Everyone survives something. Some survive horrific car crashes other just simply make through a dull day. It is all the same. It’s all univeral. Now the pumpkins are growing and some trees are hinting their demise. For me, the end of Summer can be very depressing. I have battled depression my whole life but recent technology has given me back my sanity. What did people in covered wagens do without Prozac, cellphones and digital cameras?
Once I was in a museum with a digital camera from Lucent Technologies. They were very rare back then. It used a “floppy disk” to store images. If you wanted more than 12 images then you needed more “floppy disks” This was in January 1999, a little over 10 years ago. Not very long ago when you think of it. The woman that I was with had a cell phone. Another very rare entity in 1999. We could have been aliens walking through that museum with such high tech gadgets. I asked a couple to take our photo with this alien-looking camera and he was in complete awe at this strange device. “A digital camera?” he asked. Last week during the Giants opening kickoff to a new season I couldn’t believe at how many hundreds if not THOUSANDS of flashes were going off during the game. Everyone has access to a digital camera, cell phone, camera or both at all times now. I know I am beating a dead horse on this blog with my amazement at technology but I have a feeling in my gut that it is all wrong. This isn’t the way it is supposed to be. We are supposed to pick our apples and bake a pie with our hands not buy it frozen at Sams Club. There are cameras in every corner watching our every move. George Orwell was right on track just a few years short.
I don’t know where I am anymore or how I got there. Last evening an amazing neon dusk at the end of Summer and I was on top of Bear Mountain in a tower watching it. Look at the sun, sinking like a ship! There was a few gay couples there with us and about 20 Corvettes from a car show were in the parking lot rev-ing their engines. Hot chicks and mirrored sunglasses. Later at “Gilligans” seafood restaurant I had the scallops in wine and garlic sauce that blew me away. The walls were hand painted with tropical scenes. I ordered my blackened tuna “raw” but the waiter corrected me and told me that medium rare would be more tasty. Of corse he was right.
The next morning I woke up on the floor of my new job. Sure they gave me a key, but they didn’t expect me to use my office as a home. (it was so damn cold, I didn’t even wanna try my car) BUT I was busted, the owner came in early and caught me on the floor snoozing. That same night I had a dream that I was in the same room with my father. I haven’t seen him in 38 years. But here he was. Stern and unemotional as usual. He called me over and got real close to me. He said something in a whisper that I didn’t understand and then he kissed me.
When I woke up my cheek was wet. The dream seemed so real but I wasn’t sure if it was a kiss or dribble.
All day at my new job my boss was upset that I had used the office as a bed. Was I some kind of homeless vagabond? Yes.
I have been designing window graphics, logos, and posters the past week and I have amazed them with my speed, creativity and client sensitivity. New City is a very rich town and it seems like everyone knows everybody here. They come into the shop and hang out. The boss has a quick-ass coffee machine and beers in the fridge. This thick New York Jewish accent is killing my ears. Everyone drives a BMW and I feel like an outcast. Frank the Irish retired Manhattan detective and part owner is the only one who understands me.
I answered an ad in Craigslist for a ground floor start-up company from the UK. They were looking for a prepress man with managerial skills. The next day I did get a call and arranged to meet Tim somewhere in the depths of North Jersey at a six star Hilton bar called “Splash”
Digital doodle number 34 (selPortrait)
It was quite an interview because he was very talented at letting me do most/all of the talking. I enjoyed his accent as I am sure he enjoyed mine. He scribbled some plans on a piece of paper and showed me where the large format inkjets are going to go, where the offices will be, where the Mac computers and where the warehouse will be staged in some empty building “not too far from here” I gave it my best shot because it sounds really challenging to start fresh in a new company with a product that could really sell.
The next day he called me and hired me. Now I have two jobs and two websites, and a huge wall mural design to work on freelance. Be careful waht you wish for, you just might get it, chap. Cheers!!
