If you're jobless, it also helps to be fearless. You may not have control over your employment status, but you do have control over your attitude. And your location.

So you might want to do what I did, and take this commitment-free time to try something new. Like, in my case, a new place. I'm "trying on" New York right now. It's a big change from the San Fernando Valley.

Recession travel is a little different from back when I was actually earning a living. No upgrade, no cocktails on the plane, and no spending $7 on the JetBlue Sleepy Time pillow/blanket combo they sell on board because I forgot my travel pillow.

So I've been in New York for one day and I've gotten more exercise than I do in a week in Los Angeles. Also, I've learned a few things.

1. It's legal to walk your dog off-leash in Central Park from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. I asked a cop, it's official! Central Park closes completely at 1 a.m.

2. Dogs need boots for the winter, because of the snow and the salt that people sprinkle on the sidewalks to melt the snow. My dogs, even though they are covered in fur, will also need sweaters when the snow starts to fall.

3. "Curbing your dog" means that you are supposed to somehow get your dog to relieve itself in the gutter of the street. I'm not sure how to make my dog do this, but she usually holds it in until I find some grass anyway.

4. Wednesday is Trash Day in my neighborhood, and they just pile the trash all over the sidewalks. Huge mountains of trash line the streets. It's pretty smelly and intense.

5. Pigeons are fearless in New York. My dog has decided it's her job to put the fear back in their tiny pigeon hearts.

6. Manhattan can be incredibly ugly and smelly and incredibly magical and beautiful at the same time. You walk by piles of garbage, then you cross a street and look down the avenue and the view is lovely.

7. There are no stars in Manhattan. You look up and can see a couple if you're lucky.

8. Nobody in New York is as excited about me being a newcomer to the city as I am. Except for maybe my boyfriend.

9. New York is very loud. Not just the traffic on the streets, but you can really hear your neighbors in New York. You can hear when they play music, wash the dishes, laugh, cry, fight on the street and watch TV. You can hear everything.

10. There are people everywhere. You walk out on the street and you pass hundreds of people in a matter of minutes. Back in L.A. I could walk for blocks before passing another person on foot. Which is why people here get dressed before going outside. In Los Angeles we can walk our dogs in our pajamas and nobody cares. Nobody thinks you're crazy, they just think you're walking your dog. I'd never dare walk out onto the mean streets of the Upper West Side in my pajamas. I'd look like a homeless person or a nut.

Luckily none of these lessons have cost me any money. Well, I did buy booties for the dogs so I'm ready when the snow comes, but that was minimal. I've been looking for work in New York and was actually offered a job that pays LESS THAN UNEMPLOYMENT. I couldn't do it. I at least need to make more than unemployment pays. I really want to work, but not if it's going to cost me money, and make me unavailable to go on interviews for jobs that may be right for me and pay more. You have to make these kinds of decisions when you've been laid-off.

To Do: Join the Upper West Side YMCA