Salvation

I moved to NYC when I was 20 to pursue a career in fashion. I had an internship with a designer, Joseph Abboud (basically a smaller scale wanna be Ralph Lauren) and I moved up there with another girl from university named A. We lived in a women's dormitory run by the Salvation Army called Parkside Evangeline. I loved that place. Basically you paid for room and board. You got 2 meals a day plus a studio with a bath. A and I shared a room - it was larger and less expensive. It was very safe and in on of the best neighborhoods in NYC, Gramercy Park. Hard to believe, but we also had access to the private park. Gramercy Park is the last private park in NYC - you have to have a key to enter it. I just found out that the Salvation Army sold it and the building is being turned into condos. It makes me sad.

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So grad school is going okay. I'm way ahead on the current course because I don't have a whole lot going on at work these days. I really like my group, I feel very connected to both J & C, but not as much to H. C is one of those people who I don't think I would be friends with normally, but for some reason we really click. She speaks in what I would call a very California way - all about intuition and destiny - but for some reason coming from her it doesn't seem ridiculous. What is ridiculous are some of these assignments we have such as: write a 3 - 5 page essay on your leadership style. Ugh. Talk about boring. I also have to interview one of my managers...so much busy work and it doesn't feel like much substance. I'm hoping all my classes aren't like this.

As it's a hybrid class, I've met all the people in my classes, but the majority of our interaction is online. Because I've been working from home quite a bit, I am able to have my work laptop up as well as my school one at the same time. There is a bit of an unspoken contest between me and another girl J in the class as to who can be the first one to respond to questions from our teacher. I don't think of myself as being really competitive but I don't particularly care for J (she's the one who popped her gum all the time) and I think it really chaps her ass that I put my responses in before she does. So really, it's not my goal to be first, it's my goal to beat her. I know, I'm pathetic and need a hobby.