I am going to start a new series of blog posts that further addresses my inability to deal with girls. This will include mostly girls that I had to help on the job and will be an ongoing series. I will also include a handy scale(1-10) that measures how close I actually came to asking each girl out.
Back when I was working at Georgetown, there were a lot more girls that I found interesting and around my age as compared to my current Chevy Chase location. Fortunately, every so often I get to work at Georgetown and that brings me to my first girl:
Ms. Hearing Impaired - I am not sure if this one had to do with the fact that she was slightly handicapped, but I am not ashamed to say I was definitely attracted to this girl. I will even go as far as to say that she was the closest that I came to actually asking a girl out on the job. This story starts with a busy Sunday, all hands on deck, when this girl comes in and starts looking at the shoe wall. I was nearing the end of working with a customer and was fearing somebody would jump into help before I could get a word in. Fortunately, time was on my side. I told her I would help her in a minute as soon as I finished up with the other customer. As I got to helping her, I asked the normal "what shoe have you past?" When she answered, she said one of the words kind of weird, but nothing to raise any flags. Early on she would ask me what I said, but that happens all the time with the way I talk, so no flags yet. I went downstairs to get the shoe she had been running in and when I came back she says "I have to tell you something..." Those are never great words to hear. She ends up telling she was slightly deaf and all the earlier interactions made a lot more sense then. We ended up making running store talk and learning little things about each others past and present. She went to Colorado and is currently a law student at Georgetown. I work at a running store... I will point out that line goes over a lot better at a running store than it does at a club in New York. I think the thing that really puts an interaction over the top is when the girl asks what your name is. Realistically I know that is just the girl being nice, but hey I can dream.
7...I was close to planning a way to write down my email.
Next up....Ms. Vutton
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
What do you do for a living?
I went to a job interview and waited in a room with some other candidates as they were talking to each other about what they did before the job and I notice that people fall into two categories when you ask them what do they do: one is self-loathing and the other is people in non-stop interview mode.
The first is the self-loathing 20-something who doesn’t think much of what they do. They might say, “I just work for a non-profit,” even though that doesn’t explain too much. Defining your life by your company’s designation in the U.S. 401K tax code seems to be trendy and I’m not sure why. These people are depressing to listen to and they are probably depressing themselves whenever they speak about their job. When you ask them how life is after college, they often say “nothing much, I just work,” as if they’re in serving time in prison. Most of their advice centers around enjoying college life while you can because it all goes downhill from there. Those people never really made me look foward to graduating much. I think a lot of these people are unhappy because they're on the bottom of the totem poll, but the way i see it, there's no guarantee that your job will be any more exciting or fulfilling when you get higher up anyway, so you might as well enjoy where you are.
I bumped into my old college suitemate on the metro, who said that he just worked for a textbook company doing research. He seemed to suggest he was “unskilled labor” and it wasn't really much of a job because anyone can do it. What?! he's writing textbooks that kids use in school, he gets to learn about things like history, geography, anatomy all day and translate it into what goes into a textbook? What could be more exciting than that? So you do something interesting with your day but you feel it’s devalued because other people can do your job? Whatever happened to trying to make the best of a bad situation? At one point in this time since college, I was working in a movie theater 14 months after graduation for $6.50 an hour and working with mostly teenagers. I was even in grad school at the time, and I found things i liked about the job to get me through the day, so I'm sure most of you can too. I'm not saying i was perfect at this method, but i'd say I maintined my sanity about the first 5 months out of the combined 8 months i was working at the movie theater (4 in 2006, 4 in 2007).
The second category is people who treat their life like a never-ending job interview and try to impress you by also throwing vague words around about what they do like “I consult,” “I manage,” “I assemble,” etc. How are there so many consultants in this town anyway? When I think of a consultant, I think of someone writing a “Dear Abby” column or a wizened old soul spreading his wisdom, not someone two months out of college who probably can’t remember what they studied in their major anyways. Based on how many of my friends tell me they’re “consultants,” I feel I can pretty safely conclude that the reason there is so much stifling bureaucracy in this town is because too many people are consulting and no one’s doing anything. At least a mailman or a garbageman do things.
To me, I feel better that they're around than I do that society is employing any more "consultants."Unless you're a rocket scientist, everyone should be able to say what your organization does in a couple sentences and what you do in a couple sentences in your organization. Working at Booz Allen Hamilton can't really be that complicated and beyond my comprehension to understand.
The first is the self-loathing 20-something who doesn’t think much of what they do. They might say, “I just work for a non-profit,” even though that doesn’t explain too much. Defining your life by your company’s designation in the U.S. 401K tax code seems to be trendy and I’m not sure why. These people are depressing to listen to and they are probably depressing themselves whenever they speak about their job. When you ask them how life is after college, they often say “nothing much, I just work,” as if they’re in serving time in prison. Most of their advice centers around enjoying college life while you can because it all goes downhill from there. Those people never really made me look foward to graduating much. I think a lot of these people are unhappy because they're on the bottom of the totem poll, but the way i see it, there's no guarantee that your job will be any more exciting or fulfilling when you get higher up anyway, so you might as well enjoy where you are.
I bumped into my old college suitemate on the metro, who said that he just worked for a textbook company doing research. He seemed to suggest he was “unskilled labor” and it wasn't really much of a job because anyone can do it. What?! he's writing textbooks that kids use in school, he gets to learn about things like history, geography, anatomy all day and translate it into what goes into a textbook? What could be more exciting than that? So you do something interesting with your day but you feel it’s devalued because other people can do your job? Whatever happened to trying to make the best of a bad situation? At one point in this time since college, I was working in a movie theater 14 months after graduation for $6.50 an hour and working with mostly teenagers. I was even in grad school at the time, and I found things i liked about the job to get me through the day, so I'm sure most of you can too. I'm not saying i was perfect at this method, but i'd say I maintined my sanity about the first 5 months out of the combined 8 months i was working at the movie theater (4 in 2006, 4 in 2007).
The second category is people who treat their life like a never-ending job interview and try to impress you by also throwing vague words around about what they do like “I consult,” “I manage,” “I assemble,” etc. How are there so many consultants in this town anyway? When I think of a consultant, I think of someone writing a “Dear Abby” column or a wizened old soul spreading his wisdom, not someone two months out of college who probably can’t remember what they studied in their major anyways. Based on how many of my friends tell me they’re “consultants,” I feel I can pretty safely conclude that the reason there is so much stifling bureaucracy in this town is because too many people are consulting and no one’s doing anything. At least a mailman or a garbageman do things.
To me, I feel better that they're around than I do that society is employing any more "consultants."Unless you're a rocket scientist, everyone should be able to say what your organization does in a couple sentences and what you do in a couple sentences in your organization. Working at Booz Allen Hamilton can't really be that complicated and beyond my comprehension to understand.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Starting From Scratch
I had an interesting weekend...nothing too crazy, but still interesting. I had no intentions of going out this weekend but I just cant say no. Both nights, I was asked if I wanted to go out and I of course had to go out both nights.
I guess the weekend starts with Thursday night unexpectedly. I got a few drunk calls from my neighbor who was trying to get a ride because as I later found out she was throwing up in the bathroom of a bar after just 4 drinks. I didnt have my car, so one of her coworkers cabbed her back and I was put in charge of making sure she didnt die. It was an entertaining evening that started with her asking if I wanted to see her shake her vomit which involved her gyrating and shaking a bag of vomit that was given to her at the bar. We of course ended up talking about ex's and she said something like " he was a really nice and we got along really well, but he just wasnt my life partner" and that actually freaked me out to hear a quote that could have easily come from my ex. Dont worry, I am over Dena, it was just kind of weird to hear her say what she said.
Friday night deals with the title. I really hit rock bottom that night in terms of confidence. I usually have problems being social with girls I dont know, but I took it to another level that night. I think I went into the night thinking it would be a normal night out with the guys, even though I had never been out with this group before. Unfortunately for me, a couple of the guys were fearless. Seeing guys actually go up to girls over and over really brought my confidence down early on. I think I hit the bottom at the point in the night when this fairly attractive girl smiled at me and then came over and attempted to dance with me but I cowered and somehow rejected her. Its one thing to not go after girls, but to blow it when one falls in your lap means it time to start from scratch. Fortunately outside of being socially awkward I ended up having a good time that night. One of the guys I went out with, had an extensive knowledge of Katt Williams which led to multiple impersonations of this bit.
The rest of the weekend was good. I had a day off and actually stayed in town for once. The day culminated with some grilling out back on a fairly chilly day with my neighbor and two of the roommates.
I guess the weekend starts with Thursday night unexpectedly. I got a few drunk calls from my neighbor who was trying to get a ride because as I later found out she was throwing up in the bathroom of a bar after just 4 drinks. I didnt have my car, so one of her coworkers cabbed her back and I was put in charge of making sure she didnt die. It was an entertaining evening that started with her asking if I wanted to see her shake her vomit which involved her gyrating and shaking a bag of vomit that was given to her at the bar. We of course ended up talking about ex's and she said something like " he was a really nice and we got along really well, but he just wasnt my life partner" and that actually freaked me out to hear a quote that could have easily come from my ex. Dont worry, I am over Dena, it was just kind of weird to hear her say what she said.
Friday night deals with the title. I really hit rock bottom that night in terms of confidence. I usually have problems being social with girls I dont know, but I took it to another level that night. I think I went into the night thinking it would be a normal night out with the guys, even though I had never been out with this group before. Unfortunately for me, a couple of the guys were fearless. Seeing guys actually go up to girls over and over really brought my confidence down early on. I think I hit the bottom at the point in the night when this fairly attractive girl smiled at me and then came over and attempted to dance with me but I cowered and somehow rejected her. Its one thing to not go after girls, but to blow it when one falls in your lap means it time to start from scratch. Fortunately outside of being socially awkward I ended up having a good time that night. One of the guys I went out with, had an extensive knowledge of Katt Williams which led to multiple impersonations of this bit.
The rest of the weekend was good. I had a day off and actually stayed in town for once. The day culminated with some grilling out back on a fairly chilly day with my neighbor and two of the roommates.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Commencement Ceremony
College ended a few years ago. Every day that time seems more distant and in a wave of ambivilance I feel both regret and relief, animosity and apathy. In college I hung out with the greatest group of guys in the world, I don't exaggerate. We got drunk, we caroused through the nights boozed up searching for the next party to go to where someone knew someone. We danced with girls who we didn't even care to find out their names and who now we wish knew ours. Like a pack of absurd wolves, we went wild for years on end and it was wonderful.
I began to feel it more the next morning. I always felt it some, but there came a point where the drag, the pull, the headache hurt more. I became incapacitated for longer by shelling my body with ethanol. To couple with this we always said that we wanted to make the running dream happen, really fucking happen, to do what we had spent years at this point trying to perfect. For awhile we could train like monsters constantly hungover and tired and beat up and fucked up and beyond hope just training and drinking and drifting and flirting for nights and months and years on end. Then employment happened.
You wake up, it's early, and you can't blow this off. You can't skip on this, otherwise you're out on your ass back in your parents house like a loser wallowing in your impotence at social conduct. So you go to work, and you're tired, and you get off work and you're tired, and you run 10 miles easy, and you're fucking worn out and you get a text message 'boozes?' and you do it. And the next day hurts, and you drag through work wondering if death is better, and then you run an easy 10 and you're so fucked and fucking tired of being fucked but mostly tired.
You wake up one morning, slightly hungover from 1/4 of what it would take to put a dent in you 4 years ago, and you think about why you're doing this, why you're working this job, and it all comes back to why you went to that college, why you hung out with those guys, why you have done everything you've done for the past decade: this running thing. You realize you can half ass it and have fun, and get half ass results, and know that when it's all said and done it's a half ass job that maybe something full ass could have gone down had you put down the booze and got more sleep. You're tired of the headache, and the backache, and you say enough, this shit has got to stop. If you're going to do this, you're going to do it the way it needs to be done. You watch yourself socially isolate to do this, because you know that there is a piece of you that will always be in the back of your mind if you don't give it an honest chance.
So you stop going out. You're friends think you're a buzzkill, aloof, nuts. But you just have to give this one fair shot, with no distactions, no fucking, no booze, no bullshit. You feel bad, because all those guys you had the best times with, you're now seemingly disregarding to go pursue the hermit athletic thing, and they have moved on. Maybe you're too stupid to let it go, but like how things are for everyone they are what they are. And so you slip into an existence where you are suddenly no longer in college anymore, and you've grown up, and you realize that responsibility and all that bullshit are the things they should have taught in school, and that was the only thing that failed to grace your curricular menu. You find yourself going to bed before midnight on a Friday to wake up and run before work and go to bed and run and go to bed and...
- To all the guys I shared the wildest, craziest nights with back in college, best of luck with all of it. I feel like the asshole who left the party before the strippers show up, but then again, I think we all knew that was how things would end up with me anyway. Enjoy yourselves, have a drink for me, hell, have 12.
I began to feel it more the next morning. I always felt it some, but there came a point where the drag, the pull, the headache hurt more. I became incapacitated for longer by shelling my body with ethanol. To couple with this we always said that we wanted to make the running dream happen, really fucking happen, to do what we had spent years at this point trying to perfect. For awhile we could train like monsters constantly hungover and tired and beat up and fucked up and beyond hope just training and drinking and drifting and flirting for nights and months and years on end. Then employment happened.
You wake up, it's early, and you can't blow this off. You can't skip on this, otherwise you're out on your ass back in your parents house like a loser wallowing in your impotence at social conduct. So you go to work, and you're tired, and you get off work and you're tired, and you run 10 miles easy, and you're fucking worn out and you get a text message 'boozes?' and you do it. And the next day hurts, and you drag through work wondering if death is better, and then you run an easy 10 and you're so fucked and fucking tired of being fucked but mostly tired.
You wake up one morning, slightly hungover from 1/4 of what it would take to put a dent in you 4 years ago, and you think about why you're doing this, why you're working this job, and it all comes back to why you went to that college, why you hung out with those guys, why you have done everything you've done for the past decade: this running thing. You realize you can half ass it and have fun, and get half ass results, and know that when it's all said and done it's a half ass job that maybe something full ass could have gone down had you put down the booze and got more sleep. You're tired of the headache, and the backache, and you say enough, this shit has got to stop. If you're going to do this, you're going to do it the way it needs to be done. You watch yourself socially isolate to do this, because you know that there is a piece of you that will always be in the back of your mind if you don't give it an honest chance.
So you stop going out. You're friends think you're a buzzkill, aloof, nuts. But you just have to give this one fair shot, with no distactions, no fucking, no booze, no bullshit. You feel bad, because all those guys you had the best times with, you're now seemingly disregarding to go pursue the hermit athletic thing, and they have moved on. Maybe you're too stupid to let it go, but like how things are for everyone they are what they are. And so you slip into an existence where you are suddenly no longer in college anymore, and you've grown up, and you realize that responsibility and all that bullshit are the things they should have taught in school, and that was the only thing that failed to grace your curricular menu. You find yourself going to bed before midnight on a Friday to wake up and run before work and go to bed and run and go to bed and...
- To all the guys I shared the wildest, craziest nights with back in college, best of luck with all of it. I feel like the asshole who left the party before the strippers show up, but then again, I think we all knew that was how things would end up with me anyway. Enjoy yourselves, have a drink for me, hell, have 12.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Great News Story
Trader sues over 'lap dance injury'
I may need to check this place out. Im not sure how you could get in the eye with a heel, but it sounds like a damn good lap dance.
I may need to check this place out. Im not sure how you could get in the eye with a heel, but it sounds like a damn good lap dance.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Dont Talk And Drive
Ive noticed a trend when I am driving and when I am riding with other people of saying "I knew that person was on a cell phone". I think it is agreed upon that talking on a cell phone really inhibits your ability to drive. I know from personal experience, not that I have been in accident or anything, but I just feel like I am paying much less attention than I should be paying.
Ive always had this thought about cell phones taking away from your ability to drive safely, but today I got conclusive evidence of this. No, it was not somebody driving and causing an accident. This incident actually took place inside of Panera this morning. There was a girl on a cell phone standing in the most central location possible in the restaurant. She was apparently pretty deep in conversation because she actually picked a wedgie out of her ass like she was in the comfort of her own. Maybe she does this all the time in public, but I highly doubt it. I know that I make damn sure no one is around when that happens to me. If this isnt proof that talking on a cell phone while driving is a bad idea, then I dont know what is.
AC
Ive always had this thought about cell phones taking away from your ability to drive safely, but today I got conclusive evidence of this. No, it was not somebody driving and causing an accident. This incident actually took place inside of Panera this morning. There was a girl on a cell phone standing in the most central location possible in the restaurant. She was apparently pretty deep in conversation because she actually picked a wedgie out of her ass like she was in the comfort of her own. Maybe she does this all the time in public, but I highly doubt it. I know that I make damn sure no one is around when that happens to me. If this isnt proof that talking on a cell phone while driving is a bad idea, then I dont know what is.
AC
Monday, March 17, 2008
Greatest Bands Ever
Lists are fun, so I am going to start doing some lists in this blog. Feel free to contribute your own lists. Rather than start with some obscure list, I am going to go for one of the most controversial lists of all: The Greatest Bands Ever.
As with all lists, this is completely subjective. This list does not deal with the influence on anybody outside of myself, and that is why The Beatles will not be included in this list. I think they are a great band and have influenced many a band, but they are not a band that will get a lot of plays on my computer.
I will include musicians that I have listened to for a long period of time, and those that I expect to listen to for a long period of time. I will try my best to exclude flavors of the month(but may include those in a different list).
I am going to list the greatest now, and maybe Ill defend the selection or maybe I wont.
1)Radiohead
There was a time when I decided that no matter what was happening with my musical taste, I would always keep my Radiohead as my second favorite band. This was so long ago, I cant even remember when this happened. But it turns out that they have stood the test of time and have evolved into a musical juggernaut from their early basic rock days. I am not implying that their earlier records were bad, but I am saying that their more recent records have showed a major shift towards experimentation without going over the deep end. Some might believe that Kid A did go a little too far, but that is actually my favorite of all their albums.
2)Nirvana
This was the band that actually got me seriously into music. It was over 13 years ago when I can say that my foray into music began. This was the first band that I remember trying to buy all of their albums. I never got Bleach, but I think had pretty much all of them after that.
3)Explosions In The Sky
This is more of a current band. I have only listened to them for a couple years, but they have been the new leader in what I have come to expect from music. I like to label this band as classical rock because their typical album will be 5 songs and will last an hour. They require patience, but it is very rewarding when you are in the mood.
4)Bob Dylan
I remember disliking Bob Dylan because I didnt like his voice. Its funny how things have changed.
5)The Mars Volta
This is kind of a weird choice because I am basing this off of two of their albums. I listened to part of one their later albums and decided I wasnt interested. Frances the Mute and Deloused in the Comatorium are so good to me that I had to include this band on my list. If I could write an album, I would write one of these two. They have so much energy and just straight up rock. In addition they have that experimentation edge that I like about Radiohead.
As with all lists, this is completely subjective. This list does not deal with the influence on anybody outside of myself, and that is why The Beatles will not be included in this list. I think they are a great band and have influenced many a band, but they are not a band that will get a lot of plays on my computer.
I will include musicians that I have listened to for a long period of time, and those that I expect to listen to for a long period of time. I will try my best to exclude flavors of the month(but may include those in a different list).
I am going to list the greatest now, and maybe Ill defend the selection or maybe I wont.
1)Radiohead
There was a time when I decided that no matter what was happening with my musical taste, I would always keep my Radiohead as my second favorite band. This was so long ago, I cant even remember when this happened. But it turns out that they have stood the test of time and have evolved into a musical juggernaut from their early basic rock days. I am not implying that their earlier records were bad, but I am saying that their more recent records have showed a major shift towards experimentation without going over the deep end. Some might believe that Kid A did go a little too far, but that is actually my favorite of all their albums.
2)Nirvana
This was the band that actually got me seriously into music. It was over 13 years ago when I can say that my foray into music began. This was the first band that I remember trying to buy all of their albums. I never got Bleach, but I think had pretty much all of them after that.
3)Explosions In The Sky
This is more of a current band. I have only listened to them for a couple years, but they have been the new leader in what I have come to expect from music. I like to label this band as classical rock because their typical album will be 5 songs and will last an hour. They require patience, but it is very rewarding when you are in the mood.
4)Bob Dylan
I remember disliking Bob Dylan because I didnt like his voice. Its funny how things have changed.
5)The Mars Volta
This is kind of a weird choice because I am basing this off of two of their albums. I listened to part of one their later albums and decided I wasnt interested. Frances the Mute and Deloused in the Comatorium are so good to me that I had to include this band on my list. If I could write an album, I would write one of these two. They have so much energy and just straight up rock. In addition they have that experimentation edge that I like about Radiohead.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
If only I was higher up in the world
One of the guys I worked for who was a senior associate at the company I just finished this 4-month internship with kind of pissed me off recently. Unfortunately, there's nothing to be gained from expressing how pissed off I am so I'll just swallow my pride.
The last day of my internship, I was cleaning up my office and I had a humongous amount of stuff to take home. I was taking public transportation home that day and I can't tell you the strain on my back from carrying everything in my bag. In addition, I was carrying an extra pair of shoes and winter snow boots in my hands. I asked a coworker of mine who's a senior associate (ranks somewhere between executive and normal person) if he wouldn't mind taking a book to the library for me since he lives in Arlington as well. He initially said no, but I said that I was carrying a lot of stuff home so he said ok.
Well, anyway, he agreed to do it but here's the controversial thing about the book: It was a series of interviews by Playboy Magazine of movie directors. There were absolutely no nude pictures or anything remotely inappropriate. As hard is it is for people to believe, I don't even read playboy. I only became familiar with Playboy's in-depth interviews from Lexus Nexus searches of interviews back when I took film courses. The book I brought to work one day and left it there mostly as something to read in the bathroom (again, not as dirty as it sounds).
So this guy responds by sending a mass email to the other coworkers with the title Wow on Orrin: "WOW…all I have to say is, WOW.
The fucker came in my office just now and said, “Rob, you live in Arlington, Can you return my book to the library for me?”
After an exchange of many words, and reminding him that he too lives in Arlington, I agreed to return the book for him…the title of the book you may ask:
The Playboy Interviews: The Directors.
I shit you not…
WTF…I am afraid to touch it."
I barely remembered I still had access to my company email account which is lucky I caught this.
As you can see, my problem is that this guy (let's call him R) is not a stringent by-the-book follower who has a stuffy aura of formality about him. He's actually a pretty cool guy. He got more drunk than anyone at the company party. He's been pretty cool to me most of the time I worked there. Which might just be the worst possible combination here because he dissaproves when the lowly intern does something wrong but he doesn't follow the formal channels of reprimand, like filing some report where I might be able to defend myself. Instead he just sends a mass email a la Steve Carell in The Office of: "Funny news of the day: The intern gave me this."
So I emailed him back and was like "Rob, did you send this to everyone in the office? I'm a little concerned now" and reinstated that it was merely a book of movie directors (not Pornographic movie directors) as anyone could see by looking on the back cover....
Anywy I write him and he says, blah blah blah:
"Orrin;
It is fine…you don’t have anything to worry about. Regardless of the content of the book, it was a playboy publication; that was my only point…I don’t support that. Regardless, like I said, you don’t need to worry…you aren’t going to get fired; and no, I didn’t send it to the company. I just hope it was a good read.
I will offer you a suggestion for your next career move though; it is not in your best interest to bring that type of material to an office (and you know this). Orrin, if you didn’t know it was inappropriate for the office, you would not have written your last line in the email you sent me. Please be mindful of your actions in the future at the next place you work…not everyone is as laid back and accepting as the _________ team. I would hate for you to be in a bad situation in the future due to similar actions.
Best to you.
~Unnamed employee"
Well, that was helpful and as I said he is a cool guy, he's not like a jerk, but I still disagree with him because I wasn't taking a Playboy Magazine. Anyone could have seen what it was by looking on the back cover and if he had a problem with it, and if he really had my best interests at heart, would he have mass emailed the company about it? But that's the slightly annoying thing: there's no reason to voice this and alienate someone higher up than me. That's the game we play. The boss is always right.
What I think is kind of funny about this situation is that I checked at the library and it said I had a late fine because that book hadn't been returned. I asked him where it was: "Orrin-it is in my new office to be unpacked. I would not worry about your thoughts of what other W+A staff think...you had the book at the office and most people know you had the book at work and saw it. Also, I really do not think you should continue to use this email address...it is a W+A email address."
So, he is reprimanding me for having that unholy book in the office when the book has been lingering around in his office for over a week now? Also, by "unpacking" he means that the company renovated offices recently and everyone was supposed to pack their stuff to be moved into another room for a day while a crew paints their office and then they bring it back unpack it two days later.
So he was consciously cleaning out his office and didn't think "this monstrosity must be removed from my office and brought to the library at once!" but packed it into a box instead of items marked with his name for the two female administrative assistants to move to other room and back. Oh, plus I'm not allowed to use the company email to ask these questions? How was he using the company email appropriately.
Oh yeah, and I'm still accumulating fines on it.
The last day of my internship, I was cleaning up my office and I had a humongous amount of stuff to take home. I was taking public transportation home that day and I can't tell you the strain on my back from carrying everything in my bag. In addition, I was carrying an extra pair of shoes and winter snow boots in my hands. I asked a coworker of mine who's a senior associate (ranks somewhere between executive and normal person) if he wouldn't mind taking a book to the library for me since he lives in Arlington as well. He initially said no, but I said that I was carrying a lot of stuff home so he said ok.
Well, anyway, he agreed to do it but here's the controversial thing about the book: It was a series of interviews by Playboy Magazine of movie directors. There were absolutely no nude pictures or anything remotely inappropriate. As hard is it is for people to believe, I don't even read playboy. I only became familiar with Playboy's in-depth interviews from Lexus Nexus searches of interviews back when I took film courses. The book I brought to work one day and left it there mostly as something to read in the bathroom (again, not as dirty as it sounds).
So this guy responds by sending a mass email to the other coworkers with the title Wow on Orrin: "WOW…all I have to say is, WOW.
The fucker came in my office just now and said, “Rob, you live in Arlington, Can you return my book to the library for me?”
After an exchange of many words, and reminding him that he too lives in Arlington, I agreed to return the book for him…the title of the book you may ask:
The Playboy Interviews: The Directors.
I shit you not…
WTF…I am afraid to touch it."
I barely remembered I still had access to my company email account which is lucky I caught this.
As you can see, my problem is that this guy (let's call him R) is not a stringent by-the-book follower who has a stuffy aura of formality about him. He's actually a pretty cool guy. He got more drunk than anyone at the company party. He's been pretty cool to me most of the time I worked there. Which might just be the worst possible combination here because he dissaproves when the lowly intern does something wrong but he doesn't follow the formal channels of reprimand, like filing some report where I might be able to defend myself. Instead he just sends a mass email a la Steve Carell in The Office of: "Funny news of the day: The intern gave me this."
So I emailed him back and was like "Rob, did you send this to everyone in the office? I'm a little concerned now" and reinstated that it was merely a book of movie directors (not Pornographic movie directors) as anyone could see by looking on the back cover....
Anywy I write him and he says, blah blah blah:
"Orrin;
It is fine…you don’t have anything to worry about. Regardless of the content of the book, it was a playboy publication; that was my only point…I don’t support that. Regardless, like I said, you don’t need to worry…you aren’t going to get fired; and no, I didn’t send it to the company. I just hope it was a good read.
I will offer you a suggestion for your next career move though; it is not in your best interest to bring that type of material to an office (and you know this). Orrin, if you didn’t know it was inappropriate for the office, you would not have written your last line in the email you sent me. Please be mindful of your actions in the future at the next place you work…not everyone is as laid back and accepting as the _________ team. I would hate for you to be in a bad situation in the future due to similar actions.
Best to you.
~Unnamed employee"
Well, that was helpful and as I said he is a cool guy, he's not like a jerk, but I still disagree with him because I wasn't taking a Playboy Magazine. Anyone could have seen what it was by looking on the back cover and if he had a problem with it, and if he really had my best interests at heart, would he have mass emailed the company about it? But that's the slightly annoying thing: there's no reason to voice this and alienate someone higher up than me. That's the game we play. The boss is always right.
What I think is kind of funny about this situation is that I checked at the library and it said I had a late fine because that book hadn't been returned. I asked him where it was: "Orrin-it is in my new office to be unpacked. I would not worry about your thoughts of what other W+A staff think...you had the book at the office and most people know you had the book at work and saw it. Also, I really do not think you should continue to use this email address...it is a W+A email address."
So, he is reprimanding me for having that unholy book in the office when the book has been lingering around in his office for over a week now? Also, by "unpacking" he means that the company renovated offices recently and everyone was supposed to pack their stuff to be moved into another room for a day while a crew paints their office and then they bring it back unpack it two days later.
So he was consciously cleaning out his office and didn't think "this monstrosity must be removed from my office and brought to the library at once!" but packed it into a box instead of items marked with his name for the two female administrative assistants to move to other room and back. Oh, plus I'm not allowed to use the company email to ask these questions? How was he using the company email appropriately.
Oh yeah, and I'm still accumulating fines on it.
I Do It To Myself
Im sure the title makes it seem like I am beating myself up over a girl or something but its about me killing myself with back to back long nights. Im not sure what happened, but when I was younger I could get away with. These days I get one good night a weekend and then Im toast.
Lets start with the first night. The plan was to hang out at my neighbors until 11 something and at the latest be in bed around midnight, wake up at 9 and head to Ted's place in Norfolk to meet up with some old teammates. Imagine a movie or tv show where they put the scene in rewind and show what really happens. I start at the neighbors with a 6 pack of semi-expensive beer, which probably wasnt a good idea to begin with. I drink the first beer and then offer my roommate one(this would cut down on my chance of drinking too much, given how strong this beer is). I open the fridge to find one left, not good. I ponder what to do next and eventually decide its probably for the best, I will just get home sooner. A little later I get a text that eventually lands me in Foggy Bottom at McFaddens around the time I was hoping to be in bed. I get to the bar and before I even meet up with my friend, I put down shots of my favorite(soco and lime). I find my friend who is entertaining her best friend and they have a serious head start on me. At some point I lose my momentum and only get one more drink. McFaddens starts to die so I suggest The Gaurds(yeah I did it) and of course we stay there until last call dancing to shitty 80s music. I hate on The Gaurds but I always have a good time when I go there. So we head west from Georgetown when I live to the east and up. Im not sure how but one of the girls gets going on the number of holes available for straight men vs. gay men vs. the gay women(you had to be there). So we arrive to the city county hours after I was hoping to be in bed and arrive to bottles and bottles of liquor. I proceed to drink a few rum and cokes, a buttery nipple, warm jack, and probably another shot or two in a short period of time. At this point I realize I am not making it home as the drinks are hitting me quickly.
So I end up waking up at 9 like I had planned but I proceed to the bathroom fairly certain I am going to throw up. Some how I manage to keep everything in and proceed to crash on The Couch until noon(the time I planned to arrive in Norfolk).
I end up leaving out of Takoma feeling like shit around 1. I came damn close to falling asleep mutliple times but manage to make it Norfolk alive. I was dead at Teds, but Teds fridge fortunately contained around 20 Red Bulls with Vodka in the freezer. This allowed to me finally wake up some time after midnight and helped me to create a few hot tracks with Evan, Bolton and B Rodgers(If anybody has one of these songs on their voicemail...I would really like to hear one). This night ended up being fairly chill outside of the late night Saves The Day sing-a-longs with Ted.
Im not sure when my next day off is, but I am going to attempt to stay in town and let myself recover.
Lets start with the first night. The plan was to hang out at my neighbors until 11 something and at the latest be in bed around midnight, wake up at 9 and head to Ted's place in Norfolk to meet up with some old teammates. Imagine a movie or tv show where they put the scene in rewind and show what really happens. I start at the neighbors with a 6 pack of semi-expensive beer, which probably wasnt a good idea to begin with. I drink the first beer and then offer my roommate one(this would cut down on my chance of drinking too much, given how strong this beer is). I open the fridge to find one left, not good. I ponder what to do next and eventually decide its probably for the best, I will just get home sooner. A little later I get a text that eventually lands me in Foggy Bottom at McFaddens around the time I was hoping to be in bed. I get to the bar and before I even meet up with my friend, I put down shots of my favorite(soco and lime). I find my friend who is entertaining her best friend and they have a serious head start on me. At some point I lose my momentum and only get one more drink. McFaddens starts to die so I suggest The Gaurds(yeah I did it) and of course we stay there until last call dancing to shitty 80s music. I hate on The Gaurds but I always have a good time when I go there. So we head west from Georgetown when I live to the east and up. Im not sure how but one of the girls gets going on the number of holes available for straight men vs. gay men vs. the gay women(you had to be there). So we arrive to the city county hours after I was hoping to be in bed and arrive to bottles and bottles of liquor. I proceed to drink a few rum and cokes, a buttery nipple, warm jack, and probably another shot or two in a short period of time. At this point I realize I am not making it home as the drinks are hitting me quickly.
So I end up waking up at 9 like I had planned but I proceed to the bathroom fairly certain I am going to throw up. Some how I manage to keep everything in and proceed to crash on The Couch until noon(the time I planned to arrive in Norfolk).
I end up leaving out of Takoma feeling like shit around 1. I came damn close to falling asleep mutliple times but manage to make it Norfolk alive. I was dead at Teds, but Teds fridge fortunately contained around 20 Red Bulls with Vodka in the freezer. This allowed to me finally wake up some time after midnight and helped me to create a few hot tracks with Evan, Bolton and B Rodgers(If anybody has one of these songs on their voicemail...I would really like to hear one). This night ended up being fairly chill outside of the late night Saves The Day sing-a-longs with Ted.
Im not sure when my next day off is, but I am going to attempt to stay in town and let myself recover.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Mt Pleasant
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031300788.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Songs with good lyrics
Allen recently commented on how I don't listen to particularly good lyricists when it comes to music, so I thought I'd write about that and defend myself.
My music list consists more or less of: Dave Matthews Band, Goo Goo Dolls, Gin Blossoms, Santana, Matchbox 20, Train, The Killers, Maroon 5, Sheryl Crowe, Michelle Branch, Jason Mraz, Fighting Gravity, Third Eye Blind, a little bit of bluegrass that includes Allison Krauss and Union Station and Nickel Creek, and piano players like Bruce Hornsby and Ben Folds.
I don't write much about music because I think music is a lot more subjective and difficult to judge and I find that the way to write about music and be accepted is to look obscure band names that aren't in the mainstream. The more mainstream something is that you listen to, the more made fun of you are which I find odd because the point of every band is to reach the largest audience anyway. This phenomena exists in the world of film to a very small degree where a certain echelon of film snobs denounce Spielberg as the anti-Christ and love to rave on about films by Asian and obscure French directors that the average person has never heard of, but it's more common in music.
I think I'm going to take just one of these bands (maybe I'll do another one at some point) and discuss their excellence in lyric-writing: Matchbox 20 which is a band whose songs I have personally connected to.
The song that's been most influential to me I would say is "Mad Season" from their second album. The lyrics go "I feel stupid but it's something that comes and goes/ and I've been changing I think it's funny how no one knows/ We don't talk about the little things that we do without/ When that whole mad season comes around....I need you now/ do you think you can cope/ You've figured me out/ I'm lost (in the second rendition of the chorus, he replaces "lost" with "a child") and I'm hopeless/ I'm bleeding and broken/ Though I've never spoken/ I come undone/ This mad season"
This is one of two sings I played over and over during my freshman year of college to get me through (the other one was "Your Winter" by Sister Hazel and had to do with a girl problem more). I was supposed to be having the best time in my life, but I didn't love college my first year. I felt disoriented being away from home and the same social circle for 18 years; I quickly became over my head, academically; and in high school I defined myself as a runner but didn't make the team. The song spoke to me about being surrounded by a sea of seemingly happy people experiencing the greatness of college for the first time and enjoying their everyday lives and how you don't seem in step with them. When I transferred colleges to JMU, three years later after taking a year off and being in the real world, I had another "Mad Season" of significantly greater proportions. I was transferring to a school I had not planned on ever attending (it was my safety school, while I looked for a school out-of-state) and was living in a dorm at the age of 21 where most people moved off campus at the age of 19 (noone had told me that). JMU has an inordinately high amount of school pride (not that some of it isn't deserved, but still, I might call it an unhealthy lack of willingness to challenge the status quo), so I was in a worst-case scenario situation, and surrounded by people who not only loved everything about their lives but didn't even comprehend someone who didn't feel equally happy about their lives at JMU. When he says "I need you now, do you think you can cope," it made me feel like I wasn't alone in the whole thing, how I wanted to admit, "Yeah, I look like I'm doing ok as a "college student but I'm not", and how more than anything else, I wanted to reach out among the sea of people too distracted by how fun the drunk bus could be and how busy their studies could be, and tell them how hopeless, lost, bleeding and broken I felt.
Another one of his songs relates to this, "All I Need":
"Everywhere, someone's getting over, everybody's lied to someone, people still use other people with a crooked smile/ and all around the world, there's a sinking feeling, out there right now now, someone's feeling down on themselves and don't know why/ and that's all I need/ someone else to cling to/ someone I can lean on until I don't need to/ just stay on through/ the night and then the moment let me do cause that's all that I need right now (he later replaces "right now" with "write it down")
In this song, it talks about how, again you're being surrounded with a sea of superficial people and how you personally just need someone to connect to. I also relate to the line "the moment let me down," because when I was younger I used to blame myself heavily for simple decisions I made and felt that if my life was sucking, it was because of a single moment letting me down. The his single, "Unwell" also is asking the listener to understand that sometimes he might not be at his best at that moment.
He presents this theme about understanding and being open about people's weaknesses and confronts racism in the song "Black and White People":
"One boy head strong/ thinks he's just having one of those days/ he's been pushed down so long you can hear him start to think/ and it's one last round full of petty conversation/ you hold on boy 'till it's more than you can take/ cause you won't go down like this....if it's just that you're weak/ can we talk about it/ it's getting so damn creepy just nursing this ghost of a chance/ the fiction, the romance, and the technicolor dreams of black and white people"
Other songs he's made that I can relate to:
"Real World"-The singer wonders what it would be like to be a CEO or a superhero and wishes in the end the real world would just stop hassling him. I related to that track as a teenager a lot, and even now
"Shame"-Just has interesting lyrics, about lost love and guilt
"Last Beautiful Girl"-The feeling that you're so tired of dealing with the opposite sex and that last girl who got away was your only hope at salvation from it
"Bright Lights" or "Hand Me Down"-Both deal with how a girl you like or were with is being presented with another option and you feel that you're better than that other option
"Let's See How Far We've Come"-His latest single talks about the Apocalypse happening and his attempts to take a personal inventory on "how far he's come" as the world comes to an end. I tend to catastrophize a lot and feel that a lot of things are the end of the world so I relate to it pretty well.
My music list consists more or less of: Dave Matthews Band, Goo Goo Dolls, Gin Blossoms, Santana, Matchbox 20, Train, The Killers, Maroon 5, Sheryl Crowe, Michelle Branch, Jason Mraz, Fighting Gravity, Third Eye Blind, a little bit of bluegrass that includes Allison Krauss and Union Station and Nickel Creek, and piano players like Bruce Hornsby and Ben Folds.
I don't write much about music because I think music is a lot more subjective and difficult to judge and I find that the way to write about music and be accepted is to look obscure band names that aren't in the mainstream. The more mainstream something is that you listen to, the more made fun of you are which I find odd because the point of every band is to reach the largest audience anyway. This phenomena exists in the world of film to a very small degree where a certain echelon of film snobs denounce Spielberg as the anti-Christ and love to rave on about films by Asian and obscure French directors that the average person has never heard of, but it's more common in music.
I think I'm going to take just one of these bands (maybe I'll do another one at some point) and discuss their excellence in lyric-writing: Matchbox 20 which is a band whose songs I have personally connected to.
The song that's been most influential to me I would say is "Mad Season" from their second album. The lyrics go "I feel stupid but it's something that comes and goes/ and I've been changing I think it's funny how no one knows/ We don't talk about the little things that we do without/ When that whole mad season comes around....I need you now/ do you think you can cope/ You've figured me out/ I'm lost (in the second rendition of the chorus, he replaces "lost" with "a child") and I'm hopeless/ I'm bleeding and broken/ Though I've never spoken/ I come undone/ This mad season"
This is one of two sings I played over and over during my freshman year of college to get me through (the other one was "Your Winter" by Sister Hazel and had to do with a girl problem more). I was supposed to be having the best time in my life, but I didn't love college my first year. I felt disoriented being away from home and the same social circle for 18 years; I quickly became over my head, academically; and in high school I defined myself as a runner but didn't make the team. The song spoke to me about being surrounded by a sea of seemingly happy people experiencing the greatness of college for the first time and enjoying their everyday lives and how you don't seem in step with them. When I transferred colleges to JMU, three years later after taking a year off and being in the real world, I had another "Mad Season" of significantly greater proportions. I was transferring to a school I had not planned on ever attending (it was my safety school, while I looked for a school out-of-state) and was living in a dorm at the age of 21 where most people moved off campus at the age of 19 (noone had told me that). JMU has an inordinately high amount of school pride (not that some of it isn't deserved, but still, I might call it an unhealthy lack of willingness to challenge the status quo), so I was in a worst-case scenario situation, and surrounded by people who not only loved everything about their lives but didn't even comprehend someone who didn't feel equally happy about their lives at JMU. When he says "I need you now, do you think you can cope," it made me feel like I wasn't alone in the whole thing, how I wanted to admit, "Yeah, I look like I'm doing ok as a "college student but I'm not", and how more than anything else, I wanted to reach out among the sea of people too distracted by how fun the drunk bus could be and how busy their studies could be, and tell them how hopeless, lost, bleeding and broken I felt.
Another one of his songs relates to this, "All I Need":
"Everywhere, someone's getting over, everybody's lied to someone, people still use other people with a crooked smile/ and all around the world, there's a sinking feeling, out there right now now, someone's feeling down on themselves and don't know why/ and that's all I need/ someone else to cling to/ someone I can lean on until I don't need to/ just stay on through/ the night and then the moment let me do cause that's all that I need right now (he later replaces "right now" with "write it down")
In this song, it talks about how, again you're being surrounded with a sea of superficial people and how you personally just need someone to connect to. I also relate to the line "the moment let me down," because when I was younger I used to blame myself heavily for simple decisions I made and felt that if my life was sucking, it was because of a single moment letting me down. The his single, "Unwell" also is asking the listener to understand that sometimes he might not be at his best at that moment.
He presents this theme about understanding and being open about people's weaknesses and confronts racism in the song "Black and White People":
"One boy head strong/ thinks he's just having one of those days/ he's been pushed down so long you can hear him start to think/ and it's one last round full of petty conversation/ you hold on boy 'till it's more than you can take/ cause you won't go down like this....if it's just that you're weak/ can we talk about it/ it's getting so damn creepy just nursing this ghost of a chance/ the fiction, the romance, and the technicolor dreams of black and white people"
Other songs he's made that I can relate to:
"Real World"-The singer wonders what it would be like to be a CEO or a superhero and wishes in the end the real world would just stop hassling him. I related to that track as a teenager a lot, and even now
"Shame"-Just has interesting lyrics, about lost love and guilt
"Last Beautiful Girl"-The feeling that you're so tired of dealing with the opposite sex and that last girl who got away was your only hope at salvation from it
"Bright Lights" or "Hand Me Down"-Both deal with how a girl you like or were with is being presented with another option and you feel that you're better than that other option
"Let's See How Far We've Come"-His latest single talks about the Apocalypse happening and his attempts to take a personal inventory on "how far he's come" as the world comes to an end. I tend to catastrophize a lot and feel that a lot of things are the end of the world so I relate to it pretty well.
A few good friends
I was invited by Allen to comment on this blog because I write a lot of my own stuff, but I haven't figured out exactly how to contribute things that go along with this blog's themes.
Nevertheless, I'd like to say a quick word about the author, Allen: He is a good friend. I'm not a big fan of getting older but I've decided to soften the blow of age by going onto facebook and inviting many of the people I'd like to see, to a birthday party. I don't know if that's lame or anything, people are usually celebrating each other's birthdays and going out for the occasion.
The last two times I've attempted this, the only person who showed up was Allen. Another friend in each case met me on my actual birthday, but still. I'd like to thank him but also just take a moment to think abotu how bad all my other friends are. They had such pathetic excuses too: A pair of my friends who live together treated the evening like a normal Saturday night and said, "We're not sure where we're going, we'll give you a call back when we figure it out." In other words, they had no pressing commitment. About three or four of my friends were this way. I had another friend, who said "Sorry, I can't come, I'm watching the UNC basketball game," which was odd because I was at a sports bar where the entire UNC fan contingent of Northern Virginia was probably at this bar. The whole affair just made me feel rather depressed, and to have a birthday was already depressing enough. All I know, is that the people who I invited are all people that I would go out of my way to attend their birthday parties if it made a difference to them. Honestly, I've never ever succeeded at getting all my friends together at one place.
Many people profess to be big fans of me because I have a certain style about the way I go about things in life. Some might even say I'm a popular person or have been a popular person at many points in my life. In fact, I learned in a gened class once on developmental psychology that there are four types of social categories: Rejected, Accepted, Controversial and Neglected, and realized that at various points in my life, I've been all 4. Growing up, i was rejected, than around high school i became popular, but after a while I started doing things that made me controversial, and when I first transferred into James Madison, I became neglected. So in response to people who tell me that I'm popular or well-liked, I've always brushed most of those comments aside. I once made a video on the popular website J-Maddy that was a big hit and sometimes people would recognize me from that video but that didn't matter to me, because popularity is short-lived.
What's good is to have friends. Reliable friends who if you're throwing a party would be eager to show up. People who aren't just someone who's your friend on facebook but someone who's your friend in person. So my message is to make an effort to be a better friend to your friends, because in the long run that matters more towards your character than compliments you pay or being a nice person. I also wish to shout-out to some mutual friends of Allen's and mine: Evan, Nick, Jason, and Josh, you have also been sincere friends of mine at one point or another and I thank you for that as well.
Nevertheless, I'd like to say a quick word about the author, Allen: He is a good friend. I'm not a big fan of getting older but I've decided to soften the blow of age by going onto facebook and inviting many of the people I'd like to see, to a birthday party. I don't know if that's lame or anything, people are usually celebrating each other's birthdays and going out for the occasion.
The last two times I've attempted this, the only person who showed up was Allen. Another friend in each case met me on my actual birthday, but still. I'd like to thank him but also just take a moment to think abotu how bad all my other friends are. They had such pathetic excuses too: A pair of my friends who live together treated the evening like a normal Saturday night and said, "We're not sure where we're going, we'll give you a call back when we figure it out." In other words, they had no pressing commitment. About three or four of my friends were this way. I had another friend, who said "Sorry, I can't come, I'm watching the UNC basketball game," which was odd because I was at a sports bar where the entire UNC fan contingent of Northern Virginia was probably at this bar. The whole affair just made me feel rather depressed, and to have a birthday was already depressing enough. All I know, is that the people who I invited are all people that I would go out of my way to attend their birthday parties if it made a difference to them. Honestly, I've never ever succeeded at getting all my friends together at one place.
Many people profess to be big fans of me because I have a certain style about the way I go about things in life. Some might even say I'm a popular person or have been a popular person at many points in my life. In fact, I learned in a gened class once on developmental psychology that there are four types of social categories: Rejected, Accepted, Controversial and Neglected, and realized that at various points in my life, I've been all 4. Growing up, i was rejected, than around high school i became popular, but after a while I started doing things that made me controversial, and when I first transferred into James Madison, I became neglected. So in response to people who tell me that I'm popular or well-liked, I've always brushed most of those comments aside. I once made a video on the popular website J-Maddy that was a big hit and sometimes people would recognize me from that video but that didn't matter to me, because popularity is short-lived.
What's good is to have friends. Reliable friends who if you're throwing a party would be eager to show up. People who aren't just someone who's your friend on facebook but someone who's your friend in person. So my message is to make an effort to be a better friend to your friends, because in the long run that matters more towards your character than compliments you pay or being a nice person. I also wish to shout-out to some mutual friends of Allen's and mine: Evan, Nick, Jason, and Josh, you have also been sincere friends of mine at one point or another and I thank you for that as well.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Youtube's Competition
Youtube has become a dominant force in todays digital world. Its almost up there in the class with computers and cellphones...that what-would-my-life-be-without-these-things class. I was reading the news today and came across a potential challenger for youtube, and a potential savior for the networks. hulu was created by Fox and NBC as a way to avoid the a similar fate to that of the music industry. The idea is you can get full tv shows online, rather than the scattered clips on youtube. This service is not free, but its still I think people without tivo are going to cough up the money to watch the new episode of the office while writing in the blog or checking up on facebook; this multi-tasking is possible with its transparent interface.
hulu will be competitive with youtube because in addition to the pay-per-view service, it will also let users upload their own videos. So if you want to see and old episode of grey's, but not until you watch a chipmunk be really dramatic, this can be easily accomplished.
hulu will be competitive with youtube because in addition to the pay-per-view service, it will also let users upload their own videos. So if you want to see and old episode of grey's, but not until you watch a chipmunk be really dramatic, this can be easily accomplished.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Bobcats, et al
So this evening in the store I'm working with two lovely women of a slightly older varietal. I'm helping them find some shoes. In typical fashion, I'm outgoing through this process to essentially exude whatever a sneaker pimp is supposed to exude. At the end of the transaction I give them my business card. They go to a bar, and leave their shoes in the store and will come back to get them before closing.
Ten minutes before closing the phone rings. They ask for Dave. They ask if I would like to meet them at a nearby bar and have them buy me a drink for my service. Something like this hasn't happened to me personally yet, but I'm all for it. So I close up, grab their shoes, and start walking to the Italian restaurant whose name rhymes with El Nino.
Once inside the ladies come over and give me a hug. Apparently one of them has done some drinking in the previous few hours, but it's cool. The more composed, extremely watchful one of the group and I strike up conversation about, well, you know, cougars (her words, which I had no problem using as well). It was at this point that I made conversation with them which resulted in them asking me to be their personal trainer on a cruise on June 28th to the carribean. They complained a bit about their husbands, called me a baby due to my age, said that I was hillarious, and prodded my abs. All in all, it was entertaining.
The evening ended with them going home to their respective husbands and me just laughing.
Ten minutes before closing the phone rings. They ask for Dave. They ask if I would like to meet them at a nearby bar and have them buy me a drink for my service. Something like this hasn't happened to me personally yet, but I'm all for it. So I close up, grab their shoes, and start walking to the Italian restaurant whose name rhymes with El Nino.
Once inside the ladies come over and give me a hug. Apparently one of them has done some drinking in the previous few hours, but it's cool. The more composed, extremely watchful one of the group and I strike up conversation about, well, you know, cougars (her words, which I had no problem using as well). It was at this point that I made conversation with them which resulted in them asking me to be their personal trainer on a cruise on June 28th to the carribean. They complained a bit about their husbands, called me a baby due to my age, said that I was hillarious, and prodded my abs. All in all, it was entertaining.
The evening ended with them going home to their respective husbands and me just laughing.
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