What is Pouvre Chic?

What is Pauvre Chic:

Literally it translates into poor style, or poor ethos. But its so much more than that, pauvre chic is a design and decorating ethos that is geared to those who have more time than money, but don’t want to sacrifice comfort, taste, or quality due to lack of funds. It’s a way of being creative in how you find the pieces, how to make quality investments that rival those who spend much more money to get something similar.

The basic tenants of pauvre chic are find quality, do it yourself, passing it on, and patience

Find quality

In this day and age so much of what is created is made only for the here and now,not made to last, those items that are made to last often cost so much that its out of the realistic grasp of most people. So where does that leave you? You can get antiques, at times you can really find some great pieces such as accents, or even large pieces at good prices. Unfortunately the market for antiques, items 100 years or older, is so fully exploited that the casual buyer with little to no money, can not realistically get something nice often enough. But there are other ways to find quality furniture, accents, home furnishings, and more. One of the ways means I use is freecycle. Freecycle is a listserv that connects people who are looking for merchandise with those who are giving merchandise away for various reasons. Moving out hastily, re-decorating, change of life, or just getting stuff out of storage are all reasons that people give things away for free. Another source is Craigslist, on Craigslist they have a free web posting similar to freecycle, as well as items people are selling. For me I try to spend no more than 100 dollars on any furniture, and as little as possible for other decorative touches. Each person has to set their own limit, and those changes due to items, preference, how much work there needs to be done, and the urgency of the need. Yard sales, Thrift stores, Storage auctions, Consignment shops, friends, and family are all viable options of retrieving items that you would want.

How do you determine quality, well quality differs for each person. I look at how well the piece was made, the time period, and how old is a piece. For instance, if you are looking for a dresser and you find two that are free one is made out of mahogany dovetailed, all the drawers work, but is really scratched up, and the other one is a gently used Ikea particle board dresser that is no older than 2 years old depending on what you are need and are trying to achieve both are quality. The Ikea piece would work very well if you don’t want to put little to no time and energy in refinishing, whereas the mahogany piece may work better if you plan to keep it and utilize it. So quality is very subjective, and only you can make that determination.

Do It Yourself

After finding the item or items you are looking for now here comes your chance to be creative again. Look at what the piece is, and then imagine what you want it to be, and how it will fit into your own aesthic you are trying to create for room, home, patio, etc. Depending on your level of expertise you can do a little or a lot to change the items you received to the item you want. I consider myself a novice, I have some handyman skills, but not enough to call myself experienced, just yet. What I have done so far is use paints and stains to change the character of a room. I primed, and painted my bedroom by myself, the whole project cost no more than 150 dollars, including the paint supplies that I will continuously use, and the primer and paint cost about 70 dollars total. But if I would have hired someone to do that, I would have paid more just in the labor costs. Plus I learned a valuable skill, how to paint which helped me when stripped, sanded, and stained an Ethan Allen dresser, two night stands, and a queen size bed frame all to achieve a Bombay Mahogany color. This tied all pieces which I got for free, into a uniform set.

With the advent of various internet sites, you can merely type in what you want to do and directions on how to do it will come from various sources. I tend to go to DIYnetwork and HGTV.com they have videos which help show you how to do something, likewise youtube also has this advantage. Depending on the project, the manufacturer of products that help with that project also provide useful tips as well.

The more you do the more you can enhance your skill set and try different things.

Passing it on

The most egalitarian thing about pouvre chic is passing it on. You receive things for little to no cost, its only right that you do the same. We live in a society where we are thought that the accumulation of things means that you are better off. Anyone can tell you that this is not the case. Plus no matter how little you have very few of us don’t have something that we can give away that someone else may find useful, essential, or just plain want. The only way for you to have received what you wanted someone else had to part with what they had.

Patience

Nothing in life worth having comes easy. So trying to get quality pieces it will take time for them to become available under the conditions that you want, either free or within your low price range. Also the amount of work that needs to be done to rejuvenate them may take awhile as well. Then at times the project may not turn out exactly the way you want, or it may just bomb entirely. Be patient with yourself, and with the circumstances, in the end you will have one of a kind pieces that speak to who you are a person, what you feel is important, you would have gained new skills, and your wallet will thank you. So remember its a learning process, have patience with yourself.

Back to my Roots

For so many African-American’s the idea that you could trace your family history back akin to semi-fictional tale of Roots. But with the aide of modern technology it’s a reality that I am currently experiencing. My “journey” to find out who I am or where I come from started off rather innocuously with home décor. I know home décor, but I was looking for items that both fit into my pauvre chic but still spoke to me as an African-American.

Of course I was looking for paintings, drawings, and other artwork but I wanted something different. Something that was a real conversation starter, then it hit me. FREEDOM PAPERS, I wanted a copy of papers that set free, manumit, a persons and/or their progeny from slavery. But of course being the me that I am, I thought “wouldn’t it be great to be able to get a copy that had a surname that was I had in my pedigree, and possibly could be related to me. With the quick type of Google, I found it. I was literally stunned, I kept saying to myself, “No, no, no, it can’t be THIS easy”, but there it was, the surname of my mother’s maiden name starring back at me, with a list of fourteen slaves that were to be manumit from bondage at various ages. The records happened to be a school with Quaker ties. Before I realized it, I was on the phone with the person who was in charge of records.

What shocked him, was that no less than five minutes previously he was talking to the a colleague of his about those very records. In his mind he thought I must have talked to his colleague, and was stunned when he realized that no, I was complete stranger. Fate is funny I guess. In an hour, in my inbox, there were the pdf versions of the manumitted slaves names of fourteen persons: Robert, Eleanor, Mary, Lucy, Henry, William, John, Mark, Agnes, Polly, Joan, Richard, and Betsey. Of course after I got this and told my Mom. Understandably she was excited and happy charged with the idea that somehow maybe just maybe one of these persons was an ancestor of ours.

From there she told me a story that I remembered hearing that one of her ancestors on her father’s side as far back as we know was never a slave. The story went that he was on a ship bound to be a slave, but the captain of the ship could not pull into dock because slavery had been illegal, so instead of risking his life, the Captain burned the ship, and those on board, had to swim ashore, once reaching the shore. My ancestor got help from Quakers. I had heard this story before but I never really took it to heart, maybe it was the fact that I wanted to know if we were still related to one or more of the fourteen.

The Labor Day weekend that so many of the kids were out in Atlanta celebrating pride, I celebrated a different type of pride. After I told my new found interest of genealogy she turned over this pile of paper that she had been keeping just for this day. Information on various deceased relatives, contact information for those who she had been in contact with, and as much family research she did without having to pay (where do you think I got the pauvre chic genes from). That same day, after driving four ours to my hometown to spend that time with my mom, no more than an hour home, we decided on a spur of the moment trip to Accomac County, VA, to look for a town that had her ancestor’s surname.

Arriving in Accomac you could feel the history, the highway nothing more than a long seemingly forever stretch of asphalt, acres and acres of crops, a stillness in the acre, and often you could see abandoned farm buildings some larger than others where the vines had taken over. It was a Saturday and the whole county was still and quiet, eerily so. We finally arrive to the town that had our name, and only thing there was a street. A long street that was probably the only remnant of the place my great-grandfather grew up. While driving around we saw Black people, but we didn’t speak, my mother and I aren’t the type of people to just go up and talk to anyone.

But what that trip did was really spur me onto finding out as much information as possible about my family, the only way I knew how, by using the internet. Specifically ancestry.com. At first I was hesitant, I had used online communities, and subscriptions before, and all they ended up being was a hassle when you wanted to cancel. But I figured what the hell its 30 dollars a month and if I didn’t find anything then I would have just cancel. I started with knowing about only being able to go back three generations, after just a month I have been able to track my family back to 1835, and one person back to a specific owner, and plantation. It will only be a matter of time at least with that person that I can then trace who his mother and maybe father was due to the fact that most likely his parents were on the same plantation.

The only two issues that I have had so far is finding evidence to corroborate the story about the slave would be, and finding the last names of some of the ladies before they were married. Some of this information others in my family have, and they are just so damn trifling that I don’t know if they will ever give me the information that I need. But thanks to Ancestry.com I will be able to find it out eventually.

Since this has occurred knowing where my people came from Virginia and South Carolina, and learning more and more about them, has made me feel as if the United States is really mine. In fact, once I get my money right, I plan to buy an acre of land near or at the place in Virginia where my ancestor swam ashore.

Me, Myself, and I

I’m not pressed.

After a few years of searching, too many dates, and even more well let’s say discretions, I’m done with looking for a relationship. In fact I don’t care anymore if I’m in one or not. In my early twenties I used to see gay and straight people coupled, break up, and repeat this never ending cycle. It seemed that everyone had been in a relationship; even the biggest whores I knew tried it, all except for yours truly. I started to think well is something wrong with me, why haven’t I been in a relationship yet. Was I too shy, thought of purely as a jump off, inhabit the permanent wrong place at the wrong time, looking too hard for love and not letting love find me. All these thoughts and many more culminated in strengthening my determination to be in a relationship, if nothing else than to experience the trials and tribulations necessary for human progression, or so I thought.

I started to change myself, and help “cure” certain things about me that I thought were hindering me from being in a relationship. I went out and bought books that taught you how to speak to anyone about anything, how to open up lines of communications, and how to attract people to you by the use of your personality. Then I went to functions, gay functions to meet use the skills I learned to see how well I had done in the application of such tactics. Book clubs, volunteering for DC’s White Party, gay volleyball games, house parties, birthday parties, networking events, church functions, and just out and about. After every such event I would replay the events in my mind while driving, or taking the metro, giving myself a mental grade, which usually was in direct correlation with the amount of conversations I started or participated in. I usually scored low.

Then I started to set my sights first a little lower, then a lot lower. In the beginning I wanted someone who was emotionally, mentally, and physically together, or in the process of working towards it. Someone who out, preferably a man of color, and someone who I was attracted to, and who was attracted to me, was my “type”. Soon after my only litmus test was attracted to me, which was very dangerous. I met a coke head African, a Cancer survivor who had kicked out his lover of 15 years 3 DAYS before I even knew him, a Marine with Iraqi War syndrome, and guys at Bally’s who suffered from one mental ailment to another.

Concurrently I began to think well maybe I have a reputation of being easy, (in retrospect me having a reputation in DC would be hard to fathom considering how the kids act) or I’m sowing my wild oats with people who would be interested in me but I am “too easy”. On some level I rationalized that I had said I wanted to be with one person, but my actions spoke differently. So I became celibate, for 8 months, never having sex and I felt that I was sexually “pure”, and that maybe this was just what I needed to do, open up my heart not pull down my pants. During this time, I went out with guys, we had dates, we had fun, but just as if I had sex with them, they fell by the way side sooner than I expected. So my celibacy ended, not with the person who I was engaging into a LTR with, but rather at a sex party. I called up two of my friends, and I cried.

To some degree I even think that my wanting to be in a relationship was a driving factor in me wanting to move. At the time, I felt as though I had exhausted the amount of datable men and that Baltimore, and with grand illusions of me traveling to Philly and NYC, had much better prospects. I will say this, the men in Baltimore, and the men in Philly tend to be nicer, down to earth, and generally easier to get along with. But, well beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and for the most part this beholder don’t see it. I mean, jagged teeth, finger waves, knock off Fubu, it’s a bit too much for me. So yes I moved, but to a city where I know no one, and actually have no real motivation to go out and meet new people, explore my surroundings, at all.

So where does this leave me? Here, right here, typing on a laptop on my way to work realizing that I’m happiest being alone. I’m rarely lonely, and when I am, its not really for a bed warmer but the company of my family and friends. I’m happy being alone, I like who I am, and I have more fun dancing around my house, enjoying the music blarred up, cooking up a storm like its Thanksgiving dinner, and more just because, well I can. If someone comes along, sure why the hell not, but if Mr. Right never does, I never will worry. I’m no longer pressed.

Analog Boy in a Digital World

Dayum am I that out of place???

So Friday I get a call from one of my friends, we chit chat, and she tells me about this party she went to for this guy she knew at her alma mater. Come to find out he’s a rising Black Gay “leader” whose involved with politics, and whatnot. So she was telling me about how she felt being one of the few or only perceived to be straight people there and her feeling awkward and the social dynamics thereof. Noticing how difficult it was to “break in” and mingle due to the fact that everyone knew each other, she even commented on how more difficult it was and she attributed this to them being gay. On average it does seem harder to just have a regular conversation without there being a perceived underlying self serving motive. Then she noticed how they dressed, and her friend has changed so much as how it’s gotten to his head, and those around him were sycophants. But the most surprising thing was that she related this all back to me.

“I never realized how different you were from a lot of Gays until I started going to places with a lot of gay people, and I can see you as being perceived like different, like Erykah Badu different.” Now, I know I’m not all that eccentric, granted I would like to be at times, but I took what she meant as being more of a “free spirit” and independent. This is true, and would explain how and why I fit in at times, why I get bored with people and always trying something new to challenge myself. This is not to say that other people do not do this as well but at times my goals, interests, and the fact that I’m more than willing to do things solo make me quirky in the eyes of others.

Is that how I’m perceived, if so I’m very cool with that being that independent spirit. I like that

It's Me BITCHES

Lenny Dorsey here again, the last time you all read what I wrote was when I talked about relationships and love. But now has come the time for me to formally introduce myself, hi I’m Lenny Dorsey. Periodically, that’s once in a while for the slower ones, I’ll be making a posting or two. Like Wise&Young, I live in the DC metro area, but I wasn’t dumb enough to move Bmore. Went to school at the REAL HU, work for a public relations firm, and have been in the life well since, damn, well since for as long as I can remember. Grew up in South Carolina, my mom who’s hella afrocentric you know the Erykah Badu, head wrap crew somehow ended up having me with a Jewish guy from NY. So yea I’m one of them mixed up bi-racial Lisa Bonnet, Lenny Kravtiz kids. But getting back to this blog the tops will be dependent upon my mood, and what’s happened in my life I will blog about whatever.

Now that the weather is changing, and daylight savings time approaches, of course the kids want to start dating someone for the fall, because after a summer and spring filled with romps in the park, party circuit, and et al. So now the A4A profiles change, those who met dateable men during the spring and summer, call them up to see if they are still available because they are ready to settle down. Out of these seasonal unions a few survive and turn into something worthwhile for both parties. But the majority end up as nothing more than warm body to come home to and provides the comfort of a consistent fuck buddy. Do I sound bitter? No, I’m not bitter at all. But I am a fervent believer that there are two types of Queens, the ones who settle down into comfortable Long Term relationships or the ones who are always on the move.

I’ve come to resign myself that I am one who is always on the move, not the settle down type. I used to yearn so hard and tough for a relationship with any semblance of a good person that I ended up telling myself be taken advantage of, compromising who I was, and biting my tongue until I nearly chocked on the blood that poured from my tongue into my mouth. During this stage in my development, I say development because I think its important for everyone to try it, even if you’re not a settle down type man, just to know that its not for you, I was stood up 14 times, dogged out 27 times, and lied to countless. Before you all start running to type oh its where you were meeting them, and what type of men they were, that’s bullshit. I dated lawyers, doctors, gym bunnies, introverts, extroverts, people I met on the street, people I met in the gym, people I met on the subway, people I met online, and people who my “friends” tried to hook me up with. All with the same shitty ass results. It wasn’t until a year ago that one I woke up and decided, “FUCK THIS SHIT”, fuck these antiquated notions of dating, love, and 2.5 kids. I’m gonna do me, and whomever I want to whenever. It wasn’t until then that I haven’t been so happy. Now when fellas try their game, I cut it off, and let them know I’m not having it. When I get those sporadic texts, phone calls, or other means of communication from someone who I haven’t from in months I call them on their shit to. The times I want to fuck, I let the other party know what the deal is, that I don’t care about them, how they feel, or what they are going through I only want to fuck. Most are taken aback, clutch their pearls and try to act holier than thou, but that façade quickly passes and they accept and revel in it.

I know some queens who have read the “Secret” and countless self help books anre going to shake their head at me and think oh what a shame, another wayward child. But fuck that shit, I’m happy. Happy with living a life filled with joy, free of drama, and without the bullshit that comes with those who play your emotions like a novice guitarist picks at the strings. I have a question for those queens, when was the last time you were truly happy? When was the last time that you could look at your life, and see how you have made it better than instead of letting some pop psychiatry dictate what you should do and not do? Have any of those books help land you a partner? Or are they saying you’ll get one when you’re ready. Well the Fireplace, the Mill, and every club, bar, bathhouse, and cruising spot are places where your predecessors end up, bitter, thirsty, and alone. I’m not saying you have to life your life like Lenny Dorsey, but live your life the best way you can, not the best way someone else told you.

My new Hobby

One thing anyone has to realize that just because you don’t have money, or subscribe to the pauvre chic mantra does not mean that you have to sacrifice quality. Actually with the pauvre principle you end up having one of a kind piece that you have created. For instance, look at this dresser I got for free, its an Ethan Allen Dresser and mirror, which if I bought would have cost me 1300 easy, in the current condition, people buy dressers like this for 500 easy due to it being well made. I got the dresser with a pauvre vision in mind, use as little money to make the most out of it. So I decided to stain it a minwax color called “Bombay Mahogany” a deep rich brown, and put new handles on the dresser. The supplies, gloves, chemical stripper, sandpaper, sponge applicators, the polyshades ( a blend of polyurethane and the stain), and a tarp cost me about $50.

So before this is how it looks.

Look at the scratches on top of the dresser, not in the best of condition

This is how it looked after I stripped and sanded the dresser, at this point I’m thinking I really fucked this up, there was no turning back.

The dresser doors I took out and did them separately.

Here’s the final product

Look at it

Look at that shine

Before After

I really liked the process and I think this will be a new hobby of mine, refinishing furniture.

Pauvre Chic

PAUVRE CHIC

Since moving into my first home, I’ve noticed that all the rooms look sparse, well just as sparse as my bank account. But I am determined to live within or below my income bracket, which means that I have to find a way to furnish and make my house a home with little money as possible. I’ve dubbed this operation Pauvre Chic, pauvre meaning poor in French. The first thing I did was take an inventory per room as to what I needed and wanted.

Master Bedroom:

Needs	Wants
Split Queen Size Boxspring (can’t get my boxspring up the stairs a common problem in bmore)	Better Mini-blinds
Dresser	Wooden Queen size bed frame
Mirror	Storage Chest/Ottoman
Night stand	Frame to hold this African Art piece
	Drapes
	Better Paint

Second Bedroom:

Needs	Wants
A twin or double bed	New Paint color
Same size boxspring	Mini-blinds
Same size frame
Night stand
Mirror
Linens for Bed

Small Bedroom/Office:

Needs	Wants
	New Paint
	Mini-Blinds

Living Room:

Needs	Wants
	Love seat
	Entertainment center or TV Armoire
	Artwork
	New paint color
	Accent Pillows
	Throws
	Accent furnishings
	Get futon cover for futon mattress
	Want new paint
	Mini-blinds

As you can see I have a lot of wants, and not a lot of “needs”. So adhering to my pauvre chic I have been on find and acquire mode trying to get the things I want. Some costs are unavoidable, paint, and mini-blinds. But everything else I’m getting for little to no money now. Below are some items I’ve gotten for free:

This queen size bed frame I got from freecycle a listserv that helps people give and get stuff for free from people who are trying to either acquire or get rid of stuff. The only issue is that when the lady was trying to disassemble the bed frame part of the wood that attached to the side railing came off too. All that means is that I’m going to have to screw a piece of wood there in order to use it, for my bedroom. This will be stained a “Bombay Mahogany” color.

Here is one of the two night stands I got again from freecycle, notice the stain at the bottom. The game plan here is to sand and stain the night stand and the rest of the bedroom furniture to make it look like “set”.

This is the Ethan Allen dresser and mirror combo I received, you guessed it from freecycle. Now even though this was free, I paid a guy 75 to help me transport and to use his truck to do so, it was worth every penny. This has been stained.

What’s not pictured is the queen sized futon frame that I got from freecycle, but I had to break down and pay for the mattress which cost me 169.

Also I’ve painted my bedroom bleached denim it’s the color on the walls behind the dresser and the queen sized frame photos.

The next “big purchase” for me is unfortunately going to be a queen size split boxspring. I really don’t want to buy one, but no one is giving them away and I don’t have any ideas as to how else to get support for my mattress.

Another thing I’m getting is African-American inspired or created art. Below are some examples I’m going to get. But besides art I want African Diaspora relics, one in particular are the manumission (freedom) papers of former slaves or copies thereof, which I just so happened to find!

Baby Drama

Here is something simple: I am going to have three children. I have always known I’m going to have three children, 2 girls and one boy. As life has a tendency to do, there have been some twists in turns. Namely, my realization that I am gay, but that does not mean I don’t or won’t have kids. Just a mere hurdle I have to overcome. Another hurdle is the HIV infection rate in the DC metro area for my demographic is high as hell. Yes I know if you use a condom that dramatically cuts down the chances, but it only takes one time. But the odds are not stacked in my favor when it comes to that realistically. Which means, if I become HIV infected I know I could pass that onto my children, I would not do that to them. I will not let a mistake I made impact that lives of the innocent. Plus what happens if I die before I have a child that means my lineage ends with me. A sad thought but one I have to think about, but there is one way for me to mitigate these risks. Two words: Sperm Bank, yes banking my sperm for future use, I know it sounds weird but I’ve been researching banking sperm at Cryobanks. For me it seems as if it’s the best option. It allows me to bank my sperm for future use, the way they bank sperm there is no “shelf life” as to when the sperm has to be used by, so in theory I can bank the sperm today and 20 years from now I can have kids.

But the cost to do this is EXPENSIVE 35 dollars a month for a storage fee, isn’t bad but the cost for everything else is HIGH.

Initial consultation $150- WTF is this for, I know what I want, can’t you tell me this over the phone for free?

Analysis & Collection $275- Okay, I agree with this I mean this is how they make their coins.

Blood work $120- To make sure everything is copasetic; they said I can get this done elsewhere, as long as they get the results. Can’t I go to a general doctor and get them to do that when they do my general health exam, and doesn’t health insurance pay for this?

Analysis & Collection $275- See why I have to make two deposits?

I guess this is like insurance, just in case something goes wrong. Now, after I do this, I just have to find a baby’s mother. Below are photos of physical type of baby mothers I will be on the look out.

Now as far as traits, must be afro-centric meaning that they know about their culture. Preferably both parents of African-American descent, someone who is professionally motivated, but gives back to the community in some way shape or form. No artists, singers, actors, or entertainers. Basically someone who if I died I would feel completely comfortable knowing that my children were going to be raised in a manner that I would raise them as well.

Just my thoughts

WOW

Wow,

Wow is the only way to describe how my life has been going. Previously, life has been quiet a few things here and there but for the most part quiet. Now, life has been very active so to speak. I guess the best way to go about explaining it is to describe it is to take a week by week.

Week 1

My job flew me out to Omaha, to take part in a planning meeting. Omaha is pretty cool I must insert photos. I actually wouldn’t mind living there, except that the winters are bitterly cold and brutal in a way that my Black Ass could not take. The meeting could have been better but hey, I got a free trip out of it. Plus while out there I went to this great butcher shop about bought two sampler packs consisting of: two filet mignons, two NY strip steaks, and two flank steaks for a grand total of 28 each! One for my mom and one for myself.

Week 2

I had already planned a month in advance to go take July 16^th off to visit my Mom, so after flying back into Omaha, picking up my cat who I have named Haile Selassie (can you just see my pumping my black fist in the air). I got a quick nights rest, and then I was off driving back home. With meat from Omaha, copies of my Mom’s high school yearbook, all four years from college, college newspaper clippings, magazine aritlce that mentioned my Mom in the Ivy Leaf magazine with a photo of my Mom the day after she crossed, and a letter to the Editor published in the New York Times she wrote in 1979. I was extremely nervous as to how she would react, prior to this I knew she was feeling depressed about her life and how certain things had turned out. So I knew there could be only one to of two ways it could go, really good or really bad. My mitigan strategy was that I bought food, her favorite type of cake, and was trying to surprise her. Well the surprise didn’t go as planned because she was in her office when was was supposed to be out. But she did break down and cry, and was just so amazed that I had gone through the trouble of finding those things. After that we had dinner, and went to the movies to see the latest Harry Potter film. After that I drove up to Fairfax VA for a three day training that I was going to be a part of on how to write “Winning Proposals”. It was intesrsting definelty learned a lot that is directly applicable to the work that I currently am tasked to achieve. After the last day, this woman came up who was in the training gave me her business card, and talked about how her company is hiring and that she’ll email me with the job descriptions and whatnot. I told her flat out that I am content where I am, but if something better comes along hey I’m all ears.

Week 3

This was to be the start of me getting back on my work out regime. So I go to the gym at 7 am and did some cardio, abs, and chest. Took a shower at the gym and I headed out the door around 9 so I could get to work by 9:30. Get to my building and something is wrong with the keyless entry so I have to wait until someone comes down there. Already not a good start to the day. I get to my floor and the V.P. and a new Director are there looking very busy. After making pleasenties the V.P. tells me that they need to taolk to me about the class I took, once I get settled. I don’t get three bites of my bagel before he summons me to the conference room. There I found that my supervisor has decided to leave the company (honestly I think it was one of those they are going to fire me so I’m going to beat them to the punch), and that there is some immediate work mainly a proposal that is due by the end of the week along with a corporate capabilbites statement that is due by 4 pm today. The VP then tells me with that they don’t think my boss will work his full three week notice period, and that I with the help of one other person have to do get these things accomplished. So I spend all of Monday working on this corporate capabilities statement to get it accomplished. Then the rest of the week is spent along with the director who helped tremendously, putting in 12 and more hour days to get this proposal completed.

Week 4

So after the hellish week is over, you’d think things would calm down. Not really because now in week four there were not only two more proposals that needed to be worked but also other things needed to be done for my job. Needless to say, I am not going to gym, not really eating right, and just overall a mess. Things are getting done but at what expense? I am honestly not getting paid enough to do what I am doing. While I was being interviewed there were supposed to be two people to do the job of proposal writer so we could really do most of the writing and it would not be so burdensome. Now there are two people, myself and a director, but she is also charged with having to do her “real job” as well, so as much help as she is, what happens when her other duties begin to supercede this? So my plan is to find out the pay range, and interview and get a job offer with another company doing the same type work, at an agency that does similar to mine. Then go to my company ask for more money, lay out why, show them the increase in responsibility from what I was currently hired for, and if no, then I will be prepared to give them my three weeks notice. The only thing is that I would have to pay them back for the training they sent me to which is a total of 2k.

Weeks 5-7

I got a job offer paying about 15k more than what I get paid now. Its two blocks away from where I used to live in Northern VA. The commute will be longer but hey you do what you go to do. At my present job, gave them my three weeks notice understandably they were upset but oh well. I'm ready for a change and I haven't been to the gym since July 4th. Coincidentally, my eating habits are horrible. Thank God its the fall so I can work in this flab and get back into shape. This time in my life has been many, many, many things.

Just my thoughts