Lots of things in my life are serendipitous. The fact that I interviewed Flatbed Honeymoon last week -- a brilliant, shining Americana star amid a sea of pretentious fucks -- and they gave me their newest album on vinyl as a consolation prize is one in a long, long line of blessed coincidences. Because they gave me this song. I can't turn it off.
Hello Greyhound, my old faithful friend
take me somewhere a ways away
I've had all I could take of these
mean old city blues
I've worn right through these walkin' shoes
So come on, big momma,
get these wheels moving on down the line,
If we can just pass El Paso, I'll be doin' fine
I believe it's time for a change,
it's time for unknowns to unfold,
it's time to lay the cards on the table.
it's time to live if I'm able
I feel like an old lounge singer who's got
one last song to sing
better make it count, boy
better make it ring.
they got some worn out lookin' folks
strewn out across the aisles
it smells like desperation
for miles and miles and miles.
It's time to live if I'm able.
31 August 2011
09 August 2011
I Think This Might Work
Day two of the first work-week minus Our Fearless Leader. It's good in a different way; in this...balanced way. I seem to get more done, and it's hard to put a finger on why.
It's not just the absence of random happy hours or invitations out. It's an atmospheric thing. The air pressure is different, the barometer shifted. I'm not sure if it's that he intimidated me (which he did) or the pressure he put on us all (I've been in a pressure cooker for 8 months), but that room is different. Not in a bad way, just different.
Doors for opportunity and creativity seem to have opened. I feel optimistic where, before, it was alternating between mania and dread. I took better pictures the day he left, and now I'm confident in my ability. My writing has perked up. My office hours are better. Dare I say, training is over, and now I have the tools and confidence to do my job well.
I'm going to look back on that 8 months and be grateful that it happened, but I'd sacrifice Buddha if it meant I never had to do it again. I'm not saying I didn't like Our Fearless Leader -- quite the opposite, I respect the shit out of him -- I've just never been pushed so hard in my entire life. And from the first day on the job, he made it very clear that his alliances weren't with the business, that they were with us. I think that permeated every article I ever stayed up all night working on. Sure, I bitch about it, but a little bit of belief in someone goes a long, long way, and it made me willing to miss important things in my personal life, family, friends, relationships.
And now, that's over. I'm simply better, and I can't wait to see what I do with it.
It's not just the absence of random happy hours or invitations out. It's an atmospheric thing. The air pressure is different, the barometer shifted. I'm not sure if it's that he intimidated me (which he did) or the pressure he put on us all (I've been in a pressure cooker for 8 months), but that room is different. Not in a bad way, just different.
Doors for opportunity and creativity seem to have opened. I feel optimistic where, before, it was alternating between mania and dread. I took better pictures the day he left, and now I'm confident in my ability. My writing has perked up. My office hours are better. Dare I say, training is over, and now I have the tools and confidence to do my job well.
I'm going to look back on that 8 months and be grateful that it happened, but I'd sacrifice Buddha if it meant I never had to do it again. I'm not saying I didn't like Our Fearless Leader -- quite the opposite, I respect the shit out of him -- I've just never been pushed so hard in my entire life. And from the first day on the job, he made it very clear that his alliances weren't with the business, that they were with us. I think that permeated every article I ever stayed up all night working on. Sure, I bitch about it, but a little bit of belief in someone goes a long, long way, and it made me willing to miss important things in my personal life, family, friends, relationships.
And now, that's over. I'm simply better, and I can't wait to see what I do with it.
08 August 2011
Evaporated
Summers here are so tense. But as if on cue, these things that eat at me tend to relax and settle in around August and, though it's still hot as nuts roasting in hellfire, ebb into Autumn. Formulaic as it may sound, year to year, it is never the same.
Four of my friends have left Baton Rouge within a week's time. I was sad for a while, but every reason they're leaving has a point and is good for each of them. I'm happy for them all, and the good things they've set in motion for themselves. It's not sad anymore, and now that all the going away parties are over, I can have a normal week.
Four of my friends have left Baton Rouge within a week's time. I was sad for a while, but every reason they're leaving has a point and is good for each of them. I'm happy for them all, and the good things they've set in motion for themselves. It's not sad anymore, and now that all the going away parties are over, I can have a normal week.
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