Day 262

I wanted to go see Lemonade at the Brattle Theatre but it was sold out. Not that I haven't had more than my share of lemonade this past year. Instead I went to see a friend's band play. It was loud and crazy and I couldn't make out a word, but it was fun to see the super low-key quiet one at work let himself go. No one gave him any lemons but he makes lemonade all the time. 

I guess what I was reminded of tonight, was you don't have to wait until you're forced to do the things you love, to do the things you love. 

Day 261

For there is nothing either good or
bad, but thinking makes it so.

William Shakespeare

Day 260

Went to the library today to check out books on screenwriting. Afterward I overpaid for a gym membership.  It was time. 

Day 259

Trying to finish (or at least makes some type of progress) on projects I start. In the process I thought of a new project. A contraption that folds those g damn fitted sheets. I mean REALLY. 

Day 258

I am thankful that I'm not a turkey. And for tons more other stuff.

Day 257

Coming Soon: A Snuggie Thanksgiving

Day 256

I need sleep. And water.

Day 255

Taco night with these crazy cats.

 

 

Dessert with the dreamboat. (Not pictured.) Ay ay ay...

Day 254

I will live in NY one day. 

Day 253

Hopping on a bus to NY for the night. Drinks with some of my favorite people and a certain Italian from a certain vineyard in Tuscany await. 

Day 252

I think it's my destiny to run a bed & breakfast one day. I mean, it's not unlike my life right now. I have it down to a science. 9-5'd. Wine shop'd. Came home. Changed the sheets. Changed the towels. Washed the dishes. Went grocery shopping at 11pm and bought as much stuff as I could carry. Put away the groceries. Put up some Christmas lights.

Ready for my Thanksgiving guests on Monday. Ready to go to NY tomorrow first. 

Day 251

Working is for suckers.

Day 250

Playing in InDesign. Watching my Arrested Development DVDs. Again. Got my money's worth out of those FER SURE. 

Had a fantastic dinner with my old coworkers. Just like old times when we'd all pile into my office at lunch. Caught up with some other old coworkers via email earlier in the day. There are tons of good things that have come out of the career path I choose, even though, ultimately, it is not for me. And I really mean tons. But the people I have met are probably the greatest take away. I find people fascinating, I do. But the fact is, a lot of them just suck. In the ad industry, the ratio of suckage skyrockets. But I found the gems at every company I've worked for. The creme de la creme. And I can't imagine life without them.

Another reason why my dream job is to just try everyone else's. Besides just being curious about every career that is not my own, how many other people are out there at other companies that I would love??? How many future old coworkers am I missing out on if I stay in one place to long? I really do think about that all the time.

 

Day 249

Stir crazy. 

Day 248

Slow day at the office so I drafted a letter to a magazine today to pitch a photo project. Gotta jazz it up in InDesign. Also gotta completely rewrite it because it. did. not. save. 

Cool.

Day 247

Making a list. Checking it twice.

Day 246

I spent the first half of my day shopping for ingredients (and skirts) in the rain and the last half making fresh homemade pasta for the Frenchies + my elementary school friend and his swiss wife + some chick from Poland and some dude from Japan. It was like ESL class all over again. 

Keep. Em. Coming. 

Day 245

One good thing has come out of having to subscribe to every retailer e-mail on the planet for my new job.

Fredflare.com

Fun!

Day 244

I want it to NOT get dark at 4:56pm. 

And as I write "want", I have a flashback of standing at the front desk of my hotel in Paris, asking the front desk for directions. Him suggesting I go to Versailles. Me saying next time because there were too many things I wanted to see in Paris. Him mocking me: want want want, I want, I want, I want. In response I told him he is correct, I want a lot. I want it all. And I asked him, well don't you ever want anything? Lerch responds: Sometimes. And what is it that you want, when you want something? I asked. I want to meet God, he answered. Oy, you and everyone else. 

I don't know if that was one of those moments where I should have walked away a little changed, spending the rest of my time in Paris doing good deeds instead of wanting. Because that didn't happen. Not even close.

And I don't know that not wanting anything is better than wanting. Maybe it depends what you want. Either way, do I really say 'I want' that often? Because I don't want to. 

Day 243

My cubicle ain't the boss of me. I finished all my "real" work before noon and spent the rest of the day doing more important things. Like chatting online with hot babes. Reading the times. Writing copy for a project for the wine shop. Googling screenwriting classes (thanks for the tip D!). Checking out my old friend Blurb.com and getting pumped about making tons more stuff. Printing out my Paris pics and contemplating how to turn them into a photo story so I can convince some magazine to let me do a photo story for them, on their dime. Pretending I'm not the 17 billionth person to propose such a thing to a magazine. Trying to convince my brilliant friends to get crackin on the brilliant things I know they are capable of. For selfish reasons, really. I want to work for all of them one day. 

Day 242

This land was made for you and me.

Day 241

An ad agency in Detroit just announced they will close their doors in January. Which means 485 more people will be out of jobs. Like myself, many of my friends who used to be in the industry are treading water in some related field until their plan B or C or M or W comes to fruition. The ones still at an agency are hanging on by a thread. Either because the work/hours/morale are eating away at their soul OR their clients are about to dump them/drastically cut their fees. 

People are going to be forced to change and while I think it's a scary thing, I don't think it's a bad thing. 

Day 240

If the Flip Camera was invented when I was little, I think I could be giving Spike Jonze some MAJOR music video competition by now. He got lucky. I think I will have to stick to the home video market.

Day 239

Just saw New York, I love you. It made me want to work on my movie idea. I never wanted to write a movie ever. And now I really really do.

Day 238

Just spent all the money I made at the wine shop on some fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine wine. It's going to be a good weekend.

Day 237

Work. Work. Work. Dinner party! Two of my favorite words ever.

Day 236

I was forced to sign up for twitter today for work. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Ew times 10. I hate everything about it.

In other news I just saw Ray Lamontagne and while it wasn't in Paris, it was still fantastic. And dreamy.

Day 235

My business card should not say copywriter. It should say smiler and nodder. 

Day 234

Got to see one of my best friends in the whole world today before he moves to Abu Dhabi in a couple weeks to pursue a career in yacht design. For the record it took me about seven times to spell the word yacht correctly just now. He is my hero and if I'm a little bit fearless today, it's because of him. 

Five years ago, he was just a friend of a friend. After only knowing each other for a couple months, he called me on New Year's Eve and somehow convinced me drive to New York City. That day. From Michigan. Without a hotel. Without a plan. I don't even think we had a map. I said no of course, several times, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. Thank God. I threw some clothes in a bag and an hour later he picked me up. Eleven hours later we were parallel parking on some street in Manhattan and running towards Times Square. Ten minutes after the ball dropped we were ankle deep in confetti and on top of the world. We found a hotel in New Jersey just outside the city. We drove around a deserted hungover Manhattan early the next morning. Walked until we couldn't walk anymore. Drove home the next day. And life hasn't been the same since.

I used to plan e v e r y t h i n g. I thought you had to! I would concentrate on the reasons why I shouldn't do something instead of why I should. Not after that trip. That trip made me realized you gotta just go. Like all the time. Like whenever an opportunity comes. And you can't worry about what will go wrong. Because if it does go wrong, more than likely it can be made right. And I'm not just talking about trips, yo. 

Fadi changed my life. Today I got to tell him that. He just giggled, like he always does. 

He is one of those people that never ceases to amaze me and inspire me with his generosity and his electric spirit. After each visit, I always feel a burst of energy and optimism. We've gone on tons more trips together since that one. Had a thousand adventures, sometimes just over dinner, and have tons more in our arsenal. Tons.

Day 233

Holy Chaldeans. They were in full effect for the wedding today. Stay tuned for the music video.

Day 232

Grandma still passes out full-size candy bars at Halloween. No recession here. I love grandma's house. And the triplets. And photobooth application.

 
 

Day 231

I dressed up for Halloween at work today. Everyone was doing it! (Not going to lie, it was fun.) Hot messes of '09 was our department's theme. I was Paula Abdul on Perkaset and slurred speech. Met some more people at the office. There are so many people I don't hate there! It's crazy.