“People can lose their lives in libraries. They ought to be warned.”

I am currently sitting on a train going from Jersey to Manhattan on a Sunday morning. The overcast is gloomy and the winds are starting to pick up speed in foreshadowing of the hurricane set to hit New York tomorrow. Despite dangers I’m looking forward to being in the city during a big storm for the first time.

There are a bunch of updates I wanted to tell you guys about, namely my career changes! As mentioned on Twitter and Facebook, I was hired this week to be an intern at the New York Public Library (NYPL) as well as a bookseller at a Bookstore near my apartment. I have worked at a small bookstore during college for four years and have missed the bookstore environment. Meg Ryan in “You’ve Got Mail” worked in a bookstore on the Upper West Side and now I will too!

However, working for the library was an opportunity I didn’t consider an option until I saw the intern application online last weekend. You need to have a librarian degree to work there as well as a ton of experience. In case you aren’t familiar, the NYPL is a famous historical landmark and one of the most prominent libraries in the world. You might have seen it as the hideaway for Jake Gyllenhal and Emmy Rossum in “The Day After Tomorrow”, where Audrey Hepburn reads in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” or where Carrie (almost) got married in the “Sex and the City” movie. Do yourself a favor and Google Image search the building: it will take your breath away.

My internship is for Social Media and Events in their Live department. This means that I will be running their Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and various sites as well as help plan events. The NYPL has hosted many incredible events such as the movie premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises” this past summer! Not only do I get to work in this incredible building but I also may have the chance to meet some important people.

I have never believed in internships actually. I did not sign up for ones during college because I was too busy working three jobs plus a full course load. I had always told people, “why do work for free that I already get paid to do?” However, if the NYPL offers you an internship, one simply does not say no. I’m supposed to start at the library tomorrow but the subways and buses are already being shut down tonight at 7pm so my chances of starting soon are minimal.

I am very grateful that things all came together for me work wise. It was the stupidest decision I have ever made, quitting my last job without another job lined up but I am so glad that I did. I had a few job opportunities lined up after I quit, but none of them were a good fit for me. I wanted a job that I could be excited to go to everyday in a place where I felt I belonged. The more interviews I went on, the more I realized that I do not like the tech start up community.

One job interview I went on was for a website that was about to “relaunch” next year. It was a team of 25 people all working in some guy’s one bedroom apartment on the Upper East Side. During my interview the boss wore a ratty sweatshirt and a dog slobbered on my shoes. Another interview boasted having happy hours all the time but the work hours were from 9am to 7pm with less than $25,000 a year. I did not want to be a part of this environment again. Instead I was dying to have a stable 9 to 5 environment with professional people. Start ups may be good for some people but I do not work well in that setting. Anyway, 

enough rambling on that matter!

Other interesting highlights of this week include seeing “Cloud Atlas” with Tom Hanks and Halley Berry as well as “Flight” with Denzel Washington. In short I thought “Cloud Atlas” was a mess of a movie while “Flight” was very well done. You can look forward to my “Flight” review on The daily BLAM! this week. I don’t need to review “Cloud Atlas” because everything I feel about it can be found in this review by Christie Lemire HERE.  The highlights include Tom Hanks talking with Forest Gump in a caveman speak “I want tru-tru!” and Hugo Weaving running around as the villain from Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog.” Some people loved “Cloud Atlas” but I thought it was a long movie with no payoff in the end.

Otherwise, life is good. It’s quiet right now, the calm before the storm. It’s fitting that Hurrican Sandy is coming this week, to stir up New York. Life is going to be crazy starting this week, and I hope you’ll all keep me company along the way.