Just Dandy
2006-05-01 3:04 a.m.
It�s funny that someone mentioned online dating sites recently. I found myself browsing a couple last month. A few years back, I recall posting here about a job offer I had in Hawaii to work with an up-and-coming competitor to one of the MAJOR online dating sites. Unfortunately, the offer was weak. Fortunately, they went under 6 months after I turned them down.Anyways, back then, I�d set up a few profiles on a few sites to see how they worked. Gotta understand the opponent to devour the opponent. I just set up very basic and simplistic profiles, no pic or nothing just to get a general idea of how they were set up.
4 years later and a 3500 miles away, I was cleaning out my inbox looking for an old client email for some legal issue and came across the welcome emails to a few of those sites. I went in and being that I had a solid buzz, decided to update my profile in an inebriated state.
2 days later I have emails from one chick who I wouldn�t offer directions to much less my name and number per her request and another who looked like a man. I mean, technically she looked like she was probably a woman, but seriously, she looked like a dude. And her profile pic was a pic with Ice Cube, which just brought out the giggle.
Anyways, I�m not sure I could roll that way. Shit I won�t even buy a lap dance at a strip club in Vegas. Nor do I entertain slightly promising conversations at bars any more. The bar and dating scene just seems to have a moldy feel to it for me now. Musty, a lil rank� a bit putrid� the possibility of a short term cure for infection but overall just moss on a lonely damp log. (I guess that can be seen in a few different lights)
I�m just not feelin it. Shit, the most interesting prospect I�d found in a bar in the not too distant past was when I turned around and insulted an entire crowd. The one who stepped forward to disagree held my full attention until I let her slip away. Far longer than most.
I guess I�m just looking for something different. I literally grew up in a bar. The idea of finding much there is about as enticing as a soaked bar rag on a Monday morning after a holiday weekend.
But it�s not so much that I�m looking. I have a couple people in mind. A couple who�ve held my attention over the years, who I can�t seem to shake. But I�m not specifically chasing. Just living.
So I�m still holed up. Though I�m beginning to break the hibernation mold. Again, a year in solitude after a move. Just a means of getting my bearings, I suppose.
And the year anniversary to LA is marked with a visit with SM and M for a chill night of spades, smoke and drink. Shit, even if I�m basically celibate, at least I can enjoy a fun evening with some beautiful friends. I don�t get shit for turning down the smoke anymore. They figure it�s a lost cause. I mean damn, I�d retired the name nearly a decade ago � bout time the choice gets some respect.
Otherwise, all�s well. Been putting in mad work, but for the first time I feel like a full fledged pro. No matter how well I�d handled myself in meetings, I�d always had this underlying feeling of �why are you rich bastards paying me all this money to do shit?� It takes a long time to shake the whole ghetto-kid-in-a-strange-world thing. Now I feel like a pro. Not in any cocky sense. I have more than enough vanity and feel it�s wasted on shallow business types (though I generally refuse to work with those shmucks anyways � ah the freedoms of being one�s own boss). But the confidence in my voice is now warranted.
Which means things may grow boring in the near future. I�m hoping not. At least give me a couple years of prosperity before I start getting bored with this. After all, this is the first thing of many that I�ve been exceptionally good at that didn�t bore me to death early on.
As for the gig overall, the jobs are growing. I just sat with a MAJOR record company to do some work. It wasn�t even a negotiation. I got the job without even having to pitch. I basically walked into an introductory meeting that was planning the next step. No pitch � no proposal, just a deadline and a budget. The way it should be.
And my boy J, who�s been hiding out in Italy for the past 8 years after getting into some shit is making his way back to the states. First stop� you got it... I can�t tell you how much of an honor it is to have him come here as a first stop. I guarantee he�ll be a best seller within the next 5 years. As long as I can convince him (or help with the nudge) to release his shit.
So that�s it. Silly profiles on miscellaneous dating sites� Master of my trade� a bit lonely (by choice) and too busy to notice on most days� Long lost brothers coming out of the woodwork� All in all, I�d say everything�s just dandy.