Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Brooklyn, chelsea, hasidic, manhattan, muslim, new job, subway, web design, Work
Oh. My. God. My ass got whooped. Like majorly…
I started my new job at a large web firm in Chelsea this morning. I put on a crisp new t-shirt and my clean-enough jeans and loaded on the crystal deodorant which I knew would be useless against a first day at work so I brought it along for later.
I took the train, which I never do, only because, well, it was my first day at the big firm and I wanted to smell kind of presentable and not be all disheveled and sweaty first off. But the Iranian president foiled my plans by being in town and slowing the trains to a grinding halt because of heavy security. I got there 20 minutes late. Never will I rely on a good first impression by taking the train.
But no one noticed. The punk-looking girl in the elevator just started recently too, it seemed pretty cool to her. And when we got buzzed in through the two layers of glass and hardwood doors, the place was pretty empty and some nice folks showed me around. I was then showed the basics of how the plethora of files are organized and the systems that are involved at my swanky little stainless steal desk and double flat screen monitors. No sweat, I thought. And then I waited to be told what to work on. And I waited, and waited and….
Went to lunch. Had yummy falafel and Turkish coffee and then went back. I was then presented with my tasks, which didn’t seem too rough. Templates existed, just copy them and fill in what hasn’t been created yet. Here are the file names on this piece of paper. That piece of paper took a while to get copied for me and then I was off to work, sort of. Navigating the system of preexisting files and images took me HOURS. I won’t bore you with the details but at one point I had almost completed a page, and then during a search, discovered that it had already been created by someone else. I almost completed something by the end of the day today. It’s all due tomorrow and then I’ll be on another project.
I walked to the subway, a zombie in a stinky t-shirt, brain-hurting. The subway was fun though. I would close my eyes, wait a few stops, then reopen them to find the whole scene had changed. The closer to Brooklyn I got the more intriguing it became. For the whole ride I sat next to a rad looking black fellow wearing a kufi, baggy bleached jams, jewelry and sunglasses reading muslim literature about the Hajj. Standing next to us was a young Hasidic jew with scruffy eyebrows. They never fail to captivate me. When I opened my eyes again the jew had disappeared and a large woman in a big pink knit sweater had materialized. She was smiling like she had a secret, and I guess she did cuz she was listening to her mp3 player and was really enjoying what she was hearing. She kept trying to be chill about it, but her smile kept creeping back and I couldn’t help but smile too, sharing her joy.
When I stepped out of the subway station, the air was crisp and the sky was pink and the moon, almost totally full, was hanging there straight down Fulton St. Everyone seemed very alive and then I heard the adhan from the Fulton St. mosque and felt like it was all worth it.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Art, Brooklyn, emergence, Greensboro, life, Liz, Music, NYC, web design
So here I am with a wordpress weblog. I’ve actually been meaning to start a blog for a very long time, well, ever since I got to NYC which feels like a couple lifetimes ago. I had this dream of getting my own domain a la www.my-name-something-something.com and creating a wordpress weblog there and also using the site to showcase my web design portfolio, art, music, photos and ramblings. I started creating the masthead and got frustrated with trying to make the design absolutely perfect because I felt like it had to represent everything I can do as a designer. Well, f**k that.
And then my friend Liz last week sent out an email with a link to her weblog. She has helped me see that I can’t really grow into a tired and cynical older woman because that just isn’t my style, or hers. Her writing is always such a pleasure to read, so full of humor and patience. If Liz can do it, I should too! And then I realized that it was indeed time for me to stop procrastinating and that that moment only minutes ago was as good a time as any for me to get my act together to have a presence on the web…well, besides one of the sites I create for other people.
I see this as part of my emergence into the world.
Within the last few years I have come to the realization that I have hidden myself away for the majority of my life. That has included my artwork (which was rarely shown to people), my interests (which I assumed no one would appreciate or take seriously) and my honest opinions. I have made the decision to express myself as much as I can and I am constantly working on feeling safer to do this. People I effect just might be better for it.
I plan to acquire a digital camera and document my daily life here in the craziest place I have ever lived hands down, and I’d also like to post up artwork, my own music and the music of others that inspires me. Sooner or later, I’d like to customize the CSS on this page and make the design unique, but that might be a while. It’s hard for me get excited about doing any coding in my free time. In theory, it sounds great, but in reality, it might be few months. But I’ll keep changing the header picture whenever the mood strikes me.
