“You might beg for mercy to get by
But I’d rather tear this thorn FROM my side
‘Cuz I won’t be the one left behind
You can’t be King of the World if you’re Slave to the Grind
Tear down that rat racial slime
You can’t be King of the World if you’re Slave to the Grind”
– Slave to the Grind –

If there truly is a “soundtrack of your life”, I hope tracks FROM Skid Row’s Slave to the Grind is part of mine when the movie about me comes out. It’s the definition of me and my philosophy in musical form.

What a shame that the last best album came out in 1991. Then “Grunge” came along and fucked everything up.

During the Enemy of the State Years:
“So you think you cut me down to size…
But there’s something you should realize…
It’s gonna take more than a break in the law…
To make me smile pretty for the wrecking ball
Wont beg, won’t bleed…
Once you’ve made your mark you’ve made a threat to society.”
– The Threat –

Anyway, there’s the story and why I had to seek this album out again (The version with explicit lyrics, of course… fuck you, Tipper!).

But due to legal and contractual reasons I can’t talk about it (of course).
But yeah… I am not a happy camper right now.

• My boss has moved on. He’s now Media Director of another one of our newspapers in upstate New York.
• You could employ “common sense” and assume that I, second in command, and the one largely responsible for the success of our department would then become “Internet Director”, wouldn’t you?
• You could. But you would be wrong.

For over a week now I’ve had people congratulating me, only to apologize in complete embarrassment when they find out the truth and see the hurt in my face.

One more person asking me “when am I moving up, or is someone else filling in my boss’ position?” and I’m gonna FUCKING SCREAM.

The fact is, I was screwed… and good. Someone else took all the credit for our hard work and left me in a fucked up position where I have to prove myself to see if I can fill my boss’ shoes.

I always saw the success as a 50/50 deal. And I’m being REAL generous here.
To put someone else above me would mean I have to “train my own boss”.
Kiss my fucking ass.

Of course I examine every situation before acting, so here are the advantages…

• I report to two wonderful people now. People that know me, know the situation, and know my capabilities. People that are known for looking out for people in their department and giving credit where credit is due.
• I am now free to make the newspaper site INTO what I think it SHOULD be. (I have 3 1/2 years of hate mail FROM readers to use as reference)
• The new publisher takes over next month. I understand he’s pretty reasonable, internet-oriented, and I’ll probably go somewhere with him (‘cuz with all of the new changes and projects on the board… he’s gonna look so damn good.).
• I’m powered by negative energy. I do my best work when I’m mad as hell.

I waited a week to see if there were any plans for me here… obviously there aren’t. If the plan is “see what it takes to make Eric find a new job”, then I’d say it’s going swell.

So I can either dwell on how “screwed” and “insulted” I am right now, or do my patented “turn this all INTO an advantage” and write my own ticket. I don’t particularly understand the “corporate mentality”…

… but I am a seriously underrated actor. :0) If I can pierce the mentality of the Über-goobers out here, I can certainly play the role of a “suit”.

Excuse me, I have to go “prooooove myself” now.
*spits on floor* Ba Fongul!
One “corporate guy” coming up!

(Yeah I know this is being read… that’s why I haven’t mentioned the part about my jumping ship and to whom yet.) :0)

EricBrooks.Com® – Where “guys in suits” are just below “guys with badges” on my list of “people I don’t trust”.