I'm gonna change my tack...

Screw Craigslist.

I'm going to try going through the phone book and actually calling people. Graphic design studios. Ad agencies. Print shops. Photographers. Any and every fucking creative job description that I can think of.

You know why? Here's why. This is what Craigslist got for me:

1) Mostly nothing.
2) One interview with a shop that was so loonily fast-paced that they told me to take a hike before I even finished the test. At least I got to take the train to Hoboken and take pictures of the Lower Manhattan skyline with my cellphone.
3) One potential freelance job hat went absolutely nowhere; after three or so weeks of playing one-sided phone tag, the client decided she wanted to hold off for now.
4) One interview with a shop that had me do a test, then left me hanging for two or three weeks while they conducted a second round of interviews and scratched their heads. Nice guy and all, but really disappointing.
5) One interview--and this one really pissed me off--with an internet-based quick-serve graphics company that wasn't even really looking for a designer--all their designers are in India. The guy, whose posting was for a "Graphic Designer with great comminication skills", actually wants a managerial type who sorta knows how to talk the talk re: design, to supervise a design team overseas who will do creative work for peanuts...and pass the savings on to cheapskate customers who couldn't care less either way. So basically he wants me to help him put me out of business. Brilliant. Yeah, thanks, buddy. Screw you.

And not necessarily Craigslist, but either that or Monster--the guy didn't know where the hell he got my resume from, other than his supervisor:

6) One request to go in for an employee training something-or-other...to sell life insurance. What. The. Fuck.

Sorry of I sound petulant. You know me by now, I'm prone to bitching in a way that I won't do in public.

Anyway, I'm shifting gears. I'm going to the source directly--the places where I want to be--and hope I can catch someone with hiring power on a good day.