scientific

The other day I bought a certain Pilates magazine. I don't know why, but I kinda thought it would be a sort of informative journal full of innovative ideas and current methodology concerning technique and style. No sir. It's advertising space and traditional thinking. I should have known. Really, I should have. I was asking my instructor if she knew of any good resources and the first one she suggested was Men's Health.

For real? Yes.

She admitted that it had a lot of stupid ("really stupid," I offered) shit in it but that it also had some great info on working out and nutrition and stuff. So I stole her husband's copy, um, out of the bathroom, at the gym.

where?

I've been getting asked for directions a lot lately. Like, more in the past month than I've ever been asked since I moved here three years ago. I don't know what it is. I'm pretty sure I'm wearing the same bitter scowl that I usually have, so why have people started thinking I'd be helpful? (Some of you know my sneaking suspicion about why this is but it hasn't been received with enthusiasm so I'm keeping it to myself.)

A few weeks ago I around 9PM I was walking downtown when a woman asked me where 12th street was. I pointed her north, she beckoned to her group, and I continued walking south. Not only did I apparently look like I was approachable but I knew where to direct her without any hesitation. I was feeling pretty good about myself, until I noticed that the next block down said 12th street. Oops. That took me down a peg. The really sad thing is that that group would probably walk up to 14th, realize they must have missed 12th then walk back down to where they ran into me, continuing to think they're still missing it. Because why would someone give them bad directions? 12th must be between 14th and that place where we met that nice man, because he pointed us north.

Stupid tourists.

I also gave some tourists directions to Grimaldi's yesterday. And this time I really did know how to get there. When they learned that I had never been they invited me to go with them. I was seriously tempted but then I probably would've arrived to work an hour and a half late, and I couldn't quite justify that in my head.

I updated this post. Every store will now have the "Scene" feature.

help me!

Seriously. I would really appreciate your opinion.

Here's the deal:

I'm trying to change my job and start teaching Pilates for a living. Right now I have a full time job (37-40 hours a week) at the theater where I've worked for three years. I have dental and health insurance at this job but I don't like it very much and I get out late (8PM). I also teach Pilates at a gym 3 days a week. Right now my number of sessions at the gym fluctuates between 3 to 6. So I'm not making much there. There's the potential that that number could increase but it depends on the clients so I can't necessarily depend on it. I'm also barely teaching at a studio (keep in your head: theater, gym and studio) but I don't get paid at that job since those teaching hours are part of my certification in Pilates. I still have about 70 hours to finish before I'll get paid out there. It's taken me about 4 months to teach 80 hours and since I'm busier now (with other things) it'll probably take me at least another 4 months, meaning next February, before I'll start getting paid.

A friend of mine teaches at another studio and told me that the owner was looking for instructors. I met with the owner yesterday and gave her a lesson and she said she'd be interested in taking me on as an apprentice (since I'm not fully certified), meaning that I would get paid, just not that much. But she doesn't need me when I'm free, she needs someone to be available in the evenings. I told her I would figure out some way to make it work with my job at the theater but that would basically mean leaving work about 2 hours early and I'm not so sure they'd like that.

So here's my question. Am I trying to take on too much at once? Should I forget about this apprenticeship thing and just concentrate on my job at the theater, work at the gym, and finish up my hours at the original studio? None of the hours I work at other studios or gyms count as hours toward my certification, these first 150 hours have to be done at that studio. Or would I be letting a great opportunity go by not starting at this second studio? Would it be better to finish up those 150 hours so I'd at least have that done and wouldn't have to worry about traveling out to DUMBO without getting paid?

I really don't know. What do you think?

professional

Can you spot the typo in the following message I sent from my work email?

Hi Jennifer,

I did receive your fax, thank you. Don't forget that your reaming balance is due no later than February 2, 2008.

I hope you're having a lovely week.

Sincerely,
ipj

You get what you pay for.

you dope

Today was another 4AM morning, though I was able to push back waking up until 4:30 by cutting all my fruit and getting my bag ready last night. Which means I pretty much just jumped out of bed, brushed my teeth, showered and ran down to the train. On the subway ride out to DUMBO I started thinking about how my throat kind of hurt and that that probably indicated I hadn't been getting enough sleep lately. I also thought about how it's been taking me a little longer to fully wake up in the mornings, most likely again due to lack of sleep.

I arrived in DUMBO with one minute to spare and unlocked the door to the exercise studio where I'm working, which promptly set the alarm to beep at me. I walked over the the alarm panel and. And what? Do you know? 'Cause I sure didn't. I looked at it, some numbers popped into my head, I figured they were probably right and started typing. After typing in 5 digits I had the vague feeling that something was wrong. I typed in the same 5 digits again before I fully realized that there are only 4 digits for this alarm. I was starting to panic now. I was pretty sure I had the numbers right, I just needed to take one out. The next problem was that I was only using four numbers but hitting one of them twice but I was sure there was one digit in the code twice but I was also sure that I needed to use all four of the numbers I was entering. I had one last desperate attempt and then, obviously, set off the alarm. I've been working here since February and I set off the alarm. That fucker is LOUD! And it did it's job because when it when off, I ran. I grabbed my phone and booked it out of there. I called my boss (at 6AM) and she tried to explain how to turn the alarm off. Unfortunately, my phone kind of sucks and I don't have the best hearing so I kept saying 'what?' over and over, sounding like an idiot. I finally turned off the alarm and luckily my boss knew I'm (usually) great and wasn't pissed at all. Once she told me the correct code I realized that I had been entering a short conglomeration of the correct alarm code, the alarm code at my other job and my ATM pin number. I then had to call the alarm company and rattle off variations on a word (once again kind of sounding like an idiot) hoping one of them was the key word to let them know everything was okay.

Then the police arrived.

I'm still a bit frazzled. And tired.