cactus i.v.

By MICHELLE RICCARDI
mia8263(at)gmail.com
Dear cactus i.v. readers,
I didn’t flake out again… I’ve been playing nurse for my parents. If you don’t take care of yourself bad things will happen when you get old. My parents aren’t in nursing homes… yet… but bad things happened because they didn’t take the best care of themselves. You only get […]

By MICHELLE RICCARDI
mia8263(at)gmail.com
Dear cactus i.v. readers,
I want to thank Beth for her support in last week’s column. I’m back at the bank; don’t know for how much longer. Not that I don’t want a stable job but banking might be too boring for me.
Some background on me: I have been working since I was 10 […]

Michelle Riccardi has found her way back to the cactus. You may have found that out yesterday when her column ran, but in case you missed it, that’s why I’m here.
She’s going to start writing again every Sunday. That much is set. The topic, well, that’s always going to be up in the air. The […]

By MICHELLE RICCARDI
mia8263(at)gmail.com
Dear cactus i.v.,
You may or may not remember me, but I was the first food and drink writer and the Cactus Springer co-writer. My name is Michelle. I’m 23 years old and possibly the most confused person YOU’VE ever met. Some may say I make my life as complicated as it is; others […]

Dear cactus i.v.,
On Thursday morning I got the kids on the bus and retired to my office for the morning. For the first time in awhile I had no errands and was actually free until the kids arrived home at 2:30 p.m. I closed the door and started for the bed before looking towards my […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
Dear cactus i.v.,
I have finally found an appropriate job title: I am the personal assistant to the Whitman family. Catherine and Harris are the parents of Jeff, 7, and Jane, 5. Months ago when I moved here I was employed as a live out nanny and was led to believe I would be […]

I got this letter in the mail today, and it means so much to me, so I decided to share it with the world [[I hope the sender doesn’t mind]].
Dear cactus i.v.,
This letter is dedicated to the editor in chief, Lisa Sokolowski.
A few years ago, my cousin told me about this amazing conversation he had […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
Dear Diary,
This week was one for the books. Friday night I called an old friend I hadn’t seen in weeks. We had once been interested in each other but in his presence those feelings seemed as if they were from a previous life. He persuaded me over around midnight for a movie. I […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
Dear cactus i.v.,
So I made the right choice. Jason immediately moved on and was seen at the bars all week chasing a variety of tail. Jenni, on the other hand, became needy of a new best friend and took me on as her new right hand.
Every night I met new guys who surprisingly […]

Dear cactus i.v.,
So this week was pretty entertaining. I’ve pretty much settled into life here in Katonah. After last week’s bar night. I feel like I had arrived. I proved I wasn’t some lame chick trying to fit in. I presented myself as confident and not needy. I made tons of contacts and got plenty […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
So let me start off with apologies because this week I am unable to indulge my readers with another night in my life in a new place. Among a broken down car, family fights, and undone holiday shopping list I am also very ill. I will be back next week with a whole […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
Kevin is a bartender. He’s about 6-foot-2 and slightly over average body weight. He looks good, but not as much as he thinks. Definitely not as hot as the other bartenders, but does fairly well for himself with the townie girls.
Someone named Jason, along with a few other people I still don’t know, […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
Willy Nicks is a hole in the wall bar about 15 minutes from my place. I was meeting people there, so I waited outside with a cigarette while Jenni pulled in with her friend Christine. It was the start to the longest night of my Westchester career.
Jenni made me insecure. She first met […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
I called Jenni, a girl who I had met at a firehouse party not too long before, and she invited me out for drinks later that night. I had three hours to get ready and an empty stomach. I had been living in Westchester County for about a month and the most I’d […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
Three sessions with Eddie and he was gone — with my sweatshirt, come to think of it. What people consider a date, I prefer to label as a “session.” I feel that the word date romanticizes the idea of two people meeting for coffee. After the way things ended with Eddie I refuse […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
It was Sunday morning, and I was awake at eight. Alone in my bed, I wondered if last night really happened. And yes I was alone, even in my drunkest state of mind I knew there was no coming back from taking a bartender home. I threw clothes on, and I was out […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
It was 3 a.m., and I was drunk and alone. The situation would have potentially kicked my butt a few years back, but I was 21 now.
I left a firehouse party and took nearly an hour to find the only bar in the next 30 miles. Honestly, I in no way encourage drunk […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
Another save by my navigator helped me pull up to a carnival-like setting in a park outside the firehouse. Beyond nervous, I reassured myself that I looked great and was totally ready. I texted Jason as I wandered for a few minutes before seeing him doing a demonstration involving a car on fire. […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
Completely weary of the long trips home every night, I had decided to build my empire in Westchester County. In an attempt to be sociable, I joined a tanning salon in the next town over. At least I got a hello when walking in, it was the most contact I had received since […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
So what if I was 21? You try telling my mother that was a reason for me to have a life. Under her roof, I was home on weeknights by 10 and one on weekends — if I was lucky. Funny thing was, she thought this still applied to me even after […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
My eyes opened to see a bright light shining. I looked around and before long I realized it wasn’t Kansas, and I couldn’t find my ruby red slippers. I shuffled around the room, bumping into every blunt object. Who put my bed there? When did I get that dresser? I can walk through […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
[[Ed.’s note: This is the first installment of Atari Jay’s fictionalized serial column, “Moving Out.” Everyone remembers the horrors of moving out for the first time. Relive them while Atari Jay goes through them]]

My mom and I had just fought, same argument different day. I had to leave.
Things weren’t going well with […]

By ATARI JAY
dearatari(at)gmail.com
…yea I guess I’m one too. It’s been about eight years now, and I’m not the proudest to admit it. I’m not even sure why I do it anymore. I crave the feeling of smoke in my lungs, but I hate how I reek and I hate the stains on my teeth. I […]