production world, anyway.
So, I say, don’t knock it ‘till you try it. You may even like it. And remember, the quality of a workplace depends mostly on its workers and management. It’s all about the people, baby.

So here I am, 10 days later, wondering why the hell no one updates their blogs often when I suddenly realize: hey, I don't update often either! I'm such a hypocrite!
Alas. Sue me.
So here's the down-low: Went to Gettysburg, saw the parents, got a jaccuzzi room in a B&B and it was fantastic. The best part was when we ventured out into the fields at night into the battlefield ghosts and fireflies. We weren't on ACTUAL battlefields, so we weren't trespassing necessarily. BF isn't as adventuresome as I am in certain situations, like wandering around dark fields at night, so we didn't go far or stay out late. But it was lovely nonetheless.
The malaise is still present, but a bottle of wine over the course of three days did stave the feeling a bit. And this weekend should help as well.