Hi. Remember me? No? That’s cool; I can’t blame you. It’s been a while. Ninety-two days in fact. NINETY-TWO days! That’s like three months! Where on earth did all that time go?!
In my last post, I wrote about being cold – which really says a lot about how long it’s been. It’s now well and truly spring, and the temperatures are a lot more bearable. 28 degrees, in fact. And I’m talking Celsius. People are rocking shorts and tees, and you can tell that summer is just around the corner – I can’t wait!
Even the ice-cream truck man is getting excited. He’s continually doing laps around the neighbourhood (like, a LOT of laps). And who can blame him? This is his time to shine – and cash in. I just wish he had more than the one song on his playlist. But no, it’s the same irritating plinking, plonking tune Every. Single. Time. Don’t get me wrong, I like ice-cream as much as the next guy, but that bloody song! Please, someone, make it stooooop!
Ninety-two days ago I was also unemployed and beginning to get stressed about my prospects. They say if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere, but I was starting to seriously doubt myself. What if I couldn’t make it? Finding a job in New York, I learned, is far from a walk in Central Park. Getting noticed here is damn HARD. All my experience, it seemed, counted for nothing. I was starting from scratch. After some 250 job applications* (*figure may be slightly exaggerated), and zero replies, I was feeling frustrated and a tad stressed. My meagre savings weren’t going to last forever – especially with the poor exchange rate (damn you, economy!). I needed to earn me some green buckaroos.
But job hunting is a lot like online dating. You think you’ve found a great match, so you contact them, confident that this might be the one. But then you get rejected. Or worse still, you don’t get rejected. You get no response at all. So you find yourself sitting by the phone, waiting for it to ring. And waiting. And waiting…
Fortunately, however, this chapter of my New York story ends well. A couple months ago, the phone DID ring and I somehow managed to score a regular freelance copy editing gig at a big media company. *Insert sigh of relief here* I’ve since picked up additional freelance work at another company, and while I wouldn’t say I’ve “made it” just yet, I’m at least “making it”. As my Mum likes to say, I’ve landed on my feet. Then again, they don’t call me Kat for nothing… Boom, boom, ching!