Is my last day at work. Excited, stressed out and a little sad all at once.

When I was in my 6th Quarter at the Portfolio Center, I was in a class that challenged me to design a chair by combining an art movement with a personal narrative. It was a difficult task, but over the course of two months a chair came to life out of millions of small sketches. I built a 5 inch model of the chair to present as my final project for that quarter out of a broom and some balsa wood. It wasn’t quite enough to give my vision life, and so I located Walt Wittman, a man who does beautiful work with wood. We had a series of conversations and he took on my challenge. When I graduated from Portfolio Center, my chair was finished and it was beautiful. I had it professionally shot by Peter Hobbs and it looked great.

I submitted the work to a few design shows and was pleasantly surprised when I found out that I had earned a place in the Graphis New Talent 2010 Annual. After that, I sort of forgot about the design shows and continued on my job hunt.

Yesterday, I was informed by Hank Richardson (President of Portfolio Center and my instructor for the Chair Class) that I had been honored in the National Student Show and Conference. To make it that much more exciting, Chuck Schiller chose my piece as his Judges Pick in the Awards Show. His comments can be seen in this video.

I do feel that it is important to say Thank You to the people who helped me make this chair. All the other students in my Chair Class who pushed me, Hank, Walt, Peter and my family (who my personal narrative is about). Thanks so much.

At work I sit in the back room with the other freelancers. A man sits directly to my left. He’s a nice guy and generally, I like him. There is one minor problem though, that this week has turned into a MAJOR problem.

While he works away at his desk, changing files and designing things, he talks to himself. CONSTANTLY. And it’s not just talking. It’s cussing. He cusses out files, he complains about things that are happening, etc.

It. Literally. Does. Not. Stop. All. Day.

Typically, I am wearing headphones. Unfortunately, my nice headphones are missing the cord and I am waiting to get a replacement, so I have been using my earbuds this week. They don’t do such a great job of blocking out the conversation he’s having with himself.

I might be able to handle it if he wasn’t dropping f-bombs every 5 seconds about how annoying these files are and all the things they’ve asked us to do.

UM. HELLO. You are a freelancer, looking to get hired. I feel the need to point out a few things.

1. It does not look good to complain about everything they ask you to do.

2. You are a designer. Computers are great, but they can also suck and programs crash. Deal with it. And deal with it in a way that doesn’t involve constant cursing.

3. You don’t have to be here. You aren’t bound by a contract. If you hate the work that much, you can leave.

4. Blaming other people for mistakes you made when converting the file just makes you look worse. They know and you know that you are the one who screwed it up. Admit it and move on.

We all need to complain about work sometimes. It’s acceptable and expected. Just be aware of where you are doing it, sir. Like, not at your desk in front of everyone.