The interview ritual. Los interviewes ritualoso. A drag by any other name is still a drag.
Interesting happenstances on the job search today. Well, one started yesterday. Some agency, Advantage Human Resource located in the Jesus Chrysler building, saw my resume that I’ve sent out through various online job search engines. It seems, or so Neil said, that I would be perfect for an admin position for Goldman Sachs in Jersey City.

Sweet. Look at me, corporate whore! I laugh. After being ‘indie’ for so long, I find myself pimpin out my services to the best price I can get. I played the boho route, and it was fun, but had no health benefits. This scene has the benefits and I dress sharper. And dressing sharper is a benefit in itself. I enjoy it to the point of fetishizing.

The Jesus Chrysler building is an Art Deco marvel. I’d love to work in the office of Advantage Human Resources, but I’d probably fall out a window. They’re the old fashioned windows, probably like the kind in your apartment if you lived in Washington Heights. Why Washington Heights? I don’t know.

So I went and filled out their online application. Told the truth at the college part. Me no go. Me hang around smart people. Me sponge. They have pretty paper. Me have friends with pretty paper.

That actually hung me up years ago. I had an interview at Arista Records in the nineties, before I actually worked there. Had an interview with Naughty Aloyuisis, a nice A&R friend of my friend Jimmy B. It was going great. Very comfy and cozy. Then Shenequa entered the picture. She was Naughty’s boss. She sat in, looked at my resume and asked, “So, where did you go to college?”

I had to think fast. Columbia, big university. Could lose my records there somehow. NYU? Hip, sleek, modern. They’d have my records. Or maybe, yes, quite possibly, Bergen Community College. I told Suzanne, “ I didn’t go to college.” “Oh ok. Thanks for coming.” That was it. Interview over. Rani had no say in the matter and probably got chewed out by the the one named Shenequa.

I eventually got a job at Arista, working for Shenequa directly. She had no clue. She turned out to be mean to everyone but me and she was understanding when Zed died.
The fake diploma must’ve helped.

So I sat with Neil who says he holds the keys to the magic world of Goldman Sachs. I would be perfect. He was dragging it out, I was watching the clock. Then he ended the interview, and gave me an eighth of a ream of paper to fill out, telling me to just skip parts that I have questions about.

I started writing and realized what a pain in the ass this was. I also had to get back to the office. This was my lunch hour now going over 90 minutes.

But there was a ray of possibility, but not with Neil. I had an interview a few weeks ago at Skadden, the largest law firm in The USA. Bill works there as a temp and was able to get me in for an interview. That went well until I mentioned that Bill and I were partners. The woman, Laurie said that because of that, she wouldn’t be able to hire me. Nepotism. Bill didn’t know. I certainly didn’t. I said, ‘But we’re separated! It wasn’t legally binding!’ No dice.

So I figured my chance at bat with Skadden was over. But today, I got a call from Laurie who asked if it was ok to forward my resume to Lawrence a headhunter for the sixth largest bank in the world. Has a bone through his nose. Spanky’s Uncle. I spoke with Lawrence several times this morning, so I hope everything is progressing nicely.

So it was a very Zen interview day, though I still find them a drag. Whee!

I really hope he likes me.

Haunted by last night’s movie, Rent. It certainly was touching. Seasons of Love and the theme, No Day But Today mainly. Those are the most haunting songs for me at least. The walk home produced the two pictures last night with Bill. It was a good walk. The bus ride was nice too with Bill putting his arm around my shoulders. For those that don’t play on my team, a move like that upsets some people, when it’s between two guys.

We came home, I wrote, he went to bed. That’s where the real fun began. I won’t get into detail, but wow…

Drank 2 bottles of wine with Julio over the weekend. I had the average two day weekend, most everyone else had a four day weekend. We polished off the second half of a big bottle and then after that, moved onto the good stuff. One of the partners at work gave me a bottle of Ahnfeldt 2002 Merlot from the Napa Valley. It kicked our asses. Apparently, according to what I looked up online, it’s a 44 dollar bottle of wine. And they only made 200 or so cases. So it’s not in our usual price range. We’re not box wine drinkers, nor are we the screw top variety.

Not anymore at least.

So this wine kicked our asses. Mine more so. We even ate beforehand. I cooked burgers on the George. We watched the Bob Dylan movie, “Masked and Anonymous’. I really enjoy that flick, if only for his playing with his band. Some handsome guys in that band, though I thought they looked corny when I saw them all those years ago at the Beacon. Patti Smith opened, and she was the reason I went.

Was not so much into Bob then. We split halfway through his set. Patti was amazing. It was actually my first time seeing her. She didn’t wet herself. Neither did I.

After the movie, Julio buzzed along and watched SNL with Steve Carrell hosting and Kanye West as the musical guest. A pretty good repeat. Probably wouldn’t have stayed up to watch the whole thing if it wasn’t for the wine and the company. I’m not complaining, both were good.

I’d like to think it was a hangover from the wine that tainted part of the day. I had gotten so depressed over my work situation. It’s dire, at least mentally for me. It prevented me from enjoying things like reading the paper, though that in itself is usually depressing. I couldn’t even bring myself to listen to music. Julio helped get me out of the house, and into the city.

Twice in a weekend is major. I hardly ever do that. Not that I hate the city, just lay-zee. I do enjoy myself. We went to Niwaka so I could pick up my ring after I had it cleaned. Very nice and shiny. Looking like brand new. I promised myself that I won’t wash dishes with it on anymore. Don’t want to be lacking in luster. I like Niwaka, they tolerate my Japanese.

Co Nee Chi Wah, Origato, Hi. And a lot of bowing. All very new to me. I say Origato and they come out with a whole bunch of new words in Japanese. I blush. Julio, who could have a future as a diamond merchant if he only applied himself, was talking to a woman about rings. A regular Suaron he is. After that we went to the Wine Bar on Wooster where we drank more wine. A hair of the dog.

Lewis Lapham is retiring next year. He hung out the Beatles in Rishikesh. How cool can this guy get?