This blog continued long after it became outdated, i.e., my fleeting window of
unemployement finally closed. Still, the blog went on. Unemployment was a lot of fun until the money ran out, and then it was no fun. Work is not fun either, but it allows one to have money for important things such as food, makeup and pink metallic shoes that go with absolutely nothing.

My new blog is www.premaritalblogging.blogspot.com
- posted by Marguerite @ 10:44 AM

 

franny & seymour
- posted by Marguerite @ 2:46 PM

 
Gentle Reader,

I would like request the honour of your company at my new blog:

www.premaritalblogging.blogspot.com

Okay, so this morning it occured to me that I'm, like, about to get married. In exactly one month. I haven't said much about the wedding/marriage, etc. so far, because until earlier today it all seemed rather abstract. Like something from a Jane Austen novel or something - "taking a husband. " Don't worry - I still think it's a very good thing. The marriage part, at least. (You know you've had enough of wedding planning when the idea of getting married in Vegas by a female Asian Elvis impersonator on rollerskates starts to make a beautiful amount of sense.)

I'm just breathing into this paper bag for fun. Really.
- posted by Marguerite @ 9:17 PM

 

Yes, I am still alive. Fortunately neuroses are typically not fatal, or else I might not be.

Not looking forward to going to work tomorrow. My job, which was orignially quite tolerable, albeit not my dream job, has become increasingly non-tolerable.

On Friday, we had one of our annual fundraising galas, this one hosted by the Junior Board of the organization. This group primarily consists of young New York zillionaires who are "socially concious," by which I mean they are very concious of their social lives. There's a breed of young executive/ young heir/ess types who seem to do nothing but go to fundraising events. I guess it makes it easier to justify excess if it's for the sake of the greater good. It's important to have that fifth martini for the sake of the poor little kids in East Harlem, or to cure foot in mouth disease, or for feline literacy, or whatever. Cheers.

On the upside, it does raise a lot of money for good causes, even if the motives of the partygoers might have more to do with social climbing than social responsibility. At the gala, I was eavesdropping on two 20 or 30-something women, who looked like most of the other 20 or 30-something women, in painfully expensive, painfully uninteresting black dresses. both someone asking what is this party for, anyway? To which the person beside her replied, very assuredly, the East Hampton Tutorial Program.

East Harlem ... I interjected. Both of the women seemed disappointed - understandably. It's high time someone had a program for those kids in East Hampton - maybe to tutor them in how to sail a catamaran? Or to help them really understand the difference between a Chateau Lafite and a Mouton Rothschild? Somebody has to do it, and their parents are probably too busy attending charity fundraisers.

- posted by Marguerite @ 11:39 AM

 
I'm taking a mental health day. I have this unfortunate tendancy to feel horribly guilty about taking a day off work, even if I'm genuinely sick. Last night I started to have that "not so sane feeling," which is hard to explain to your boss, but I think it's a good excuse for a day off. I call it the flu, but I worry that I might actually have Chevy Chase syndrome.

Chevy Chase syndrome is an often-misdiagnosed condition in which one wakes up one morning to discover that he/she no longer has a working sense of humor. It's over, gone, done for (in the medical literature they site "Fletch 2" as an example). Your funny bone done been broken.

I don't know of any studies that confirm it, but I hypothosize that prolonged exposure to government grants can have this effect. Most grants, particularly DYCD OST RFP contract proposals, are written by and for entirely humorless individuals.

Maybe I could write a grant for Federal funding to do the research on this rare, yet tragic condition?
- posted by Marguerite @ 10:17 AM

 
I've been a bit remiss with writing/reading blogs. See, it's currently 3:22 AM (as in, in the morning/night)and I am STILL AT WORK, where I have been since precicely 8:30 AM, bypassing PM altogether.

We have a huge DYCD proposal due tomorrow. Actually, it's the DYCD OST RFP for EHTP. (No joke.) A city government contract. I've been working 10-12 hours a day for weeks, as have the other two people in the department. Just the guidelines for the proposal were 174 pages (again, no joke). We found out we were doing this on January 19, and we're doing 3 of them. One went out today - it was 3 inches thick.

3:26 am. Can't see straight anymore.
- posted by Marguerite @ 10:01 PM

 
It occurs to me as I sit here at work at 6:39 PM, after hardly so much as getting up to go to the bathroom all day, that the whole "notes from the underemployed" tagline of this blog is a wee bit out of date.

Sigh.

So, if anyone's still tuning in, it's time for my first-ever Blog-Naming Contest!!! I'm working too much and feeling too braindead right now to try and think up a new name/ schtick, etc. The winner will receive a brand new pair of asparagus tongs (no joke).

The name has to actually be available, but other than that, this contest has no actual guidelines. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.

- posted by Marguerite @ 3:36 PM