Galina Nemirovsky - Articles

 

I put off writing the ABOUT ME section of my blog for a long time. Partly because the Me changes so often. Partly because I don’t know how to stop once I start writing (especially about Moi). I tried to write a bio-type blurb and 5 pages of narcissistic crap came out. So I started a memoir.

In the meantime I feel like I owe my visitors some semblance of imagery for the girl who spews a lot of randomness (yes I still call myself a girl). But it’s this collection of notated randomness that has defined the life I’ve lived so far and the opinions I’ve crafted so far. I change as life changes.

That said, I’m adding a disclaimer that this document is organic, dynamic and guaranteed to change.

So until my scandalous revealing book comes out (no, it won’t be called ABOUT ME), here is an arbitrary list of things ABOUT ME:

1. I have a six-year-old son who is the love of my life. He calls me the life of his love. I call that success.
2. My favorite number is 8. 2008, however was one of the hardest years of my life. Go figure.
3. I was born in Kiev. That’s in the Ukraine but when I lived there it was the USSR.
4. I lived on both sides of the Cold War. First under the flag with the hammer and sickle and then under the Stars and Stripes.
5. My mother, father and I immigrated to Queens in 1979 via Austria and Italy. It sounds glamorous but it was far from it.
6. I don’t have a birth certificate. Instead I have a bronze coin with a bust of Lenin on it. My name and date of birth is engraved in white on it. The coin was not accepted at the DMV as proof of birth.
7. Forest Hills, Queens was my first American home. Had I went to high school there, I would have gone to the same high school as Simon and Garfunkel. Instead we moved to Staten Island. No one famous went to Susan Wagner High School but I think we had a kick-ass football team. I wouldn’t know; I didn’t participate much in the whole high school thing.
8. I was afraid of dogs as a child. My father forced me to get over it. Then he got me a dog for my 12th birthday. A mastiff. She weighed 155 pounds - which is right about what I weighed in high school (I'm 5'2").
9. I have lost 35 pounds since then. Mostly because I stopped eating Peanut M&Ms and Bar Nones (now only made in Mexico) for lunch. I also stopped having platters after school. Platters were a plate of full fat tortilla chips covered in about half a block of Cracker Barrel cheddar cheese. Nuked for a minute. Deliciousness. But no more. I also started moving off the couch.
10. The entire time I lived in Staten Island my father owned and operated a donut shop. It was called Time Out for Donuts. It was a bit of a misnomer since we served eggs, hamburgers and hot turkey sandwich-like stuff too. Yes, this could have contributed to the 35 extra pounds.
11. Yes, my father made the donuts much of the time. Dunkin’ Donuts had a famous commercial for years that had the bald mustached man always going to make the donuts at all hours of the day. “Time to make the donuts,” he would say. I hated those commercials.
12. I’m not ticklish. Also because my father forced me to get over it.
13. I never liked to play with other children when I was younger. I never liked the pretend aspect; if we were doing it, it had to count. I always felt like a grown up until I decided to stop. Nowadays I prefer to play with children.
14. My Russian name sounds like I’m a famous ballerina. My mother, however, clearly brought us up with the notion that being a ballerina was the most far-fetched idea in the world. For example, “____. Yeah, and I’m a ballerina.”
15. I unconditionally love New York City. I like to think it’s mutual.
16. My first concert was the Beach Boys and Chicago at the Meadowlands. I’ve also seen Billy Joel 5 times and Elton John at least twice. Apparently my musical taste as a teenager was that of a middle-aged woman.
17. I chew a lot of gum. I’m not sure of the root of this problem. It could be because my mother stopped breast feeding me too early or because my grandmother told me I had bad breath when I was six. Now I’m a chain chewer.
18. When I think of favorite TV shows, I still think back to Family Ties, China Beach and thirtysomething. I love a good medical drama but I don’t watch Grey’s Anatomy. I stopped at the ninth season of er. Not sure why I never got hooked on the kids stuff.
19. I don’t like shoes. All the pretty ones are uncomfortable. I’m holding a grudge.
20. I’m not sure why women buy lots of purses. I think it’s annoying to constantly repack the purse.
21. I don’t like to keep things in my pockets.
22. I love make up. I wear mostly black clothing but get rainbowlicious with eye make up – all Mac, nothing but Mac.
23. However, my never leave home without it make up is blush: life for the face.
24. I think roller-rinks should make a come back. The last time I was at a roller-rink was for my sister’s 25th birthday. We partied at the famous Roxy in NYC. That night a man dropped dead while skating. He was overweight and a regular at the rink. The Roxy gave us tickets to come back. But then the Roxy closed down. RIP John the roller skater.
25. My son attends a fancy private school in Manhattan. I don’t fit in with the mommies. In his preschool class I was the only divorced parent. I’m waiting for the fourth grade when I heard it balances out.
26. I know my AmEx number by heart.
27. I rarely remember my dreams but nightmares plague me for days. My repeat nightmare is one where I spit all my teeth fall out.
28. My first bad habit was biting my nails. I would still do it if it was socially acceptable and I wasn’t so afraid of breaking my teeth.
29. I don’t like mustard or butter, although I will use butter in baking, I will never put it on bread.
30. I never drank milk. Not even in cereal (but yes in coffee).
31. I have been a fishetarian for the last 16 years.
32. I learned to order food from Sally in When Harry Met Sally.
33. I do not like horror movies.
34. When I was 15 I spent a summer at a French enrichment program in Villefranche (the same town in the French Riviera where they based the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels). I remember only the wine, the spaghetti bolognaise (this is when I still ate meat) and the swimming pool. Oh yeah – that was the summer I decided to spray Sun-In on my black hair. My parents picked me up at JFK airport with bright orange hair. I was like “What? It’s so blonde!” when you’re 15 with black hair, orange is as blonde as it gets from a bottle.
35. It was my mother’s choice to get my ears pierced when I was three years old in Russia. It was my choice to get two more holes in my right ear when I was 17 spending the summer in California. Ironically I never wear earrings because they hurt my ears.
36. I have two visible scars. One on my neck from a partial thyroidectomy and one on my philtrum from when my dog barked at me and my face got in the way. To her defense I was hitting her on the nose with a silly putty egg she had stolen from me. Also to her defense, she was groggy from medicine. To my defense, it was 12 stitches and it’s my FACE!
37. I have two tattoos (scars by choice, I like to say). One on my lower back – a sun with a Chinese character in the middle that means big sister. Within the rays of the sun are my initials and my sister’s initials. She has an identical tattoo with the exception of her middle symbol which means little sister. My second tattoo is on my UPA (Upper P***y Area), left side; a low bikini shows half of it. It’s a lyrical heart that doesn’t close entirely at the bottom. My son’s initials are at the bottom. Both tattoos are black, red and yellow.
38. I gave my sister her English name: Irene. I was in the first grade and that was my first grade teacher’s name. Mrs. Irene Fischer. I don’t think my sister realizes that I’m to blame. At home we always called her Reena anyway. That sounded much cooler. She officially changed her name and I forever lost coolness points.
39. I have one sister and one half-brother. My sister was born in 1981; my brother was born in 2005. My son’s uncle is 3 years younger than him.
40. I am really hairy…which leads to:
41. My favorite tool is the tweezer. I take my eyebrows seriously. Having a unibrow for the first 12 years of your life does that to you. Irreparable damage.
42. I doodle a lot. I like to think that I’m an artist that never learned to draw so I doodle letters, words, interlocking squares, my name.
43. Penmanship was my favorite subject. In high school I got a typing award. I still like my handwriting, but I prefer to type.
44. I love non-ballpoint colored pens. Pink, purple, green – anything other than boring black.
45. I guiltlessly love the smell of rubber cement.
46. I hope to one day do the Amazing Race with my sister.
47. I don’t believe in the lottery. I think that life is a balance; if I win extraordinary money when I’m capable of doing it on my own, I fear I will lose something much more precious than money. I don’t want to take that risk.
48. The Beatles are my all time favorite band.
49. I spent the last 4+ years working for a recruitment advertising agency. It’s just like a regular advertising agency, except instead of promoting Coca Cola as a great soda, we promote a company as a great place to work. What this means is that we wrote fancy help wanted ads for jobs no one wanted. We also gave a lot of money to Monster and CareerBuilder on our clients behalf.
50. I’ve held lots of jobs before that including being employee # 2 in this cool Website.
51. The job, however, that prepared me most for life – and interacting with people – was working at the donut shop from the time I was 12 to when I went to college. I hated every day of it. I did, however, learn to make awesome home fries and perfect eggs over easy. I also learned to always say THANK YOU to customers. To this day, I maintain that a coffee regular is milk and two sugars.
52. If money were no object, I would travel around the world taking photos, writing and getting massages every week.
53. I would also have a personal shopper because I hate to shop.
54. I was born in the year of the Tiger and I’m a Leo but I hate cats. This may have been my first indicator of a life plagued with irony.
55. I’ve been to about 20 countries and hundreds of cities. Hawaii is still one of my favorite places on earth. My dream trip is to Africa – I want to feel it.
56. I’m a pretty technologically savvy gal but my DVD player has been blinking 12:00 since last year’s blackout.
57. I love Ellen DeGeneres and DVR her show daily.
58. I rock at Tetris. Not sure if the Russian has anything to do with it.
59. I started seeing hearts everywhere a few years ago. Maybe it was because I was in love, maybe because I just started seeing everything more clearly and the hearts stood out. I thought how wonderful that humans are in love with love. Thus www.heartseverywhere.com.
60. I am looking for a dream job. Step one: define it. Step two: create it.


If you got to the bottom of this list and are not related to me, WOWZERS ... and thank you.

My New Job: Writing Dangerously

My new job has lots of numbers. It's hard for a letters girl to enjoy numbers, but as the boss says, "the analysis runs the business." (Funny, I thought we did.) I'm supposed to be creative, yet I struggle daily - often project-to-project, meeting-to-meeting. There's freedom - but it seems to be confined to a strict box. Like prisoners who get freedom by getting to walk around a yard. Read

By: Galina Nemirovsky | 24/03/2009 | Careers

A Spring Day in Central Park

The grass is at its prime in Central Park – just having drunk three days worth of spring showers. Like a fresh haircut, the blades dance in the wind, glints of sun, like glitter, are sprinkled throughout the Great Lawn. Overdressed in my late winter parka, I walk amongst the athletes, the tourists, the private high school kids in phys ed. Children run one step in front of the nannies – yet one step behind the mommies on the Blackberries. Read

By: Galina Nemirovsky | 04/02/2009 | Non-Fiction

I Am a Writer

I never called myself a writer. I never thought I was good enough – clearly limiting myself only by my own battle with perfectionism. I pursued 12-year career in advertising where writing was the PS – rather not the body – of my life. Finally, they fired me and I found myself in a moment of mental liberation. I was forced into a crossroads of low risk and nothing to lose. With fear eliminated from the equation, I took a chance. I decided that yes I was going to define myself as a writer. Read

By: Galina Nemirovsky | 30/01/2009 | Writing

Tech Took the Human Out of Human Resources

Human Resources is a lovely discipline occupied by thousands of wonderfully insightful intelligent people. Formally, the field is referred to as Industrial/Organizational Psychology (or the name on your degree). The science behind Human Resources aims to make organizations more productive while ensuring productive and healthy lives for its workers. Translation: workers happy, company thrives. They even used to call it PERSONnel! Read

By: Galina Nemirovsky | 27/01/2009 | Human Resources

Love Floating. Love Fragile

Love begins with a heart balloon. Read

By: Galina Nemirovsky | 28/12/2008 | Poetry

2,991 Days our Lives Changed Forever

9/11 as a number, when spoken out loud, has become redefined. For most Americans, visually 9-1-1 has always symbolized emergency. After September 11th, 2001, 9/11 represented a day that surpassed emergency. It became a day I wouldn’t forget as it happened in real time. Soon it evolved into my generation’s JFK question: “Where were you on 9/11?” Read

By: Galina Nemirovsky | 23/12/2008 | News & Society

Reflections on Being Fired

I was walking near Lincoln Center about a week after I got fired. The weather was glorious and I felt like every breath I took brought me higher and higher. I wanted to hug everyone harder and harder. I had a glow. I was in love with every morsel of life and I finally had time to taste every bite. My six-year-old son and I were skipping down the Upper West Side when I noticed a familiar face walking beside me. It was Mr. G, a seasoned weatherman (couldn’t resist the pun). I don’t watch the weat Read

By: Galina Nemirovsky | 10/12/2008 | Careers

How Old is Old?

"How old are you mommy,” my six-year-old asked me recently. I’ve told him before but it must have been in another context. He’s asking for another reason. I’m not sure why. “34,” I answer. “That’s old,” he says. Read

By: Galina Nemirovsky | 01/12/2008 | Home & Family

Oh Happiness, Where Art Thou?

Happy Birthday! Happy New Year! Happy first something, happy last something, happy anniversary of your first or your last something! Humans love to wish each other happiness. And why not? Our country bestows us with, upon other rights, the pursuit of HAPPINESS. We are entitled and we want to claim it! There is a new breed among us – the self-realized happy seekers. Read

By: Galina Nemirovsky | 15/11/2008 | Self Improvement

Dreaming of Fairytales

I never wanted to believe in fairytales because frankly, I’m a realist. But I’m also a liar and a coward. I hate mediocrity, yet I live my life just above it. It hurts so much to hear that I’m not trying hard enough, because I’m usually not. Why? Fear of failure? How could such a fear lead to such detriment? Read

By: Galina Nemirovsky | 13/11/2008 | Relationships