Last Monday...

It was 2 PM; the sunlight painted stripes around the room as it poured in through the blinds. I'd just sat down for a hot breakfast: 2 fried eggs, two "sausage" patties, a bagel with cream cheese & jelly, and a cup of coffee blacker than Dick Cheney's heart.

Okay, swap the coffee for orange juice.

The phone rang. There was a dame on the other end. She needed help. My help.

"~@#%&*(*--sa, calling fr-- !#$%*(# Kr-#%&*(@$^ You $*^&(#% job #@@%$^# production artist $^##@!$%^#$^#!*(&)(* interview?"

I needed help, too. Help from a cell phone service provider for better coverage and clearer calls.

The food cooled off, but I warmed up as the dame kindly read the script for the second take. She wanted to see me as soon as possible, either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Why put off for tomorrow what you can do today?

The dame told me where to show up, and who my contacts were. The address is in Soho - that'll bump up my price a bit. These people have money, and they ain't shy about spending it.

I arrived at the site early for a little reconnaissance work. The receptionist handed me a glass of water - a real glass, not some paper cup. This place was definitely on the up and up.

One of the contacts came out to work me over. We found a little hole in the wall to continue our little song & dance. It turns out, he did two years of hard time for a former client of mine. It's like they say, it's a small world.

In this business, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

He asked if I would take the case. I was honest - my well ran dry two months ago, and I've been scraping by with the cement shoes I got as a going-away present.

He gave me the nickel tour of the joint, but considering the ritzy digs, I shoulda given him a portrait of Andrew Jackson for his trouble. The view there is pretty nice, too, and I'm not referring to the skyline. I haven't seen this many long walking sticks since I first came to this seedy city.

Then the dame who would make or break my day showed up. She fed me a buncha promises I've heard before, but those were all broken by some fly-by-nighters. She laid her cards out on the table without crossing her fingers.

I felt like I just hit Blackjack.

She asked me if I wanted to take her case.

That was a silly question.

---------------------

"So, do you want to work here?"

"Yes!"

"Okay. When can you start?"

"Tomorrow."

"See, I feel bad, because we just found a temp to start tomorrow, but I'd rather train one person instead of two. See you at 9:30?"

"You bet!"

Best job interview ever.

My primary job is to put together ads for magazines. I'm not doing any creative work. They toss me a design, and I format it for the different sized mags.

Did I mention that it's all lingerie ads? And that most of the women here look like models? Sure, they're all taken, but who cares?

The downside is, of course, being the new guy. Lunch time is the most awkward, so I try to postpone my break until everyone else is done. There's roughly 20 people there, most of which are in their early 20s to mid 30s. They're all the cool, Williamsburg hipster types, who basically have their shit together and are happy. Their dad owns a factory, their fiancee is an actress, yadda yadda yadda. I'm pretty jealous of all these fuckers.

Last Friday was the last day for one of them, so there was a party. There's a stocked bar, an HDTV, and a Wii. I was invited to play, but didn't feel like joining in. I felt like getting the hell out of there, which I did at precisely 6:01 PM.

Therapy sessions have been moved to Tuesday nights at 6:40 PM. This gives me enough time to get to the hospital from work.

The other problem I've been having is lack of sleep. I get up at 6:30 AM so I can cook breakfast and take a hot shower (two roommates, three other house mates. Hot water on a weekday morning is scarce). I can relax a little with the spare time. But being the nocturnal freak, I can't fall asleep until 2 AM. It's easier this week, but not by much.

There's other stuff going on, but I'm not going to say anything yet. But 2008 is looking better & better.