Coming to the city, and what I found there.
In 1996 I moved to New York. I was fresh in the workforce, and found a position at a small Internet firm, paid not-enough. A woman I'd dated in college told me she would not want to see me again; I began to chronicle my experiences and publish them to the Web. Whoever I was at that point is lost to me now. I would not do it again, but there I was, full of campus memories and only in the city a year, trying to put things into perspective.
In 1997, my grandfather began a long slide towards death, living in more and more pain as sections of his already ill-heart stopped functioning. I took a textual Family Snapshot
NYCAlone and loveless, go seeking. This is a very small collection of places in New York that resonate with the author.
The First Self-InterviewI took myself out to dinner, and we sat down and he interviewed me.
06 Jul 98How I came to New York I
22 Oct 97Let Runaway Kids Help You!
13 Dec 97Old cover letter
Pissing my Pants at WorkA sad, true tale of workplace shame.
01 Feb 98I'm just not ready to interact, most of the time.
26 Apr 98You Don't Own Me
26 May 98Delivery
27 Apr 98Phone Call (1)
03 Feb 98Holiday joy.
04 Feb 98A plastic teddy bear and whores.
Relationship WhiningSo sad, so sad. From the Subway Diary, 27-Oct-97.
08 Feb 98As I'm writing these little blurbs, I'm listening to Elliott Smith, and he sings about the Ftrain. Good to see the kids rocking out. This is about work angst, of course.
13 Feb 98Bad Dream
15 Feb 98The Coming War
24 Feb 98Slight return
25 Feb 98A Day
Relationship BabblingThe topic of discussion is no longer valid.
The Subway Diary: 21-Dec-97Fulton Mall
Not Dungeons and Dragons!Drinking and twelve-sided dice - a dangerous combination, 1997
02 May 98Dumb weekend
30 May 98The National Interior Monologue on Race
02 Jun 98Paging Tom Peters
Social LifeThey come; they see me; they have their own lives to attend to
Big Mistakes and How I Cope with ThemScrewing up at work.
How I Broke Up With My Long-Term GirlfriendSummarizing the long-distance end.
Auf Wiedersehn, ScheideA story of loss and sadness, and the absence of sex, and Kathie Lee, and milky thighs, and so forth.
Alone for the HolidaysThanksgiving, at a movie theater. The woman behind me bursts out in tears.
The Yahoo.com Internet Party in SoHo...and how I used it to get sloppy drunk
15 Mar 98Airplane Woes
TravelingMy first experience with business travel
14 May 98A Straighforward Philosophy
19 May 98Memory Brief
20 Mar 98Another Literary Error
25 Mar 98Drunken Entry
06 Apr 98Jim Esch Appreciation Week
07 Apr 98Shelter
08 Apr 98I Face Global Banking for the Very First Time
10 Apr 98A High Station in Life
15 Apr 98The End of My Speechwriting Career
22 May 98Workplace Diary
17 Apr 98Cover Letter
19 Apr 98All the Old Letters
OverheardMandatory eavesdropping.
New Years, PearlsI went over and touched the pearls. "Are they real?" "No."
23 Jun 98Life Shift
24 Jun 98A Thing to Do
AfterThe first in a series about my dying grandfather. Death; it's something no writer can leave be.
ApneaAnother on the death of my grandfather. He was a good fellow. I miss him.
Meeting Sally FieldI met Sally Field, and found that she was mortal, and could not shoot laser beams from her eyes.
Taste for TodayA wee stylistic experiment without much bearing on any larger reality.
MontclairAround now in the project I was grasping for ideas. It was a painful process. I was not just out of ideas; I was out of life
Sign/RequestA little story and a little sign, neither one of much note.
Meandering EntryDreams and what dreams are and aren't and oh God, I'm so deep, I'm the deepest man you'll ever meet, won't you please get in touch and tell me how deep I am. God help my poor readers.
GrandfatherStories about my grandfather, whom I wish was still here.
Trip HomeTrying to sort things out; an essay with archival value if little merit.