Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

This week has been about change: adjusting to one I have known about for quite some time, and learning of two new changes. I'm going to discuss these changes in chronological order.

Moving On
The first of these three changes is one I have know about for the past few months. It involves my friend "The Dawg." The Dawg just recently turned 30 and is making a respectable, life changing adjustment: she is leaving Brooklyn. That's right ladies and gentlemen, it is possible for Brooklyn breeds to leave, and do so happily.

The Dawg has actually been undergoing some life changing events for almost a year and a half. A few months before her 29th Birthday, her boyfriend of 6 years broke it off with her. She thought, well we all thought, they would marry one day. At age 34, he said he isn't ready to get married. Odds are, he will never be ready, but that is no longer The Dawg's problem. Once the relationship ended, the first change she had to adjust to was the single life. She also had to accept that she spent much of her 20s with one man, something she now chalked up as a waste of time. "I should have him arrested," she has said several times, "he's a theif, he robbed me of my 20s."

Well The Dawg is adjusting well. Like I said, she is making a big change: moving from her hometowm, family and friends and heading to the suburbs of Pennsylvania. She will also be leaving her job, a non-profit publishing company to whom she has been a loyal emplyee for about 6 or 7 years now. And she isn't doing this alone: she is making the move with her new man: a one-time friend from work turned boyfriend.

So Congrats to The Dawg. She turned 30 during the first week of February and already her 30s are shaping up to be more exciting than her 20's. After all, he 30s will see a new state to call home (it will also be the first time she is not living with her parents!), a new job and a new man to share it all with.

School's Out: Well, at least this one is
I've been following the WB11's news coverage of the Catholic school closings in Queens and Brooklyn very closely. I was raised on Bay 20th Street, where my parents still live. From grades kindergarten through 8th grade, my sister and I attended the school across the street: St. Finbar.

The adjacent church is also my parish, well technically it isn't anymore, because I have moved, and so has my sister, but in our hearts that is our church. While I was not baptized there, I did receive my other first sacraments at St. Finbar. My sister, unlike me, was baptized there and like me, received all of her sacraments there as well. She even flew home from Niagara Falls, NY last May to have her first born baptized there.

Anyway, with all of this sentimental attachment to St. Finbar, you can imagine my shock (somewhat) and sadness that this school is scheduled to close. I really hope they can get a budget together to save the school.

What is especially shocking to me is something I saw on the WB web site. It states that St. Finbar school has a student population of 164. I did the math and when I was attending that school, the population was 576! Kindergarten through 8th grade had two classes each, and each class held between 30-32 students. Of course this decline in attendace is due to the lack of Catholics in the Diocese. The communites in which these schools are located in are changing. I've seeen the change for many years now. In fact, the Diocese has sited this as the reason the schools aren't doing well financially. To back-up its claim, the Diocese has pointed out that there were 7,000 less baptisms in 2003. WHERE ARE ALL OF THE CATHOLICS?

I'm trying to have hope that by some miracle they will remain opened, but should St. Finbar close, it will be very surreal to visit my parents and know the school across the street no longer functions.

Movin' On Up: To The WestSide
Earlier in the week the Executive Director of the agency I work for called the administrative staff into a meeting.

Before I continue, here's some background info on the agency: it is a non-profit agency which privides programs and services for children and adults with autism. It is Queens based, with several schools, group homes and administrative offices located throughout the Borough.

Keeping that in mind, here is the third change for the week (things do happen in threes, don't they?): the executive director announced that the administrative staff, i.e. anyone under the umbrella of the executive director, fiscal, payroll and human resources, will be moving to a new office in Manhattan this summer. Since I am the Staff Recruiter, I fall under that umbrella. This news thrills me for more than one reason: it cuts my commute in half, and I am back in Manhattan.

While the Astoria section of Queens is kind of cool, nothing beats Manhattan. There is better shopping and better food, so lunch hour wont feel so limited, plus there is an array of choices for after-work entertainment.

There are a few things I miss out on in Queens that I will welcome back in my daily life once we get to Manhattan. For instance, Astoria lacks delis, real delis, the kind that make great sandwiches and give you a pickle with it. It also lacks a bookstore. That's right, walk up and down Steinway Street and you wont even find a mom and pop bookstore, let alone a Barnes & Noble. This always bothered me, because very often I like to go check out new books and even read a little on my lunch break. I also think books make great gifts, so it was always a pain in the ass to have to stop in Manhattan on my way home, just to purchase a book.

Oh, and another thing that makes it great to be getting back to Manhattan: I am a hop, skip and jump from Madison Square Garden. This is an added convenience for attending concerts, and should a NHL season ever see the light of day, I can easily see my Rangers without missing the start of the game.

Quite a few people in the agency live in Queens or Long Island, so they are kind of bummed. Me? I wanted to kiss my Boss. We are scheduled to make this move in June. Ironically, I turn 30 that month. I guess The Dawg isn't the one who's 30th Birthday gave her the gift of change.