Letters Tuesday, February 27, 2007

I just sent in my letter of resignation. It went like this:

Hey everybody!

As some of you may already know, I’m taking up a new job opportunity mid-March. I just wanted to take the time to express how grateful I am to have been a part of the team for the past 5 (almost 6!) years. It’s an understatement to say how much fun it has been knowing and working with each and every single one of you. My last day in the office is Friday, March 9th. With that, bring on your Asian jokes, drunk jabs and sexual harassments between now and then! Lord knows I will miss them along with all you.

With much love,
Ritz

I have no idea yet how much, but I know it will be substantial just how much I will inevitably miss this place.

In more work related news, I got a call this morning from that graphic design/advertising agency. I honestly didn’t think I’d hear back from them, so I was beside myself when I learned they wanted to try me on this week and hire me on contract. I already took up the other job opportunity though, so my heart dropped a bit when I got the message. But I still feel strongly that I made the right decision. I’m content with just being considered, not to mentioned flattered beyond belief that they wanted to take a chance on me.

Let’s see…what else?

Just when I think I’m in the clear, I get a message this morning that threw me in for a loop. I’m going back and forth on if, or rather how, I should respond. Let’s flip my quarter and consult with the 8-ball for the millionth time today to see what I should do.

The Billboard That Speaks Volumes Monday, February 26, 2007

Wherever I went this weekend, I kept coming across this billboard. Can you say “apros pos?”

Winner Friday, February 23, 2007

This is my horoscope on The Onion today: You will reach for the stars this week, once again proving your complete inability to accurately judge distances. Hrm, not exactly the warm hug I was looking for. But, hey, at least there was aries’ forecast to take comfort in: You will soon meet the greatest love of your life, which, unfortunately, has less to do with the quality of the former than the brevity of the latter. And that’s what’s up.

Today’s word of the day is lapidary \LAP-uh-dair-ee\, adjective:

1. Of or pertaining to the art of cutting stones or engraving on them.
2. Engraved in stone.
3. Of or pertaining to the refined or terse style associated with inscriptions on monumental stone.

noun:

1. One who cuts, polishes, and engraves precious stones.
2. A dealer in precious stones.

So I had that interview yesterday. It went…all right. The company’s great and the opportunity would’ve been a welcome change. But I have to listen to my gut and it’s telling me this might not be the right thing for me at this time. Sure, I’ll get exposure to designers and their process. But it’ll also require of me duties I set myself up to start getting away from when I recommitted to this whole graphic design/school thing. I’m afraid taking this job might actually pull me back into a hole and derail me again from pursuing my goals. For once and for all, I need to go about things with a lapidary approach rather than the haphazard, thinking only for the moment way I’ve been leading my life for the last handful of years.

With that, I took the first job offer. When I called to accept this morning, I got the owner’s wife on the phone and she was like, “We’re so glad! We were hoping you would call!” I told her I was happy to start so long as the position was still open and she said, “We would’ve bumped anyone out for you.” Number one or not, how can I not feel like a winner after that?

So Much for Being No. 1 Thursday, February 22, 2007

Today’s word of the day is malodorous \mal-OH-duhr-uhs\, adjective:

• Having a bad odor.

I’ll say this once more and for the very last time: I hate myspace. I now need to run or scream or do something other than sit here on my laptop. I’m going to force myself to go to the gym now and deal with the the malodorous air there because it can’t be worse than the stink in my heart. I don’t even know if that even makes sense because I can’t think clearly.

Good Things Come in Small Packages Thursday, February 22, 2007

I’m just getting home. So much for being good tonight. Well, at least I have a good night to show for, which was ultimately good for me since I was feeling depressed earlier. In spite of the high I was on about getting that job interview, I couldn’t for the life of me make that weigh more than some of my other realities, like the wife I used have and missing her and getting a phone call from her only to be the victim of the accidental dial. When I got home, there was an Amazon.com package in my mailbox. I thought, did I by chance purchase something in a drunken state and don’t remember? Turns out it was a book Christina got me called Who Moved My Cheese? It’s a short read on dealing with change. I called to thank her when she just so happened to be down the street wrapping up with work. We met for dinner and wine at Cheebo and afterwards I ended up going with her, Steph and Betsy to the Cold War Kids concert. It was good times. Funny how my life is working out these days. One way or another I keep lucking out just like tonight.

OMG Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Today’s word of the day is hoi polloi \hoi-puh-LOI\, noun:

• The common people generally; the masses.

I have an interview at that graphic design/advertising agency tomorrow! It’s the one I mentioned a couple days ago, the one Yvonne wrote an email to highly recommending me. When I hadn’t heard from them by yesterday, I started to worry if my resume got lost amongst the hoi polloi. But today over lunch, I got a call and spoke with someone who asked me to come in tomorrow morning. !!?!!??! I am just barely able to contain my excitement.

Apogee Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Today’s word of the day is apogee \AP-uh-jee\, noun:

1. The point in the orbit of the moon or of an artificial satellite that is at the greatest distance from the center of the earth.
2. The farthest or highest point; culmination.

I’m just getting home. A certain “sassy” male lesbian got an agent today, so even after working a 12-hour day, I chauffeured him to Canter’s where we celebrated with three rounds of drinks at the Kibitiz Room. It’s a shame I can’t remember for the life of me the name of that last band that played; I really did like them. What I can remember were the cute girls dancing to that last band that played and how I really, really liked them. There is something so very awesome about cute girls dancing drunk and happily like nobody’s business. They are, like, pleasant reminders as to why I am gay.

Speaking of those pleasant reminders, I got an email today from Ballerina Girl (yay, I finally have a good and fitting nickname for her). That put an extra spring in my step. Other positive points today include spotting the new moon–my favorite–on my way out from work and the company-paid sushi dinner I indulged in. The dinner was plenty good enough without sushi chef Justin hooking me up with free shots of sake and a yellowtail toro handroll. But it was a bonus and that along with the other said niceties were just enough to buffer the blow of seeing recent pictures of my ex with someone new. Perhaps today’s apogee is how I can look back on the day happily in spite of that.

(I am) Fat Tuesdsay. Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Yesterday’s duck breast salad, blackened catfish, scrambled eggs and fries have me sitting before you today as Fat Tuesday. I seriously need to get off the fat wagon and back on track. Literally running on a track or heavily dating Gym. I might just bite off my brother and make going to the gym every day through Easter as my Lenten sacrifice.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Mmmm ‘kay, kiddies. Three (four?) entries in and here you are already being introduced to me drunk. I’m at Yvonne’s. I came over to watch The L Word and now we’re watching The Departed. I should say half-watching. I’ve been preoccupied with a TV dinner and making an impromptu snack of wheat toast, baby swiss and orange marmalade (dang good, by the way) to kill the booze running through my veins.

That’s what smart girls do when they drink copious amounts of wine.

All is good. I’m feeling good. Really good and not because I’m drunk. This is the first time in months I’m able to say consistently for days that I am doing and feeling all right. There’s this real sense of optimism and thankfulness that’s come over me lately. Ever since last Monday, I can’t help but think that there is something cosmically working for me in the universe. The day after talking with my bosses and seeing that I need to change jobs, the first place I applied to was ready to hire me. The day after that, this kickass graphic design/advertising agency posted an opening to which I responded to by immediately sending my resume. Coincidentally, it’s the same company we almost merged with a year ago. How unreal. Yvonne’s going to write the owners a letter of recommendation, which’ll hopefully get my foot that much more in the door. Someone told me that with Chinese New Year and this Year of the Pig, my luck will change. Surprisingly enough, it’s proving itself true. And, man, I can’t tell you what a relief it is after the past 5 months.

Homeless Sunday, February 18, 2007

Yep, that’s me. That’s me because I locked myself out of my apartment an hour ago and am still locked out. So where, pray tell, am I writing this post? At work. The wrong set of keys I managed to take at least had my office key. Somehow I just so happened to have $20 in my pocket, which was more than enough for me to cab my way to the office to crash for the night. It could be worse. I mean, I could be sleeping on my doorstep. I could be drenched and shivering in my flip flops and tank-top if tonight didn’t feel like summertime. And, I wouldn’t have a chance of getting back into my place without dealing with my landlady (who’s already sick of me after I’ve locked myself out twice in the same week less than a month ago) if I hadn’t given my spare set of keys to Jennifer just two days ago. Besides, here at the office, I’m hooked up: there’s a phone, DirecTV, booze, food and a Mac to keep me cozy. At worst, I’m inconvenienced for a few hours. Serves me right for trying to go out so late in the night.

This whole situation got me to realize just how much my life will change once I leave my job. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I didn’t have this office to take refuge in. It was the closest place I could go to without troubling anybody. And if someone found me here asleep or rummaging about, it wouldn’t be a big deal. This place has become my other home and while the best thing to do is still to move on and elsewhere, I can’t help but already start to miss this place, its people and all its crazy shenanigans.