in writing about my travels and travails in 2000, i mentioned briefly mentioned `the project` but never got into any details about it. it wasn`t anything top secret but years later it`s still one of my favourite pieces in my portfolio.
first let me give you some background. i started in the advertising business as a typesetter but my interest in design was peaked one summer when i worked at a printery. we have a one color Heidelberg press that required a blood sacrifice before every job. the Heidelberg was an old fashioned letter press, you had to pick your letters and numbers out of a box, put them in a frame, add your leading and your spaces, use the kerning knife to scrape the sides of the letter blocks. then when you thought you were done, you locked the whole thing in place and you put on the press and ran a sheet to check. because of the sharp edges and the heavy blocks of type the likelihood that you`d get cut or squeeze your fingers in something was pretty high, hence the joke about the printer requiring a blood sacrifice. the owner of the printery had actually lost the top two knuckles of his right hand to the press before i even started there.
so with my interest in printing and design peaked, i started work at an advertising agency as a typesetter. this was in the early days of the transition to computer graphic design. we had 13 fonts on a Mac SE and the traditional designers would come in, specify a type and size they needed, i`d type it up and we`d send it out to one of two companies that actually had a laser printer at the time and if we didn`t have the typeface on the computer, we could request one that the output house had. and if they didn`t have it, there was good old Letraset.
i could go on reminiscing about the good old days but they only lasted about a year and a half and that`s a story for another day. the agency i worked for, had the fortune and misfortune of having my name on the building. the fortune being, when i called vendors, they usually responded, the misfortune being people thought i was a close relative of the owner and expected me to coast along. coasting is not my speed. i spent five years at the agency and then they merged and they were filled with art directors and creative directors and more designers than you could shake a stick at, so i requested a lateral promotion to the sys admin job that i`d been doing and they denied me, so i quit and the agency imploded.
i did freelance design for a little while and then i got lured back into another agency and the only job i`d ever been fired from. which in itself is strange because the guy that fired me recommended me for another job and everytime i ask, writes the most glowing references. after i left that job, i swore that i was out of the advertising industy for good and like all such threats, it went the way of the dinosaur. in three months i was back at another agency thinking i was going to be working with a creative director i had a great deal of respect for. his last day was the day i started, which was interesting to say the least. they hired another creative director who i got along with fabulously but i had problems with management so i quit, not just burning that bridge but applying copious amounts of dynamite on my way out. hoping against hope that i wouldn`t get sucked back into advertising again.
fortuitously, at the same i left that job, a friend of mine offered me a place in his studio doing pretty much whatever helped pay my way and about a month after i started that, i got a job being webmaster for the national airline, which is a whole batch of stories on its own.
during my first trip to London, an ex introduced me to a friend of hers who was running a production company. they did promotion for up and coming artists, urban marketing and trend prediction and what turned out to be their last hurrah as a company they organised the Playstation 2 launch in London.
working on this project actually completely disenfranchised me with advertising and marketing in Trinidad, which always was and still is a hard sell. this launch was subtle, everyone on the planet knew what a PS 2 so why make launch a hard sell, instead they went with Mi Corazon, the Summer of Low Rider.
the concept was to bring Lowrider culture from LA to London. and it wasn`t going to be a half measure; cars, bikes, people, all had to be organised, paid for, transported and hosted. and the people who couldn`t make it, had to be photographed and recorded. it was a logistical nightmare and my job in all of this?
i designed the logo, the powerpoint presentation and the website and keep the computers running. i had a blast. i`d never worked on a project of that magnitude and this was the real world. in Trinidad, everyone knew who i was and knew my work, here i was in London, a tiny, insignificant fish in a huge pond and my work could stand the test.
i realised as i was writing this, aside from the logo, i don`t have anything else for this project. the cd that i`d backed up that years work on is scratched and damaged so all the image files that make up the website are inaccessible. i should try harder to recover those materials, because without this project i don`t think i would have had the confidence to make a lot of changes in my life since then.
it`s also kind of weird in this day and age, where you can google anything i can`t seem to find anything about the event.
we’re going to be down to one car for most of the month of january and we’ve been trying to figure out how to handle the hectic schedules of three people that have to go in basically three different directions on a daily basis.
about half a block down our street is a bus stop, but in the almost two years that we’ve lived there we can count on the fingers of one hand how many times we’ve actually seen a bus and two of those occasions have been in the last week. but with such an auspicious sign, i decided to go look at the schedule. not that schedules mean much to the nashville mta, a couple years ago when we were still a one car family i decided for the sake of practicality to take a bus home. it should not have been a big deal, i would get to the stop before the night schedule began and get home at some reasonable hour. the best laid plans of mice and men… i waited for close to an hour with sight of a bus and when i did see one it was off duty.
i like public transportation, if it functioned properly here, i would be the first person to stop driving. i grew up using the public transportation system in trinidad and that was mostly dysfunctional at best. when i interned in NY, it took a couple of weeks, but once i figured out the schedule, i could get from one side of town to the next with the greatest ease, moving from bus to subway and back again. in london, vic’s visit was made infinitely easier with week long family passes and one of the high points was sitting at the front on the top level of a double-decker bus and taking our own public transport tour of st. paul’s and the house of parliament instead of the extravagant grey line tours.
school reopens next week and i think we’re going to give the boy chick a shot of taking the bus home a couple days a week and see how it works out. as much as i would like to make this a regular thing, the nashville mta is far to flawed to make it practical. in a city as spread out as nashville, there are not enough routes. couple that with obligatory transfers at the central hub downtown, it makes any sort of crosstown commute within a reasonable time frame impossible.
i’m back. safely and in one piece. been back since friday, just haven’t got the motivation to write anything before today.
as much as i generally dislike american, i have to say i was impressed, all my flights were early. don’t know if it’s the days i flew but we left on time and arrived early. although flying through MIA, i’m not sure how much of a blessing that is.
miami international airport is one of the worst airports i’ve ever been in. classing it with third world airports would be an insult to those airports. it’s grimy, it’s hot, even at night and you’re hard pressed to find a power outlet. that may be my own pet peeve, but how the hell could you not have a power outlet at the gate of an international flight?
trinidad was… wow. too many cars, not enough roads. so much construction. i vaguely remember the oil boom of the late 70s, early 80s and the behaviour seems very reminiscent of those halcyon days, but we all remember how those ended.
thank you all for you condolences.
i am the master of finding cheap fares; for other people. i`ve done it for my mother in law, i`ve done it for friends. i can find that really cheap ticket with the minimum of fuss. somehow i can never do the same for myself.
i`m trying to get my daughters here for the summer and currently the cheapest fare i can find is in the $800 each, to get them to Nashvegas and that doesn`t include the surcharge for children travelling alone.
i miss the girls and i want to see them, but there is no way i can afford that and conversely flying to Trinidad will cost even more, because even though the fares are marginally cheaper, we would need to fly all three of us, plus accommodation and transport while we`re there. plus all the `cheap` fares i`m finding require us to be gone from anywhere between three to five weeks. neither of which we can afford either.
my job situation is still iffy. i`m on probation for a month, which can be extended at my boss` discretion and i`m firmly of the belief that the nanosecond she finds someone or our busy season ends, i`m out the door. i`ve got feelers out but no nibbles yet.
i hate being fucking broke and stressing about money.
the radio stations here in Nashvegas that advertise the night`s upcoming sitcoms with these little sound bites. based on the little snippets and the canned laughter, it`s a wonder anyone watches television at all. but then my sense of humour is considered dark and obscure in some circles and downright evil in others.
today is the beginning of the lenten season and even though i don`t make new year`s resolutions, the lapsed Catholic in me seems determined to continue the tradition of giving something up for lent. i can`t remember what i gave up for lent last year, or if it was one of those good intentions that got lost in the midst of the migration.
it`s hard to believe that it`s been almost a year since i got here, time flies when you`re having fun. i`ve been going over the paperwork for our next pitched battle with the USCIS; the status change; and i realised that once we submit this application i can leave the country and return with problems. which lifts a heavy burden from my mind. with that in mind i`ve been trying to price fares for a jaunt home; so i can see my girls, the boy chick can meet and charm his extended family; but the fares are ridiculous. the cheapest fare i found for Christmas has us changing planes three times and cost $635 each. you could buy a car for that. i can always magic cheap fares for everyone but somehow it never works for me, but we`ll see how things develop for the rest of this year.
that`s how i feel today.
i always had respect for flight attendants and after yesterday`s short haul in a monkey suit and uncomfortable shoes, my appreciation increases. the presentation went fairly well and all three blocks of Silver Spring, MD and the sections of highway i observed to and from the airport were all very lovely.
i managed to get back home in one piece despite the inclement weather in Nashville, that was the remnants of Ivan. we got delayed out of Baltimore and then put on an advisory meaning that at the pilot`s discretion we could be diverted to another airport or returned to Baltimore. luckily neither of those things happened and most of the bad weather were the vicious crosswinds just prior to the smoothest landing i have every experienced.
i`m sure i had something intelligent and worthwhile to contribute when i started writing this, but my exhaustion is getting the better of me and i am unable to form coherent thoughts.
but i only going as far Baltimore, for the day. it`s not a trip i`m entirely thrilled about. i`m going with my boss to a presentation. i`m not sure if it`s the superfluous nature of my presence at this presentation or that i miss my almost daily lunch with vic or the fact that i have to wear a suit and tie all day. i think of the three, the suit might be the greatest irritant, one of the reasons i enjoy my job is that i generally don`t have to dress for success, i can go to work on most days in ratty jeans and flip flops.
i like flying, i`m exceeding comfortable in air planes; i should be, i`ve been doing it for 33 years now. i flow all manner of commercial aircraft excluding the concorde; which is my loss, i believe; and they hold no fear for me. i know smaller aircraft are safer than their bigger compatriots. there used to be a website called amigoingdown.com that i would frequent before i got on a flight and it would calculate the odds of a crash based on airline, type of aircraft, destination and point of departure, sadly it`s no longer around.
in the last four years i`ve logged a lot of frequent flyer miles, in 2000 alone, i logged enough to join bwia`s platinum preferred programme. i think however; between my inability to leave the country, the cost of travel for two adult and a child and wanting to spend as little time as humanly possible away from vic; that my flights are going to be limited to little jaunts like these for a while to come and being a flight junkie, i`m just going to have to take my little fixes where i can.
well this has been a 50 | 50 day, my job still sucks, but i just sent one of my best freelance pieces on it’s way to turkey. it’s beautifully printed.
so i’m pretty much cruising this evening. satisfaction comes in the simplest of sources sometimes.
in other news, i was listening to the radio in a taxi on the way home, and it was tuned to one of the religious stations and a pastor who shall be hereafter called ‘moreover’ rant about what a bunch of adulterous heathens all of us people who divorced and remarried but the kicker was about the woman’s role. basically, if your husband is beating you, stick around, it’s your biblical role to take some blows. i was in too good a mood to flip out, smack the taxi driver and demand he change that station.
which brings me to the question of the day, do people actually believe this? what sort of god would condone this?
this rant is brought to you by the letter M, used in words like magnificent, married, moral, mighty, moron, morose, munch, mental, mince, monday, meeting, mandate, more…
thank you and good night.
