< MAY 28 > happy memorial day. i went out with my friend to see a movie last night (memento. go see it.) and we ended up in bizarro new york. it wasn't too late, like 10:30, but *everything* was closed. no joke. we literally couldn't eat. there were tons of people in the streets too, but no place for them to go.

so i get an email from my friend john yesterday saying that his new site is up. i tried to add the link to my cracksmoker section, but i ended up blowing out the tables and destroying to the page. all this time unemployed and i forgot how to code. that and the stress of putting everything i own into little boxes. so you can see his site here untill i have more time to put it in the right place.

< MAY 25 > in response to all of the email i've been getting over the past few days... yes, arkansas. and no, i'm not crazy. i really need the change of scenery, and i'll probably never have the chance to make a move like this again. i plan on coming back to nyc eventually. but for the summer, i'm going to go get a relatively low-stress job to pay the bills and concentrate on painting and photography and other artistic-type things. and my excellent brother has volunteered to make the drive with me, so it should be good fun and an adventure of sorts getting there. now for the planning part. you know, for all the moves i've made over the past eight years, you'd think i'd be better at it by now.

< MAY 21 > i'm a woman on a mission. i've decided to move to little rock, where i can get a house for mad cheap. laura and i want to have a front porch, so we can sit outside, drink a beer and survey the land. so the move is on, and i have to get a truck. i also have to con someone into making the drive with me... updates as they become available.

< MAY 18 > i got back to nyc late last night from visiting the family in detroit. it was good fun, as always. so i get the giant pile of mail that's been filling up the box in the week since i've been gone, and what do i find in it? *my check* was there. yup, i finally got paid. a month later. so the legal issues are over and it's time to move on to another, hopefully more exciting, drama.

< MAY 15 > in playing this whole game thing, i've been thinking a lot about technology these days. specifically about the internet. it's just amazing to me that a medium that's only 6 or so years old a) could have developed as quickly as it has, b) could have become so integral to so many peoples' daily lives, and c) is so powerful, yet hasn't even come close to realizing its potential. people think so much differently than they did in the early '90s because they can 'go online' now. they buy things differently, they communicate differently, they learn differently. and this is only the beginning. whether the future will turn out like the matrix (where technology enslaves its creators) or like neuromancer (where the creators and technology become each other), only time will tell. but regardless, it's an amazing time to be alive, witnessing the evolution of humanity, and to some degree, influencing the direction it's taking.

< MAY 8 > yes, yes, i have been somewhat of a recluse lately. i've been hiding out and spending a lot of time chatting with internet people. sometimes, i prefer the company of the people i meet online, because the ones i know in "real life" have a tendancy to let me down. (you know who you are...)

< MAY 5 > ok, so at risk of revealing the true levels of my geekiness... i've been totally obsessed with the a.i. online game. it's tied into the spielberg a.i. movie that's coming out later this summer, and the purpose is to find out who killed this guy evan chan. it's the most brilliant form of internet movie tie-in marketing i've ever seen. read about it, and start playing. thankfully, i'm unemployed and can sit in front of the computer all day and try to crack these puzzles.

< MAY 1 > uh, yeah, so today was a *very long* day. my girls totally rule, though. that's all i have to say today...

< APRIL 30 > wow. unemployment has really made me sporatic in my updates here. i'll try to get better about that.

this weekend, i hung out with laura's host parents from when she lived in japan. they were very energetic, to say the least. i think i saw more of the city on two days than i've seen in the whole eight years i've lived here. the yamazakis were probably some of the sweetest people i've ever met. and they've invited me to come stay with them in japan, so maybe now that i have all this time on my hands...

i'm off to small claims court now. i hope i see jack mccoy or lenny briscoe at the courthouse.

< APRIL 24 > i'm embarrassed to be from detroit this morning. the boys were up in the series 2-0, and blew it. they got their sorry selves knocked out of the playoffs in april! i have to stop watching hockey in *april* this year. how wrong is that?! and to lose to a crappy city like l.a. that doesn't even deserve to have hockey because ice doesn't exist there naturally?! but it is nice to see the detroit papers giving credit to the only guy on the wings who showed up to play in the post-season. you got it: slava kozlov.

and guess what? still no check...

< APRIL 22 > i went to the craziest party yesterday. it was some sort of finnish sauna festival. on top of the 12-story gershwin hotel, they built this full-on tent sauna, with the wood stove and the hot rocks and the whole deal. so it was just a bunch of really cool, really friendly people hanging out on the roof of this building in towels, walking around with their beers and listening to bands. it was totally like being in someone's backyard. easily the most bizarre events i've ever been to in nyc, but definately one of the most fun. sauna's awesome. the finns know what's up.

< APRIL 18 > i got this thing in the mail today from the "who's who in america" people. i didn't know they did this for people who were out of high school. it's to recognize people who "have acheived success in their respective fields." heh. i guess nobody told them i got canned. but i think it might be legit, because they don't want me to send them any money. still, i'm skeptical... and in case you were wondering, i now have the cleanest house in all of brooklyn. mmm... pine-sol...

< APRIL 16 > i'm officially on the dole. called this morning and signed up. i've spent all day cleaning my apartment, because i feel like that's a good way to go into this phase--mentally and physically clean. i also found out where the library is, because i have lots of time to read, but no money to buy books.

weird side note: when i run my activity logs from my house, i get a ton more domains than i did when i ran them from work. strange.

< APRIL 13 > be prepared, kids. this is a long one...

so not only was today my last day at the former nickandpaul, but i left in grand fashion when the ever-classy nick shore (my former boss) threw me out of the building. right now, you're thinking, "wait, wasn't amy fired two days ago? why was today her last day?" see, it's like this: when i and the rest of my friends/co-workers got fired on wednesday, we were given checklists of work we were expected to finish or we wouldn't get our checks today. mind you, these are our checks for wages for hours we put in this week and last week. this is rather shady and incredibly illegal. that's what's called extortion and blackmail, and on top of that, it's insulting to my integrity and work ethic.

my checklist consisted of preparing nick for a meeting this morning, and writing, designing and coding an entire style guide. in a day and a half. i told him i wouldn't be able to do this much work in this time. he said, fine, we'll talk about the style guide later. my pm on that project told me later that day that she had spoken to nick and not to worry about the style guide. good. i prepared him for this meeting so that he wouldn't look stupid in front of the client. i stayed late last night doing work for a job i didn't have (who's a sucker?), and finished my work.

today, he asks me where the style guide is. i told him my pm told me that she had spoken to him, and not to worry about it. he asked me if i was going to come in next week to work on it. i told him i would, for freelance rates. he took me into an empty office and proceeded to spit and curse at me for five minutes. after using the word "fuck" in pretty much every way possible ("fuck you," "don't fucking cop an attitude with me," "fuck off," etc.), he then called *me* immature and referred to me as a 16-year-old child. i hadn't raised my voice or cursed once. i stood there and watched him rant and rave like the lunatic that he is, because i was not about to stoop to his level. i got back to my desk, and he ordered me out of the building.

so i went out in a blaze of glory (after bombing my drive, of course). i walked out of there with my dignity in check to the cheers of my former co-workers, because the rest of the studio knew what a small, pathetic little man he acted like. and then he wonders why his business is failing. i don't know, nick... maybe it's the way you treat people. just a thought.

moral of the story: don't ever work for someone you don't respect.

and if i don't have my check by wednesday, i'm calling a lawyer. anyone know a good one?

< APRIL 11 > well, kids. we knew it was coming sooner or later. i just got fired. unemployment, here i come. nine people in the office got it. they shut down interactive. apparently we're out of cash. guess i'm moving to arkansas. i wonder if barnes and noble's hiring.

< APRIL 10 > no time for love, dr. jones... i'm working like a mad woman here.

< APRIL 5 > spring is officially here, because i had an iced coffee this morning. soon it will be time for summer shoes and soft-shell crabs. it's a crime to have to be inside working on a day like today.

< APRIL 3 > i finally did my taxes last night. i owe $1.96 to the state of new york. so i have to write a check for $1.96, or the irs will come after me yelling, "i want my two dollars."

< APRIL 2 > so my company changed names today. instead of nickandpaul, we are now known as the way? group, and we've become a contender for the title of world's longest url. the "way?" stands for "who are you?" which, since we're a branding agency, might make sense on some level. not sure what that level is, though. i don't think it really matters, because i now know that i should just pack up and go home.

< MARCH 30 > and here i was thinking i had seen my last firin' friday when i quit xceed. danielle and roger, we'll miss you.

< MARCH 29 > you know your industry's in tough shape when you're at a launch party, and you have to explain to other people at said party what a launch party *is*. "do people still have those? are they like the pink slip parties?" uh, sort of...

i gotta stop going out on wednesday nights. i'm not as young as i used to be.

< MARCH 27 > heh, heh. how was *my* weekend? in three days we managed to cover three of the four basic sin groups. you know you've had a good vacation when you need to take another couple of days off to recover from it. seriously though, i always love hanging out with laura. we chilled out, had an awesome time, met some crazy people who all managed to torment me in some way: natasha took all my money in poker, tammy the claw pinched me, matthew held my clothes hostage all weekend. the only one who was a good southern gentleman was tim. as ah-nold said, "i'll be back," and if any of you guys ever need a place to stay in nyc, i'm your girl.

coming soon: the road to hot springs (a photo exhibit of road signs and other crazy sights on the highway between hot springs and little rock.

< MARCH 23 > late-breaking news: rhasaun's a dad. he and kim are the proud parents of a little girl. her name's naima. congrats, guys!

so i printed the red chucky shirts (the small ones, for the girls) last night, and they came out soooo good. i was so amped after i left the studio i couldn't fall asleep.

i'm going to little rock tonight to hang with laura. arkansas is always a good time (no really, i'm not joking), and she's promised me a weekend of debauchery. since i love debaucherous activities, it should be good fun all around.

< MARCH 20 > happy spring! it's actually spring-like here today, and i'm trapped inside at work. at least i have a bunch of windows letting sun in.

< MARCH 16 > mailboxes fixed. i hate dealing with tech support, because my problem is always something really small and really obvious, so i end up looking like an idiot.

i'm tired of march madness already.

< MARCH 15 > spoke too soon... the mailbox is even more busted now than it was two days ago. i can send all the mail i want, but i can't receive any. where it's going, nobody really knows. i changed the contact link on this page so it goes to an email address that actually works, and hopefully i'll have this problem fixed soon.

i've spent all day thinking it was friday. i also think i'm getting a cold. not cool on both counts.

< MARCH 13 > having some drama with the mailbox i set up for this domain. hopefully, it's fixed now. i think i should probably start learning unix.

did you know viagra can make you blind?

< MARCH 12 > not a very exciting weekend. went to danny tenaglia's birthday party (which was very disappointing, i might add) and saw pollock. quality flick. i give it two thumbs up.

it's days like today when i really miss having napster at work. even with their brand new "copyright filters" and such. heh.

< MARCH 8 > my domain transfer/hosting service deal finaly went through, so you can actually see the site where it's supposed to be right now. i'm psyched.

i finally got the steve lawler compilation last night. it's not as good as i thought it would be. some awesome tracks, but on the whole, pretty weak. kinda sad...

< MARCH 5 > we're supposed to be getting a blizzard here in nyc. so far, that's turning out to be a scam. it's not even snowing yet. and here i was hoping for the day off tomorrow.

my painting is almost done. i want to post photos of it when i finish.

< MARCH 1 > so this is my new site...

i've been trying to put something like this up for about three years. it's not much right now (actually, you're currently looking at the whole site) but soon it will be. just you wait...

big ups to rhasuan, the god of dhtml, for this little scrolly thing here. he's the man.

coming soon: chucky the wise-ass chimp and shag caverns.

in the meantime, you can look at some pictures of me jumping out of a plane. i did that last summer. (i never promised you *new* content, you know...). they're black and white, so they must be artistic.

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