Liberated from evil

Yet another thing to be discovered in the world of the unemployed: it is really hot in my apartment during the day! I can see that running the AC will be expensive I might as well leave soon. I have decided to go to Argentina instead of Iran, it is winter there and that sounds GOOD at the moment. I really hate summer in NY, hot, sticky and nasty all the time, my apartment never cools down as it is on the top floor right under a tar roof so it functions pretty much like an oven and just stays hot throughout the night. I got a couple of new tattoos, one on my ankle and foot and one on my arm. The arm one is Icelandic magic rune and the other one an ancient Iraqi one (enemy one?) I get a lot of comments on all 4 from all kinds of people. I was walking down the street the other day and this little guy sidles up to me and wants to know what the tats mean, he himself had lovely tattoos clearly made in prison with a ball point pen or whatever they use there, we had a nice chat. Great way to meet people!!!
i have to figure out how to improve this blog to include pictures and responses!

Thursday:
Another rainy day in the unemplyed world, I am now busy figuring out day-time-tv. Jeez it is bad! Yet another thing to be discovered. I am trying to get my Tattoo man to see me today, might as well add another one. I am considering something on my ankle or possibly some ancient Norse magic symbol. There is one that makes you invisible to enemies or possibly just makes you look like something you are not, which may be a good thing. Perhaps I can inspire love in someone and make them blind to all my imperfections...? I spend a great deal of time researching my trip to Iran, but so far not hearing great things given the unrest at the moment, but if not now then when I wonder. Thank god for laptop computers, I can now multi-task, surf the web and watch TV and eat and talk on the phone. Oh the wonders of modern technology.

So being unemployed is a strange state of being. I haven't had more than 2 weeks of in a row for over 12 years so this is all very new and weird. I started out by going to Istanbul for a week which turned out to be a very good thing as it immediately gave me a distance to the preceding horrors. I got two tattoos and started life of leasure. Coming back to New York was easier than I ever imagined. I spend my days looking for work and walking around the city, especially Central Park with a friend who is also unemployed. In fact I have several friends in this predicament so the days seem to evaporate with all kinds of activities.
I live on the Upper East Side and I never knew how odd people are here since I have never really been here much during the day. The sidewalks are filled with nannies and strollers, dogwalkers and UES housewives idiling in stores and cafes. Some walk around with the hapless nannies pushing the offsprings and carrying groceries from upscale food stores, like servants in ancient colonial settings. I have money and time like never before so time has come to plan a new trip to some more exotic location, although the UES has certainly turned out to be exotic.

I lost my job, I was 'laid off' because my new boss is an idiot. She just couldn't stand me from day one for no apparent reason. At first she agreed to try to work with me and eventually shrank into giving me the silent treatment, like a stupid kid. Mostly because she screwed up big time after going against my advice. Eventually she started undermining my authority with my staff by having them work on secret assignments behind my back and trying to reorganize my office structure without telling me. Finally she got the big bosses to agree to lay me off 'due to departmental reoganization' which basically means she had to give me six months salary, this because she had no just cause to fire me as i had done nothing wrong and was popular with everyone. She started posting my job 3 weeks before even telling me and arranged for my underlings to take on my responsibilities, how she got the university (i worked at Columbia) to agree to this is beyond me and in a way borders on un-lawful actions. I may still decide to pursue this with a lawyer...