I quit my job last Friday. One of the final steps in my plan to take over the world attend the Guildhall.

It wasn’t as catastrophic or awkward as I expected, then again with all the drama and the internal turmoil that department has gone through in the last couple of months I’d say it went real smooth. I was basically the only person in there who managed to remain neutral to all the fighting and the building-wide gossip that caused my former department to fall apart and turn to shit. The fallout happened months ago, but the repercussions are still felt today, since almost all of my coworkers are still mad at each other and many of them are not on speaking terms, creating a managerial nightmare for my former boss. Whatever happened there had nothing to do with me, so I had no business getting my hands dirty with other people’s shit and I remained that way until the final day.

And no, I cannot and will not give details about what happened, since there are a lot of sensitive accusations that I don’t have any business getting into. And besides, this post isn’t about that month-old clusterfuck. I know the 2 or 3 people who read me love the drama and the gossip, but this is one of those things that is better left to die.

But enough of that shit. Back to my “going away” party.

Honestly I had no idea it would turn out the way it did. The girls really outdid themselves. Everything from the scrumptious, delicious, moist chocolate cake, to the awesome, so awesome gifts. Even after all the shit we’ve been through as a group, they still care for me, seeing as I acted as some sort of “buffer” between the hostilities that flew around every once in a while. So they were very grateful for that. Especially my now ex-boss.

Here’s a shot of all the loot they gave me (sorry for the shitty cel phone pic):

Pictured: Super putty (I have no idea, so don’t ask), The Animation Bible, since part of my specialization in the future will have to deal with this, a shit-ton of Kleenex (my nose is constantly dripping with allergies), and the one that blew my fucking mind, Silent Hill 0rigins for PSP. That one really surprised the hell out of me because they know next to nothing when it comes to games, but they hired a ninja (someone from another dept., who is also a rabid gamer) who asked me a few days ago which PSP games I thought were the hot shit. Took me a few seconds to connect the dots. Heh.

Not pictured: A cowboy hat, which I refused to wear all day to avoid looking like a retard.

We couldn’t mingle for a long time because it was a very busy day, so as soon as everyone devoured the shit out of the cake (did I say it was delicious and moist?) we had to get back to the grind. Because of that, almost everyone asked me to give them a call so we could have lunch again before I leave and have a proper farewell.

After everyone left I stayed backing up the MP3’s and personal stuff left in my PC, since with all the work I hadn’t been able to do that. When everyone left and the whole section was deserted, I felt a huge wave of melancholy setting in, so before the knot in my throat got bigger, I wrote them a final email. Before I left, I went upstairs and said goodbye to the newspaper’s art director, who got me the internship years ago that opened the doors for me in that place, along with his crew of graphic designers and illustrators, which were there for me since the beginning. It was great to see how everyone told me that this is the best thing I could do for myself, since staying there meant very slim chances of ascending both in rank and in salary. I never even bothered to ask for a reclassification for that same reason. It would turn into a months-long battle to get what. One, maybe two dollars more in my hourly wage? Fuck that.

I will always be grateful for the opportunity and the chance to grow as an artist within the company, but I surely won’t miss the shitty wage I got payed. Then again, graphic designers on this island are often given the short end of the stick whan it comes to salary, unless you work in big advertising firms, which are known to suck out your life and sanity.

So what’s in store for me now? Aside from waiting for my letter of acceptance and stressing to hell about it, I gotta enter “money saving mode”, since I will no longer have a steady income until the ass-raping loans are approved. I gotta start packing stuff, and I gotta start spending more time with my family, since I have this lingering feeling that once I set foot out of this island, there is a very slim chance that I will ever want to settle here again. It’s obvious that the video game making business is nonexistent here, so my new career couldn’t possibly take off in this place unless I make or join an effort to start a local game production company. And judging by the inactivity and lack of interest from the locals in that regard, that is still just a silly fantasy and shall remain that way for a long time.

In the meantime, I am back to being an unemployed college bum (hello 2003!) and the thought of not being financially independent has become a little… terrifying. I guess I’ll have to adjust my mindset and control my impulsive shopping sprees and restaurant hopping. At least that will help me shed these extra pounds. Speaking of which, It’s been months since I’ve done kickboxing. I am so out of shape I know I’ll be out of breath before we finish warming up. Fuck. Oh well, guess I’ll give it a try again now that I have some time off.

Holy shit look at the length of this post… Let me end it by saying, what else, THANK YOU to everyone at the newspaper who is worth a damn. They all know who they are. Thanks for all the laughs, the drama, the headaches, the jokes, the lunches, the gossip, the learning, the suffering, the entertainment, the life lessons, the backstabbing, the truths, the lies, the teamwork, the chaos, the honesty and the two-faces. I definitely would not be who I am today If I hadn’t gone through that “boot camp”, but ever since I started there I knew it would only be a transition until I found my real calling. And that moment has finally come.

See ya’all in Texas.

Posted in Reveries, Work |

3 comments to “So I am officially an unemployed bum”

Leave a Comment (It may take a while to appear)