Jazz in the Park Shooting

Sirens are still blaring outside of my home.  It's strange to process tonight's events, and I'm not exactly sure how to talk about them without trivializing them and having them become some kind of a dinner party story.

To summarize quickly: I am 100% safe and so are all of my friends.

Tonight, like almost every Sunday (since I have been in Denver), I went to Jazz in the Park.  Jazz in the Park is a weekly concert series hosted in City Park in Denver.  My friends and I go each week. I spent my day baking and decorating cupcakes and genuinely just having this silly, wholesome fun.

This morning, as I was picking up Rachel to walk over, we met up with our friend who was clearly distraught.  Today there was a drive-by shooting near the anti-gang violence center on which she serves as a board member.  As we were talking about the situation, she mentioned that she "hoped everything would be fine tonight."

I took everything with a grain of salt, because...well, I live a life of white male privilege.  It's chock full of getting promotions, walking around safe at night, and having a ridiculously high credit score.

Around 8 PM, my group of friends heard what we assumed to be fireworks going off.  I saw a police officer running past us, but it wasn't something strange or out of the ordinary.  I remember commenting on how intense the police was running, but I didn't process anything..and neither did any of my friends.

A moment later, we heard screams and people running towards us.  Jazz in the park is filled with people, so to see a group of people running in waves and screaming is really, really scary.  It also is something that looks like it does in the movies.  I remember having this really distinct thought, that I felt like things weren't real.

We ran away, grabbing some of our things and leaving others.  We ran until we were several blocks away and there was no one around us.  But, we still saw police officers streaming in and we heard a loudspeaker telling us to get inside as the area was not secured.

It was horribly scary, and we later found that a police officer had been killed.  I'm safe.  My friends are safe, and I guess that is all that matters.

Jumpstreet

Ya know what's awesome?  Denver.  Don't get me wrong, I could never live here forever.  I'm way too type A.  But, it's awesome that I can people to get to spend their Wednesday evening playing dodgeball at an indoor trampoline park.

Immediately after work, a group of 4 friends and myself headed off to Jumpstreet to play dodgeball on trampolines.

I kind of assumed that there would be grown-ups there, but nope...everyone but us were tiny children.  And there weren't even cool parents jumping on the trampoline.  Lame.

Was it just an indoor trampoline park?  Oh no.  There was a grown up foam pit too.

....and this really intense entrapment game where you had to crawl under lasers to hit lights.  Turns out, I am fucking huge and not good at being tiny.

Can you see something strange here?

Coming straight from work, I didn't have enough time to change.  So, I wore my work clothes.  Within 5 minutes, I had ripped my pants.  As I refused to stop jumping, that tear dramatically increased over the night.  It ended up being my ass just completely hanging out of my pants.  Thankfully, I was not wearing slutty underwear.

Things I Forgot To Mention

I ran the Colfax Half Marathon.

I raised money for charity.

I got a PW.

Personal. Worst.

My friends had fun though.

I am still dieting.

I miss getting Diet Coke and Ice Cream with Margaret Cho.

Gucci Love

"Enjoy the cookies and Jesus toast, slut." -Terry Boyd

Typical Sunday

It is really tough to have all teacher friends.  All of my friends are off in some developing nation, traveling or kicking some kind of ass this summer...because they get a summer vacation.

Though I don't have this summer off, it's nice to spend some relaxing time with my teacher friends before we have to part ways.  Though I had a really good weekend; I took Sunday off from working out and not eating and really enjoyed myself.  I am trying to get into better shape, and I hate how miserable it makes me.

Sunday:

I started Sunday by going to the wrong mass at church.  It was entirely in Latin.  The priest did say "Happy Father's Day" in English, and I was able to get a reminder to call my papa.  

My cupcakes

Saturday night, I had plans to meet up with friends, but I saw online that the cover was $25 for the night.  For $25 I expect a steak and a BJ, and decided that it was a bit out of my price range.  Thus, I decided to drunk-bake. Sunday, after church, I decorated these above mentioned cupcakes....and pretty much ensured that everyone would love me.  (I used the recipe here, but made my own drunk alterations.  Also, candying lemons takes for fucking ever and is totally not worth it.)

Walking around Denver, I stumbled across the worst flash mob ever.  It was too slow. And to country.  Isn't your first time supposed to be fun, exciting, and fast?  This was a let down.

Saw a Flashmob.  Not Amazing.

After my Denver promenade, I had lunch with some graduate school friends and their parents.  Meeting parents is always fun or super awkward, and Mama Madrilena certainly didn't disappoint.  Both looked eerily similair and were both just a hilarious ball of Southern energy.  Though I feel like I'd die in Texas from both the heat and overwhelming conservatism; I do love me some Texans.  And I miss GCB.

Best conversation of the Texas Reunion:

Madrilena: "I think we have some black in the family."

Mama Madrilena: "Ya know, whenever I was younger, we used to drive up and down the main street of my town.  And you know what we called it?  Funky, funky Broadway."

Madrilena: "Well, that clearly proves we're black."

Me: "Definitely.  It was the second funky."

Also, I really like how much older generations react to Harvard.  Don't get me wrong, I think it's a big deal, but it's not what I like to lead with.  It really makes me uncomfortable when people start to like....freak out about it?  Especially, since I haven't even had my first class yet.  Maybe I'll get used to it when I graduate.  But, bring it in chicos.

After a six pack of beer and some Texas Barbeque, I headed off to Jazz in the Park to drink a bottle of wine in my birthday glass.

I don't know what's going on here.

Or here?  They are both gorgeous in real life, bt dubs.  This photo is just...rough.

Jazz in the Park.  My drunk-trying-to-act-sober face.  It wouldn't be so bad, if I didn't have a sippy glass of wine.

After Jazz in the Park, I went and danced the night away.  Life as a young person is really quite fun.

*****

Coming into work today was supposed to be really exciting.  One of my new managers started, and I was convinced that she was going to love it.  She had a really impressive background and seemed to be perfect.  I am pretty sure that she doesn't like it and thought that we were something different.  

I feel shitty because she quit a job to come here, but there is only so much hand-holding and training that I am willing to do.  I wasn't fortunate enough to have specific tasks whenever I started work, be taken out to lunch, and be trained on what is needed.  Gah.  I just don't want her to fall victim to the CHU curse.  If she quits, so be it.  I think that I am doing a solid amount of training and being extra considerate.

Another One Bites the Dust

I mentioned our turnover rate.  I also mentioned that I like most of my colleagues.

Today, another one of my friends put in their 2 weeks notice.  She had worked here for almost 7 months.

Cut to Freddy Mercury and his bitch, please sass.


I keep interviewing people for positions that I have open, and I feel like everyone that I am hiring is going to peace out within 6 months.  Technically, this is normal for our organization...but it legit bums me out.  I know that my millenial generation is one that doesn't have corporate loyalty...but, seriously does anyone want to work here?  I like it here, I have faith in our mission, and I feel like I am typically challenged by the work that I do. *sigh*  I'm still quitting for Harvard, so I'm a hypocrite.

Also, in future job interviews, how do you politely ask if you cycle through a ton of people? We are an organization of less than 100 people...where less than 30 are administrative/professional...so, it's really apparent when one of us quits.  And it kind of destroys employee morale.  My previous NGO experience involved tons of turnover as well.  The next place I want to work is somewhere that I can work at for 2-5 years.  Is that so bad?  To just want to work at one place for a while?  And not be promoted like...in 2 months?

I just want a simple life.  And to start my business.  Plans are brewing.

Coworker Love

I have been very fortunate in America, in the sense that I am very fond of all of my coworkers.  And, at my current job I think that my boss is really clever and can teach me things.  True, there are times that we professional fight (i.e. bitchy e-mails).  But, I  feel supported and welcomed by most of the people I have worked with in America.  (Exceptions obviously exist.)

How I dress to work. Probably not professional.

In America, I don't have to explain my culture or be this giant exhibit/borderline freak show.  In general, people are hip to my jive....even though, I have got to be horrible to work with.  (I'm young, think I'm right all the time, wear ridiculous clothes to work, and sometimes sing instructions.)


Regardin my clothes, a recent conversation at work:

Me: "Can you believe that _____ said I don't dress professionally?"

Margaret Cho: "Oh, because your clothes are always wrinkled?"

Me: "No..."

Margaret: "...because they are too tight all the time?"

Me: "No...."

Margaret: "is it the colors then?"

Me: "Third time's the charm."

Avoiding the tangent, one of my work friends moved on from our place of employment, and it is kind of strange to continue on without her.  Do you know what happened on Monday?  Everything was the same.  On Tuesday?  Continued.  Sure, she wasn't in my department, but it's weird to see how quickly an organization can just....move on from a person leaving.

Tonight, my other good friend (I'm going to call her Margaret Cho, because she is sassy and Korean) and I hung out for the majority of the night.  We had dinner at Chilis, went shopping at Target (I bought a bed), and then saw MIB 3.  At Target, we played baseball in the aisles with light sabers and wore Batman masks.  It was funny and childish.  It made my day that I could spend the majority of the morning creating a pro forma for my controller, my afternoon selling folks reception halls, and then spend my night in Target acting like I did when I was 16.  Life is a fun little circle, right?

45% Turnover

I put in a two month resignation; which might seem like overkill.  I know that my time is up pretty soon and well...I have not a single fuck to give.  I have self-limited myself to working only 50 hours a week, which makes me feel like I'm just treading water instead of getting everything done.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still making leaps and bounds for our organization, but I know that I could work 90 hours a week for my continued time and get more done.

Is it bad that I took a job and then will be quitting in just a few months?  I think that at any other organization, it would be horrible.  However, our employee turnover rate is 45%.  That is mother effing crazy.  I didn't notice it whenever I first started working, but since then I have noticed that most people pop off.  Some get caught masturbating at work....and some just do a bad job.  (I guess those two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.)

Anyway, mi amiga peruviana, found a new job and decided to move on to the next.  She only worked at our organization for 5 months, which is one month less than the average (Not joking, we cycle through bitches at my university.)  Because of our turnover rate, we don't really make it a big deal when someone moves on.  Which is kind of sad.  Maybe, it's because I am a millenial or because my previous employer was kind whenever I left, I wanted to take make sure that she felt that she had a nice send-off.

The underwear says "priceless," like her time with us.  Bomb.com, right?

I bought her flowers, a card, and gave her a pair of underwear that my sister sent me for the LMFAO concert.  Naturally, I had to act like everyone contributed to that shit...and they totally went along with that shit. 

Though our turnover rate is high, our pay is low, and we have tons of institutional problems; I could not have paid to get such a great amount of experience on my resume.  I wrote my resume last night and after adding "Director of Business Operations" and "Harvard," I felt like I am relatively put-together...and I seem to have a targeted resume to move into education management/public sector consulting.  #gotcha.

The Millenial Generation and Me

My sister and I were born 7 years apart and in different generations.  She is a solid Gen X-er and I am a millenial, as I was born between 1981-1995.  I never think that we are members of different generations, until we start to talk about jobs or career paths.  Nadine went to college, worked at a bar in the summers, and has been with the same company since she graduated university.  I'd never do that shit, and I feel like 5-7 years would be my maximum at a company (unless I get mad promotions).

Cue the 60 minutes clip:



The salient aspect of this piece is that millenials are impetuous, have commitment issues, and need constant praise.  Which makes it seem like they don't work hard to the baby boomers.

Fuck. that. shit.

Don't get me wrong, there are some aspects of that video which ring true.  I jump from job-to-job more frequently than a whore at a Viagra conference, but I tend to think that all of my jumps have been meaningful or made sense.  And more importantly, people are still hiring me!  So, baby boomers, if you want to be sassy, don't friggin' hire me.

In all of my jobs, I came early, worked hard, and have always had positive reviews.  Do I dress strangely?  Abso-fucking-lutely.  Do I want to wear to a suit to work?  Hell to the no.  Will I meet every deadline, stay late, and take on additional responsibility?  You got it, dude.

Don't get me wrong, I'm going to complain about my job. But every generation does.  Who the fuck goes to work and then comes home ridiculously happy?  Molly and her friends, but no normal person.

More importantly, why would it be considered a bad thing to find a job that we like and that provides a livable wage?  Or want consistent feedback from your employer?  Why is it bad if I live with my parents to save money? (Something I haven't done since I was 18.)  So what that I call my family almost every day to talk about stupid things at work and how I hate people that are unable to do their job?

I don't think any of that is bad.  I think we are being economical and family focused.

Maybe I don't understand how other generations work, but I don't necessarily think that mine is going to be the blight of the world.

Now, I'm off to yoga and have to tweet about my anger.