revisiting generalizations

so remember how thanks to the club I attended the world's most horrifyingly, inappropriately sexualized and puke-y prom? well, turns out, good things came out of it.

namely Holly.

a few weeks ago, Holly - who organized the gross, eyeball searing, post prom party - and whose ease and happy personality during the affair inspired me to blog about it - this same Holly became my intern.

even with the last post, i tried not to bemoan the youth of today. in general, i don't like generalizations. generally speaking, generalizations are the cause of racism, sexism, bigotry, and premature notions about what kind of writing you do if you write YA novels. no, my novels are not about vampires. seriously people, get past that.

ahem.

so even as i wrote a blog post about wtF! is up with the youth of today, i knew that one horrible post-prom party did not an entire representation of teens everywhere make. (please let that be true and, yes, i chose to word that last sentence thus-ly).

sure enough, a week after Holly's party, we hosted another prom at the club. and it was a prom. girls in gowns. kids holding hands. kids bopping to the music in the hallways. kids taking pictures. and dancing of the kind that isn't forcibly trying to meld  pelvis to butt. and okay, maybe there was a tiny bit of puking, but nothing on the level of the first party. and although the whole experience was uber-boring compared to what Holly brought us - oh yawn look, kids acting like kids - it was also soul soothing.

being a YA writer, i couldn't help watching the kids at the grody post prom and think, NO WAY are these kids going to read me. as previously mentioned, my characters barely swear - though sez my agent that's so my novels are lower YA aged appropriate as well  - let alone make strippers look tame.

and then Holly came on board at the club and i'm quite happy making this generalization - our youth of today is frickin' impressive. bright, motivated, fun, optimistic. just as we've always been and, aberrations in sexual advancement aside, just as we'll always be.*

* i'm discluding from this statement the bored girl at prom party #2 who said: "this must be even worse for you, serving all these rich white kids. but look around, the kids in this room will be ruling the world one day... or at least New York City."

you chicky? you i'm not a huge fan of.  

for everyone else i'm sending out some e-high fives. i know this is not news to anyone who works, lives, plays around, owns or belongs to a teen, but you guys are doing great. keep up the good work. and parents check your kid's wallet for fake id's because if Holly is any indication....  i'm just saying.

when I told Holly what I did outside of my day(night) job, she gasped and said, I'm a YA! and then we talked books, and how much we both loved Fault in Our Stars. and Holly said what every YA  author dreams of hearing and a line I wish I could record and send to publishers:

"I'd buy every book you ever wrote."

so to turn it back to a how-everything-in-the-world-relates-to-Corrie conclusion - hey it's my blog -

please may i be published soon?

'cause these kids are growing up fast. and if Holly is any indication, what i'm spinning for them is still totally relevant.

synced in

you'd have to be a robot, not to sing or dance a little while working at a nightclub. i mean, the whole purpose of my work environment is to get people moving. so yes, i'm monitoring the bartender's pours, convincing customers their drink is not too weak, so therefore, no, i will not add a free shot to it, and sniffing down the trail of that funky smelling smoke, all while shaking it.

go ahead, try and have a serious discussion with the diva who can't possibly buy her ric-dic priced bottle of liquor unless she's seated on the (closed) mezzanine level above everyone else, while Jay-Z is balling so hard in the background. try doing that without bouncing your shoulders.

i understand you're upset...do doot do doot do doot do doot..but this is the best table on this floor...ball so hard....and if the mezz does open you'll have the best table up there.... do doot do doot.....no, hookahs aren't included in that pricing....ball so hard this sh*t crazy....here have some velvet rope to section you off from everyone else.

better? good.

i work in a pretty pop oriented club. even on the reggae nights, we hear a lot of the same tunes. it goes without saying, some djs are better than others. you can tell the gifted ones when all the crowd is dancing, jumping, singing along, one song cutting to the next in quick ten second bursts. those are the special djs. and that energy can't help but infuse you.

every night i got to bed with one song or another stuck in my head. it's there when i wake up, too. it's with me in the shower. on the subway. while i'm trying to write (but end up blogging about addictive songs instead). the brain crack of this week is Ke$ha's Die Young. go ahead, kiddies, have a listen. get a little. it's good for you.

suffice it to say, i've heard Juicy J's Bandz a Make Her Dance ALOT. it's not my favorite, but it's one of those songs that puts you in a trance like state. i have no idea what the lyrics are, but i'll void checks, call for drink specials, wipe up the bar all with a side to side jerking motion accompanying that beat. hello, i'm the dancing GM. it just can't be helped.

so it was kind of perfect last night, when one of my bartenders showed me the below video. Stephanie Tanner, i get you. the moves are yours, but you can't help syncing them to that damn soundtrack.

do doot. do doot. 
what? where was i?
do doot. do doot. 

oh right. trying to write a novel. 

ball so hard.
maybe just one more listen.

new year jobs

long story short?

i quit the job that i'd been at for almost five (holy cow) years and began managing a three story night club on the Lower East Side.

ta-dah. how's that for concise?

do i have experience managing a night club? no.

am i working double the time for way less money than my previous job? sure.

so much so that i took on a second job at a restaurant where we do sake shots when we're stressed and the boys in the kitchen feed me sushi all night? wait. what was the question?

either way, i changed my life. it is better. i'm learning a lot. and so i shall now pass along a few prime nuggets of wisdom garnered from being all up in da' club.

BOUNCERS ARE REALLY INTERESTING PEOPLE. some of the wackiest conversations in my life have been in the last few months and they've all taken place with men i have to jump two feet in the air to high five. seriously. talk to someone new this week. experiences and perspectives outside your own are fantastic to be around. and/or. befriend a 6 foot 10, three hundred fifty pound man. remember ladies: big man = big personality. your life will be zanier and more enjoyable for it.

CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, NIGHTCLUBS ARE NOT ABOUT COKE IN BATHROOMS. they're about puke on floors.

YOU CAN ADJUST TO GOING TO BED AT 6AM TWO NIGHTS A WEEK. and if that's possible people, then you, we, i can do anything. i promise.

EVEN IN A DANCE CLUB, PEOPLE DON'T DANCE. i suppose it depends on the night, but it's kinda rare that i see people get all sweaty dance dancing. sad. terribly sad, but true. i didn't, however, say that they don't grind their (or someone else's) asses off.

CLUB LIFE IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL. i love my life. i am blessed. we are young, so we set the world on fire. call me maybe. okay, well maybe not all the music the club plays is spiritually uplifting (and no, i'm not hyperlinking the carly jepson song), but it makes you bounce on your feet and it plays in your head for days on end and, in general, it's happy making. sure, there are songs with the chorus of ass ass ass ass [kids beware: that hyperlink is DIRTY and CURSE-Y] and i find myself inserting the words shot shot shot shots into everyday conversations, but my family learned The Wobble at New Years and we giggled our ass ass ass asses off while doing it.

in summation: do it. take that chance. make that leap. live a frickin' little and every now and then dance until you're sweaty dance. because not enough people are. also, if you see something that looks like chunky petroleum jelly on the floor, for goodness sake, step around it. most likely, it's puke.