File Under: People Unclear On the Concept

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) thinks that you're a bunch of junkies.

Yep. You heard me. You unemployed person.  You working poor.  Orrin Hatch thinks that you are on drugs.

Now, who is your MatchGirl, gentle readers, to judge?  I don't care.  But I do care that Orrin Hatch thinks that the poor and the unemployed, basically anyone collecting state or federal assistance, should be required to subject themselves to drug testing.

Click here to tell him he's an ass.

In other news, Rand Paul (R-KY), proud representative of the Tea Party movement, thinks that you all ought to stop asking for handouts and take lower paying jobs.

Via The Huffington Post:

Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul has a blunt message for the millions of Americans who remain unemployed in the long-term: "Accept a wage that's less than [you] had at [your] previous job" and "get back to work."

While he was answering a question about Republicans stalling an unemployment benefits extension in the Senate, there is, perhaps, a more educated conversation to have.  It's ignorant to think (to say!) that the majority of unemployed people are not looking for work.  People are looking for jobs.  And many many people have accepted jobs that pay well below what they made previously.  There are grown adults taking barely paid internships and pouring coffee/beer/cocktails/what-have-you on the side just to squeak by.

I'm sure that there are unemployed and poor people out there who do drugs.  And I'm certain that there are unemployed people out there trying to milk the system for as much money as they can get.  But to make vast generalizations on literally millions of Americans simply proves how very out of touch these men are with the real world.

More Fun With Craigslist

It seems, gentle readers, that this should be a big "duh", but your MatchGirl has seen too many people fall into this type of trap.  Pay attention to the above and, please, proceed with caution.

I know how very hard it still is out there, for so very many of you.  And so do the scammers.  Please don't let desperate times lead to measures that could make you even more desperate.

Think Tank Pot Luck

Save the date, Saturday June 26th to come out and support my dear friend Joann and the awesome vendors of the Greenpoint Food Market.  The DOH has already done away with bake sales at schools and the true spirit of the Red Hook Ball Fields and now they want to hurt our neighborhood market...

Your MatchGirl will be there.  Please check out the info on the GFM website and come out to support this amazing community.

Contemplation

Gentle readers, in 4 months and 23 days your MatchGirl will be 35 years old.

Now, while that may not really be so old in the general scheme of things, I gotta tell you, my life at 35 (almost) is not really where I thought it would be when I was 25(ish).

That's not to complain about my life.  It's good.  I spent a year and a half of it being unemployed and getting to know myself and my neighborhood and my neighbors.  I have friends who, every single day, surprise and amaze me.  I have a (newish) job in a growing field, where I'm constantly learning, having to stay on my toes and working with some of the most interesting and creative people I've met.

But it's a life that is very different than the one I'd imagined for myself.

There are a few pieces that still need to fall into place.  They're the pieces that can't be forced.  The ones one has to sit back and wait for, maybe giving a little nudge here and there.  But definitely the one that cannot be forced.  And this, dear readers, for your impatient MatchGirl, is the most difficult part of the journey...

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Frugality And The Working Girl

Ah, gentle readers, your MatchGirl may have a job, but that doesn't mean she's rolling in dough.  Of course, a lady never talks about money.  But this lady is going to tell you a thing or two about keeping it. 

Of course, loyal readers of this little blog will know that I am a frugal girl.  That I survived on unemployment with no credit cards and no money from mom and dad or that imaginary trust fund (that so many accused me of having).  That even though I had very little money, I still managed to have a pretty good life while looking for a job.

Now, as you know, I am working.  And I have a paycheck.  And some of those little luxuries that accompany that - the ability to pay bills/rent on time, health insurance, groceries.  And I have the ability to do a few things that I had to be careful about before, like dinner out at a nice(ish) restaurant with friends.  And there are a few things that I really want  - a necklace much like this one at Catbird, the awesome Bibliotheque dress (and maybe a couple of others) at Hayden Harnett, this awesome cross body bag by Magnes Sisters (yeah yeah, even though I go to Manhattan every day, I still like to keep my spending in the 'hood!). And I think I will get them.

But, dear ones, there are other things that a gal needs to think about.
Like the future.

So, to that end, I will put aside the money for the things I want now - a girl needs a couple of new things to stay stylish in her new job - but I will also put money aside for other things.  My student loan, long deferred.  Getting my cat fixed.  Money every month into my savings account.  And, now that I am getting back on my feet for the right now, money into an IRA (though I still need to find one) for the future.

After spending a year and a half on the very tight budget of unemployment, I know that it will be easier for me to stay on budget than when I was previously employed.  It's nice to have some spending money for the niceties in life, but it will be even nicer to have it when I'm sixty-five!

Holiday Weekend

This was a holiday weekend, gentle readers.  It's been a long time since your MatchGirl has enjoyed a holiday weekend.  And, before those of you who have not lived the unemployed life say that the whole thing is a holiday weekend or a vacation or whatever you say - believe you me, it's not the same thing.

But this weekend, your MatchGirl was able to really enjoy a three day weekend (because, even in previous employment, I always had such crazy schedules that they just weren't the same as my friends who worked in the 9 to 5 world).  And enjoy it, I did.

While the whole weekend was mellow and lovely, it was really Sunday that epitomized the start of summer.  The way I hope sets the tone for weekends for the rest of the summer.

Sunday started mellow, listening to NPR and puttering about the apartment.  But in the afternoon, I met up with my friend T and went to a little BBQ on my friend Tony and Jackie's roof.  There was a ton of meat, cold beer and interesting conversation on a Greenpoint rooftop.  When T and I were leaving the rooftop, we ran into a couple of the guys from Cafe Royal, sitting outside and enjoying the weather, so we stopped for a chat - where the conversation ran from barbecue to the neighborhood to the intricacies of the Arabic language to the USS Iwo Jima.  Then we touched base with a couple of friends who had a friend in town from Germany and, though we had just eaten delicious grilled meat for several hours, we somehow found ourselves at Fatty Cue eating even more.

It was one of those easy, sleepy, dreamy summer days with not a care in the world.

It was one of those kinds of days that is so easy to not appreciate when you're unemployed.  But it was also one of those days that is so easy to overlook when you are used to the rhythm of the working world and those Bank holidays that happen from time to time.

I'm happy to be in the working world, and happy to be getting into the swing of things.  And very happy that it's still new enough that I can truly appreciate things like a three day weekend.