12.25.06

‘I don’t want something I need. I want something I want ‘

Posted in Uncategorized, Life at 7:19 am by Fletcher

So, I was bored out of my skull on Friday night, stuck as usual working the night shift at the ol’ occupational hemorrhoid. I hate the day before a holiday weekend, its either busier than I can stand it or dead to the point of throwing office supplies at coworkers to stave off the boredom.

After surfing the width, length, breadth and depth of the Internet - I turned back to my inbox, hoping that someone was equally bored and sent me a email. Turns out, The Director did. He asked if I was going to drop by the pub, and after the tedium worming its way into my cranium, a pint, chat and cute waitresses were the cure I was looking for.

Jump ahead a few hours to the door, Craig working his usual bouncer evil eye, nailing me in the beam of his flashlight, bellowing ‘I thought I told you NEVER come in here again!’ of course every eye in the place was on me at that moment, beet red and looking for a convenient rock to crawl under. Craig laughs at my embarrassment as I get a hug from one of the waitresses. Craig beams, “Damn, for a white boy, you get real red!’

The pub is relatively quiet, for a change. Guess the Murray Hill crowd has better things to do on a rainy holiday Friday night, which suits me fine. The waitresses that haven’t been cut offer hugs and Xmas greetings, showing off new clothes and jewelry, hoping for an early out. The Director greets me warmly, recovering from a nasty cold. He runs up to the office and returns with a small wrapped present, which I tear open.

It’s a coffee mug. With the ‘Sovereignty’ logo emblazoned upon it. The logo I helped design. My first piece of movie merchandising. And I had a hand in its creation. I’m speechless, visions of what other items like this are in my future. The ‘Romantic Comedy’ t-shirt, the ‘Serial Killer’ Wheaties box… Its the coolest thing I’ve gotten in a long time.

I tell the Director just how awesome its is, and he asks what my plans are for the holiday. I tell him about the dinner I’m making for Saturday night, painting and working on the animation for ‘Sovereignty’ and he gets a weird look on his face. ‘You know,’ he says conspiratorially, ‘when the whole thing went down, I took it in stride, didn’t get too worked up - but the fact that everything came to a standstill, it really got to me.’ Damn my laziness. I forget sometimes that these team efforts are often fueled by the energy and enthusiasm of its members. And if its animation the man needs to get back into that particular saddle, then animation is what he’ll get…

And then the bar inexplicably fills up with yuppie guidos, causing a lot of work for the remaining staff and annoying the hell out of me with their lack of manner, so I depart, visions of movie making in my head…

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