The upswing... finally!
Ok, so here's what's been going on the last few days...
Saturday, as you know, I had the orientation at OIP&T. I also had picked up and filled out an application from Chipotle, to be dropped off afterward. I dropped the app off, and asked if a manager was available to speak with. The girl told me to come back in an hour if I wanted, so I hung out at Books & Co. chatting with Viv and reading the manual for the new Nikon. About an hour later I went back to Chipotle and got an on-the-spot interview. He liked me, and said to come back tuesday at 2:30 to talk to the other manager. Then he gave me a free burrito, which I got to go since I had just eaten one of those massive biscuit-sized cookies over at Joe Mugg's, the coffee shop attached to Books & Co.
Met up saturday night with the lady I met before... only this time with her husband as well. No further details, save for the night was a rousing success.
Sunday, we met at Cox Arboretum for the pictures I described, and then I had to go do Stillwater since I needed my normal monday night off. Strangely enough, I didn't really get the creeps being in that huge facility by myself after dark, but on nights when the place is full of workers, I get terrible willies up in the office. Weird.
I spend monday running errands and hanging out at Lowe's trying to drum up attendance for the L&V's monthly wine tasting that night. I must've been there for two hours, most of it spent sitting back in Yvonne's area chatting with her. Remember how I got so pissed off that night right before Christmas because I thought I got ditched? Come to find out, the girl who invited me had a family medical emergency. I feel like a jerk now. I hope she never reads that post. :-(
Anyway, monday night comes, and I head over to L&V on invitation by the owner. Only one couple showed up for the wine tasting, but Angela came to visit, which is always a good time. Nobody from Lowe's came, but I figured they wouldn't. Just kinda got that vibe off of them. No worries. Got to talking with a guy who's one of the regulars there and we talked for a couple of hours. He's one of those people who knows seemingly everybody, and wants to introduce me to his other photographer, artist, and poet friends. Yee!! :-) I then strike up a conversation with the H-O-T bartender, who has also done photography of her own, as well as her own framing and matting. One of her projects in particular sounds really intriguing, so I ask her to bring in the portfolio sometime if she can find it.
So Tuesday comes and I have my second interview at Chipotle. The manager I spoke with this time is as cool or cooler than the first. He's a 20-year retired veteran of the Air Force, super friendly, and full of nearly boyish energy. He wants to hire me, and says to come in for a final interview the next day (wednesday) at 4. He comps me another burrito. Ching ching! I stop by Books & Co. again (which is within walking distance from Chipotle, just around the corner) to see if Viv and/or Daddy Reiki are there. She is, he is not. I give her the news and go to Joe Muggs to read my text books "Photography", and "Seeing Creatively". I stay for about an hour and go home.
Then this morning happens... read all about it in my last post. I still have no idea where that nightmare came from. I think I'm just lonely. Anyway, I end up staying up until 8 am when the sky is nice and light, and then go back to sleep until around 12:30 pm. In checking my email, one lady on AFF who lives in Vandalia that I had emailed before Christmas replied, and said that she knew me and was nervous and embarrassed to reply, even though she didn't tell me who she was. I wrote back that I wasn't going to press for any details she wasn't comfortable giving. I reiterated how I was also looking for friends simply to hang out with as well, and that I'm still the same loveable awkward silly Andy I've always been, and that I've been in an extended friendship with another girl (Angela) that has never come close to becoming physical. For the life of me I can't think of who she could be.
So I go back to Chipotle, and am offered the job. Andy is no longer a bum!! Yaaaaay! $7.50/hour, and I start friday afternoon. I still have a full paycheck from NVS coming tomorrow and a partial two-day check next thursday, so I'm not hurting for cash, although $200 is immediately gone to my student loan. No deferred payments... they start immediately. But I've got great news... They gave me another free burrito! I'm gonna weigh about 500 pounds before long if I don't watch it. :-)
Oh, and my classes start tonight. So I chill at Books & Co. again since class doesn't start for an hour and a half, and it's about a 10 minute drive over to OIP&T from there. Daddy Reiki again isn't there, but I strike up a great conversation with one of the cashiers who asks for advice on how to take better pictures. I sketch an explanation of the "rule of thirds" and tell her it'll instantly improve her picture taking. She seems grateful. Viv buys me a coffee and cookie, and I sit and read my "Little Mac Book", which starts off from the barebones basics, but I'm a PC guy, so the Mac brush-up was nice.
I get to OIP&T about 20 minutes early, but one of the girls from the Cox Arboretum outing was there, so I sat and talked to her. She showed me the pictures she had taken, and some from a funeral she got paid to take. The class tonight was pretty much just over how to navigate around Mac OS X. Dull stuff, except that on one break, the girl next to me who has her own studio has pulled up her fashion and glamor photography. I look over and nearly fall out of my chair. Jesus, this girl is good. Her site is Callahan Photography.
Talk about being intimidated. But I shall rise up. That's what I'm there for, despite my style being mainly journalistic in nature. I much prefer to capture the world around me as it unfolds, rather than pose and place my subject matter. But then, I'm really looking forward to the studio classes as well.
The cool thing is, is that I don't feel shy at all around these people. I'm talking to everybody, introducing myself, and all in all just having a great time hanging out with all of them. I even peek my head into other labs and studios while on break and say hi to random people.
I feel at completely at ease and at home there, like I finally found the field with my dancing bee people.
The first girl I started talking to asks for a ride home, since she lives right off the highway, and is on my way home. I'd've got a little out of the way to help a classmate, though, and offer to carpool if she'll chip in the occasional few bucks. To say thanks for the ride, she offers to split a joint with me, and since I found a job and they don't piss test, I accept readily. I only take two or three hits, as I don't want to get stoned driving, but I do get a very mild and pleasant buzz. I stop by L&V on my way home to see if anything has sold, but it hasn't. (My hidden agenda is to pick up cigarette and cigar smoke so I don't smell like pot) I go over and say hi to Ruben, the guy I talked to monday night, and lo and behold there's Lgirl that I met in this post, but hadn't seen since. We get to talking, and she wants to put on an art show this spring, and wants to feature more of my photography. :-) I'm flattered pink. I'm not there to drink, merely to check up on my babies and say hi to the few regulars whom I've gotten to know before going home, but still end up having an unexpectedly good conversation.
Things are going so well, I'm meeting so many people and making so many contacts socially and professionally, I'm just deleriously happy. :-) What a blessed relief.
Saturday, as you know, I had the orientation at OIP&T. I also had picked up and filled out an application from Chipotle, to be dropped off afterward. I dropped the app off, and asked if a manager was available to speak with. The girl told me to come back in an hour if I wanted, so I hung out at Books & Co. chatting with Viv and reading the manual for the new Nikon. About an hour later I went back to Chipotle and got an on-the-spot interview. He liked me, and said to come back tuesday at 2:30 to talk to the other manager. Then he gave me a free burrito, which I got to go since I had just eaten one of those massive biscuit-sized cookies over at Joe Mugg's, the coffee shop attached to Books & Co.
Met up saturday night with the lady I met before... only this time with her husband as well. No further details, save for the night was a rousing success.
Sunday, we met at Cox Arboretum for the pictures I described, and then I had to go do Stillwater since I needed my normal monday night off. Strangely enough, I didn't really get the creeps being in that huge facility by myself after dark, but on nights when the place is full of workers, I get terrible willies up in the office. Weird.
I spend monday running errands and hanging out at Lowe's trying to drum up attendance for the L&V's monthly wine tasting that night. I must've been there for two hours, most of it spent sitting back in Yvonne's area chatting with her. Remember how I got so pissed off that night right before Christmas because I thought I got ditched? Come to find out, the girl who invited me had a family medical emergency. I feel like a jerk now. I hope she never reads that post. :-(
Anyway, monday night comes, and I head over to L&V on invitation by the owner. Only one couple showed up for the wine tasting, but Angela came to visit, which is always a good time. Nobody from Lowe's came, but I figured they wouldn't. Just kinda got that vibe off of them. No worries. Got to talking with a guy who's one of the regulars there and we talked for a couple of hours. He's one of those people who knows seemingly everybody, and wants to introduce me to his other photographer, artist, and poet friends. Yee!! :-) I then strike up a conversation with the H-O-T bartender, who has also done photography of her own, as well as her own framing and matting. One of her projects in particular sounds really intriguing, so I ask her to bring in the portfolio sometime if she can find it.
So Tuesday comes and I have my second interview at Chipotle. The manager I spoke with this time is as cool or cooler than the first. He's a 20-year retired veteran of the Air Force, super friendly, and full of nearly boyish energy. He wants to hire me, and says to come in for a final interview the next day (wednesday) at 4. He comps me another burrito. Ching ching! I stop by Books & Co. again (which is within walking distance from Chipotle, just around the corner) to see if Viv and/or Daddy Reiki are there. She is, he is not. I give her the news and go to Joe Muggs to read my text books "Photography", and "Seeing Creatively". I stay for about an hour and go home.
Then this morning happens... read all about it in my last post. I still have no idea where that nightmare came from. I think I'm just lonely. Anyway, I end up staying up until 8 am when the sky is nice and light, and then go back to sleep until around 12:30 pm. In checking my email, one lady on AFF who lives in Vandalia that I had emailed before Christmas replied, and said that she knew me and was nervous and embarrassed to reply, even though she didn't tell me who she was. I wrote back that I wasn't going to press for any details she wasn't comfortable giving. I reiterated how I was also looking for friends simply to hang out with as well, and that I'm still the same loveable awkward silly Andy I've always been, and that I've been in an extended friendship with another girl (Angela) that has never come close to becoming physical. For the life of me I can't think of who she could be.
So I go back to Chipotle, and am offered the job. Andy is no longer a bum!! Yaaaaay! $7.50/hour, and I start friday afternoon. I still have a full paycheck from NVS coming tomorrow and a partial two-day check next thursday, so I'm not hurting for cash, although $200 is immediately gone to my student loan. No deferred payments... they start immediately. But I've got great news... They gave me another free burrito! I'm gonna weigh about 500 pounds before long if I don't watch it. :-)
Oh, and my classes start tonight. So I chill at Books & Co. again since class doesn't start for an hour and a half, and it's about a 10 minute drive over to OIP&T from there. Daddy Reiki again isn't there, but I strike up a great conversation with one of the cashiers who asks for advice on how to take better pictures. I sketch an explanation of the "rule of thirds" and tell her it'll instantly improve her picture taking. She seems grateful. Viv buys me a coffee and cookie, and I sit and read my "Little Mac Book", which starts off from the barebones basics, but I'm a PC guy, so the Mac brush-up was nice.
I get to OIP&T about 20 minutes early, but one of the girls from the Cox Arboretum outing was there, so I sat and talked to her. She showed me the pictures she had taken, and some from a funeral she got paid to take. The class tonight was pretty much just over how to navigate around Mac OS X. Dull stuff, except that on one break, the girl next to me who has her own studio has pulled up her fashion and glamor photography. I look over and nearly fall out of my chair. Jesus, this girl is good. Her site is Callahan Photography.
Talk about being intimidated. But I shall rise up. That's what I'm there for, despite my style being mainly journalistic in nature. I much prefer to capture the world around me as it unfolds, rather than pose and place my subject matter. But then, I'm really looking forward to the studio classes as well.
The cool thing is, is that I don't feel shy at all around these people. I'm talking to everybody, introducing myself, and all in all just having a great time hanging out with all of them. I even peek my head into other labs and studios while on break and say hi to random people.
I feel at completely at ease and at home there, like I finally found the field with my dancing bee people.
The first girl I started talking to asks for a ride home, since she lives right off the highway, and is on my way home. I'd've got a little out of the way to help a classmate, though, and offer to carpool if she'll chip in the occasional few bucks. To say thanks for the ride, she offers to split a joint with me, and since I found a job and they don't piss test, I accept readily. I only take two or three hits, as I don't want to get stoned driving, but I do get a very mild and pleasant buzz. I stop by L&V on my way home to see if anything has sold, but it hasn't. (My hidden agenda is to pick up cigarette and cigar smoke so I don't smell like pot) I go over and say hi to Ruben, the guy I talked to monday night, and lo and behold there's Lgirl that I met in this post, but hadn't seen since. We get to talking, and she wants to put on an art show this spring, and wants to feature more of my photography. :-) I'm flattered pink. I'm not there to drink, merely to check up on my babies and say hi to the few regulars whom I've gotten to know before going home, but still end up having an unexpectedly good conversation.
Things are going so well, I'm meeting so many people and making so many contacts socially and professionally, I'm just deleriously happy. :-) What a blessed relief.
posted by Grover at 1/11/2006 11:37:00 PM
2 Comments:
Woohoo!!! A new job, free burritos, a comfy place to hang, new friends, a nice buzz ... that's an embarrassment of riches, my friend. I'm so glad for you, you deserve everything.
We'll see. You know my tendancy to go all-out delerious when things finally start to lean in the direction of my favor... and then topple over the second something unpleasant happens. I still can't help but surf this wave though. :-)
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