How I Spent My Semi-Unemployment

5 am outside of NBC studios: my friend sits on a mat made of cardboard pieces as we wait for SNL tickets

I bought something beautiful today. It was definitely on sale and yet it reigns as the most spectacular thing I own. Of course it is an Issey Miyake full-length Pleats Please jacket, with an ornate map print design. This post is, however, not about shopping in a sad economy, but rather about surviving several months as an unemployed person in New York through the power of escapism (and reserves which were meant for my (postponed) trip to Dubai). 

As a newish part-time member of the wifi workforce, I enjoy the ability to wander wherever I want, whenever I want and still barely make rent. Because of the new freedom, I briefly allowed myself to entertain the thought that perhaps now was the time to become a travel writer or move abroad again (Malta, Shanghai and Seoul are my current loves), but today's purchase was the final straw. 

I've subconsciously re-anchored myself to here, and so I must put my future on hold and hope that someone hires me. Oh lovely unemployment, we had some good times: 

• Sleeping on the street in 30-degree weather for SNL tickets
• Traveling 30 hours on Amtrak at the drop of a hat
• Working the historical election in a controversial precinct
• Riding back and forth on the SI Ferry on blustery days
• Giving the QEII a proper farewell and Mobile Art a hearty welcome
• Spotting Mario Batali and Andre Balazs within 10 minutes of each other

So now I've got this fabulous jacket, both a reminder of and end of the past several months of thinking that I had many paths from which to choose. Too bad I'm optimistic to a fault, so we'll see.