In this world, it's hard to get a leg up

There seems to be an epidemic of bird parts strewn about Greenpoint. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had found a perfectly intact bird's head sitting on the ground. Well, perfectly intact except for the fact that it wasn't attached to the rest of the bird anymore. Then yesterday, I come across the little gem seen at left. If it was just dead birds, I wouldn't feel surprised, but bird parts? Curious. But I have a theory! Two theories! The first theory is that there's a Mr. Potato-bird on the loose, and it's little storage compartment is loose, letting appendages fall hither and thither while he unwittingly flies through the air. My other theory, which may be a little more "plausible" if you're into that sort of thing, is that the hawk that I mentioned in my last post has been discarding his trash on our fair streets. It makes sense right? What use would the hawk have for the leg or the head? I do believe I'm onto something.

As for the census, it's going ok. I don't remember if I've already explained the address canvassing operation, but basically all we're doing right now is going structure by structure, block by block, and making sure that all the addresses we see on the ground are in the system, so that every household can receive a census form next year. For example, if I come to 123 Main St., and see that it is multi-family building with apartments 1R, 1L, 2R, 2L, etc., I have to make sure that I have each seperate apartment listed in my computer. This week has been spent largely scouting my area, which means walking street by street, taking note of anything that may give my listers trouble. I've been making note of where this is new construction, demolished buildings, blocks with no residential structures, etc. It's actually been more interesting and helpful than I thought it would be. I feel like I've covered a lot of ground in Greenpoint before, but it's a whole other thing to literally walk up and down every single street. It takes longer than one might expect. And it makes my footsies hurt.


I recently, by accident, came upon the Newtown Creek Nature Walk. I had heard about it a while ago on New York Shitty, (whose picture I'm using to the left,) but completely forgot about it. Then I stumbled upon it and decided to take a short jaunt. It's a pretty surreal experience. The entrance is right next to the Time Warner building in Greenpoint, and it runs along the huge Sewer Treatment Plant as well as what appears to be a gravel company of some sort, judging by the large piles of gravel. The actual path goes along Newtown Creek with views of industrial Long Island City on the other side. To be fair, there are also views of Manhattan, and it's neat to be able to walk along the creek, but I feel like Nature Walk is kind of a misnomer. The path is mostly cement, and lots of the structures are very modern. I think something along the lines of the Newtown Creek Experience would be more appropriate.

This is turning into a nice long post, but I would like to share one thought of struggle that's been coming up for me lately. My stint at the census supposedly lasts for period of eight weeks, maybe even into June or July, but it is definitely temporary. I've got the potential of putting together a couple of part-time jobs come mid-May that would almost certainly be more personally rewarding and lower-paying than the census job. I'm worrying about what I'll do if I find myself at a point where I have lower-paying part-time jobs on the table and staying on at the census. I guess this kind of an eternal problem anywhere, but especially in New York, that the jobs that make us happier often leave us without the means to enjoy our lives in the way that we want to. I think I'm just realizing that my whole life and lifestyle so far in New York has been based around the fact that I've had a decent paying salaried job, from where I live to what I eat to the activities I partake in. But I can't have my cake and eat it too, if I'm going to change my workstyle, I'm going to have to change my lifestyle. (That last sentence reminds me of my favorite line from the Metallica movie: "Some Kind of Monster." There having a group lyric writing session, and Kirk Hammett says, "I got it guys: My lifestyle determines my deathstyle!")

And what I'm struggling with is the realization that New York may just be the wrong place for me to have both the workstyle and lifestyle (hopefully no deathstyle) that will make me happy. It's not a question of not wanting to work or not liking to work, but I refuse to give up the faith that I can both feel satisfied by what I'm doing for employment live my life in the way that I want.

But then I have my moments of remembering that I like living in New York, there are people that I love here, and I can make anything work anywhere if I really try at it. Or I am just setting myself up for failure. Step 1 for me is just sitting down and writing out what I want out of life, work, etc. This is something that I've been meaning to do since I quit my job, and I keep managing to avoid. I think that I subconsciously know that it's a lot easier to talk about what I don't want than to define what I do want, but it's time for me to quit futzing around and get to it!