Plunk, plunk

Did some real honest work for the first time in well, forever. Honest work meaning I sat my ass in a chair for more than five hours and mainly did responsible things. JMZ's annual MLB event happened to be in New York this year so I volunteered for some card making duty on Friday. Working these things can be draining, especially when you're faced with the prospect of four or five days of people pushing through. I can see why JMZ does fewer events now. I'd want to burn the whole place down after seventy two hours.

The last time I joined JMZ on the assembly line was at the 2008 Super Bowl in Arizona. Back then I was just his assistant, sitting to his left and rolling/cutting the cards out. This time I was able to actually man a Photoshop station and given the responsibility of snapping the photo, using some keyboard shortcuts to shift things around, and then get the proper spelling of the fan's name. Moving on up in the world! Here's a sample card, and here's JMZ sitting next to Tony the Tiger.

I was only at the Javits Centre from about ten to seven, and because it was more for fun than anything, it was very enjoyable. But it gave me flashbacks of doing jobs where you just hate being there day after day. Like "More of this, tomorrow? Wah wah." Whenever my good fortune runs out and I can't just glide along doing nothing, it's going to be a tough tumble back to regular life.

The difference in our volunteer help was stark. One of my guys was entirely useless. He didn't position the people well, he didn't tell them what to do, he was basically just standing next to the rack of jerseys being invisible. The lady that replaced him was, in contrast, spectacular. She anticipated my needs before I even voiced them -- adjusting people's stances, making small talk, suggesting fun ideas, tipping hats up when people's eyes were covered -- and I wanted to ask what she did in her real life, just so I could go work with her. I guess my point is that you can generally tell if someone is capable at something within about half an hour. This is how the hiring process should be for most things. "Show me what you can do, I'll just watch for a bit."

During high school, we did a ton of volunteer stuff and we had little summer gigs where we'd stand around trying to be useful or something. The most fun one I can remember is when A Bug's Life was coming through the local mall and we were hired to stand around next to the roped off statues and make sure nobody touched them. Basically we did nothing, but it sure felt important.

Basically R&B is the thing to mix into everything right now. Lately I can't get enough of Quadron, which is Danish R&B/Soul, and AMR has been hammering me with (horrible) R&B tracks being sampled and remixed into house stuff. He explains in this T.E.S.T. post. It's hard to complain though, as Discovery and Purity Ring has brought me much joy. And of course Weeknd and Frank Ocean. Now I'm getting into Haim, a band from L.A. that brings together folk and R&B. There is absolutely no end in sight here.

"It isn't surprising that indie and indie-sounding R&B became cool again this year. With its emphasis on melancholic confessionalism and interior concerns, so-called 'progressive' R&B (far more so than most mainstream club-oriented R&B) delivered authentic blues feeling to a post-affluent culture suffering from collective disillusionment."
-Should we be suspicious of hipsters' newfound love of R&B? (2012)-

It was a weekend of iPhone disasters. I took Mae riding down West Side Highway on a Citibike and it was all glorious until we noticed that her purse was gone -- fallen out of the front non-basket thingy. We traced our route a few times but it was not to be found. After contacting AMR to see if he could use Find My Phone on it, a few hours later he texted that George too had lost her phone. Stolen right out of her bag! Luckily, from the messages and photos I received throughout the night, it seemed like she was too busy twerking and drinking to get too down. Anyway, this is a public service announcement to get the protection plan for your iPhone. I used to not ever do it, but the list of people who haven't ever lost their expensive phone is dwindling.

Also: "My sister twerks?!" If you haven't fainted, and you need to do a little twerking tutorial yourself, may I recommend this Youtube Howcast. Activate those hips and push your ass out...

Last thing. Like my basically best friend got surprise/shock engaged last week. And I found out via Facebook. Et tu, Brute? Actually I'm semi-okay with it because I didn't tell her I had a girlfriend for months. Whoops.