after 2 years and one month, almost to the day, i have been officially FIRED from theHalfKing.
it's been a long and interesting run, i must say. i started off as a busser making $80 after an eleven hour day. I quickly moved up to server in a couple months - but had to go get a second job at BLT Burger to get more experience. theHalfKing was my first server job. from server i hosted a bit and eventually became a bar back to, Eamonn - a relentless yet skilled/seasoned bartender from whom i learned much. I quickly made it up to more desirable shifts with people like Eamonn and second bartender Ami heading off.
before i knew it, two years had passed and I wasnt creating any art. Art was the man reason i left Michigan for NY. subconsciously, i was getting down on myself for months and began self medicating. internalizing my grief and numbing myself with alcohol became my modus operandi and enabled me to keep going.
hitting the second major low point regarding my drinking and it spiraling back into countless blackout nights, i realized i needed to take a break. after the above mildly intense withdrawal subsided and i began to feel clear again -my eyes opened and i had to face what i had been running from: "I didn't move to New York to be a bartender or a server."
If you're picking up on a little self-righteous judgment it's because it's there.
i am very judgmental.
I am also my hardest critic.
I had to face that I didnt have much to show for my two years of hard work.
yeah, i found a great place to live and tons of new toys but my accounts where low if not empty.
i hadnt touched my drafting table in months, but I could tell you what bar to go to for a good time any night of the week.
with this epiphany, i decided to clean up my act. literally and figuratively.
cut out drinking, cleaned up my apartment and cleared off my drafting table.
got out my sketch book and went to work.
I must admit I had a pushing hand from Harvey, who is on the board of several museums here in NY (including the MoMA and the met) and PA. He loves my work and kept on my case about producing work.
Tim, a professor at SVA (my dream school) who kept reminded me there is a place for me in the art world.
for the first time in
i'll prolly venture back into the service industry to pay bills, but this time, i wont be making a career out of it.
it's time i start doing what i really want, dammit. which is art.
LiB
