By Orhan Ayyüce
" i live in a no window cold basement apartment in manhattan. we share the kitchen counter and the hot plate for cooking and of course the bathroom. it is expensive, around 1100$ per month, but being close to office in tribeca , a twenty minute walk, surely helps. i wake up around five in the morning just to turn the electric heater on and go back to warm bed for another fifteen minutes until the room gets little warmer. during this time i usually turn the tv on and watch the local news. once i am up, i turn the hot plate to boil some water for my instant coffee and go online to check e bay to see if i am still the highest bidder on those boots or something before the winter settles in. i love buying used clothes, my only indulgence in life.
once i have my coffee my cat wakes up and i clean her litter and put kibble in her bowl and fresh water for the next 12-14 hours while i am gone working in architect's office where i make half of the rent in addition to what my family sends me to shop.
we work on sundays because my boss feels creative that day and we are there to make it happen for him. he typically comes to his desk and creatively solve one or two window details before he goes down to play his grand piano. sometimes we even clap him after he finishes a boring but meticulous rendering of some piano music. usually i put my headphones and listen i-pad music and only clap when i see other interns doing it.
sometimes our boss gets generous and sends couple of us to get 5 dollar domino's pizzas for lunch. why dominos? because there is one down the street and it is one less decision for our boss to make. he says he is allergic to cheese and asks the interns to pick his olive oil spaghetti from giofranco's on the way.
all day we make computer drawings of our boss' ideas and each time he resolves a detail we hear new concerto from his piano. this goes back and forth for few times until he feels he created enough for this sunday and heads back to his small 3000 sq. ft. condo down the street. he lives in this gorgeous place his wife interior decorated and was published in new york times recently.
after he is gone, the work considerably slows down in the studio and people start to disappear one by one. i decide to go when i realize that i have been here for 10 hours already. i stop by hot dog place and pick up those 2 for 1.99 deals albanian guy sells and go home and repeat what i have done in reverse order of the morning.
sometimes i call my parents who want to know if i made my student loan payment this month. they don't know any of this as i tell them project i am working on just won the competition in china. they think my boss is really lucky to have me and i should ask for retirement plan after china project success."
