THIS SHIT HERE... has to be one of the best Youtube videos I've seen all year...
happy Friday!
~C
10.27.2006
10.26.2006
settling in..
The new job is going cool.
The hours are not as crazy as a typical architectural firm and people are way casual... almost too casual. The pod next to me has played indoor soccer during the day about four times so far in the last week and a half. They wanted me to join in and represent my pod, but I'm a bit rusty on my footwork, so I took a pass.
I don't know if you know or not, I think I mentioned it before, but I HATE shitting in a public toilet. I mean, there are two tenants on this floor so we share the bathroom with another company, but even still, I don't know these folks in here like that yet, but I was forced to take a public shit yesterday.
The office folks wanted to go for burritos so I said sure why not. Lately, my stomach hasn't been able to handle beans and spicy shit the way it used to, but I still have confidence in myself that I can ya know? Kinda like when you're growing up and your dad still thinks he can beat you in basketball, but you know he's too slow, but he still expects to win? that's how I feel about my stomach.
So 3 hours later around 4 or so, I start busting my ass. Now if it was 5, I would've just played it off for the next half an hour or so, then bounced. But 4 means I have at least another 90 minutes to go. I bit the bullet and took the public shit. Then I flush the toilet.... and it doesnt' flush.
Water slowly started to rise to the top, then it stopped and went down for a little bit... so I waited, then flushed again... same thing.... water rose a little higher, then went down a little bit, but the toilet wouldn't flush.
Just as I'm contemplating whether to try again and risk overflowing or leave it, someone else comes in and locks themselves in the stall next door. So I'm thinking to myself, what if they saw me? what if they know my shoes? I can't just leave it here now right? I'll be known as the nasty MFer who doesn't flush after himself!!! He sounded like he was settling in for the long haul... broke out a paper and everything and I sat there staring at the toilet, contemplating..
flush..
don't flush..
flush...
don't flush.....
I don't know if I'm just stubborn, or what, but I expected that toilet to work the first two times, so I'm thinking it HAS to work this time right??? No.
I flush the toilet and it was like a monster flush from above. I swear to God it felt like two times as much water came rushing in this time and I saw there was nothing I could do about it... As the toilet starts to overflow I let out a "AWWW SHITTT!!!" as i watch all of the water flow directly into the stall next door onto this guys shoes.
I contemplated saying something, but I just washed my hands and left. I can only assume my "aww shit" gave me away, so now I have to work here wondering if someone thinks I'm the asshole who flushed shit onto their shoes yesterday without saying anything....
~C
The hours are not as crazy as a typical architectural firm and people are way casual... almost too casual. The pod next to me has played indoor soccer during the day about four times so far in the last week and a half. They wanted me to join in and represent my pod, but I'm a bit rusty on my footwork, so I took a pass.
I don't know if you know or not, I think I mentioned it before, but I HATE shitting in a public toilet. I mean, there are two tenants on this floor so we share the bathroom with another company, but even still, I don't know these folks in here like that yet, but I was forced to take a public shit yesterday.
The office folks wanted to go for burritos so I said sure why not. Lately, my stomach hasn't been able to handle beans and spicy shit the way it used to, but I still have confidence in myself that I can ya know? Kinda like when you're growing up and your dad still thinks he can beat you in basketball, but you know he's too slow, but he still expects to win? that's how I feel about my stomach.
So 3 hours later around 4 or so, I start busting my ass. Now if it was 5, I would've just played it off for the next half an hour or so, then bounced. But 4 means I have at least another 90 minutes to go. I bit the bullet and took the public shit. Then I flush the toilet.... and it doesnt' flush.
Water slowly started to rise to the top, then it stopped and went down for a little bit... so I waited, then flushed again... same thing.... water rose a little higher, then went down a little bit, but the toilet wouldn't flush.
Just as I'm contemplating whether to try again and risk overflowing or leave it, someone else comes in and locks themselves in the stall next door. So I'm thinking to myself, what if they saw me? what if they know my shoes? I can't just leave it here now right? I'll be known as the nasty MFer who doesn't flush after himself!!! He sounded like he was settling in for the long haul... broke out a paper and everything and I sat there staring at the toilet, contemplating..
flush..
don't flush..
flush...
don't flush.....
I don't know if I'm just stubborn, or what, but I expected that toilet to work the first two times, so I'm thinking it HAS to work this time right??? No.
I flush the toilet and it was like a monster flush from above. I swear to God it felt like two times as much water came rushing in this time and I saw there was nothing I could do about it... As the toilet starts to overflow I let out a "AWWW SHITTT!!!" as i watch all of the water flow directly into the stall next door onto this guys shoes.
I contemplated saying something, but I just washed my hands and left. I can only assume my "aww shit" gave me away, so now I have to work here wondering if someone thinks I'm the asshole who flushed shit onto their shoes yesterday without saying anything....
~C
10.15.2006
the big bad chronicles update
Where to begin?
So I guess its been about three weeks ago now, I moved into the new house on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday. To celebrate I went around the corner to my neighborhood liquor store and bought a bottle of Champagne. Well, the liquor stores in my neighborhood aren’t of the “higher end” variety, so it was actually a bottle of Spumante. Sat in my new crib and got lit. I woke up the next morning with the absolute worst headache you could imagine. No wonder the brothas in the hood don't come outside until 1.
I received a call on Saturday that two people were laid off on Friday. Two really good people, one was a single mother with a son. But I honestly had no idea that I would be next. So on Monday after lunch I got the call down to the conference room. Its a weird feeling to get asked to come into a conference room and chat and the person that called you in there doesn’t have anything in front of them. No drawings to review, no pen, no paper, nothing.
She was obviously an amateur at doing this because she couldn’t get her words straight. I guess it is just as hard for her to do as for me to hear. Well, probably not, but you could tell she was uncomfortable. So she said her piece and tried to sum it up and end the conversation but I wasn’t letting her off of the hook that easy. So I asked her questions for about 15-20 minutes. and just made her sit there while I kept saying "WOW." in utter disbelief. It was almost like it was some cruel joke because I knew there were a bunch of jokers still there that hadn't been laid off, and probably wouldn't be. She was all kinds of tripped up on her words giving me a variety of reasons for the layoff. After me there was another, and total it was almost a quarter of the architects that got the boot.
Its funny when you look at the people that were kept vs the people that were laid off. The people laid off were forward thinkers, took initiative, worked hard but most importantly questioned "the system" and worked to improve things rather than stay silent and maintain the status quo. Many of the people who were kept were "soldiers". very good at following orders, not questioning the higher ranks, and simply coming in and doing their job with no questions asked. I suppose when you have a company you can't have too many chefs in the kitchen, but architecture is inherently supposed to be a creative industry with a lot of freaking chefs!! Apparently, for the type of work that is coming up, they want to have a bunch of line cooks, and that is what they're left with. (not everyone! but some of the people still there .... )
At the end of the “meeting” I asked to take the rest of the day off. I walked over to Dupont Circle, and started calling everyone that I knew in the field to let them know the deal. I had just bought a freakin’ house and now I had no idea how I was going to pay for it. It’s funny how you naturally react when you have your back up against the wall. When there is something you have worked really hard for, you know there is no way you’re going to let anything take it away from you.
I called people I went to school with, former co-workers, people I met at parties, family and friends to see if anyone had any leads. That night I came home and spruced up my resume. Since they gave me two weeks to stay and finish things out, I went in the next day looking dapper as fuck, head high, early as hell. The other people that were laid off either didn’t come in or were moping around the office. I was upset as hell the night before, but whats that deodorant commercial say? “Never let them see you sweat.”
I went in two hours early and e-mailed my resume to everyone that told me too. By Wednesday, I had two interviews set up for Thursday. By Thursday I had two more set up for Tuesday the following week. By the end of those interviews had 3 solid job leads. Another round of interviews with a couple had me feeling pretty good, but I still didn’t have any offers.
The following Monday, my last day of work and two weeks after being laid off I had lunch with some former co-workers at my first job I took when I moved back to DC and they had now moved up to be a Principal and Associate Principal at that firm. They had branched off and started their own little division within the company that they wanted me to help them run. By the end of lunch, they made it clear they wanted me to come back and I had a verbal offer that would put me in a new tax bracket.
Yeah.
Went back to the office and the boss wanted to chat with me on my last day.
Now you have to imagine, I just got an offer that blew my socks off, so you KNOW I couldn't WAIT to come in and talk to the boss. I'm thinking to myself, PLEASE say some shit to me today, I triple dog DARE you to say some shit...
I go in and get asked to close the door. And I sat there as I was told my behavior over the last two weeks has been inappropriate, unprofessional, and how disappointed in how I’ve handled myself over the last two weeks they have been. My interaction with the young people in the office has been disappointing (I went drinking with them every day I wasn't interviewing)
I’m not sure how they expected a brotha who just got laid off to act? But I’ve always been “nice black guy Curtis” at the job. I get along with everyone, make people feel good despite their inadequacies, show up early, stay late, work hard, etc...
Since I was laid off? I’ve been “dat nigga Curt” at the job. They probably just didn’t think I had it in me, but it’s been more like,
“Curt, can you help me out for a second, what I need is for you to...”
“... naw, I’m kinda busy right now. I don’t think I’m going to be able to help you.”
“well when you’re done can you come by and...”
“...naw, I don’t think I’ll be done with this in the next two weeks.”
“.........”
“ah-ight, I’ll holla at you later though! Good luck getting that done!” {{maximizes Internet Explorer}}
So yeah, I haven’t been the best team player, but shit, I was outta there, and now with my <> I wasn’t trying to hear it, so I cut her off and basically told her she was full of shit... not in those exact words, but you knowhumsayin.. The other thing I had in my back pocket was that the DAY BEFORE, I had found out from my traveling partner that we actually WON the freakin’ job they had sent me half way around the world for, the one that had me stranded in Cameroon.
After berating me for my behavior for about 10 minutes, she told me since I was the one most intimately connected with the project, she had reconsidered and she would like me to stay....., BUT I have to improve my behavior and attitude if I’m going to last around here..”
Yeah.
I almost laughed, but I sat there stunned, recounting in my mind the emotionally and physically draining experience I had been through over the past two weeks, the fear of losing my house, the time / energy / expense I had spent whipping together a new portfolio and running all around the area for interviews and NOW, NOOWW??? On my last freakin’ day here you want to ask me to stay????
I should have walked in there with my new salary requirements written on my forehead... “um what? I can’t hear you? Did you say you want to put me in a new tax bracket too??? What??? I can’t hear you??” It took all the courage in the world to muster up, but I took a long pause and said,
“I’ll be sure to weigh this attractive option against the other offers I’ve received and promptly let you know of my decision.”
The following day, I received two more offers. So with three offers in my pocket, I grabbed the lady friend and went to Ft. Lauderdale / Miami to get some sun, get to the beach, hear the ocean, but more importantly to go to a place where I can relax, think clearly and make up my mind which job I should take. I went from being laid off to having 3 job offers in two weeks.
I called the boss from the beach, waves and shit crashing in the background, to let them know that despite the genuine offer to stay, I’ve chosen to move on to a new company but I thank them so much for the experiences I have had and hope to one day work with them in the future.
Can you pass the SPF 30 please? Oh yeah, and another mojito while you’re up?
I returned, tanned with a clear mind. Then I walked into class and realized I hadn’t prepared a gotdamn thing to teach that day. So upon the recommendation of a soon-to-be-lawyer friend of mine, I told them the story I’ve just told you. I made a special effort to point out that ALL of my interviews came from people I went to school with or former co-workers. I’ve never been laid off in my life. But over the years, I’ve built up a good network of people who know I work hard. I play hard too, but when it’s time to get down to business, people know that if Curt is on the team, the shit is getting done.
My grandmother used to say that you may not always understand why things are happening to you, but there is something from your past that has prepared you for it and taught you how to handle the situation, no matter what it is. What I was trying to stress to my students is that the things you do today will greatly affect your future in more ways than you will ever know. I think some of them got it.
I’ve been working hard on the house for the past week and am making a lot of progress, but there is still lots to do. I start the new job tomorrow and am really excited about it. I really saw myself at my old job for a number of years, growing there until I was able to branch out onto my own, but things didn’t happen as I planned but they never do. Out of all of this, it’s funny how it takes a ‘tragedy’ of sorts for you to see how much people care for you and will look out for you. Everyone I reached out to for help, did something to try to help me out, whether it was passing my resume along or simply buying me a beer. Many people helped in their own way, and to all of you I say thank you.
I even was getting calls from companies and recruiters that I had no idea how they got my name or how they found out I was looking for a job, so to you unnamed souls who were looking out for me without even letting me know, I want you to know I greatly appreciate it as I was getting more job leads than I knew how to handle at one point.
I still don’t have internet access at the new crib, so the chronicles may still be a little sporadic, but I hope to put up house pics soon. I also have plenty of neighborhood stories, from the impromptu block parties, to the fact that I have mystery fucking going on in my backyard as I've found four condom wrappers so far. There was the police chase through the alley that ended at the end of the block when the suspects t-boned a police car, as well as the domestic violence dispute that woke me up at 3am last week... stay tuned, more to come...
C
So I guess its been about three weeks ago now, I moved into the new house on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday. To celebrate I went around the corner to my neighborhood liquor store and bought a bottle of Champagne. Well, the liquor stores in my neighborhood aren’t of the “higher end” variety, so it was actually a bottle of Spumante. Sat in my new crib and got lit. I woke up the next morning with the absolute worst headache you could imagine. No wonder the brothas in the hood don't come outside until 1.
I received a call on Saturday that two people were laid off on Friday. Two really good people, one was a single mother with a son. But I honestly had no idea that I would be next. So on Monday after lunch I got the call down to the conference room. Its a weird feeling to get asked to come into a conference room and chat and the person that called you in there doesn’t have anything in front of them. No drawings to review, no pen, no paper, nothing.
She was obviously an amateur at doing this because she couldn’t get her words straight. I guess it is just as hard for her to do as for me to hear. Well, probably not, but you could tell she was uncomfortable. So she said her piece and tried to sum it up and end the conversation but I wasn’t letting her off of the hook that easy. So I asked her questions for about 15-20 minutes. and just made her sit there while I kept saying "WOW." in utter disbelief. It was almost like it was some cruel joke because I knew there were a bunch of jokers still there that hadn't been laid off, and probably wouldn't be. She was all kinds of tripped up on her words giving me a variety of reasons for the layoff. After me there was another, and total it was almost a quarter of the architects that got the boot.
Its funny when you look at the people that were kept vs the people that were laid off. The people laid off were forward thinkers, took initiative, worked hard but most importantly questioned "the system" and worked to improve things rather than stay silent and maintain the status quo. Many of the people who were kept were "soldiers". very good at following orders, not questioning the higher ranks, and simply coming in and doing their job with no questions asked. I suppose when you have a company you can't have too many chefs in the kitchen, but architecture is inherently supposed to be a creative industry with a lot of freaking chefs!! Apparently, for the type of work that is coming up, they want to have a bunch of line cooks, and that is what they're left with. (not everyone! but some of the people still there .... )
At the end of the “meeting” I asked to take the rest of the day off. I walked over to Dupont Circle, and started calling everyone that I knew in the field to let them know the deal. I had just bought a freakin’ house and now I had no idea how I was going to pay for it. It’s funny how you naturally react when you have your back up against the wall. When there is something you have worked really hard for, you know there is no way you’re going to let anything take it away from you.
I called people I went to school with, former co-workers, people I met at parties, family and friends to see if anyone had any leads. That night I came home and spruced up my resume. Since they gave me two weeks to stay and finish things out, I went in the next day looking dapper as fuck, head high, early as hell. The other people that were laid off either didn’t come in or were moping around the office. I was upset as hell the night before, but whats that deodorant commercial say? “Never let them see you sweat.”
I went in two hours early and e-mailed my resume to everyone that told me too. By Wednesday, I had two interviews set up for Thursday. By Thursday I had two more set up for Tuesday the following week. By the end of those interviews had 3 solid job leads. Another round of interviews with a couple had me feeling pretty good, but I still didn’t have any offers.
The following Monday, my last day of work and two weeks after being laid off I had lunch with some former co-workers at my first job I took when I moved back to DC and they had now moved up to be a Principal and Associate Principal at that firm. They had branched off and started their own little division within the company that they wanted me to help them run. By the end of lunch, they made it clear they wanted me to come back and I had a verbal offer that would put me in a new tax bracket.
Yeah.
Went back to the office and the boss wanted to chat with me on my last day.
Now you have to imagine, I just got an offer that blew my socks off, so you KNOW I couldn't WAIT to come in and talk to the boss. I'm thinking to myself, PLEASE say some shit to me today, I triple dog DARE you to say some shit...
I go in and get asked to close the door. And I sat there as I was told my behavior over the last two weeks has been inappropriate, unprofessional, and how disappointed in how I’ve handled myself over the last two weeks they have been. My interaction with the young people in the office has been disappointing (I went drinking with them every day I wasn't interviewing)
I’m not sure how they expected a brotha who just got laid off to act? But I’ve always been “nice black guy Curtis” at the job. I get along with everyone, make people feel good despite their inadequacies, show up early, stay late, work hard, etc...
Since I was laid off? I’ve been “dat nigga Curt” at the job. They probably just didn’t think I had it in me, but it’s been more like,
“Curt, can you help me out for a second, what I need is for you to...”
“... naw, I’m kinda busy right now. I don’t think I’m going to be able to help you.”
“well when you’re done can you come by and...”
“...naw, I don’t think I’ll be done with this in the next two weeks.”
“.........”
“ah-ight, I’ll holla at you later though! Good luck getting that done!” {{maximizes Internet Explorer}}
So yeah, I haven’t been the best team player, but shit, I was outta there, and now with my <
After berating me for my behavior for about 10 minutes, she told me since I was the one most intimately connected with the project, she had reconsidered and she would like me to stay....., BUT I have to improve my behavior and attitude if I’m going to last around here..”
Yeah.
I almost laughed, but I sat there stunned, recounting in my mind the emotionally and physically draining experience I had been through over the past two weeks, the fear of losing my house, the time / energy / expense I had spent whipping together a new portfolio and running all around the area for interviews and NOW, NOOWW??? On my last freakin’ day here you want to ask me to stay????
I should have walked in there with my new salary requirements written on my forehead... “um what? I can’t hear you? Did you say you want to put me in a new tax bracket too??? What??? I can’t hear you??” It took all the courage in the world to muster up, but I took a long pause and said,
“I’ll be sure to weigh this attractive option against the other offers I’ve received and promptly let you know of my decision.”
The following day, I received two more offers. So with three offers in my pocket, I grabbed the lady friend and went to Ft. Lauderdale / Miami to get some sun, get to the beach, hear the ocean, but more importantly to go to a place where I can relax, think clearly and make up my mind which job I should take. I went from being laid off to having 3 job offers in two weeks.
I called the boss from the beach, waves and shit crashing in the background, to let them know that despite the genuine offer to stay, I’ve chosen to move on to a new company but I thank them so much for the experiences I have had and hope to one day work with them in the future.
Can you pass the SPF 30 please? Oh yeah, and another mojito while you’re up?
I returned, tanned with a clear mind. Then I walked into class and realized I hadn’t prepared a gotdamn thing to teach that day. So upon the recommendation of a soon-to-be-lawyer friend of mine, I told them the story I’ve just told you. I made a special effort to point out that ALL of my interviews came from people I went to school with or former co-workers. I’ve never been laid off in my life. But over the years, I’ve built up a good network of people who know I work hard. I play hard too, but when it’s time to get down to business, people know that if Curt is on the team, the shit is getting done.
My grandmother used to say that you may not always understand why things are happening to you, but there is something from your past that has prepared you for it and taught you how to handle the situation, no matter what it is. What I was trying to stress to my students is that the things you do today will greatly affect your future in more ways than you will ever know. I think some of them got it.
I’ve been working hard on the house for the past week and am making a lot of progress, but there is still lots to do. I start the new job tomorrow and am really excited about it. I really saw myself at my old job for a number of years, growing there until I was able to branch out onto my own, but things didn’t happen as I planned but they never do. Out of all of this, it’s funny how it takes a ‘tragedy’ of sorts for you to see how much people care for you and will look out for you. Everyone I reached out to for help, did something to try to help me out, whether it was passing my resume along or simply buying me a beer. Many people helped in their own way, and to all of you I say thank you.
I even was getting calls from companies and recruiters that I had no idea how they got my name or how they found out I was looking for a job, so to you unnamed souls who were looking out for me without even letting me know, I want you to know I greatly appreciate it as I was getting more job leads than I knew how to handle at one point.
I still don’t have internet access at the new crib, so the chronicles may still be a little sporadic, but I hope to put up house pics soon. I also have plenty of neighborhood stories, from the impromptu block parties, to the fact that I have mystery fucking going on in my backyard as I've found four condom wrappers so far. There was the police chase through the alley that ended at the end of the block when the suspects t-boned a police car, as well as the domestic violence dispute that woke me up at 3am last week... stay tuned, more to come...
C
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