Liam Dynes

So about the inability of something to not just rain, but to have a propensity to pour…

In English? I went almost two years (minus TAing, freelance and working for free — none of which really counts as full-time ‘work’, and certainly didn’t pay the bills like it) without employment. Couple dozen interviews, three temp agencies, two internships, a bunch of volunteering, and a WHOLE lot of sitting around here playing Nintendo and cruising the internet, until just about this time last month.

You’ve already read in this space about my finally finding meaningful employment. I worked at a book distributor in Markham — for eight days. It was a fine place, I fit in well, I was good at the work and getting better incredibly quickly. The people were nothing but kind and gracious, employees were treated immaculately (as demonstrated by numerous “Employer of the Year” awards from numerous civic and entrepreneurial bodies), but something about the entire situation for some reason felt very transitory and temporary to me. Can’t really explain why. The job was fine (though I admittedly took a little bit to settle into the notion of how much data entry was involved — not my cup of tea), and it would have allowed me months of material about working in ‘The Office’. To run it down: office in industrial block, involving reams of paper (read: books), above its own warehouse (dual work culture), sales department, marketing department, HR people, billing/money people, nicknames, ice cream sandwiches, the list probably goes on. This is in no way a judgement on the people or workplace, as I’ve said already it was incredibly welcoming, hospitable, stable, and the Office comparison falls apart in that there was no obnoxious boss (a pretty great and understanding boss, in fact), no jaded and awful people, no Gareth/Dwight, this list probably goes on too. But it was the vibe I got, not necessarily that there was a direct lateral jump between it and The Office, but that this is the sort of place that can (and does) inspire that sort of satire. Even had I remained there and excelled, I worry that something about the earnestness of the place would have eventually clashed with my quietly but sometimes (very) contrarian way of thinking and doing things.

This is not to say I felt good about leaving. In any way. I felt like an absolute knob. I accepted the position on, y’know, the premise that I’d be there for a while, and that there would be investment (intangible, not monetary, mostly) on both sides in both directions.

Then Black Cat Advertising called back.

The new position I’m starting Monday is a Copywriter/Account Manager spot at a very literally up-and-coming ad firm. It’s young, hip, growing incredibly quickly, and going to let me do all the things I love doing and really kick ass at. Writing, creating, managing big projects, liaison with clients and designers, collaboration on everything in between — it’s everything I’d been looking for for two years rolled into one. And the pay ain’t bad either. Let’s just say the jump between the two jobs is likely to reach into five digits instead of something in a four. And it’s on a subway line, meaning I save something like $300 a month in gas/insurance. It was a job I really, really wanted, would be reallyreally good at, and I thought I kicked the interview’s ass, but there was something of a reluctance in the interviewer, visibly and understandably, about the fact that I had no on-point copywriting experience, so I was more than prepared (as I have been about so much in the last two years) for a thanks-but-no-thanks and some ‘personal growth’ that comes from rejection. But they’ve taken me in, and I intend to prove to them just how much as I can and WILL kick. Yours if you’re not careful.

So things have been a little crazy around here. But for the first time in ages it’s a good crazy.