I don't know why but when I found this Instagram post this morning somewhere between 28th and 34th Street on the R train, I nearly died laughing. The caption reads "Capuchins are the most intelligent of all monkeys...Donnatto as you can see here,is actually studying a rock." OMG.
Does anyone remember that movie from the 90s, Monkey Trouble, about the capuchin who was trained as a thief and who was rescued by a girl in the park and taken home, kept secret from her parents, and trained to be a good monkey? Then he had to choose between staying with the little girl or going back to the pocket picking villains that trained him?
It was one of my favorite movies when I was a little child. And now that I'm looking at IMDB, I think Thora Birch, who played the protagonist, Eva, looks a lot like Jennifer Lawrence!
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| Thora Birch, lead actress in Monkey Trouble Source: Google Images. |
On a more serious note, the direction of this blog is all over the place, but I think that's ok. I think I have been trying to make it into something structured, and narrowly focused when really, the whole appeal of blogging for me was the journaling of everyday things and thoughts. With that, here's a little bit about work and play:
Work: Work is going pretty well so far. I just hit my 10-month mark, and starting to pick up more responsibilities. I've tried to become more open minded about types of investments and not see things in boxes as much.
Over the last couple of months we had construction and some folks got standing desks. I hear it's all the rage in office furniture now. At the rate we're going, this is how I envision every single work station to look like in our office a year from now.
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| Source: The New Yorker |
Bahahahahaha. No, I'm serious. We'll all be strapped to some sort of exercise machinery at our ergonomically-designed desks, working on our vlookups.
Play: My social life, on the other hand, has not been so great. I've found it rather difficult to make and maintain friends. I think that a lot of folks in their mid-20s can probably relate: I'm in a kind of psychological rut where I feel like I should be more involved; that I'm somehow missing out on things. Of course, social media doesn't make it any easier.
Being in a new city is lonely as heck. I never thought I'd feel this way after moving here; after all, I'm living with two of my good friends from Boston, and my family is so very close. But things just didn't turn out how I envisioned.
My roommates are busy with school -- and in a totally different place in terms of life (e.g., they have exams, I have investment committee meetings), priorities (e.g., they might stay up til 3am studying for that licensing exam, I might have to go to bed at 10:30pm so that I can be lucid for a conference call at 9am), and interests (they might be focused on learning theories and practices, I might be focused on calculating IRRs). As a result of that, we haven't been able to keep the same dynamic we had in Boston, when we were all working and all had similar worries and schedules. It makes me sad sometimes, but I think I just need to be flexible and they'll meet me halfway. I reached out to schedule a roomie dinner - It has been months since we've sat down to eat together. I'm really looking forward to it. I love these girls dearly, even though we haven't been able to spend much time together.
My family - well, they are my rock, but they're also busy. I've tried to be helpful when I can but ultimately I think they all have things to focus on. I try to visit often - at least once every three weeks. Sometimes when I go home to visit, it is just me and dad, driving around running errands. Or me and Mom going out to buy produce at the Farm. It's ok, I know they try to fit me in when they can. And at the very least, I'm able to get my laundry done at home without the fear of a random neighbor gratuitously taking my delicates out of the dryer.
As a result, I'm trying my very best to be positive and proactive in reaching out to people to catch up and create friendships when I can. It was so discouraging at first. I e-mailed a bunch of people and very few got back to me. It makes me scared to continue to reach out to people because I feel like I will just be more and more hurt with each e-mail that goes unanswered.
But I have to remind myself of the dividends I've already reaped. My friend Kas who ran track and participated in this political science debate club with me in high school was one person that I emailed out of the blue to hang out. We not only had a blast catching up over coffee, but have hung out several times since and are planning to go to an event together in early May (yay!). And yesterday, I reached out to a girl I met at a networking event a month ago. I feared that she had forgotten me altogether but on the contrary, she invited me over to her new apartment for cookies and tea.
So see, Shel, this totally invalidates your fears. Keep putting yourself out there. It's not easy to make and maintain friends in the city but... look how rewarding it is when you succeed.
