The Scoop

Well folks – things are gonna change around here. In a big way. Now when I say “around here” I mean, around my life. I’ve been offered a full-time reporting gig with the Queens Chronicle. I haven’t officially worked out the details yet. The details being quitting my new freelance gig with the fancy schmancy agency, getting the cheapest car ever, and saying yes. But I’m pretty much a zillion percent sure i’m gonna take it. The salary is 24K a year, the lowest I’ve ever been paid in New York City. And obviously this ain’t much to live on anywhere in the USA, but in NYC I’m pretty much joining the ranks of the working poor. In this way I suppose I won’t be a patronizing liberal when I vote for the Kerry/Edwards ticket and hope to god they raise the income on food stamp eligibility.

What this means for the website I’m not sure. I may be writing so much (since it will be my job – WOOHOO) that I won’t have anything left for Nil By Mouth, or maybe I’ll write tons here since I’ll be in the grove. Who’s to say, really. What is for sure is that the party’s over. Tonight I had a sushi dinner which will likely be my last for quite awhile. There will be no more expensive shoes, or shoes of any kind. My pick-me-ups at the Apple store are absolutely finito. And I will not turn on the AC which i finally installed, ever.

I will brew my own coffee, and never buy it on the street. I will not get jolly ranchers and/or a Ritter Sport when I’m a foul mood. I will think of things I can sell on eBay. I will take on any and all freelance web work you might have in the evenings. I might babysit for extra cash. If I ever decide to go out to eat because my friends make me I will order an appetizer and drink tap water. I will go to the library, and not Barnes & Noble for reading materials. I may cancel my land line. I will take good care of all the things I currently own, because I will not buy new things to replace them. I will diligently look for a real boyfriend so he can move in and split the rent and utilities. And I will never ever take a cab again.

So that’s the story. I’m alternately thrilled and terrified. But here’s to suffering for our dreams. Yes?