Faith, Hope, and Charity

2004-06-10T20:15:00.000-06:00

test test test

2004-05-26T21:49:00.000-06:00

test

2003-06-13T16:29:00.000-06:00

The Job Safari

I hit the bustling streets of the city today to find myself some gainful employment. 10 hours later, I am still unemployed - but prospects are looking good.

I learned a few things today:

1. Driving is next to impossible if you're not a local. I spent 30 minutes at one point today trying to move my car over one block when I could have walked the distance in 5 minutes or less.

2. You can buy a lot of cool trinkets for $30 in Times Square

3. Central Park is not the paradise it's made out to be in all those Hollywood love stories. A very nice (and cute) guy in a coffee shop on the corner of, I believe 5th and 53rd (?) told me that it's a "cesspool of filth where you could get shot for sitting on the wrong bench". He told me that when they film those scenes, they section of parts of the park and make them look really nice to create the illusion of a wonderful park. Crazy. By the way, that place has the best cafe mocha I have ever had. Actually, the only cafe mocha I ever had - but it was really good!

4. If you stand on the sidewalk and stare up at the buildings, you can get really dizzy really fast.

5. Seeing a celebrity on the street is nothing unusual here. I saw David Letterman today. I like David Letterman.

6. I'm really going to like it here.

So, as it was yesterday, I'm sitting here at my window looking at the world going by outside. My fish, Keyser (after Keyser Soze from The Usual Suspects) is staring at me as if he had the most interesting thing to say, but not the means to do so. He's not much of a conversationalist, but he's cute... so I keep him around. This place could really use something cute... like that guy from the coffee place today. Hmmmm...

Great, Faith, 3 days in the big city and already you're plotting on the menfolk. What would my mother say? The day I left, her last advice to me was, "Watch those big city men, ducky! There's a lot of sickos and perverts wandering around there!" Rest assured, if there's a pervert/sicko within a 5 mile radius, he's all mine, baby!

Think I'll write Krista and tell her all my adventures. Maybe I can write a book about this some day? "Little Girl In The Big City - From Cornfields to Condominiums - The Faith Jensen Story". Look at me, talking about being a best-selling author and I can't get myself a job. Nice goin, girl.

Tomorrow the hunt resumes. Tonight, Keyser and I are going to listen to some Patsy Cline and Janis Joplin and have ourselves a romantic dinner. Keyser had better worry if I don't get a job soon... he may BE dinner some night. :)

Dinner, then sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream. Another day awaits... tomorrow.

2003-06-12T15:59:00.000-06:00

Start Spreadin' The News...

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

My name is Faith, and I am now a resident of New York City... The Big Apple. I spent the first 23 years of my life living in the small town of Terril, Iowa - population, 438. Actually, 437 now that I'm gone. I grew up with 2 of the greatest parents a girl could ever have and a sister who I love more than anything in the world. I'm a thousand miles away and feeling more alone that I have ever felt in my life. More alone, and at the same time, more free than I had ever imagined.

My journey started 3 months ago when I watched a movie that changed my life - Coyote Ugly. I know, I know, what could a bunch of half-naked chickies dancing on a bar, pouring pitchers of water over each other in some sort of odd Dionysian ritual do to influence me to leave home? It wasn't the bar, oddly enough... it was the character of Violet. A little girl with big dreams of being a singer/songwriter and making it big in the Big Apple. A character that had a little too much in common with me, actually... except for the fact that I don't have the luxury of a Hollywood makeup artist following me wherever I go and my ass isn't nearly as attractive. I realized that my dreams and hopes for my future would never be realized in the Norman Rockwell-esque town I lived in. It was time to head to the land of milk and honey, or booze and debauchery - whichever you preferred - New York. I said goodbye to my Mom and Dad, promised my sister Krista that I would call every day, withdrew my savings of $6230.65 from the local bank, packed up everything I owned in my 1992 Cavalier and headed out east.

As I sit here now, I am staring out my 5th floor window at the busy scene beneath me. The hustle and bustle of the big city is a far cry from the laid back nature of Terril, and I would be an outright liar if I said I weren't a little bit intimidated. Okay, a whole lot intimidated. Tomorrow I set out to find myself a job in the booming metropolis of NYC - a task that I'm looking to somewhat apprehensively. Unfortunately, a job is a necessary evil because I have realized that life is much easier when you have the means to pay for food and shelter. Tomorrow, the hunt begins.

Tonight, it's just my guitar, my goldfish, the sounds of the passing traffic, and me. This is the first day of the rest of my life...

It was so easy living day by day
Out of touch with the rhythm and blues
But now I need a little give and take
The New York Times, The Daily News

It comes down to reality
And it's fine with me 'cause I've let it slide
Don't care if it's Chinatown or on Riverside
I don't have any reasons
I've left them all behind
I'm in a New York state of mind