A saved post from a couple of years ago.

I have many posts that were saved as drafts over the years for whatever reason.  This is one of them.  It was saved back in November of 2010.  I thought I’d clear out my drafts folders and publish these.  So here is a meme that was finished and I’ve added my new answers in parenthesis.

 

 

These things used to be all over the blog world.  Many originated from My Space.  Does My Space even exist any more?

Any way.  This showed up today on Facebook.  I thought it might work well here.  So here you go.

100 Truths about Maddog.

What was your:

1. Last beverage: I’m drinking a new Diet Coke as I type.  

(Of course it was a Diet Coke)

2. Last phone call: Adam.  I called to tell him I was leaving work early and that I’d meet him outside the movies.  

(My mom.  Last night while we were making dinner.)

3. Last text message: Adam.  I texted to tell him that it was nice seeing him before work today.

(Adam to tell him there were no Litter Genie refills at Pet Smart)

4. Last song you listened to: One Day More from Les Mis on my Ipod on the way to work.  Which is funny because it randomly showed up, and Adam was at the movies seeing the concert version of Les Mis.

( Some pop song on the radio.  Couldn’t even tell you. ) 

5. Last time you cried: Adam and I had a fight last weekend.  He upset me.  A lot.

 (A tiny bit last night watching Downton Abbey.)

HAVE YOU EVER:

6. Dated someone twice? Sort of.  Not really.

(Not seriously)

7. Been cheated on? Yes

(Yes)

8. Kissed someone & regretted it? Big yes.

(Yes)

9. Lost someone special? Yes

(Yes)

10. Been depressed? ABSOLUTELY.

(HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)

11. Been drunk and threw up? Yes.  And I swore that I’d never do it again each and every time.

(Yes, but it was a VERY, VERY long time ago.)

LIST THREE FAVORITE COLORS:

12. Blue

13. Green

14. Dark Green

THIS YEAR HAVE YOU: (2010)

15. Made a new friend? That’s a tough one.  I’ve met lots of nice people but I don’t know if I’ve really made any new friends.

(Met some nice people but no new friends)

16. Fallen out of love? No

(no.)

17. Laughed until you cried? I’ve laughed really hard, but not till I cried.

(Not that hard.  No.)

18. Met someone who changed you? No.

(No)

19. Found out who your true friends were? No more than usual

(No tests to speak of.)

20. Found out someone was talking about you? Not really but I’m sure they were talking about me.  People talk about me all the time.  They love to talk about me.  What’s not to love.  They are talking about me.  Did I mention that they were talking about ME.

(no)

21. Kissed anyone on your fb friend’s list? Yes.  Three

(Just Adam and friendly pecks with Michelle and Lisa)

GENERAL:

22. How many people on your fb friends list do you know in real life? About 99% of them.  I don’t friend people unless I know them.  There are five or six that I’ve not seen in real life because they know me from here.

(There are probably 10 that I know only online.)

23 Do you have any tattoo?  No

(Still no)

24. Do you have any pets? I have legally adopted Harper the cat.  The adoption w

(We got two new kittens in October.  That story will take some telling)

Where’s 25?

26. What did you do for your last birthday? A great weekend of friends, drinks and movies.

(Nothing.  We were saving to move to Portland. )

27. What time did you wake up today? Noon O:-)

(Noon)

28. What were you doing at midnight last night? Facebooking and watching tv

(Watching TV)

29. Name something you CANNOT wait for: Christmas!

(To get a job)

 

This seems to be as far as I got when I did this years ago.

 

30. Last time you saw your Mother: 

(September.  Another story that needs telling)

31. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life: 

I need a job

32. What are you listening to right now?

Nothing

33. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom? 

Yes

34. What’s getting on your nerves right now? 

Not having a job.

35. Most visited webpage: 

Facebook

37. Nicknames: 

Maddog

38. Relationship Status: 

Partnered

39. Zodiac Sign: 

Aries

40. Boys vs Girls?: 

boys

41. Elementary?: Great Crossing

42. Middle School? Scott County Middle

43. High School? Scott County High School

44. Hair Color? Brown

45. Long or short?  Short

46. Height? 6’0″

47. Do you have a crush on someone? No

48: What do you like about yourself? Not a lot at the moment

49. Piercings? Not anymore

50. Tattoos? No.

51. Righty or lefty?  Righty

52. First surgery? Appendectomy.  December 20, 2003

53. First piercing?  Right nipple.  1997

54. First best friend? Dickie

55. First sport you joined? Baseball

There’s no 56 or 57

58. First pair of trainers?  What are trainers?

RIGHT NOW:

59. Eating  Nothing

60. Drinking – Nothing

61. I’m about to – I should be drafting.  But I’m not.

62. Listening to –  NOthing

63. Waiting for-  Nothing

64. Want kids? No.  No.  NO.  

65. Get Married? Someday?

66. Career?  Not even a glimmer of one on the horizon

WHICH IS BETTER :

67. Lips or eyes? Eyes

68. Hugs or kisses?  Hugs

69. Shorter or taller?  Shorter

70. Older or Younger?  Younger

71. Romantic or spontaneous? Spontaneous

72. Nice stomach or nice arms? Stomach

73. Sensitive or loud? Sensitive

74. Hook-up or relationship? Right now?  Hookup

75. Trouble maker or hesitant? Trouble Maker

HAVE YOU EVER :

76. Kissed a stranger?  Yes

77. Drank hard liquor  Yes

78. Lost glasses/contacts?  Yes

79. Sex on first date? Yes

80. Broken someone’s heart? Yes

81. Had your own heart broken? Yes

Geeze 82 is gone too!

83. Turned someone down? Yes

84. Cried when someone died? Yes

85. Fallen for a friend? Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

86. Yourself?  Not really

87. Miracles? Not really

88. Love at first sight? NOt really

89. Heaven? NO.

90. Santa Claus? NO.

91. Kiss on the first date? Yes.

92. Angels?  NO.

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:

93. Had more than one bf/gf? Yes

94. Is there one person you want to be with right now? Yes

95. Did you sing today?  No.

96. Ever cheated on somebody? Yes

97. If you could go back in time, how far would you go, and why?  1983

98. If you could pick a day from last year and relive it, what would it be? The day I quit my job

99. Are you afraid of falling in love?  No

100. Posting this as 100 truths? ? No

 

These things are stupid.  It’s hard to believe that five years ago these were every where.  Thank god that’s not the case now.

It’s COLD up in here!

It’s fucking cold here.  REALLY.  REALLY.  COLD!!!

Of course it could have been worse.  We had been told that we could get up to a foot of snow last night with some weird weather pattern that happens every once in a while.  We ended up with about five flurries, which is great because I had no desire to shovel snow today.  Actually, Adam won’t let me shovel snow because he’s convinced that I’m going to have a heart attack doing it.  It would be easy to take advantage of this but I don’t.  That being said, I DO NOT argue when he says “just let me do it.”  The other issue with snow for us is that we don’t own a snow blower.  It’s easy to shovel when you get three for four inches.  When you get 20 inches in three days it creates a bit more of a problem which is what happened right after Xmas.  We had two storms back to back and dumped almost 20 inches of snow on us.  Our agreement with the apartment is that the downstairs neighbors are supposed to do the heavy lifting when it comes to shoveling and our landlord will come do the plowing/snow blowing.  When we got the big storms the downstairs neighbors were out of town for Xmas and it took the landlord five days to come plow the driveway.  It made things interesting to say the least.  It took almost an hour just to clear a path out of the driveway where the city snow plows and fenced us in.  And then we just had two tracks that didn’t allow for much movement in and out of the driveway and our little car did not like it at all.  The first night Adam got stuck and had to get up early the next morning to do serious shoveling to get himself out.   We had finally given up on the landlord and I’d spent the afternoon calling around trying to find someone who could come plow for us when the landlord showed up to do it.  We were a little annoyed to say the least.  Luckily all the snow we’ve had since has been just a couple of inches at a time so it’s been okay.

The only good thing we’ve discovered is that the area next to our house, where we usually park is just off the street enough so that we don’t have to move our cars for the snow bans.  In Portland, after bigger snow storms the city issues a snow ban that requires absolutlely NO cars be parked on the street for about a 12 hour period.  It gives them time to plow all the streets and get rid of the big banks of snow.  It can be a real pain in the ass if you don’t have off street parking.  They tow hundreds of cars each time it happens.  We have a driveway but the area next to the house is easier for us.  We were happy to discover this.

That’s all for today.

No go!

I did not get the job from last Wednesday.  The one with the credit check.  They sent me a very ambiguous email today that said thanks, we’ll keep you in our files etc.  I have not told Adam.  I can’t bear to look at him when he finds out.  I’m starting to feel like I’ve failed him, failed the relationship, failed everything.  And I have no idea how to make things better.  I have no income, he’s trying to support us on his job which is mediocre right now to say the least.  It has the potential to be awesome but it will take some time to get there.  In the meantime I have no income, no prospect for income and the rent is do in 10 days.  Ugh.

There was nothing posted today to apply to.  I check everyday, all day, ten times a day craigslist and jobsinmaine.com.  Today nothing.  Most days there is at least something but I don’t feel like I’m qualified for most things I apply to.  The only thing remotely possible for today was waiting tables at Egg and I.  Do I want to be a server again?  Do I want to wait tables in a restaurant like that?  ugh.  ugh.  ugh.  What to do, what to do, what to do.

On the good side, I had drinks with a man who runs a theater company here in the city.  I have no idea what it can or will or could amount to.  He has a lighting designer he uses for all of his shows.  I get the feeling he pays about 20 cents for their services when he does use them, so it’s not like meeting him is going to lead to my paying my rent that way.  But at least it’s a step in some direction.  Whether it’s the right one or not.

Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day!

I didn’t get it.

This shit sucks.

More interviews.

No jobs.

The interview I had when I last posted was awful.  I did not connect with the interviewer and didn’t seem to have the right answer for anything.  I felt like shit when I left.  This was on a Friday.  All weekend Adam and my friends assured me that it went better than I thought and it would be okay.

It did not.  And was not.

I got an email bright and early on Monday morning telling me that they were not offering me a position.

What sucks is that it was barely going to be enough money to live on.  In fact it was NOT going to be enough money to live on.  It was going to be a paycheck to paycheck situation make less than 30,000 dollars a year.

EXACTLY.

But it was a job.  And after three months I need something.  Anything.  I mean seriously.  How sucky do I have to be to NOT be able to get a measly job that almost anyone would be qualified for.

The only bright spot was the I had another interview on Wednesday.  It went very well.

Sort of.

They wanted to take it to the next level.

EXCEPT.

First they wanted to run a background check and a credit check.

Both are iffy with me.  I’ll tell you more about the background check later.

The credit part sucks.  My credit has been mediocre for years what with student loans etc.

But since September I haven’t paid a single bill.  I haven’t had the money.  So it’s going to look awful and they are not going to let me have the next interview because as the interviewer said, if you can’t run your own business how can you run ours?

FUCK.

FUCK.

FUCK.

So I’m back in the waiting game again waiting to hear from her.  And since I haven’t heard from her I’m expecting bad news.

And so I keep applying to things that I’m way over qualified for.  Hoping.  Hoping.  Hoping.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Unemployed…three months later.

So after I was told to stop work.

I did.

I stopped work.

And for approximately two months I enjoyed my time off.

I enjoyed it so much that I didn’t notice that it was almost December and I hadn’t started looking for a new job yet.

I might still be sitting there enjoying the time off if Adam hadn’t freaked out one day and brought my little vacation to an end.

Christmas was approaching.  We had no money.  We had Thanksgiving planned at our house.  A Christmas party.  A weekend in the mountains.  And Christmas day at our house.

And I didn’t have a job, hadn’t brought any money in for almost two months and had not even started looking for a job.

Once he got my attention I kind of freaked out.

And I’ve been freaking out ever since.

I started applying for jobs the week before Thanksgiving.  It’s now January 9th and I still don’t have one.

I have had interviews.  I had two interviews at Panera Bread to be a manager.  I’m assuming that since they’ve reposted the job on Craigslist that I did NOT get it.

I’ve interviewed at another fast food type restaurant.  A hotel.  And department store.

The department store looks like the best candidate but I’ll be making less than I did as a student. The only saving grace is that it would be working mostly day shifts so that I would be free at night to do theater.  I will starve but at least I’ll be able to design.

There also hasn’t been anything posted in the past few days.  It seems like the things that I’m qualified for have dried up.

And as time passes we inch ever closer to February 1st.  When I got my severance pay we had the good sense to pay rent through February 1.  If I don’t have a job by then there is no way we’ll be able to afford rent and the last thing we want to do is become “those” people….again.

So keep your fingers crossed that something comes through soon.

 

Welcome to Maine!!!

WOW.

WOW.

WOW.

WOW.

What a day.

I had an interview at a local hotel to be a front end manager.  It would be a second shift position and I would make sure that the restaurant  front desk, events, parties etc run smoothly.  I would be the big man on campus from around 5:00 till midnight every night.  I’d actually be perfect for the job.

And I’d love it except that.

I had a meeting with the artistic director of a theater in town today and she has asked me to design their next four shows, plus design the school production where she teaches, guest lecture and work with her students one on one.  Basically I’d be this particular theater’s resident designer for the next year.

How fucking awesome is that?

Of course I couldn’t take the hotel job and do the theater job as well.  So lets hope the job interview I have on Friday comes through.  It would be perfect.  I think.

Keep your fingers crossed!!!

STOP WORK!!!

So.

I got the job.  And I started.  The Monday after my mom left Maine after visiting for her birthday.  September 17th.

She’s never allowed to visit again as per Adam.  Another post.

It was actually kind of hard.  At least the working from home part was.  I like to sleep late.  And read Facebook.  And watch TV.  And drink coffee.  And read more Facebook.  And then the news.  The first day it was after 12:00 before I actually got to work.  After a week or so I finally figured it out.  I slept late, got up.  Worked some. Read online.  Worked some.  Read online.  Worked some.  Took a break.  My day lasted from around noon till midnight.  It would have been a much shorter day if I’d just sat down and done the work.  I did however meet all my deadlines and produced some pretty decent drafting and all was good.

And on Tuesday October 16th, had my first round of full drawings due.   I got them sent off around 5:00 a.m.  Sent the email to tell Chris they were done.  And went to bed.

The next day I heard nothing.

On Thursday, October 18th I awoke to an email with the subject:

STOP WORK!!!

Seems that unbeknownst to me and what I found out later also Chris, there was some changes happening.  And over the weekend the director/producer of the show had decided he no longer wanted to do both so he stepped down as director and someone else was hired.  The new director wanted to use his own design team.  Thus Chris was let go.  Thus I was let go.

I worked a month.

And now I was unemployed.

The only real saving’s grace was that the company agreed to pay me 5 weeks worth of severance .  I’d worked five weeks.  I got paid ten weeks.  It could have been worse.

What to do?

What to do?

What to do?

 

The chance of a lifetime!!!

So why’d I quit.

I was sitting at dinner one night celebrating my friend Michelle’s birthday and said out loud that I’d love nothing more than a 9 to 5 job.  Get up in the morning.  Have a cup of coffee.  An hour for lunch.  Off at 5 or 6.

And the VERY next day i get a message on Facebook that says,

“have a big job for you possibly. A studio situation (in PORTLAND!) for up to a year or so for good $. PLEASE write back (AN EMAIL) I misplaced all contact info for you.”

This peaked my interest so I wrote back with my email address.

I got the following email a short while later:

Hi. Thanks for getting back to me. Here’s the thing. Have been asked to do a giant  extravaganza in China in 2014. Wuhan to be exact, the “frying pan” of China. The project is enormous and will make use of 1000 plus lighting units most of which are integrated into the building as opposed to being hung on “electrics” etc. I’m asking you to think about becoming project manager for me on the US end. You’d be generating studies, rough drawings to final drawings, interacting with other production folk (designers, technicians, managers, etc), keeping eye on budget issues, etc.  I think this could work out to about one year’s work, maybe a bit more and, thanks to the many digital means of communication: ALL in Portland!  I’m in the process of contract negotiation myself but I think this might be worth up to $1000 per week for you. I’d assume 5 days a week, 8 hours, etc, at the max – seems there will be obvious down times but I’m asking them to accept the idea that the “office/studio” as it were, is open throughout.  If yes, we should write a contract and get you working asap. I’m not back in Portland until the 13th – would be good to meet right away. In the meantime, you could begin by learning the show through the various drawings, 3D stuff, etc.

 Whaddaya think?

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!

Could it possible be that I moved to Portland, Maine and actually get a full time job in lighting design.  Working 9 to 5.  For what’s not bad money.  Could it be.

 

So the back story.

I knew that Chris lived here.  I knew who he was.  I also knew that he lived a couple of blocks from Michelle and Lisa.  We actually finally met last spring when Adam and I were here doing a show.  Then we’d met again in the summer in Michelle and Lisa’s backyard.  It was nothing more than hello.  A discussion of the people that we had in common.  Nothing more.  So it was completely out of blue to get this email from him offering me a job when he didn’t know who the hell I was.

Oh.

Who’s Chris.

Just a Tony award winning Broadway lighting designer who lives in Portland, Maine.   Who’s worked all over the world.

so.

On September 5th.  After receiving countless texts from my “boss.” I arrived exactly 25 minutes late for work.  I asked to speak to him.  He walked around the side of the restaurant with me while I told him of this extraordinary opportunity that I had.  That it was full time.  Working on anything bigger than I had ever dreamed of.  And that it was the chance of a lifetime.  And I told him that I was quitting.  And in fact would not even be working that shift.  he continued talking for about three minutes till what I said had sank in.  The he said, when did you say you were quitting.  I handed him the key and repeated…today.  He took the key asked me if I needed anything from the office, I assured him that I did not.  He walked away without even saying good bye.

And I got in my car and drove away. VERY.  VERY.  HAPPY.

 

Krazy. With a capital “K”

So I arrived.  Early of course for my 2:00 shift.

The day started as perfectly as you can imagine.

I got out of the car just as my new boss was coming out of the backdoor of the restaurant.  He ran up, gave me a big hug and then told me that I had lettuce in my teeth.

Great first impression.

It could only get better from there, right?

Actually it was a pretty typical first day.  Forms.  Lots and lots of forms.

And then we sat in the VERY small office and talked.  We didn’t really do anything.  We just talked.

There was three days of that.  Sitting in the office.  The first three days I don’t think I was on the restaurant floor at all.

After three days he handed me the schedule and told me to write it.   With about thirty seconds worth of help.

When I was done he told me to take it downstairs and post it.  He never looked at it.  Never checked it.  I loved his appreciation for my abilities, but we could have avoided some problems if he’d looked it over.  To be honest he never looked at a schedule I did the whole time I was there.  I got the thirty second tutorial and that was it.

I spent the rest of the week with him in the office with very little time in the actual restaurant.

And then he left to go on vacation.

And that was the end of my training.

When he left I didn’t know how to use the computer system, I didn’t know the food, I didn’t know the drinks.  I didn’t even know the table numbers.  It was trial by fire.  I was behind from the word go.  I’m not exagerrating, the first day he was gone I was asked by a server to grab waters for a table and I didn’t even know where they kept the glasses or the water for that matter.  I’d never been taken on a tour of the place.

And at this point things we still going well.

While he was gone I was expected to do inventory and order the liquor/wine we’d need.  No training.  Nothing.  Of course I fucked it up.  Just in time for him to return and start the endless text messages.  He loved to yell via text.

He once asked me why I hadn’t done something and followed it up with a reminder that that’s why they’d fired the previous manager.  And what I’d done had absolutely NOTHING to do with why they’d fired her.

And this still isn’t the bad stuff.

So speaking of that other manager that they’d fired.  On my first day I’m told that she has decided to come back and work a couple of weeks, picking up shifts until something better comes along.  I probably don’t need to tell you that nothing better ever came along.  After two weeks I was told to put her back on the schedule.  And I’m assuming that when I left she was just moved ever so quietly back into her old position.

It didn’t actually take long to see that it was going to be a conflict of interest.  Almost every time he had a question about something at the restaurant if he didn’t ask her first she was at least copied on the text.  Any time someone needed reprimanding and I was told to do it via text she was copied.  Every time I did something wrong like forget to close out the credit cards it went out as a “general” text although everyone knew it was directed at me.  It also didn’t take long before he stopped asking me altogether and just went to her first.  I mean she had worked there for eight years she knew the menu, the wine and how the place ran so of course she knew the answer.  It did not do much for my disposition.  When Adam finally convinced me that I needed to say something and at least make him realized I had a problem with what was going on he told me I’d be a fool not to use her to gain all the knowledge that I could.  So much for things getting better.

He also liked to hide in the bushes across the street and watch the restaurant.  I’d be standing on the patio and he’d text me to tell me that table 52 needed water.  Or want to know why the candles weren’t lit yet.  Or want to know why Frank was just standing there and not busing dishes.  Or why table 73 waited so long to be greeted.

I really wish that I were exaggerating about all of this but I’m not.

It even gets better.

One afternoon he hid in the bushes across the street from the big department store up the street and videoed a kid who was supposed to be handing out menus to tourists.  Instead of just going over and telling him to get to work he spent fifteen minutes behind a tree.  I had the great fortune of having to watch all 15 minutes before we sat down with Jordan and told him that this was not good behavior.  I also had to watch it again we had to prove to Jordan that he indeed had done what he was being accused of doing.

The staff hated when he was in the restaurant.  They’d cringe.  They’d beg me not to have to ask him to go get things that we needed because he’d end up spending a couple of hours there.  And we were always having to get things because he refused to let me order enough to get us through the week.  Three specialty drinks used Bacardi.  We’d go through more than one bottle  a week.  But I was only ever allowed to order one because he hated having extra on hand.  So on Saturday night at 7:00 I’d have to text him to tell him that we were out.  Of rum.  vodka.  mint.  bourbon.  limes.  beer.  Ugh.  It was insane.

Then of course there was his son.  Beautiful beautiful son.  He looked like Zac Efron and was very pretty and dumber than a rock.  And of course because he was between his 11/12 grade years he needed a summer job.  And so he was promoted to serving.  He’d been a very horrible busser up to this point.  And he perhaps is the worst server I’ve ever had the privilege of working with.  Dumb.  And.  Lazy.  The other servers hated when he was on because he only be given two tables because that’s all he could handle…barely and they’d have to pick up the slack.  He wouldn’t do closing work.  He wouldn’t help run food.  He would stand at the computer and pretend to be ringing things in when he was actually just standing there.  He also was allowed to void and comp things using his father’s computer code which drove everyone he worked with crazy.  I finally just stopped scheduling him at night and told his father that I couldn’t with good conscience continue to do so.

And the owner hated half the staff.  And once he decided he didn’t like you there was no swaying him.  He had me fire two people because we were “overstaffed” and then the very next week advertised on Craigslist that he needed additional servers.  He refused to hire when we needed it so when I left we had no hosts.  The entire last two weeks I was scheduled I was hosting almost every shift.

I was barely hanging on by my teeth.

I went to work angry every day.  I went home angry every day.  I couldn’t turn my phone off because he texted  constantly.

My last day there I started getting texts at 10:00.  I wasn’t due to get there until 2:00

The only reason I didn’t reach through the phone and kill him was because I knew it was my last day.

He however did NOT know it was my last day.

I quit.

Without notice.

I didn’t even work the shift.

I went in.  Told him I was quitting and gave him the real reason why I was leaving (tomorrow’s post) handed him his keys and left.

And I stopped at McDonald’s and got a Diet Coke and all was well in the world again.

 

Don’t feel well.

Feeling under the weather so i’m going to bed early tonight.  So no time to finish the story.  Don’t worry.  It’s started.  I just spent the last 20 minutes on it, so I’ll post it.  I promise.

Of all of our friends in Maine, Sheila and I are the only ones who have not been sick.  Sheila started feeling it yesterday and I started feeling it today.

Need to get some sleep tomorrow.

I also have a job interview at 10:00 so want to be somewhat rested for that.

Will see you tomorrow night.  Same bat channel.  Same bat time.