adam wr anderson
Hi There!
I am Adam Anderson. You can learn more about me below.
My Work- My Brief Thoughts
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Info
- HOME Choice Housing Coordinator / Social EntreprenuerPublic Policy | Columbus, Ohio Area, USSummaryI hope to continue to work in the affordable housing sector in some capacity for the rest of my career. I have a specific interest in how institutions of Higher Education can influence community redevelopment.Specialties: Tax Credit Development, Microfinance, Strategic Planning, Government Policy, Affordable Housing, Medicaid Policy, System Reform.Experience
- Nov 2011 - PresentAdjunct Instructor / The Ohio State UniversityTaught PPOL 290: Leadership in the Public and Non-Profit Sectors (WI '12). Core course for the Public Policy Undergraduate Degree. 40 students in class.
- Apr 2011 - PresentHOME Choice Housing Coordinator / Ohio Department of Job and Family ServicesOperating as a bridge between the Health and Human Services field and the Affordable Housing field, I work to both help house individuals who are transitioning through the HOME Choice program (the Ohio version of the Money Follows The Person demonstration grant), but also to help set larger affordable housing policy for the state of Ohio.
- Feb 2010 - Apr 2011Policy Research Assistant / Ohio Housing Finance AgencyResearched and wrote in-depth white papers and literature reviews, including relationships between property managers and developers and the neighborhood effects of Lease-Purchase housing.
Co-authored the local-state partnership model for the Interagency Council on Homelessness and Affordable Housing, resulting in greater cooperation between 16 different state agencies.
Designed and created a systematic index of resources available statewide for Permanent Supportive Housing developers to create and maintain projects.
Aided in the development of OHFA’s long term strategic plan, including soliciting stakeholders, interpreting their recommendation, and creating a long-term plan based their discussions.
Provided assistance in the strategic implementation of the $170 million Round 2 TARP Hardest Hit Funds, aiding other staff making decisions based on peer states and their programs, and providing project management assistance to assure the funds were utilized in an effective manner.
Provided project assistance in the strategic implementation of the $540 million TARP Hardest Hit Funds project, aiding other staff in making decisions based on peer states and their programs in order to ensure timely completion of deliverables. - May 2005 - May 2010Campus Minister / CCOWas a campus minister for three years full time at Gannon University, and two years part time at Ohio State University.
Trained new hires as part of a intense, 6-week mentorship process including bible studies, one-on-one meetings, and intentional community living. - Aug 2008 - Feb 2010Planning Assistant / City of Dublin, OhioCreated and presented staff reports for the Board of Zoning Appeals and Architectural Review Board, assisted with reports for City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission.
Developed detailed material on a series of adopted Land Use Principles, and presented findings to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Aided in the comprehensive rewrite of Dublin’s Zoning Code through research and evaluation of current and future use categories.
Assisted in detailed architectural review of large, mixed-use development by reviewing and making recommendations on housing design based on a detailed development text. - Aug 2005 - Jun 2008Resident Director/Resident Campus Minister / Gannon UniversityOversaw the daily functions of a 50-student apartment building, providing emotional, spiritual, and academic, support to students through consistent personal interaction.
Designed and executed a multi-year leadership development program that enabled undergraduate students to move into both personal and organizational leadership positions.
Led three service trips to New York City, aiding students in understanding the importance of charity and justice in the inner city Bronx area, including fundraising; itinerary planning; and an education curriculum before, during and after the trip.
Networked and secured donations from various fundraising sources as a part of annual campaign to secure over $15,000 annually.
Studied and presented an in-depth report on the relationship between Gannon University and downtown Erie and provided specific recommendations to promote better relations. - Jun 2006 - Jun 2007Volunteer, Design Committee / Erie Downton Improvement DistrictScheduled personal meetings and performed door-to-door campaigns with local business owners to relay the importance of façade improvements in the 144 square-block Erie Downtown District.
Provided direction for the new Perry Square renovations, including reclaiming the over 70-year-old GE fountain by approving specific designs that balanced historic character with long-term preservation efforts. - May 2004 - May 2005Student Chair / Grove City Downtown Redevelopment CommitteeElected representative and spokesperson for the Grove City College student body regarding the physical and economic redevelopment of downtown Grove City.
Facilitated public participation effort and conducted personally designed surveys to help create a vision and plans to create a new streetscape for downtown Grove City.
Networked to help find donors for the matching PA Department of Community and Economic Development and Grove City College grants, in excess of $50,000.
Education-
2009 - 2011The Ohio State UniversityMPA in Public Policy
Activities: Chair, Professional Development, PASA (Public Affairs Student Association) -
2008 - 2010The Ohio State UniversityMCRP in City and Regional Planning
Activities: Member, CRPSA (City and Regional Planning Student Association) -
2005 - 2008Geneva CollegeMA in Higher Education
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2001 - 2005Grove City CollegeBS in Marketing
Activities: Delta Rho Sigma, RA, Orientation Board -
1997 - 2001South Range High SchoolHigh School
Additional Information-
Websites:
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Honors:2009 Central Ohio American Planning Association Planning Student of the Year Award 2010 Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture Faculty Prize in City and Regional Planning Award of Academic Excellence Recipient
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Tweets
- Only taken me about 700 years, but I'm almost to 1000 tweets. For whatever that's worth.Feb 21, 12 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- My little nephew. So glad to meet him! http://t.co/EhRwYj3p
- I'm pretty sure duke and nc fans just pooped their pants but for very different reasons.
- Personal experience dictates that everything is bigger in Texas. Including egos.
- Listening to Die Antwoord. I think I just had a dance seizure in my head.
- #Crew96 first preseason game today. So excited. First home game can't come soon enough.Feb 08, 12 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- @AndrewJSaunders I was proud of this http://t.co/diEMAm7G
- And at the very least, this was a way to utilize the bully pulpit to separate him from the GOP field.
- Well done, President Obama. #SOTU
- Just found out about MSI+KKG merger. That's when I get when I stop reading @ColsUnderground.
- Rational Irrationality: Good Riddance to Jon Huntsman : The New Yorker http://t.co/wyIPrztt via @addthis
- Making It in America - The Atlantic http://t.co/x4DwdzyD via @AddThis
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Posts
“…hey, what are a few massacres of infidels and Jews among friends?”
This is incredibly frustrating on both sides.
I thought this was an engaging article on atheistic morality. I think there’s a third way where in a God-created world we can derive moral judgement that is “independent” (which I always saw as General Revelation), but is also God-given.
I think this is a good argument for jobs such as mine.
So I feel like Robert Reich has the best solution to the problems with the economy, but I don’t feel like he gets enough airtime.
For most of the last century, the basic bargain at the heart of the American economy was that employers paid their workers enough to buy what American employers were selling.
That basic bargain created a virtuous cycle of higher living standards, more jobs, and better wages.
Back in 1914, Henry…
I’ve been waiting for this article. I was happy to read it.
I loved this little reflection piece.
“I remain unrepentant in my support for this president, a man who has accomplished more in the face of a more hostile environment in his first three years than any president since Johnson. I wish more reasonable Dems and a few moderate Republicans will soon have the courage to say so.”
“There are many lessons to draw from this picture. As long as the economy is weak and joblessness high, antipoverty programs — like food stamps, jobless benefits, Medicaid and tax credits for the working poor — must be extended and shielded from across-the-board budget cuts. At the same time, Americans need a spare-no-expense effort to create jobs and retrain sidelined workers.”
The best part of this article? The comments. Oh my goodness.
But there’s another alternative. If Occupiers are expelled from specific geographic locations the Occupier movement can shift to broad-based organizing around the simple idea at the core of the movement: It’s time to occupy our democracy.
While I don’t know if I go as far as Mead does, I’ll say I’m concerned at the way the Boomer’s leadership has run amok, with little disregard for the children of other boomers.
The most segregated city north of the Mason-Dixon line is a surprising one: New York. White New Yorkers message other white New Yorkers at about 2× the national rate, probably about Animal Collective.
This is the organization, after all, that airs “Prairie Home Companion” and plays classical music on the weekends. And let’s face it, nothing says “Democrat” like Lake Wobegon and Brahms’ 4th Symphony.
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Recent Tracks
- Chevys And Space Ships by Stalley
- Ohio by Justice
- Talk That Talk by Rihanna
- Intro (dirty) - dirty by Specifics
- One Time by The Roots
- Otis by Jay-Z
- Ni**as In Paris by Jay-Z
- Intro (dirty) - dirty by Specifics
The RootsChildish GambinoMF DOOMGrizzly BearAtmosphereJay-ZBonoboKendrick LamarFoster The PeopleJ. RawlsSki BeatzBombay Bicycle ClubJusticeSufjan StevensFeltErykah BaduRJD2The ShinsJ. ColeM.O.P.RadioheadWax TailorLMFAOBon Iver5 O'Clock ShadowboxersThe Insane WarriorCommonDynamic SyncopationIncubusTalib KweliOddiseeAesop RockAmy WinehouseBig SeanDie AntwoordRobert GlaspertUnE-yArDsKe$haDizzy GillespieQ-TipThe Flaming LipsAnthony HamiltonFlight of the ConchordsAdeleJames BlakeCalifoneRihannaWu-Tang ClanElla FitzgeraldDestroyer- 22 plays
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- Dory by Grizzly Bear4 plays
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Photos
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Posts
- Jan 18, 12
In case you’ve tried in the last few hours to check something out on Wikipedia, you’ll note that there’s a big, blacked out screen taking you to information regarding SOPA and PIPA. In case you’ve not heard much about it, here’s a good article from Al-Jazeera in regards to the ban.
There are plenty of folks that are way wiser than me who are making thoughtful arguments about why SOPA and PIPA are bad, and I tend to agree. If one is spending so much time being worried about whether something on their site is pirated, it will allocate precious energy away from creativity and innovation. I’d rather not have Wikipedia wasting time on that – we see Jimmy Wales’ face more often than we’d like to now, imagine if he had to hire a bunch more staff just to check links?
I’m a person who came into his internet maturity just as Napster was in its heyday. As such, my definitions of moral piracy are probably further down the continuum than a lot of folks, but that doesn’t mean I don’t see a value in correcting a distribution system that also stifles creativity – at least the way it’s done now. Open sourcing, pay-what-you-want music distribution, and fee-based services like Netflix and Spotify have taken steps to move with culture and the shift in technology. It is, in fact, possible to curtail piracy, but I think we need to recognize that it is as much a part of our lives as dubbing cassettes was 20 years ago.
As it’s been with the Occupy movement and other groans of “the-world-is-not-how-it-should-be” right now, I think that the business leaders who are trying to make decisions in the interest of their shareholders need to see what kind of economic value judgements have changed in the last generation. If someone doesn’t want to wait the 56 days required for a new DVD, it’s easier to download it from elsewhere. It’s too easy now. The alternative for Warner Bros and other is either to bend to the will of the consumer, or lose money. I believe that as time goes along, this will become a greater reality.
In the end, I think about my grandfather with his laptop at home. I’ve taught him at least a half a dozen times to check his email, to learn how to type a letter, and to conduct simple web searches. I would not expect him to provide thoughtful guidance on technological policy in the US. And yet, we have individuals who are not too far off my grandfather’s age and their bedfellows determining how the internet should be policed. It doesn’t make sense. We do need a change, it’s true; we need the experts in the field to provide us with a thoughtful alternative.
SOPA and PIPA are garbage and whimper in Sweedish, respectively.
- Jan 09, 12
I wonder what it was like for Jesus at 29.
Right on the verge of starting a brief but history-bending career as the rabbi of all rabbis, did he question what he was going to do? Did he keep telling himself that eventually he was going to go down and visit cousin John and get baptized?
Did he second guess getting in the carpentry trades? His dad’s business paid the bills, sure, but was it fulfilling? Was it something to wake him up before the sunrise with excitement, or just a job?
Were mom and dad worried that he wasn’t going to settle down, take a wife, and continue the proud lineage of the greatest kings if Israel? They remembered the visions, but they were so young back then. Lots of travel back then, it could have been exhaustion or bad food.
He’s got to feel like he’s been made for something more than what he’s doing now. He heard the stories. He knows it’s only a matter of time; just keep studying and learning, eventually it’ll happen. It’ll all make sense.
And when it does, the world will respond in kind with exponential parts adoration and hatred. Reviled by his peers, but celebrated by raca – the worthless.
But for now, he’s one year removed. A few hundred sleeps more from awakening the Kingdom.
- Sep 12, 11
…has been a lot. I mean, that’s even an understatement. I think that had you told me where my life would be in just six months, I wouldn’t have believed you, but here we are. I will run this down for you, and then discuss what I’d like to do in the future with this blog, and just in general.
This is a description of my life after March 8, 2011:
- I graduated with my MPA on March 20. I really wanted to see what it was like to graduate in St. John’s, and so I went. The worst part of graduate graduation in the Winter is you have to wait for every undergrad to get their diploma. It took an hour. Just sitting there. I remember the chair being uncomfortable and shaking E. Gordon Gee’s hand. I don’t remember what the woman said for the commencement speech (and she warned us that’d happen, anyway). It ended a period of higher education that spanned from August 2001… almost exactly a decade.
- I started my new job on April 11. I help to create affordable housing policy for a program that helps move people out of nursing homes into community when they want to leave. It means I need to have working knowledge of the affordable housing industry as well as Medicaid. I love my job. I enjoy the people I work with. It pays well, and I have good benefits. I’m even more excited about the idea that this job will position me well for the next one, whatever that’s going to be. Jesus was right when he said the poor will always be among us. I love working in a job that helps them on the macro level. It’s what I wanted to do.
- My brother was wed to his fiancee on April 16. My first time as best man, it was a wonderful (and rather emotional) day for me. I watched my little brother get married and start a whole new life. Our family expanded +1. We’re a small family, too, so that +1 is significant… like an increase of 20%.
- I met Lindsey McIntosh in person on April 25. We’d been chatting online a week before then. We went for tea and a walk that day. By the time I walked to her home and gave her a kiss goodnight, we had 3 more dates planned. It was that good.
- I found out my brother and his wife were pregnant with their first child on May 30. I was of course very excited for them, but their combined age is almost 10 years younger than my parents, and they’re not that old. But, it turns out that’s why you have families. Our family expanded +1.
- I asked Lindsey to marry me on August 30. She said yes. My most immediate family expanded +1, which marks a 100% increase. Our other families are now going to be expanding +1.
And so here I am. I have three new family members, a new job, and am planning for a wedding, and for a new life. Many of you who have known me for a while know that my heart has always been into having a family over just about anything else. It’s not to say that I tried to force it, but I was happy when this life finally came. It’s been years and years in the making, and here I am.
So I hope to actually write again. To use this as a source of reflection, of thoughts about the world, and more importantly of recording my life. As always, you all can view as much as you want of it.
- Mar 08, 11
- Jun 17, 10
So I’ve given some time to thinking about the issues of internet identity. In a world where we all seem to use the internet and the world inside our computers than outside it, I felt like as I approach the time where I’ll be interviewing and looking for full employment, making sure my internet presence is what I want it to be is essential.
And of course we should all be concerned about this: this article in 2007 demonstrates that people are looking at Facebook, MySpace, and now Twitter and other social media sites just to see who we are… and keep in mind that’s three years ago. I wonder how much that’s changed now.
Newsweek this week published an article pertaining to the closing of the gap between the internet world and the real world based on Mark Zuckerberg’s push open the internet as broadly as possible, believing (and I paraphrase here) that the shadow of our digital and flesh selves should be as small as possible. He says it should encourage people to see that everyone does foolish things, and will liberalize society a little. I’m not sure I agree with that, but I do believe in being open, if only for the sake of consistency.
I’ve been a proponent of this since I started working with college students at Gannon and would see how pictures of parties wherein students who were underage would show how much they drank to the Facebook world, and then would make sure that their parents didn’t see the pictures by either not being friends with them, or just selectively hiding photos. Beside the fact that a future employer will potentially see the photo, what’s the point in doing something if you can’t let everyone know? Moreover, if you can’t let your parents see something, why put it on Facebook or MySpace in the first place? In other words, you may as well be consistent, because in the end that inconsistency will catch up with you. At the best, you get a stern lecture from your parents. At the worst, you won’t get your dream job because you made some serious missteps.
So I’ve tried to be proactive in my Internet identity. If you go to my main website you’ll see all of my web presence – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, et cetera. All there for my employer, my friends, my next date, and my parents to see. It’s on my business card. You can even get to this blog from there. And sure, you’ll see a picture of me drinking a beer or two at a Clippers game, but as far as I’m concerned I’d rather live in such a way that if my potential employer saw me anywhere, he or she would feel comfortable hiring me. Never mind the Christological implications of being the same person wherever you are.
I’d encourage all of you who are in similar boats as I am to take a serious look at your web presence and determine if it’s a reflection of the person you want to be. You never know who’s going to see it.
- May 12, 10
I’ve got a new girl. Her name’s Ohio.
We’ve been friends since I was born. We lived next to each other – not quite neighbors, but close enough. We went to the same school together; when I played trumpet, she played the drums in band.
She’s a badass like that.
I liked her parents. A lot. Northwest Territory never had slaves. That’s not something most parents can claim in the US.
In college we lost touch. I hung with her neighbor, Pennsylvania, who’s hot. She’s got two beautiful… cities… that I loved to stare at: Pittsburgh, and Erie. It’s been a torrid affair with PA. We dated for seven years. She promised me if I came back after I left she’d pay me, get me a home, and raise my children.
She was going to be my sugar momma.
Then I came back to see Ohio. Ohio’s always had the girl-next-door look – not hot, but certainly a girl you drank in when you saw her and felt no obligation to spit everything back out. She’s a bit more ragged than since I last saw her, however. The last few years haven’t been good for my girl – not able to afford to good food, her hair’s falling out, she’s lost a lot a lot of weight (and she hasn’t been anything but skinny since the 70s).
But, like any man falling hopelessly in love with a woman, I don’t see what she is as much as I see her best self. I see her strong. I see her resplendent. I see her hopeful, and I see her aging ever more gracefully. She’s not the woman who girded a nation with steel anymore, but she’s still skilled in ways I don’t think she even knows. She gets used a lot by young folks, and then when they’ve used her up, they move on to sexier states with their siren songs, promising money and fun beyond what my girl can offer.
So one rainy night as we were snuggling in bed, I told her I loved her. I tired to scoop the air to bring the words back into my mouth, but it was too late. She said she always knew, and just hoped eventually I’d realize it. She said she loved me, too. She said she doesn’t have as much as some of the other women, but she’s home, and she’ll be damned if you don’t dance with the one you came with.
For a brief moment, I saw the fire of her past. Bright and hot – the type of flame that melts iron.
And so I stay.
- Apr 13, 10
I like when spring comes. Especially here in Columbus. There’s a resonating sigh from the entire city that’s just happy it didn’t collide with anything too bad because of all the ice in the winter.
There’s these trees that are planted everywhere in CMH, and they have these gorgeous little flowers that as the wind blows they begin to fall off, and what you see is a final illusory snowfall. If anything, it’s just a reminder that the seasons are transitory, and once you get done with one, well, another’s right in front of you.
Speaking of, I’m in a bald season. Shaved my head twice, and for the first time I remember, I’ve been told I was “hot”. Facetious or not, when you’ve grown accustomed to “cute” and “handsome” (the unfortunate bounds of the 5-7, “better-looking-than-not”s of the male world), you take hot however you can get it. This is why my head got shaved more than once. You can see it on Facebook.
Melissa said that when she looked at the picture, that I had sad eyes. She’s always been incredibly perceptive about those things, and when I looked at the picture, I see the same thing she does.
Friends
(Check)
Money
(Check)
A well slept opposite sex
Guitar
(Check)
Microphone
(Check)
Messages waiting on me when
I come home
(john m)I’m not sure what it is. Maybe it’s nothing. But, as often has happened in my life, I’m just waiting to turn a corner.
- Jan 31, 10
2010 has started.
In case you didn’t know that.
I’ve found that I’m approaching this year a little differently than I think I’ve approached any others. Maybe it’s being older, maybe it’s looking at life from the perspective of events, and less by dates. Or maybe it’s just simply that the events of 2009 were in no way what I expected. To be honest, I’m glad it’s gone. For a recap:
- January-March: Pretty standard insofar as life goes
- March: Melissa and I have a break. Also known as the slow-leak breakup.
- April: Melissa moves to Columbus. That brought me so much hope and joy for the future.
- June: Melissa and I break it off. My decision, and built around a lot of stress, and hurt. It may have been the right thing, but certainly in the wrong way. Later that month, she leaves Columbus. I feel the weight of that each time I think of it. Takeaway: if you have any hint of something significantly wrong in a relationship, don’t encourage a move one way or another. I think this was akin to trying to save a relationship by extending yourself physically… it just hides deeper things.
- July: I break my ankle, subsequently ending my summer.
- October: Fender Bender
- November 29: Speeding Ticket and Fender Bender II. I now have 6 points on my driving record.
- December: A bill that I didn’t know about went into collections without any warning and dropped my credit score 50 points. I’m still waiting for Mount Carmel to rectify the situation.
I’m not writing this for your pity, but rather I’m writing this as a reminder to myself that no one said life would always be easy or fun, and sometimes you have a crap year. I’m still blessed beyond what I deserve – I have family, friends, work, and grace. I’m not saying God and I were always best friends in 2009, but I always knew if I called He’d be on the other line.
So 2010 comes around. And so far I feel peace. Part of the problem of having so much happening over and over was that there wasn’t a chance for me to reconcile myself to the events in my life. A chance to pray. A chance to not think. A chance to disappear. I took Christmas to do that.
And then I remembered so many good things. Visiting Minneapolis. Visiting Boston. Taking an impromptu trip to Manhattan to just grab dinner. Skiing on ground more than on skis. Asking 10-year-olds what they want in their neighborhood to which they replied “not a f—ing German Village”. New Salem Baptist Church. The OHFA conference. Starting Public Policy courses.
Here I am.
I am alive.
I am loved.
I am running 3 miles in 30 minutes, and know I can do better.
I am looking forward to holding hands and kissing in ways that cause silly grins and stumbled words.
End of January. I’m applying to the PhD program in Public Policy. I’m laughing with new friends about new things. I wake up with the belief that today is worth the best effort I can muster, and then trusting the Holy Spirit will get me out of bed and bring me to the places where I need to be.
Everyone needs a 2009. 2009 makes 2010 worth something.
- Dec 12, 09
Note: This is a work-in-progress. All comments are solicited and appreciated. I’ll have 8 other vignettes before the story is through.
MANIFESTO, n, \ˌma-nə-ˈfes-(ˌ)tō\: a written statement declaringpublicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuerJack stood atop the roof of his apartment building an looked straight down from the edge. When you pay only $375 (gas, electric included!) for a one bedroom, you find that people fix just enough that you have a good chance of not killing yourself. This, apparently, did not include closing the roof access.
Jack was about eighty-percent sure he was going to kill himself that night. He did not like the thought of suicide, because it always insinuated that the cause of death was self-inflicted. In Jack’s case, it was everyone else. Just simple cause and effect. The remaining twenty-percent, he figured, was his desire to prove everyone wrong.
“Prove Everyone Wrong” was printed in a stout font at the bottom of a piece of paper folded into nine symmetrical rectangles, worn by multiple openings and closings. This was Jack’s Manifesto. He took the folded paper and held it like a gun. This was his weapon of choice. Nine phrases, locked in the chamber. Each one was guaranteed to pierce the skin the second he fired. He only needed to pull the trigger.
Jack slowly began to reopen the paper and let the bullets fly.
1. FIND SOMEONE TO LOVE
“If there’s one thing I’ve always spotted in a man, it’s bull.” Veronica often began her alcohol-induced tirades this way. Her friends, while often supportive, listened just enough to make the expected nods of affirmation.
“Yeah, all of ‘em. You remember that one boy I had a year ago? What the hell was his name? Oh yeah… Ty’ree. Ty’ree – who did he think he was, all with that splittin’ his name in half like it was some contraction or somethin’. Stupid, stupid, stupid… all men… stupid, stupid, stupid…”
Nod, and a lazy stir of their drinks.
“I could tell he was full of bull, too, ol’ Ty’ree. Talks to me like he knows me. Sends me a text message at work, tells me he’s gonna take care of me and love me and three weeks later he’s asking me for cash like I owe it to him because he cooked me dinner once…”
Nod again. At this point one could listen to Veronica every third phrase and still ascertain what she was saying:
“Lair… Ty’ree… money… money… not-on-my-couch-you-don’t… your mama don’t like me?… waste of time, that’s what he was… I’d had better…”
Twenty minutes pass by and a brand new song blasts through the club, the bass easily shaking the rest of the audience away from the table and Veronica on the dance floor. Jack doesn’t dance. Jack’s a dance virgin. He just hadn’t found the right song he wanted to give my pride and self-esteem away to. These are precious things not given away lightly.
Veronica, however, continued to whore his listening skills. He’d give in and listen, but only for ascetic reasons. Everywhere he looked, he saw pairs. Speakers were always in pairs: left-right, left-right, front-back, top-bottom. Dancers were in conglomerations of pairs, lovers were in pairs. And here he was, Veronica’s pairing. And while she continued to accost his airspace, Jack saw no alternatives, and instead joined in the fray.
“Well, Veronica, Ty’ree just wasn’t your pairing,” he said, but had forgotten the pair idea was just something in his head, and not common knowledge.
“What the hell are you talking about? Have you been listening to me? I don’t even know what you’re saying. Pairing?”
Jack tried to explain, but to no avail. In the end, sometimes it’s better to be the puzzle piece that doesn’t really fit than be the piece that doesn’t connect anywhere at all.
After throwing his arms and legs around, and finding ways to touch as much of his body to Veronica’s while avoiding an erection (thinking about his mother’s general disapproval of his choices tended to work most effectively), Jack asked Veronica to come home with him for the night. The sex they engaged in that night reminded him of the way he scanned his groceries at the self-checkout line, or received money from the ATM. As morning broke, he watched her, and decided she was a girl who must love pancakes. He set about making the best damn pancakes this woman had ever tasted.
Jack brought the three blueberry pancakes adorned with Vermont “the-real-kind-that-you-pay-$30-for-a-tiny-bottle” maple syrup with a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice back to an empty bedroom.
Jack was a breakfast sandwich guy, anyway.
2. FIND A JOB YOU CARE ABOUT
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My Schedule
