I've worked several jobs in my lifetime, and have even been multiple times over entrepreneur since at least 1999 before I even knew what that word even meant.
But, when I started developing the dragon story concepts in college in 1999 I was already dreaming up things to do with Lively in the story... I actually have different stories which are not related, and in 2 of the stories I depict Lively as having a job. The job is very much based on a job I had in the 1990s in New Jersey working a the AMC Marlton 8. I was originally a concessionist, but I was also an usher. I refused to work the box office tho' due to health concerns.
Honestly, even tho' the work was often times hard, and could be demanding, and the pay was awful, I actually liked that job a lot. Not every day was perfect, but I felt so lucky and grateful to have that job. I stopped watching the X-FILES because of that job because I felt it was the responsible thing to do, and I also had college classes on the weekend in the mornings in Philly on Scholarship, plus had to graduate from high school... add onto that the Titanic! Yeesh!
I didn't have a lot of confidence for most things, altho' I think its normal to bluff about it when ur insecure. But, I actually pushed my way into keep getting the gig as the usher. I felt it was the position I actually wanted, and I hated doing concession even tho' I had the best sales record. The trick to up-sales was JUST FOLLOW THE RULES. DUH. But, being usher meant u had some of the most disgusting jobs, like cleaning up vomit, restrooms, bubble gum, and also dealing with hostile patrons.
Ushers seemed to be the "cool people" I guess, but so were the box office people whom often begged me to work with them since they were also often ushers, and with me.... also, the ushers were all young men, and really attractive, and funny. We were also very buddy-buddy with the security guards, and the Projectionists. Some projectionists worked either usher or box office, and when times were overwhelming, ushers had to take up slack for concession.
I must also admit to some egoism here... because, when I first started out there, I was like NOBODY even tho' I already knew some ushers, personally, especially since one was technically my ex... but, not that I was trying to.... but I did flirt with some ushers... however, they started it. You weren't really supposed to flirt with your co-workers... but, even subtle ways you could... I took a liking to 1, then others took a liking to me, probably because I took a liking to 1... then, one in particular really took a liking to me, probably to strongly, and too abruptly, and because of that, or him, I became included into everything, which also put A LOT of responsibilities on my shoulders.
Let's face it, the guy was an alpha male, at least within that circle anyway, and it was due to him that I began doing usher jobs... and, as to that part about the egoism... well..... underneath the supervisors and the managers, ushers kinda ruled... We carried a porter & broom, or a big friggin' flash light, or had access to industrial leaf blowers (Titanic crowd was the worst trash making bunch) . And, if anybody made trouble, we sauntered on over to them and gave them "the voice" or "the tone": "Excuse me, is there a problem here?"
Usually, that stopped everything... but, by holiday times you'd get people drunk or high, and stuff could turn into brawls, or nearly into Mortal Kombat, then security came, or cops got called.... Luckily that never happened... but, in a way, I guess I was somewhat on a power trip.... but, I wasn't abusive about it, at all, ever.
We also got to watch free movies. There were rules about it, but rules could be bent or broken on a whim... especially if the projectionist has a crush on you and begs you to "come help me with this".
It's probably the only job I actually liked, or enjoyed, even tho' I often had soreness in my feet.
The people would actually hang out, off the clock, and socialize, and it was very close and friendly. But, it was also a different world, and different era... So, I do, still, have a fondness for that part of my life even if things don't turn out so well in the end....
It is so very strange that some memories are so vague and I can't remember anything for parts of my life that one would think would be memorable... and, yet, I have SO many memories of that job, in such clarity and details, like it was yesterday. How very strange indeed!
The story I wrote "Lively's Mini Unicorn" is actually a cartoonish version of how I wrote/conceived of the story in the dragon project story...
So, anyways, Lively's working uniform is somewhat loosely based on the one I used to wear.
His name was Bob. Actually it was Babak because he was originally from Iran, and "Bob" was the NJ nickname. I actually never knew he was Iranian for almost a year because he seemed like a really funny white NJ kid. I also didn't know I was older than him either until he showed me his green card. Such a funny guy! he used to tease me with the funniest jokes, and I would crack up with laughter!
Back then, in NJ, everything was VERY DIVERSE and a whole blend of all kinds of peoples.
I wrote the character based on him, because of a character design class at AIPH. My teacher, Sam, encouraged us to make characters based on real persons we knew. Bob liked Spider Man, American comics, and a lot of things I also liked, and he was just SO FRIGGIN' FUNNY that I had to make the character of him the way he is in the cartoon.
Unfortunately, some idiots on DeviantART thought I made a Skinhead character! WTF??? And, if got flagged and removed! Jerks!
I have since then, thought of making the character a black dude. That might actually make him cooler. I dunno....
I don't know what the heck happened to Bob, because we were always so cool as friends. He was even my first ever Facebook friend. He was always trying to be an entrepreneur since I knew the guy. But, out of the blue, he changed his name on FB to some nonsense random letters name, then deleted his account. I ran into him several times in NJ, and even got high w/him n some mutual friends via a relative of mine.
It was strange when he just up & disappeared off the face of the planet, because he even came up to Boston for a job interview and we were gonna hang out, but he got so high and wasted that he didn't show up... that was so unusual for him.... and, the last few times we talked on the phone, he was high as a kite, or drunk out of his mind...
I had a number of relationships from NJ around that time that also just seemed to bust like balloon... I've never understood why... I guess NJ people just did too much recreational drugs....
I often felt completely bewildered and confused, and didn't know how, nor why, it would just bottom out... and, there was nothing I could do about it.
If you've ever experienced the "Why me?" aspect of life, it often went that way... Honestly, I feel distrustful of NJ people now... :( It really hurts.
