so many titles, i cant pick one...lets go with happy st pats

okay, so a brief update on the job. it started out feeling more like 8 hours of recess. sam allowed us to watch movies between calls, we (the spanish dept and i)juggled with a mini soccer ball, me and my new music friend paul played guitar at lunch, i played the freerice game online, and there was just an overall sense of merriment and casualness all around. i dont know if i mentioned this also, but the building itself is an old mall which has been renovated and now has a trampoline, bball court, game room with pingpong and videogames, a huge cafe/open area, and a workout room. so yeah, less of a job, more of a party.

but before i get into that, i should mention the first whole week of work i was real sick. i was throwing up and sweating like mad at night, i was too dizzy and pained to stand or walk in the day, and still tried a few times to come in and be a friendly voice.

i survived. so the next three weeks were filled with this fun time with my good friend sam at the helm and plenty of fun people to keep me busy. then i got the news. a night shift was being implemented. sam was taking the new post. what followed was very unexpected. not only was he taking his guitar with him, he was taking more than half of our team of 25 people and moving to the other side of the mall. : (

so today was day one without them. it was tough. sams office is stripped of the frank sinatra posters and character. the office is quiet without my dwight-like cubicle neighbor josh and my other cubicle neighbor who talks like he is black. and my new boss is actually concerned with my job performance...what? sam would actually pull me away from calls to come hang out in his office and play guitar for him. this guy is screening my calls and critiquing me.

its more of a job now, but i am still really enjoying it. in the past two weeks i have moved up from being 110th or so out of 210 to being number 17 for the month. so i am hoping i will continue to prosper. if i do, i will be promoted in a matter of months to the sales floor.

so thats work. in my social life, i have met many new people recently and it has been a welcome addition in the craziness of life. most notable are the journey girls. 4 gals who are all uniquely interesting and fun. i went to sashas wine bar with them once and the next night was invited to a sneak peak of watchman. it was fun. we actually kind of had to sneak into the sneakpeak. we butted.

tonight i hung out with them again for st pattys day. which is rapidly becoming one of my most beloved holidays. it never fails to bring a sense of excitement. the green, the booze, the nostalgia. it is after all the day of my first contact wearing in london! i was actually suppose to be seeing maps and atlases for free, but the show filled before i got there~! sadness down the windowpane...

but the night was not ruined. i went and had a grand ole time in the cwe. went back to the chase garage for the first time since i left and saw its improvements. saw dan akroyd at sub zero promoting his new vodka. i saw the coneman himself. and i also had an interesting talk with a man named rich and his lady nancy. i jokingly asked him if he had 'earned' his beads and he straight faced told me that he didnt have to earn anything, bc he made 50 an hour. i laughed and asked what he did. he was a painter (gray haired, beard, hippyish). then he got really cool and introduced us to nancy, the love of his life. they told us the story of how they met bc she needed a painter and he did it for her for free, then she made him dinner. and something about how she played oh danny boy on the flute and made him cry. it was beautiful.


also, in my social life, i played a few hockey games in my friend josh's league for him. on the day of the championship we had to play a game to get into the champ game. in o.t. i scored a one timer. it was exhilerating. then in the big game we had a huge brawl. as it was being sorted out by the refs one of the opposing players came onto our bench and sucker punched josh. 6 of our guys then jumped him and the refs and owners freaked out. josh was bleeding, everyone was holding up fists. it was over. we didnt get to finish.

its 3 in the morning...i gotta stop typing even tho i want to tell the story of the victor wooten show...later.

an effort to catch up, part 1

sweet jesus i need to update! i forgot about this, because im back in st louis and quite busy. so im just going to go ahead and tell a few stories from the past 2 months. hopefully i will remember more while typing, because i know ive forgotten alot.

1. looking for jobs suuuuuucks. i applied like a madman and got nothing. except once i did get a callback from a craigslist app. she said it was a group interview at a hotel downtown. so i thought that sounded interesting. i went and instead of the 15 people that were suppose to be competing against me, there were 4...huh.

so i sit in the front row, fifteen minutes early, hoping the other ten will show. instead, 2 of the 4 tell the person in charge that the had planned on printing their applications out at the hotel ups store and the printer was broke. so since they had no apps they just left without telling anyone. so the women in charge says, 'well we had this set up for a group, but since there are only two, we will just interview you one at a time. greg youll be first.' so she sent the other girl to the hallway to wait. i got grilled with a bunch of really dumb questions about who my contacts were and how i could help start a company. what? i thought i was applying for an administrative assistant position... (oh yeah, i didnt mention that there was a panel of 'judges' consisting of friends of the lady 'in charge.')

after i answer the silly questions i am sent to the hall to retrieve the other girl. i look up. i look down. no one. she had left her folder on a table. ...so i guess i won by default.

then the lady said she liked me and would call me, but she had this expression that said, 'im lying to you right now, i cant believe no one but you showed up.' it was funny. i wouldnt have worked for her even if she begged me.

2. i finally found a way to make money. i was summoned for jury duty. $12. i really enjoyed myself. first i took a shuttle to the courthouse. then i sat in a room that looked like a bus stop for 3 hours while i read steinbeck and talked to the two ladies next to me. then my number got called. i was filed into another busstop area with 26 other people. i recognized one of the girls, she dated an old high school friend. i didnt say anything because it didnt look like she remembered, and even if she did, i hate seeing people who havent seen me in 2 years because i inevitably have to discuss hairloss.

then we were very slowly escourted to the criminal courthouse and very slowly put into some sort of order unknown to us, and very slowly shuffled into the courtroom. as soon as we sit down we are told to rise for the honorable judge. then as soon as we sit down again he tells us to go to lunch. stupid.

the line at subway was epic. out the door for over an hour. i felt so bad for those minimum wage workers.

then we get back in and spend like 4 hours being asked questions. and being forced to listen to stupid answers to the questions. especially this one guy who wasnt all there. the question was 'have you been affiliated with any political campaigns in the last two years?' and this guy. this guy was overweight, thick glasses, greasy hair,and had on a fanny pack. his response to this question was something about how he made a belt for president kennedy, and how it didnt fit and he had to put an extra hole in it. and then he just randomly, in the middle of his rambling, said 'and goldplated fingernail clippers.' everyone laughed. it was too weird to properly explain.

then the question was asked, 'do you recognize anyone in this room?' i was under oath, so i stood up and said i did. they asked who. i said, well i dont know her name. they said can you point to her. so i pointed and said, the girl with the pink hair. she looked at me like a stranger of course. and everyone looked at me like i was insane. it was uber awkward and pointless.

then finally, the jury was picked. it was something like 10 girls and one dude, which seems biased. the trial was about some guy who stole $26,000 or so from the community colleges. he looked super creepy.

i was so glad i didnt get picked because i really didnt want the responsibility of deciding where that guy lives for the next 10-15.

3. me and kevin were excited. our boy dan was coming in town for a one night only reunion. we planned a night of bar game competition. darts, pool, shuffle board... but after darts (which dan won in the coolest way possible, see pic) we called sam, our old college buddy, and found out he was willing to hang. he is also a tough one to get face time with so we dropped the competition. dan wouldve won it all anyways, who are we kidding?

so we left to go meet sam at brennans. oh yea, meet sam. sam is a baller. he likes nice things and he likes to take care of his friends. he is tons of fun. but anyways, on the way there dan opens the van side door and jokingly yells at a guy on a bike 'gas guzzler!' or something silly like that at a red light. this yahoo freaks out and comes over to the van and starts yelling at us telling us we are pussies and using alot of expletives. dan and kevin lock their doors. and i proceed to get really pissed. this moron who is void of humor is touching my van and my friends just sat there. i mean come on, there are three of us!

as we drove away and left the biker in our dust, i stopped being pissy as i realized that kevin actually kept his cool. this made me happy that kevin was still happy because for the past year he has been wanting to fight anything that moves : )

so we make it to brennans (a wine/cigar bar in the central west end) and meet sam at his bmw. we proceed to have a fantastic night of socializing and merriment. during which time sam asked if we needed a job. i didnt take it too seriously, bc he has dangled this in front of me in the past, but told him i was interested.

4. two days later, sam calls and tells me to come in for an interview.

i dress up, go to u.s. fidelis, and prepare myself for a grueling interview. and then sam meets me at the lobby. apparently he is my interviewer! we just chat a little bit about the job and i fill out an app and he says, alright you got the job. it was the coolest thing ever.

so now i am in the presales dept at a car warranty provider. every day i get to see my good friend sam, which makes the day pretty easy. not to mention he has a guitar in his office which i play every lunch break. god is cool. i will tell more work details next blog...

also, i moved into my sister carries house because it cuts the commute in half. i am super excited. and they seem to be as well because of nights like tonight. i am babysitting whilst they go have a life.

i do miss the city. i do miss the outdoors. but i am quite happy with this season of life and am trying my best to enjoy this day and not think about all the potential the future holds.