Thinking out loud

I haven’t had much to blog about lately. I have had much to think about, just nothing I’ve cared to put in this blog.

Since learning last week that I am to be “downsized” as of June 30, I have once again been forced to think about what I want to be when I grow up. I do hate such adult decision-making. I hate job-hunting even more. As I have told many friends, this was really the perfect gig for me in many respects. It fit very comfortably around the rest of my life, instead expecting my life to fit around the job. I am loath to give my all to any employer and will be hard-pressed to find a similar work environment elsewhere.

I will however have a long list of requirements and questions to ask during any interviews. Certain work conditions will be non-negotiable and if they can’t accommodate me, I’m not interested. But that’s if I go back to a traditional 9-5.

I’m also weighing consulting or chef-ing (in a restaurant or catering environment) or even a return to acting (I’ve previously quit and returned to show business about four times now). I contemplate leaving NYC for less expensive and less stressful locations. I think about the value of employer-provided health benefits and how in the past few years I’ve been able to see a general practitioner, a podiatrist, cardiologist, chiropractor, psychiatrist, get new eyeglasses and contact lenses and join a health club because I either had it as part of my benefits package or simply had the money to do so. I’m not eager to give any of that up.

I think about a return to public relations work or even government and politics. New York will have a new governor this year, probably a Democrat. I worked in the last Democratic administration, during the Cuomo years. Could I weasel my way back into that world. Would I want to?

Why can’t I just win the lottery and not have to think about any of this?

In other thoughts apropos of nothing, Art in Harlem was a lot fun Sunday. It is always refreshing to be in the company of creative people.

Former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey is coming out with a tell-(almost)-all book about his life “on the DL.” I can’t help but notice the timing of that story in relation to this past Sunday night’s episode of “The Sopranos.” Closeted gay mobster and fellow New Jerseyan Vito Spatafore got wacked just for being gay, or as his brother-in-law and assassin Phil Leotardo called him, “A fuckin’ finook.” All the culprits wrapped themselves in Catholicism. McGreevey’s getting off lighter, but was still put through the same guilt trip.

I haven’t followed the NBA playoffs that closely, but two teams I really wanted to see advance have fallen by the wayside. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Clippers, perennial doormats in the league, stepped up and made it interesting this season before being eliminated. Maybe next year.

I’m hoping Buffalo and Edmonton face each other in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, primarily for two reasons. Hopefully one of them will get their name etched on the cup.

I finally made it up to the new Apple store on 59th and 5th Avenue. I showed up at the grand opening last Friday, along with a few thousand other people, but unlike them, I had no intentions of standing in line. So I stopped by during lunch today and got right in. It’s open 24 hours, 365 days a year. If you wake up at 3:00 AM, feenin’ for an iPod, you now know where you can go.