Jobless to Best Job Ever

As many of you are aware, I lost my job last year.  I had been a shipping and inventory manager for a little over seven years.  I didn't exactly love it, but it paid the bills and I generally liked hanging out with the guys (and a few girls) that worked for me.  We listened to audiobooks, to Disney songs, to 80s love ballads, and to stand-up comedy.  We shot rubber bands at targets.  We played choose-your-own-adventure zombie games.  We shrink-wrapped each others' stuff.  We went bowling about once a year.  We actually did do a lot of work.

But, things change.  I stopped having any minions to work for me.  I started having more work than I could reasonably handle.  I stopped having much to look forward to at work.  And soon,  I stopped having a job.

Really, I probably should have seen it coming.  The signs were there.  But, I'm apparently not always very good at seeing warning flags, particularly when I'm being told to just ignore those big flapping red things.

But, in a convenient plot twist, the day before I was told I was losing my job in a month and a half, my friend Jake texted me to see if I was interested in working weekends taking pictures for this company called Fish Eye Fun.

I'd heard of it.  Kindof.  I mean, I saw Jake posting on Facebook about it.  I didn't really know what it was all about.  But, the next day, after I left work and went home and cried for about an hour, I texted Jake and told him I was really, really interested in working for this place.

It's things like this that reinforce my belief that things will always work out for the best.  It's just the way it usually works for me.  For example, my ex moved out the week before I went on an amazing road trip with three of my good friends.

At House on the Rock.  I already want to go back.

An accurate re-enactment.

My job ended the day before I left for a week-long cruise with my parents.

Mahogany Bay in Roatan.  I touched monkeys and birds and fake pirate stuff.  It was great.

And Fish Eye Fun showed up in my life right when I needed it, and even a day early.

That weekend, I went along with Jake to St. Charles Illumination, and, in spite of getting soaked and freezing, I was hooked.

Watch and learn, young Grasshopper.

From then, it's gotten a little out of hand.  The combination of photography, dressing up, and me?  What did anyone expect?

 

Shockingly, I don't just take pictures of myself.

For those of you who don't know, Fish Eye Fun is an amazing "photo booth" created by Benjamin Brammeier.  As our motto says, "it's way better than a photo booth," thanks to the fact that it isn't a booth at all, and has a wide-angle lens and a great filtered fish-eye look.  We're incredibly popular at weddings (particularly after a few drinks), and also do birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, corporate events, and other awesome things like Comic Con and PrideFest.

Confession: bride and bridesmaid photos are my favorite.  So are hair flips.

In April, after about five months of unemployment (outside of working weddings on the weekends), I started working as the office manager for Fish Eye Fun.  I do all the scheduling and prep work for events and all the other little detail work that I strangely enjoy.

This has been, as Jake always says, the "best job ever."  I get paid to go to parties, to eat wedding food, to take pictures of people being ridiculous, and to see how much fun they have being ridiculous.  It's also exhausting, takes up most of my weekends, and I sometimes have to deal with loud DJs and obnoxious drunks, but I wouldn't trade it.  Tell me the last time you were at a Wonder Woman-themed birthday party at a sushi restaurant.  For me, that's just another Saturday night.

The worst part of my job is that I now like pop music and know all the words to "Shake It Off."

The best part?  I get to eat a lot of cake.

Lots and lots of cake.

(And no, the irony that I joined the wedding industry after getting divorced is never lost on me.)