The Neighbors, Drama Queens, Angelique, Wristbands, a Blender and Ms. OddJobs

Our neighbors have decided to build an addition on their home. That's cool except they start their construction at around 7 or 7:30 every morning. We don't want to complain as nobody has ever complained when we're mixing a song at 2 or 3 in the morning. Live and let live.

But..........it has driven us out of our hermit like existence just to escape the noise.

DRAMA QUEEN
And so...due to the drama of our currently hospitalized drug addict friend and the very local construction pounding, a few days ago, we decided to leave our isolation and drive to Glendale for an adventure at Borders. We used to go there when we first got sober and just pull the web design books off the shelves and read them without buying them. Hence, our side careers as web designers with a free education. (Thanks, Borders!)

I don't usually go for the fiction aisles these days as I have been so serious and hellbent on learning and making money but on this escapism day, I headed straight to the new releases in paperbacks and found this little lightweight number, Drama Queen. I gave it my usual test. I read the first five pages. Then I put it down. Off I went to the magazine rack. Hm.....Vogue Knitting...got it. Family Circle Knitting....don't want it. Not much else here. Meandered upstairs. Found Designing Knitwear. Liked it. Found Bam again. Well actually, I had to phone him on his cell and say, "Where are you in this place?" Then I found him reading a fancy AFter Effects book. By now the Drama Queen book was calling me and I knew I was a sucker. Had to have it. NOW. Of course, I didn't bother purchasing any knitting books. Just the lightweight throwaway summer read.

My favorite part is where she wakes up bright and early to job hunt and when she looks at the clock, she realizes she has done nothing and somehow managed to waste 5 hours of this doing nothingness habit.

Yes.
I'm good at that, too.

Little miss busy here can kill hours of time just meandering around our house and wondering what to do next.
Or surfing the net for more yarn to buy. (which often leads to other sites...like looking at new cars that I can't afford or real estate and wondering how to buy a house.....)
Or looking at pattern books.
Or thinking about what I SHOULD be doing!

anyway........

Bam has this theory that whatever pen/pencil he picks up and writes with, it is infused with the energy of the person who last used it. Therefore, his writing can change alot.

I think the same theory applies to whatever book I'm reading. (When I actually ALLOW myself to buy a book and read it these days which is rare.) So thanks to Drama Queen, I am feeling like writing a lot, writing the rock n roll adventures and misadventures of my life so far. Or at least, writing a longer blog entry than normal! I am most definitely infused with the voice of that author in my own rambling, babbling manner.

ANGELIQUE'S
Primarily because Bam is such an amazing chef, we never go out to eat. But yesterday, again due to the hammering, drilling, sawing neighbors....we took off to this wonderful and unique French cafe in downtown LA. We drank double espresso's and had a yummy lunch at Angelique's complete with French waiters and decent prices. The atmosphere is bizarre as its in the skinniest building in LA and while you're dining, vagrants and prozzies are walkin along the streets. I saw the same cop car circle the block 4 times. It made for a very interesting and my version of a fabulous gourmet dining experience! Not for the faint of heart for sure. But the entrees were exquisite and nicely proportioned ....and the apple tart at the end was magnifique! hmmmmmmmm.........

What I wanna know is.............who is this Angelique bird? She must be awesome because the decor is so very lovely New Orleans wrought iron and bright color fun.

FIXATIONS
After such a mad day, I was happy to see some Cascade Fixation in the mailbox that I'd ordered online to try out for wristbands. I've been so annoyed with my wristband attempts. They look great but they're a pain to get on and off. Too tight. Too loose. This is not good. So I got out the cotton/lycra fixation and did up a quickie wristband last night. Voila.

Not bad. It's not quite the punky effect I'm going for but it's a start. I may have to alter the pattern for the next one to make it look more raggedy. But at least I can put it on without cutting off my blood circulation!

BLENDER
No. It's not the kind of Blender you put your margarita mix in and get loopy on a hot summer day. It's the kind that is all entertainment and I would die to get in. But I guess, I wouldn't die because they graciously offered to do a piece on me yesterday. But it was for a regular column called "LIFE AFTER ROCK" and was gonna make me out to be a knitter who USED TO ROCK. ouch. I was flattered they found this here blog but crushed by the unimportance of my current band, Bubble. Maybe I'm stupid enough to think I do still rock or that anyone will care. But then without hope, what else is there? After much debate with Bam, ...well, 1 minute of fuck that. fuckin' fuck that. I called the guy who was VERY understanding when I said thanks, but no thanks. I mean, does this chick look like she USED to rock or maybe she still ROCKS?????????????
VIDEO SHOOT PICCIES HERE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

In the words of Monty Python........
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT............
Throughout my illustrious albeit up-and-down career as a musician, I've often wondered at how people buy houses, new cars, take trips etc etc etc. I used to ponder the help wanted ads and feel like a major loser. I mean, I never did the druggie/couch scene like many successful rockstars so that opportunity to fame and fortune was off the list. I had to support myself somehow. But I didn't want a job that would ask me to alter my look for said crappy day job...afterall, music comes first despite what Blender might think! Luckily, thanks to a friend who convinced a travel company to hire me, now I get to sell leisure travel to people who can afford this luxury and I do it from a desk in my home where nobody can see me. I set my own hours and am amazed that I get paid for this most of the time. Sometimes, I miss the old days when my overhead was lower and I barely worked at all and just existed from royalty check to royalty check....going out for coffee with friends, going shopping in used clothing stores, painting my nails each a different color. Ahhhhhhh..........those were the days of debauchery and wasted time.

But in the past..........my jobs were varied and typically quite short-lasting.

In the spirit of my little summer read where she is realizing her lack of job skills while at the same time being fairly intelligent and wondering how she only qualifies for minimum wage, I have listed some of the odd jobs I've attempted in my checkered past.

Reader for a blind person at a government Affirmative Action department in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
- this was odd in that he'd lost his sight at the age of 18 due to kids letting off firecrackers. He was very jaded and bitter (who wouldn't be?) and I didn't last long.

Avon Lady
- Hey, I was like 17 years old and desperate to make money. I was horrid at this as my makeup skills tend to be ...hmmm....slap on some eyeliner, smudge it around and hope for the best. Needless to say, I didn't sell much and got out before the embarassment was too much.

Deck Hand - Technically, this wasn't a job but I did have to scrape the barnacles off of the yacht in exchange for my passage to the Bahamas. We were in the Virgin Islands and then in Puerto Rico for the barnacle scraping. It came complete with outdoor freezing cold showers and trying to dodge the eyes of the locals while still getting clean. Also went gambling with a drug dealer. Very bizarre.

Phone psychic - in spite of my obvious intuitive qualities...I totally sucked at this! One of our friends got me into it because he made tons of cash giving advice while being stoned and watching Jerry Springer. I just couldn't keep people on the phone long enough and hated it everytime a call came through. Ick.

Shiatsu therapist - I got certified in 1993 or so and worked quite a bit as a massage therapist. But once I switched from bass to guitar with Bubble, my wrists could no longer take the strain. Bam is my only massage client nowadays.

Songwriter for Jesse Camp
- MTV veejay of the moment in 1999. This was strange cuz Jesse is more than a little odd. We were like a family with him for months in New York City and here in LA. He slept on our couch a couple of nights and for the most part, we felt bad for him but were still pissed off that he wouldn't bathe. He had so much press so fast and was a victim of the 'wanting to be a star at any price' disease. This illness is rampant now due to American Idol schlock. BUT.......thanks to Jesse, we got a nice publishing check and that allowed us to purchase the equipment that is now our recording studio.

So let's make it a TELL US YOUR WEIRD JOB LIST day.

Knitters........confess.
What have you done in the past that would never end up on a resume or would not get you any jobs if you did list it?

Comments

[catheryn]

Well the cyber gods are not looking down favorably at me right now so here it goes for the second time.

I am opting to play the weird job list.

While I was at Uni, I temped a bit one summer and managed to end up at a diamond dealer's office where I had to attempt to do his bookkeeping (not really that hard when there is no money coming in) Well his partner would call on a daily basis from Federal prison where he was serving a long time for being one of America's biggest embezzlers in history. Yes I noted this but desperately needed the money. Of course my check bounced once and that was it. Tired of his excuses, I quit luckily one day prior to the FBI swooping in the office and arresting him for jewel theft and lord knows what other activities. I did get a call from him a few years later from guess where, yup, Federal prison.

Another odd enough or crappy job in my short career was working at a health food company in Santa Monica. I was hired as an assistant and by my first day I was miraculously their office manager. By the second week, I was moved into the position of account managaress. Now they had not reconciled their books in over a year and the number of bounced checks that they had were insane. So after having another paycheck bounced on me, I walked out and luckily landed another job quickly. But this place was insane as most of the people brought changes of clothing to work on Monday. Why you might ask. Well most employees would work all hours of the day and night and sleep in the office not just one day a week but usually Monday until Saturday morning and when I objected to this I was looked down upon like I was the strange one.

Thanks for the restaurant referral, me and a friend were planning a field trip down to the garment district for beads and fabric and now we have somewhere to fine dine at on a budget. How can you go wrong????

And another thanks to you, Ms Share, I will be perusing the shelves at Borders tomorrow for Drama Queen. I need a little chick lit boost at the moment and this sounds delightful. The last one I read was "Don't Sleep with Your Drummer" that Paul picked me up for a laugh. Corporate girl quits her job to start a rock band, written in journal style. Very cute

See you on Tuesday, fingers crossed, I still have your paper yarn and magazine for ya.

[Lisa in Oregon]

No particularly odd jobs in my past...Just de-lurking to say I so identify with spending the day at Borders to escape reality, reading without paying, and spending wayyyyyy to much time thinking about stuff instead of doing it! Love your blog, ;) Lisa in Oregon

[Ellen]

Oh man, Share!
I have been living with construction next to our apt bldg for months! Even on Saturdays!!
It started off with the killing (cutting down) of three gorgeous trees, each easily many decades old. I am a real city girl, but watching those trees destroyed made me cry.
Every frickin' morning, there's the ceremonial dropping of the plank, or hammer, followed by whirring, beeping, banging, buzzing and my all-time favorite..the nail gun!
I can't escape it, 'cause I work at home.
Weird jobs...well, if we ever meet one day, I'll tell you in person, but it involves a several hundred pound farm hog....and no, it's not one of those Cinemax after dark scenarios. Eeeks!

[jessica~]

Hey - that bites about Blender. I walked by the current one yesterday and I thougt of you. I would have told them to shove the mag up their rears. They may have found this blog, but obviously didn't read it or they would've known about Bubble. Idiots.
I have worked 0 odd jobs. Nope. I'm a capricorn. I need stead, responsible jobs with mucho-benefits. How much do I suck?

Oh - you should try some of that great drop stitch action in one of your wristbands. It'd look punky, no? Ciao~

[Toni]

My "job sin" is that I've never done what I really wanted to do. Maybe if I had a clue I would've pursued it. I've always gone the safe route--steady jobs with benefits (mostly lame). Now that I'm in the process of career transition, I find myself at an organization that offers very little job satisfaction but awesome benefits. "Should I stay or should I go?" To quote Jessica "how much do I suck?" You know what's really sad? I'm an Aquarius, I'm supposed to be the stubbornly independent free spirit!

BTW, if Blender is so lame to think of you as a has been, then you're better off without 'em

Have a great week (o:

[Allison]

My oddest job was temping for a month at jewelry factory the summer after my first year of college. I would sit for hours drilling holes in beads and having to catch every bit of scrap since it was gold. Or hand polishing all of these keychains that were destined for Tiffany's. Of course I did learn to solder there and that's a useful skill but it just confirmed that I was not meant to do manual labor.

Of course, I haven't really figured out what I am meant to do yet. Until then, engineering pays the bills.

[rael estate glendale]

I would sit for hours drilling holes in beads and having catch every bit of scrap since it was gold.

[Emily]

I know that this was written a loooong time ago but I just ran across it and it cracked me up. I was a telephone psychic too! I had to have a psychic name and mine was "Astrid". I was 19 at the time and it allowed me to working my pajamas and smoke pot all day (a habbit which is now long gone). I didn't do very well and even though I picked up some decent checks I dreaded everytime the phone rang.