O hai.
Say hey, I have been absent and distant, haven't I? O yes, I know, and at best of times I am a jerk and obnoxious and overbearing and .... well, we could go on all day, but why bother?
Let's go back to the distant past, and why not, to see These Days. When it seemed that my life was falling apart, and encouragement was found; that things changed and people moved on and all was for the best.
All for the best.
Sigh.
So two years later, after I reconciled myself to closing my practice, where do things stand? Do not laugh, I know most of you are fully aware of where things stand.
Construction is at a decades-long ebb. Banks refuse to lend money, while they amass truly mind-boggling amounts of capital. Bankers get record profits and astonishing bonuses, while the construction industry sees more than 20% unemployment. Democrats continue to ignore the need for infrastructure investment, and the entire governmental apparatus is unable to recognize that deficit spending was what turned around the Depression.
Last year deficit spending in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act managed to keep me employed, alive, and minimally funded. And those fucking Teabagging bastards who claim none of the stimulus created any jobs can come up here and say that to my face, at which point I will unleash a boot to their fucking head (and probably lose my belt because that is a transgression)
Where do things stand? Nobody will fucking hire an aged architect, with oodles of experience and a wide range of projects under his belt. Too much salary, too likely to bail for a better position when things get better. Too easy to find someone who will do the same thing for less.
After two years of coming to terms with shutting down my practice, what is next? Nothing left but the tattered remnants of that practice.
Fate says: Fuck you, you fat untalented gob.
Clients say: when we ever do something, we might call you, if you are willing to do it for half the price.
Employers say: why the fuck would we hire an old guy like you?
And I wander around, holding out pictures of work I have done that has changed the city or won awards, and might as well be holding up a cardboard sign saying "will draft for food".....
...In the evening, I see news that the GDP has jumped up, or that unemployment has dropped below 9%, or that Chris Fucking Matthews is concerned that he may be taxed an infintesimal amount above what he is taxed now....
And, dammit, Alex Lifeson, I could be your fucking guitar tech.
Where do things stand? I can't close my practice, because it affords a meager cash flow - the only cash flow- that satisfies the debt service. I can't find a new job. I can't find a new career. I can't learn to play guitar, much as I fool myself, it's way too late. I might have once been an artist, but am WAY too crude.
I could have been an engineer, but pierced my ear.
I have considered running for local office, but have smoked pot. Also, I use the word "fuck" in open conversation.
I suckballs at carpentry.
I will never be anybody's idea of a gigolo.
The Republicans, especially as implemented in Wisconsin, will refuse to institute any policy that actually encourages job creation at all, let alone in the construction industry.
As pathetic as I present myself, I have still managed to accomplish a couple of nice projects over the last couple of years.
I guess if those years as an Sole Practitioner have cost me my health, my family, my love, my mind, or my balance.....
Well, those buildings still stand.
Don't they?
Alex, Geddy, call me.
