Unemployed, Day 56: SMCRVA Wrap-Up Edition

Internet people can drink. Did you know that? They can totally drink. I saw them last night. They were drinking and smoking and listening to panel discussions and arguing about how awesome Rush Limbaugh is (what?) and they were social networking. In real life. It’s like if twitter and facebook were a brick and mortar building. It was totally like that. Especially with all the poking and nudging.

The crowd was diverse. Well, not ethnically. Lotsa whiteys. But each person had reasons for attending. Mine, of course, was to shmooze it up with people whom I could hypnotize into paying me buckets of money. I’m not sure I succeeded, but I did hand out a shload of business cards and have developed carpal tunnel from all the vigorous hand-shaking. Some folks were there to promote their business. Some came to find business. Some were genuinely interested in the panel discussion about social media and it’s impact on journalism (I was). Some came hoping to figure out the identity of TheCheckoutGirl. Some just wanted to hang out and socialize with the spectacular Rivah City online community.

I met a lot of these folks at last month’s event, but this one had almost double the attendees, so I had some meetin’ & greetin’ to do. You know what was cool? I got recognized, like TWICE. They were all, “Hi, Matt! How’s the job search?” and I was all “What?! Are you the one in the black car outside my house with the sunglasses and the ear-piece? Because I am not too proud to wear a tinfoil hat in public.” Then I remembered I have this blog and there might be a few people who read it. Okay, a COUPLE people who read it.

Then I was told by one of my twitterfriends that my blog may be hurting my chances of finding a job. I think she felt bad for telling me that, but I appreciate her honesty. Basically, what she was trying to say is that SHE wouldn’t hire me because she thinks I’m a jerk. That kind of hurt, because seriously, I’ve toned down a lot of what I say and really have tried to make these unemployment updates readable and funny without being vulgar. Which is really hard to do, because I’m a Vulgar McVulgartin in real life.

I was walking a delicate line of trying not to be TOO social (you know, trying to find a job and all) and still having fun with the troublemakers and cool kids. I think I handled myself in a professional and respectable manner. Until the after party.

Sticky Rice. Love that place. The troublemakers I mentioned? They were at Sticky Rice. It was Tuesday karaoke night to boot, so you know I gave a little Sister Christian. (My staple, Bust A Move, never made it into the rotation for some reason. I think the DJ was mad at me for screaming into the mic the first time ’round). Anywhoo, it was a great time hanging out with the awesome folks that may or may not have included the Richmond Blogging and Alternative Journalism Elite. You know who you are – and nights like last night are the reason why you need to hire me. Because I can throw down with you guys like a pro. Or I’ll just blog about all the crazy stuff you did, blackmail-style. I’m not above that. Desperate times call for blahblahblah. Also, I got to hang out with the Jessica Rabbit of tech and PR blogs, who is a sorta-famous writer/videographer/critiquer for a nationally recognized website (among other things). Very happy to have chatted with her about industry-stuff. Or about aliens and robots. I can’t really remember. It’s all kind of hazy.

Will a job come out of this? Maybe. Okay, probably not. But it’s good to get to know the people in the community who have the pull to put me in touch with someone who may need my talent and expertise and charm and wit and MOTORIN’ screaming ability.

This is Day 56, folks. SMCRVA? Let’s do this again next month. Yeah. Next month. My hangover should be gone by then.