begone monkeytown

the folks are visiting this weekend, so i probably won't get a chance to write for a while. so here we go!

the dull ache of a slight hangover has become my general state of being recently. nothing debilitating, nothing dangerous, just a lot of parties and bartending and staying up late. it's true, i moved to new york to live out my dreams of working as an advocate for music-based health education and african development. but you know what? i'm having a lot of fun and i honestly can't imagine being able to work full time in an office right now. things are slow at red hot and look to be getting slower, but at least i'm still involved in some way.

but bartending and i are a good match. i've come a long way since barbacking in chelsea, and now i've opened the newest page of that history. i briefly mentioned that i was working at an interesting bar called monkeytown. well, interesting doesn't pay the bills. so through a connection at red hot, i've landed a job at a lower east side joint called the stanton social. as those of you whose computers will allow you to see the site will see, it's a damn swanky spot. friends who know it say it's where midtown execs take their dates to prove how cool they are by "slumming it up" in the LES. it was strange to sidestep the passed out junkie into the glittering foyer for my interview. even stranger -- albeit no longer surprising in this town -- was the complete lack of an interview. it seems like you can only get a job in the new york service industry (or most new york industries) if you know someone, but jeez, not a word and i'm training on tuesday?

i might have to rename this thing "adventures in manhattan" -- but i know better than to blog about work. right jessie?