Kiss Today Goodbye...: Sunday May 31, 2009

Week Twenty-One / Day One

Much has happened, this week; it's been extremely tough, actually; the dynamic cultural transition has been through no small amount of strain (on Friday, my Chiro put his hands on my neck and exclaimed, "WTF happened at work, this week, Mate!?"), things have been extremely busy, egos have wrestled and clashed, learning has happened, there's been some enlightenment...we have had our extremely successful "Meet the Team" soiree at the company HQ.

Far too much and too intimate to delve much deeper into the maelstrom of politics, assumption and misunderstanding that made this week so arduous; and I'm happy to blame it all on the end of Mercury in retrograde, ending yesterday. I believe we got through it and, as I mentioned, much was there to learn on myriad fronts.

Growing pains: personal, professional, cultural...

As I was scrolling through iPhoto in preparation for this post, I came across the above shot of of Matthew Cusick in the midst of "Exclusion" at the '06 Soldier Field Opening Ceremonies and -- given events and experiences of this week -- it resonated most powerfully with me, just now... Ergo, I share it.

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Did I mention this was also the occasion of the First Annual In-House Company Olympics? Well, it was. A single event; but one of great stress, dexterity, strength and skill. Below, you see Claudia preparing Judi, who runs our Perth office, for competition:

The Wrong-Handed Gold Lame' Weighted Handbag Toss.

The competition was fierce, I tell you. First the athlete is blindfolded, then turned around three times and placed at the opening of the playing field, which is set out akin to a shotput pit. Then, weighted bag in hand, the competitor must -- using the "other" hand (right handers toss left, and vice-versa) -- toss that handbag as far as possible...hoping to at least stay within the boundaries of the pit.

We were lucky, in that there were no drag queens among us; our clocks would've been cleaned...

But, Judi did a fantastic job of clock-cleaning, on her own. After all, she's a kickboxer, hovercraft instructor, master chef, outstanding producer and hot chick. She easily captured second place...

The next evening, she and the rest of us were all smiles at our Meet the Team event in our iconic, South Melbourne offices. Formerly a fire station (as you've seen in an earlier post), then a Starbuck's training facility, it has been transformed by us into a hotbed of creativity and a space that is unusually conducive to exciting event experiences and the housing of the brains that create them.

As I was cruel enough to show you Judi in a blindfold; I share with you, here, a shot of her at the soiree. Tall, easy on the eyes, sweet lookin' and she can kick your ass. Now, THAT's a Producer!

The night was a smash. We'd installed a circular bar in the center of our downstairs reception area and these guys put ol' Tom Cruise ("Cocktail") to shame. These were great bartenders; so much so that they remembered the preferred cocktail of every single guest after the first order. Impressive.

Sheesh; there was a time when I couldn't even remember my first order!

But, when these guys got hot, they got HOT. Suddenly, two or three times during the night, there'd be a blast of heat coming from the bar and one would turn to see an entire ring of flame and these two gents in the center, spinning flaming molotov cocktail-looking bottles and spewing several meter-long tongues of fire from their mouths, across the room and at one another.

Truly a show of shows; this is probably the best time I've had in a bar...well, certainly since I overdid it that last time, in December of 1991...but probably ever...

The reviews were universally of one tone: the night was fantastic and an exemplary representation of who we are and how we do things. We do 'em right; and we do 'em the best they can be done.

The man behind it all, he who shanghaied me and brought me downunda, knows how to keep his clients entertained and happy. This is him; and this is me...at the Party...