Author: Dan Rhatigan

Poingnant exchange of the day:

Adam: Wow, it’d nice to be in love.

Me: Yeah, those were the days.

So I spent most of the weekend in Staten Island, my old stomping grounds. Friday night I went to see my folks at Aunt Lee and Uncle John’s house before Mom and Dad took off for Florida again. All my dad’s brothers were in town with my aunts, which was a nice bonus. It was very satisfying to sit around gabbing with the folks and my aunts and uncles. Believe it or not, I actually enjoy spending time with my family.

Saturday I went over to Adam‘s swanky Staten Island loft to hang out for the day. We met up with two totally fun friends of his — Eva and Sally — and drove around for a while, visitng an amazing little old-school luncheonette and a great used furniture store. Later that night the ladies came back over to Adam’s and we goofed around while salsa dancing, playing with Adam’s didgeridoo and bull-roarer, Watching The Matrix (which I manage to like more and more every time I see it) and Aliens, and playing Bust A Groove, a totally nutty Playstation game where you win by dancier funkier than your opponents.

It’s always very trippy for me to drive around Staten Island, especially if I’m having fun. I hated living there so much when I was growing up, and I went to such efforts to make sure I never had to move back once I left for college, that it’s kind of a mind-fuck for me to go back and find all these fun places to go and cool people ot hang out with there. I actually get these rushes of nostalgia about my adolescence there, suggesting that I did a better job of making the most of it than I always think I did.

Well, that’s it. since no one really cares about the nerdy truth that the new M-word actually starts next year, last night basically was it. Which is fine by me.

I actually enjoyed myself this year, believe it or not. I NEVER enjoy New Year’s Eve. Last year was a looming disaster in Boston, the year before was a massive allergy attack in Brazil. I could go on and on. Last night was awesome, until my delight was squelched by my companions for the evening. Just as I was reveling in the fact that I was enjoying myself trememdously at this totally swank DJ event in a loft in Williamsburg, I turned around and Jim told me that my friend Vincent and his two friends wanted to leave. Oh well, at least I got to hear and excellent segue of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” into Rob Base before I left. We wound up back at my place with me grumpy, Jim sleepy, and the boys chatty. Oh well…

Overall, though, I must say that this holiday season went of without a hitch, once all the school nonsense was over. Christmas was lovely and warm and fuzzy, the week after was a great time to catch up and see a bunch of friends and relax around the house, I’m entertaining a few houseguests for the weekend now, and I met cool people from Thirteen who I’d never spoken to before when I went to meet Adam for lunch on my unexpected day off from work. Much better than last year’s total train wreck of a holiday season.

I was actually musing yesterday about how different life is from this point last year. I can do that a lot, actually, since I’m so fickle about apartments and jobs. But last year to this was quite a leap. I’m a little lonely now, but otherwise things are OK, and at least I’ve learned from one of the biggest mistakes I ever made.

Christmas-Eve Eve, and I still hate Christmas. Basically, I like Thanksgiving a lot better than Christmas. I love spending time with my family, and I love getting away for a day or two, but Thanksgiving doesn’t get in the way of my day-to-day craziness the way Christmas does. Christmas is the source of so much more obligation that it takes away all the fun of showering people with love. Bah humbug. But love to all.

Special shout-outs to people who sent me really sweet Christmas cards or messages. I’m sorry that my phone phobia has spread to e-mail and cards lately, and I haven’t responded properly. Big hugs to all you guys.

I did have a great Christmas party at work last week, though. Perhaps the first official Christmas party for work I’ve ever attended that I actually liked. There are many benefits to working at a small, friendly company where you like everyone. One of them is not the oft-repeated question about whether or not I have someone to bring to the Christmas party. Aside from the general sting of being reminded that I don’t have anyone to bring, it makes me glad that I haven’t settled down in Connecticut like everyone else there, however.

But I did bring my friend Adam to see the Candy Butchers at Brownie’s the other night. In case you know who the Candy Butchers are, rest assured that it was a great, fun show. If you don’t know, you should learn to love them like I do.

We kicked ass on Friday. Fragile was a huge success at our presentation to the Pratt faculty. We dressed down for the presentation to make it look like we were in the midst of moving (that was the point of the book, after all), and I threw in a little editorial commentary by wearing a t-shirt that read “I HATE DOING THIS SHIT.” I don’t know how many of the faculty realized how much editorializing I was actually doing, but I suspect hat the chairman of the department got the point.

So I end my second illustrious attempt at graduate school with a similar record as the first — A solid “A” to match every incomplete. Except I’m letting those incompletes turn into failures at Pratt, because I don’t think I’ll be needing a transcript again. And if I do, I’m willing to explain why I aced upper-level courses and failed basic requirements.

I ran into Mel Byars, the professor for my “History of Communication Design” course, who was wondering why I stopped going to class after Thanksgiving, missing the second paper and the final class presentation. I explained my desire to devote what little time I had to my studio class, and he told me that my first paper (on Piet Zwart) was the best in the class, and that he wanted me to submit it to the Pratt library, which inexplicably had no reference material on Zwart. so he thanked me for being a pleasure in class, and urged me to send the paper in to the Pratt librarian. Pretty good for a failure, I guess.

The only real disappointment of the day was that I realized that this one really handsome guy I’d been seeing around the Puck Building was one of the CommD faculty, and I never got to talk to him, even though I think he’s been checking me out. Maybe he was just smiling at the t-shirt, though. Oh well, another day, another lost opportunity.

My brain hurts too much to think properly right now. If my last semester of grad school has taught me anything, I have learned:

• I am much too old and weary to pull all-nighters. Last night I went to bed after 36 straight hours of school work, regular work, wandering around in the rain to find a Kinko’s whose Fiery printer was working, and being generally miserable.
• Group projects can really blow chunks. A corollary to this: When you spot a bad apple at the beginning of the semester, you know he won’t rally at the end.
• Group projects can also help you bond really well with people you like. Many thanks to my fellow survivor’s of Fragile.
• Pratt really needs to get its shit together.

In other news, I’m loving work despite the sleep deprivation. God only knows if I’ll be able to get to work tomorrow, seeing as there’s a threat of a city-wide transit strike. I’ll probably have to ride my bike to Grand Central, and I bet the streets are gonna look like Beijing.

If the MTA goes on strike, I think we’ll see a lot of people beating the crap out of transit workers.

P.S.: I hate Christmas.

In my cold-induced delerium last week I failed to notice that Friday was not the 13th, but actually the 12th, so there is no superstitious reason for my counter resetting. Now I just know I lost count after all that traffic. Pain in the butt.

But not a pain as big as the one in my throat. Thanks to the effects of a week-long bout of a runny nose, my tonsils have swollen to impossible new dimensions. It feels like I’m choking on a pair of eggs. At least they don’t seem to actually be infected. I can’t wait for the day when I have the time to rip these babies the hell out!

I drive again tomorrow. Clear the streets!

I drove a car for the first time last night. In case anyone needs to justify their fear of driving in New York, let me point out that my driving school had no qualms about putting me behind the wheel for the first time at night, during the tail end of rush hour, and making me drive around the maze-like, pedestrian-filled streets of the West Village. This did not do very good things for my frazzled nerves. Obviously, this driving thing is gonna take some time for me to get the hang of. I can understand now why people suggest starting out in a big, open parking lot. Every time I was trying to get the feel for how fast or slow the damn thing would go, or how much it would actually turn in response to how I turned the steering wheel, there was suddenly a cab’s headlights in my peripheral vision, and some guy walking a dog in front of me.

I was feeling very fragile when it was all over. If I were you, I’d stay away from that neighborhood at 10:00 next Thursday, when I have my second lesson.

I hate it when I don’t pick up new things right away. But it’s high time I tackled this driving thing once and for all.

In case you’ve been following the story, I would like to confirm that I have indeed taken a full-time job again. I am leaving behind grad school and my assortment of freelance jobs to work as a “Product support specialist” for Miles 33 International. That job title doesn’t really describe what I’ll be doing very well, but let me just say that it looks to be the closest I’ve gotten yet to knitting together my twin fixations on graphic design and hardcore computer stuff. (Web site design just doesn’t cut it, in my book.) Among other things that are more difficult to describe, I’ll eventually do something about that unfortunate web site of theirs. As an added perk (a very comfortable salary and interesting work being the main advantages), I’ll get to do a bunch of travelling. Whoopee! Kansas, here I come! Actually, even though some domestic travel would be a nice change of pace, I really have my fingers crossed for a couple of opportunities to get back down to south America. I’m also looking forward to having good health and dental insurance again, and freeing myself from the shackles of debt.

No, I will not be moving to Connecticut to be near the office in Darien — I will take the train. Yes, I am finally getting my driver’s license. (Ah, the passing of an era…) No, The Kanes and I will not be abandoning MegaTINY. Yes, I am quitting grad school.

As a treat in honor of all this. I bought myself a DVD player. Mmmmmmmm, sexy…