What the heck happened to Fall? It’s already in the high 30′s and people have their winter coats out. So depressing.
It’s a weird day. All of my roommates are home. Kris (the only one with an actual full-time job) decides that he’s done with the day at about 1:00pm, and donned on pajamas.
Since I know that I’m working next week, today was dedicated towards Nicole’s surprise birthday party. Especially surprising since her birthday was weeks ago. Nonetheless, the party somehow mushroomed into a big to-do. What started out as just getting reservations at a nice restaurant and karaoke later morphed into me running around to order balloons, Vic hitting up a hardware store to put up things on their walls, catered dinner, and Nick and I hopping into grocery stores buying random items.
Luckily my original plan to ride around with Tony on our bikes to scout out possible new apartment locations was quickly nixed. The thought of riding my bike in 40 degree, rainy conditions was not appealing.
Next week is another hiatus due to the NFL.
Daily Panic Level: All dedicated towards getting this party together
Financial Outlook: Spending is too high
Job Scorecard (Interviews – Freelance Work – Freelance Busts): 7 – 3 – 22
Last Night’s Meal: Catered Mexican food (and lots of margaritas)
Argh! I can’t seem to get anything done today.
Tony’s back from his trip, so in addition to Junior’s constant pestering, there are frequent interruptions to the point where I can’t sustain a complete thought in my head. Plus, I’m on three or four separate chats at once.
I’ve been trying to work on a logo and webpage for a phone app with Victor but the distractions are killing my concentration.
The screws are also turning on the apartment situation. We got a lease renewal form in the mail and need to figure out what’s going to happen. Tony and I are thinking about finding a new place but need to know if we’re at the current place for another month or have to be out in two weeks. This is when my Type A personality appears.
Today, I also had to go on a hunt for some clothing for an event that I can’t fully go into at this time. What I can say is that I ended up spending the evening with Michelle and Nick cutting shapes out of potatoes and dipping them in ink to apply to fabric. My life is strange, but in a completely dorky way.
Daily Panic Level: Higher, more due to the apartment situation
Financial Outlook: Not so good if I need money for a new apartment
Job Scorecard (Interviews – Freelance Work – Freelance Busts): 7 – 3 – 22
Last Night’s Meal: Spinach ravioli
So much for things slowing down after the summer. The upcoming weekend is already jam-packed. I’ve been invited to two separate football game watching parties which doesn’t even include a game involving MY team so I have to weigh in three games plus a scavenger/photo/keg party, a pub crawl and a birthday dinner/party. And that’s just Saturday.
Hopefully that doesn’t come off as gloating. I would prefer a more low-key weekend especially since Tony and I need that time to start looking for an apartment. Time is definitely not on our side.
Today was more running around, taking care of random stuff: post office, dry cleaning, etc. I’ve done some minor job hunting but I’ve had to hold back on applying to some positions because I’ll be unavailable next week. I’m considering just foregoing any searching for this week.
What I haven’t forgone is catching up on a few TV shows and movies.
I finally got caught up on seasons 1 and 2 of Madmen and I’m reluctantly coming around to admit that it is a great show. The sexism, racism, elitism is still off-putting. I also don’t want to cheer for Don Draper since he’s such a pompous ass at times, but the show is great at making him a jerk but not enough to turn you against him. Another character, Pete Campbell, you could easily see him becoming a one-dimensional scumbag, but they create enough shades of him to make him somewhat sympathetic. And I love the skinny ties and gray suits.
I was all set to dive into season 3 but discovered that our DVR deleted the first few episodes after a while. Damn you, technology!
I also caught up on 30 Rock‘s third season and was jolted at the appearance of… Don Draper! But not Don… this one smiled and was kind of nice. I got a kick out of seeing Don Draper’s likeness flailing around ineptly on a tennis court. Kind of kills the aura that Madmen created around the guy.
I had a similar eyebrow raising recognition moment when Pete Campbell’s wife showed up as a cast regular on Community. I haven’t fully gotten on board with the show yet but it has potential.
I finally saw Mighty Aphrodite and was impressed with how much I enjoyed Mira Sorvino. It’s been a slow journey catching up with Woody Allen flicks (Annie Hall is sublime) since my family isn’t exactly the target market for neurotic Jewish guys talking a lot.
I’d always recognized Sorvino from strangely quirky (Romy and Michelle) to questionable (Mimic) movies so was surprised that she’s an Oscar winner and a Harvard grad! Her performance was Allen’s movie was great but maybe it was more inspired casting than inspired acting. I’d be interested in seeing more of her roles to get a better gauge before totally writing her off.
Daily Panic Level: Slightly higher
Financial Outlook: Need to be more concerned than I am
Job Scorecard (Interviews – Freelance Work – Freelance Busts): 7 – 3 – 22
Last Night’s Meal: Game hen with herb butter and mashed potatoes, leftovers
Very last minute, I had a interview for a short freelance stint at NFL. Weird. Not sure if I ever imagined working there.
Walking into their office was an eye-opener. A giant projection screen behind the receptionist was showing a game from the past weekend. Big cushy chairs adorned the waiting area. A lady was showing what I imagine a football player around (my assumption is based on the fact that it was a giant of a man).
Still, work is work, and the name wouldn’t look too bad on my client list. The interview seemed to go over well so it’s just a matter of waiting. Again.
The train ride into the city was a chance to catch up on some podcasts. Particularly This American Life which revisits their excellent coverage of the world financial market in their most recent episode. I love their coverage of the topic because they make an effort to distill the information. What you’re left with is a lesson in tolerance.
Tolerance for all of those greedy, selfish people who put us in this mess. I don’t normally rant and point fingers like this but it’s frustrating to always be the honest, good guy who ends up picking up the check. Greedy bankers, brokers, investors who all knew they were building up a rickety tower. But also those homeowners who would sign up for NINA loans and try to buy houses that were out of their means. Leaving taxpayers to flood the markets with our money to stabilize their mess, even while banks freeze up the economy which puts the screws on our companies causing us to lose our jobs.
Okay, getting off my soapbox before I go any further. I don’t play the role of the victim. I hated my job anyway so it was a good excuse to get out. But jeez, do nice guys finish last or what?
My friend Brock convinced me to go with him to a singles event tonight, or as they affectionately titled it: Meatup. I don’t think either of us really took it seriously, but just before the event we each expressed concern that it’d be a sad affair with just us and two or three awkward guys. In fact, it was a giant crowd of mixed people. Although I do pretty horribly in those situations. Anytime I’m conscious of someone trying to set me up or in a situation where I know that’s what we’re all here for, I freeze up. Also, the wet t-shirt show was uncomfortable. Because it was a male wet t-shirt show. Sigh.
It wasn’t all bad though. I got to hang out with Brock more. Despite knowing each other for at least a year now, I’m only now just really getting to know him and he’s an interesting dude. We’ve gone on these weird adventures before (mixtape socials, drink n draw, etc.) and they always turn out better than we fear.
Daily Panic Level: Manageable
Financial Outlook: Not too bright
Job Scorecard (Interviews – Freelance Work – Freelance Busts): 6 – 2 – 18
Last Night’s Meal: McDonald’s
The word of the day is re-aclimation.
I’m just trying to gather myself up again. I’ve mostly recovered from the trip and the jetlag. My room and the apartment are disaster areas. Laundry piles are on the verge of tipping over. Mail is scattered about.
Today was set aside to collect myself. If I was feeling ambitious, I would’ve gotten up to do laundry but I’ll save that for tomorrow.
The weekend was a typical crazy New York weekend so it was an appropriate welcome back. But man, it didn’t do much to help my exhaustion. Somehow I managed to stay awake and alive through a birthday party, a college bar, a pig-roast, a Texas Tech/University of Texas rivalry football game, a photoshoot, a kickball game, and a few rounds of flip-cup at a bar.
Oh my god. Just ticking those off made me tired again. I once wrote as a joke “Goodbye to my 20s. Thanks for doing your best to KILL me.” Now it looks like my 30s wants to take a stab at it.
As for work, I didn’t rest on my laurels. I managed to set up an interview with a client to do a website. The job seems bigger than I thought but the client was cool and sounds committed to not skimping and doing the job right. I don’t have the job yet, I need to work out an estimate and timeline, hopefully in the next day or so, and we’ll see how it goes. Fingers crossed.
Daily Panic Level: Low
Financial Outlook: Afraid to check, but I have a few deposits to make.
Job Scorecard (Interviews – Freelance Work – Freelance Busts): 5 – 2 – 16
Last Night’s Meal: Gourmet chicken patties on a bun, compliments of a friend
Today I got back on track. Up at 9:00 and at the gym by 9:30. I went through my normal routine of resisting the notion of going, then en route telling myself that it’ll just be a light workout, then inevitably doing a full-on workout. I always leave feeling good and motivated, but somehow that dissolves by the next time I had planned to go to the gym.
As a pleasant surprise, I noticed that I got a voicemail from Aquent, a design recruiting agency, saying that they have a potential freelance gig for me. Through callbacks and emails, the scenario was a one week job at a magazine publisher needing some web design work. I gave the okay to submit my info and the recruiter says he’ll get back to me.
He never gets back to me.
Argh! I suspect I need to get used to this feeling. With freelancing, everything is always up in the air until the last second, and things fall apart at any moment without notice. It’s kind of like dating. I don’t deal well with rejection.
Most of the day is spent keeping myself prepped in case I need to go into this job, so basically it was a waste of a day. I should’ve worked on my one existing freelance project or looked for more work but for some reason I thought I pretty much had this gig in the bag.
Finally accepting defeat, I was able to go with some friends to an event at The Museum of the City of New York. The event was promoted as a Speakeasy night of “music and spirits of the era”. Let’s just say the execution left a little to be desired. Other than a few elder ladies dressed in era clothing, there was essentially nothing Speakeasy-like about the event. They played a few songs from the 1920′s but even that was eventually abandoned for some Frank Sinatra.
Nonetheless, my friends and I made the best out of it. Drinks on an outdoor terrace at a New York museum facing Central Park on a warm summer night isn’t too shabby. Plus we got to peruse the exhibits, which I always find enjoyable.
We make our way back to Brooklyn and end up having dinner at Flatbush Farm, which I have to say has great decor, good food and an amazing outdoor area. The back was too crowded for us to sit in, so I’ll definitely have to make it a goal to go again.
Daily Panic Level: Creeping upward
Financial Outlook: Need to reign in the spending
Job Scorecard (Interviews – Freelance Work – Freelance Busts): 1 – 1 – 3
Last Night’s Meal: Halibut over a green bean, olive and tomato salad. YUM!
—
1 Year Flashback
I don’t remember exactly when my friend/co-worker, Kristen got the boot from our company but it was around this time, which was a final stake against any possible redemption of the company and me. It was just another in a long line of obscene injustices that were committed there.
My other friend who worked there, Anna, had just quit a few weeks earlier, which was a big blow to my ability to tolerate the day to day work life. We had become permanent lunch buddies, always finding funny adventures to go on in the course of an hour. We’d hit art galleries, peruse fashion exhibits, hit up Central Park, ride the Merry-Go-Round in Bryant Park, wander to new areas, play darts at a dive bar, anything was possible.
Later on, we added Kristen to the fun. Our trio didn’t last too long since Anna left the job soon after, but we’ve maintained a solid trio friendship, making sure to do dinners together periodically. Kristen and I kept the lunch thing going but that didn’t long either due to her sudden lay off.
I honestly took it pretty hard, losing two friends and coping partners at a job we all despised. Lunches became a sad affair; a daily reminder that I was left behind. Just picture a scene from any number of movies of the lonely guy sitting in the park by himself or wandering aimlessly through the streets. The company later on hired another person that I found some solace in, but I limited the lunches to occasional affairs since I had determined that my friendship with a coworker basically meant the Kiss of Death at work.
I can feel myself falling into a bad habit. I’ve been getting up later and later and today, it was 11:00 before I rolled out of bed. I had even set my alarm for 8:30 to go to the gym, which was certainly optimistic of me.
When I first got laid off, my internal clock was still rigidly set to 7:00 and I didn’t even need an alarm. It was probably unrealistic to expect that a gradual slide wouldn’t occur.
Needless to say, I didn’t go to the gym. I knew it was going to be a somewhat busy day so didn’t want to rush the work-out. Instead, I immediately hopped on my bike to ride to Williamsburg.
There’s a great book shop in the ‘Burg, Spoonbill & Sugartown which has a great section on graphic design. I saw a book there I wanted but my frugality told me to hold off. But later I regretted it. What’s the opposite of buyer’s remorse?
I also checked Amazon which listed the book at $35, the same as the bookstore, so I wanted to support a local merchant and decided to ride over to get the book. My brain was still telling me to take it easy on the non-essential purchases, but my thinking is that this was design related and would go towards recouping some of the creativity that was systematically syphoned out at my last job. It turns out that everything worked out in my favor, the book was sold for $5, probably used but it was in good enough condition for me to not notice. Score one for the poor guy!
The rest of the morning and early afternoon was dedicated to getting this blog on its feet. Yeah, the job hunt took a backseat to a blog. So a solo photoshoot for the header seen above was done on my roof. I love incorporating handwritten text whenever I can so this was a perfect opportunity since it makes sense with the overall concept of the site.
I then set out to prep for the Bastille Day Rooftop Celebration that my friend, Nicole and I planned out. Everyone was asked to bring some food and/or drink so the setup for the party was minimal. We threw a French themed dinner and movie night in the past and I discovered that pretty much no one had any idea what French food to make or bring. That night we ended up with about five platters of pate and brie with baguettes a plenty.
I think that affected the approach this time, because in the end, no one brought any of those items, which would’ve been sorely appreciated. I decided to make pommes frites and aioli sauce from scratch, which while simple, was sort of time intensive. I also cave under the pressure of cooking for others so was sweating not just from the 450 degree oven roasting the frites. Luckily they turned out to be a hit and were quickly gone.
The problem was that almost everyone resorted to bringing alcohol, resulting in more than one person having to run out for emergency French fare. Everyone had a good time nonetheless and we saw a nice sunset.
July has been the opposite of June in that the days have been filled with great weather and cloudless skies. Thus making sitting around to surf the net for a job much harder.
Daily Panic Level: Low
Financial Outlook: Probably too optimistic
Job Scorecard (Interviews – Freelance Work – Freelance Busts): 1 – 1 – 2
Last Night’s Meal: Strawberry crepes, pommes frites, brie and crackers, salad, and French beer
—
1 Year Flashback
I’d just taken a trip to the Poconos with a few friends for a relaxing weekend, and saw the final movie screening at McCarren Pool which was Rushmore (one of my top 5 movies of all time).
Other than that, life was mundane. You could set a watch to my schedule:
7:00am – Get up, shower, check email
8:00am – Wait for the F train, listen to my daily podcasts
8:45am – Go to Whole Foods to buy breakfast
9:00am – Walk the beige mile to my daily execution chamber which was swathed in purple
9:05am – Contemplate suicide
9:10am – Interact with coworkers and contemplate multiple murders
9:15am – Check my rundown of daily websites (Facebook, MacRumors, Red Raiders Football, Pitchfork Music, Gothamist, and various blogs)
9:45am – Finally get down to figuring out how I’m going to pass the time of the day (aka: Work)
1:00pm – Head out for lunch.
2:00pm – Resist the urge to not return to the office
2:01pm – Hate myself for actually going back
2:02pm – Check my rundown of daily websites AGAIN
4:00pm – Observe the time in disbelief
5:30pm – Start gearing my workload down in order to leave at 6:00pm on the dot
6:00pm – Escape
What a glamorous life I led. Here’s to vowing not to ever do that again!!!
