Dear Anyone,
It's no secret that I don't enjoy my day job at all, and it shouldn't be a shock to you that I want to go and try working in New York for a while. Well I've kind of started to try and set those wheels in motion, but there are already things trying to get in my way.
Early last month we had our mid-year appraisals (or Interim review) at work, and my manager practically told me that I need to start taking risks if I want to get to where I feel I should be. She knows full well that this job isn't what I want to do, and she even sometimes sends me job vacancies she thinks I'd be interested in. She's very cool like that. She's all for helping people better themselves as they wish. So afterwards I contacted my friend Minnie who lives in New Jersey, and asked her if she could put together some figures and let me know roughly how much it would cost to stay in NYC for one month. I figured I should start small, so I'd initially try going for a month to see if I can network and set up some opportunities. The more people I meet who have decided to go freelance for whatever reason, the more envious I feel, and suffocated by this 9-5 working life. I don't think it would even be so bad if I was working in an office and doing something far more creative a varied, just not this monotonous filing crap.
I found out from Minnie that I'd probably need about $2,000 to be safe, but the best thing is that she said I should cut costs and come and stay with her. Where she is in New Jersey isn't a long journey into New York City, so it would be fine! So nice of her!
So last week I enquired with my employers about their policy on sabbaticals and career breaks, because the only information I had found concerned parents taking maternity, paternity or carers leave, or those who needed to amend their hours to care for a dependent, and can you believe they said they don't recognise career breaks and don't have a policy on sabbaticals. If I want time off I'd have to speak to my manager about it. What nonsense! Am I wrong in thinking that all companies are supposed to offer this?! I don't know where I got this from, but I thought that once you've been with a company for three years, you qualify for a sabbatical. Obviously not. When I asked my manager about it, she asked how long I would want to be off for and that I would have to come up with a proposal outlining how my month off and trip to NYC would relate to and benefit my job. Now Anyone, I'm not sure if I've told you this only once or 100 times - I do filing. Records management. There is not a molecule on my skin that has any intention of going to New York to find ways for me to continue doing that. I'm not going to improve THAT job, I'm going to hopefully make contacts and find writing or media related work.
Initially I was hoping to go in September, but since it's only a week away, that's not happening, so maybe October, and if not then the spring time. I would never choose to purposely put myself in NYC right in the middle of winter - I can't get rid of the memory of that cold my friends and I experienced there in 2005. I have a bit of money saved, but not nearly enough, though I have appealed to the Bank of Daddy and received approval, so I just need to give a figure and details of when I'm going.
I don't know what to do now though - help me! Any ideas?
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