I went to the job interview today and I left feeling confused. Hopefully writing this will help me sort things out in my brain.

 

Quick recap; Lauren has a friend who works for a textile/home fashions company. Her friend is heading up the merchandising branch of the company and needs an assistant. The assistant would help with data basing, a little photography (still life of products) and some photoshop/illustrator work. I have zero experience in home fashions, but am well versed in photoshop and know a little bit about photography.

 

So I had this interview today with the art director who I'm not sure if he knew that I was a friend of a friend until I was walking out of the door. The tone of the interview basically was centered on the fact that I had heavy experience in media and nothing in home fashions.

 

I was told that they will be interviewing a couple more people in the next few weeks and that I would know something then. You would think that this was a 6-figure job at how slow the process is going. If I was offered and accepted the job, it would mean a drastic pay cut from what I've earned over the last few years. Can you put a dollar amount on life experience and personal growth? I doubt it, put I'm sure there is some loophole in the tax code that provides for such a provision.

 

Back to square one. I'm still looking and hoping for any work.

 

Wahab and I went to a play today called Hard Bop Life. The play consists of many great jazz musicians and has multiple moral layers that unfold throughout the show. I came to the play with many stressful thoughts in my head and when the show was over, they magically disappeared. The power of music is an amazing thing and specifically jazz.

 

Q the main character is a basketball star about to enter the NBA and he's being pulled in many directions. His game starts to slip. The coach notices this and recommends that he stop listening to a rapper called 'meteor man' because he's rushing his shots. He gives him a vinyl record of a group called hard bop from a recording made in 1964. Q puts on the record; good things and clarity soon follow.

 

I can't speak highly enough about this play. Just listening to the musicians alone is worth admission. The show will be at the Producer's II Theatre until Sunday and I highly recommend it.

 

Today Wahab and I had an action packed day filled with lightning strikes, surprise money, a museum trip and my first attempt at painting. Martin is still here in case you are wondering; he's just focused on doing the Drum & Bass thing and we ventured outside of that realm.

 

The day started with a trip to Jerry's for lunch and to pickup a surprise check from last week's lecture. Talk about great timing! I'm so broke that it felt like I won the lotto. Jerry and Wahab talked a lot about silkscreen printing and out of this conversation, we're arranging a small gathering before Wahab leaves so Jerry can pass on tools of the trade.

 

Next stop was the Museum of Modern Art in Queens. The main museum in Manhattan is closed for renovation and the Queens branch had a small amount of artwork in the Queens. Fridays between 4-745pm, attendees pay what they wish (I paid $1 & money bags Wahab paid $5) which was nice but the work it self was just a tease. They had pieces from Warhol, Van Gough, etc. but it seemed squeezed together in a small space. You can't complain for a dollar right? I can't wait to go the real Moma in November.

 

From there we tried to see the new Michael Moore film 'Fahrenheit 9/11' but the show was sold out. To make matters worse, the heavens opened and we were soaked with relentless rain. A block from my house, lighting touched down about 50 feet from us and scared the sssshhh**** out of me! No injuries to report thank God.

 

After all of this electric activity, seeing museums and talking with great artists, I felt that it was time to do something I've always wanted to do; paint. Wahab was kind enough to spend a couple hours teaching me some of the techniques and methods of painting. You can check out the progress in the painting section of the site. Be gentle this is my first piece ok?

 

Not sure what the two above items have in common, but today they were the highlights of my day. Warning: if you haven't seen the Michael Moore film and don't want to read anything about it before seeing it, you should read this at another time.

 

Wahab and I saw the super-hyped Fahrenheit 9/11 today. It's basically a recap of what has happened during the Bush regime. I didn't learn any new information from this film and feel that it's just a propaganda tool encouraging people to vote for Kerry. Well, it worked on me. I'm definitely going to vote in this year's election against Bush. This fool has to go.

 

Later, Shelly, Wahab, Martin and I went to the Meatpacking District for some dancing. Hustling past the smell of rotting meat hidden inside grimy dumpsters, we arrived at our intended destination; APT.  Access denied. Couldn't get in. My theory is that we were over dressed. We ventured a couple doors down to an unknown club and hopped in line. First hurdle get past the bouncer. Mission accomplished. He opens a door and we enter a dark room with no doorway on the other side. Was there a secret passive way? Naw, we were inside an old freight elevator! It transported to the 2nd floor and we find ourselves in a club filled with dancing! All of this for free. How can you not love New York?

 

Before my friends got to town, I was a bit worried about how the atmosphere would be in the household. Would Shelly get along with them? Would I get tired of seeing these fools everyday? The mood in general has been better then expected.

 

Creatively we seem to thrive off of each other. From Drum & Bass to Illustration to Baking to Photography it's been one free flowing sharing of passions. Quite an amazing thing considering that we are all so different.

 

Well just thought I'd throw that out there to give a little bit of hope for a better America. Our motto here is 'changing America one apartment at a time'  (Bubble Wrap Not Included).

 

I'm trying to make a dollar out 15 cents. Anybody our there know what I'm talking bout? It's the end of the month; my bank account is at zero and rents due. I had to use the only means available to me, credit. I basically used paypal to deposit money into my 'landlords' account (wink wink).

 

Racking up huge debt isn't the ideal situation to find oneself in, but you gotta do what you gotta do sometime. We're all gonna die broke anyway. From Bill Gates to the homeless folk in Soma to the farmer in Iowa, some one else will inherit  your debt or fortunes leaving you right back where you started; broke. So F it. Get out there and enjoy the day and don't worry bout stuff you can't control. Deal with things as they come try not to stress.

 

I took a trip with the fellas to Buffalo today. Wahab's friend Hassan passed away a few years ago under a cloud of suspicion. He wanted to go up there to get clarity and closure so we took a trek upstate.

 

Armed with a few photos of his friend at local pizza joint and bar, we entered the town of Depew, hoping for local help. First stop was Sgt Pepperoni's. We walked into the spot and it felt like the music stopped and all eyes were on us. I thought to myself 'we are definitely not in new york city anymore'. Wahab asked the bartender and waitress if they recognized Hassan or the landmarks in the pictures. They didn't remember him, but directed us down the street to another bar.

 

Gosh, what was the name of that place? Oh yeah, Mugshots, very appropriate name. The bartender wasn't helpful, but one of the patrons pointed us to a town called Lakawana that has a large Arabic population. He also gave us the name of a local hangout.

 

We arrived at Jacobi's bar feeling like a cross between Colombo and Montel Williams. Not quite sure what that means, but ok. The owner of the bar was very rude and said 'that is wasn't her problem'. I told him not to let her negativity ruin the point of his trip; to be closer to his friend.

 

Although we didn't come across anyone who knew Hassan, hopefully Wahab was able to gain insite into some places and areas that he enjoyed. In premature deaths, there is sometimes a feeling that you could have done more. Maybe some action or statement would have changed the outcome. I just feel like you can't control stuff like that. You can only try to cope with the after effects.

 

Since we were in the area, we stopped by Niagara Falls. Beautiful place. It was nice to be around natural elements again.