It’s my friend Jon’s birthday, which I will always remember, not because he’s my oldest friends but because it was his birthday the first time that I got fired in 1999.

I’m sure that I’ve talked about this before. I did a story at the Moth about it. I should be over it but it’s always stuck with me. Some experiences in your life are more formative than you think. It was the first time in my adult life – and I was hardly an adult – that I felt truly screwed. I had signed a lease for an apartment that cost over a thousand dollars a month. I had a college degree but no real skills. I had one job out of college and I had failed spectacularly at it.

I remember walking all the way home from the office above Grand Central to my apartment on 82nd Street and York. I just needed to not be still sitting down in a subway car. It was a beautiful, crisp September day unlike the humid mess we have today. I remember that as I was walking away from the building, I passed my former manager and he refused to make eye contact with me.

I went out that night with Jon. For our first few months in New York, all we really did was walk around to different neighborhoods. We didn’t hit bars or clubs. We just explored. We met up with his brother Nick, probably coming from a gig playing bass. I remember Nick asking me, “So, how was the orifice?” And then I had to tell him, “I got fired today.” (And, yeah, “orifice.” With his delivery, it worked.)

They fired me on a Friday and I had that whole weekend to feel sick over my future. Some friends came over and we watched The Big Lebowski. I could hardly think straight, though, I was so worried.

The weeks that followed were actually kind of great. Once the shock wore off, I got some temp jobs and on other days I took walks in Central Park while listening to the copy of OK Computer that Jon let me.

Before Lynda Weinman founded lynda.com, she wrote books and I bought one from Barnes and Noble and used my roommate Byron’s computer – I didn’t have one – to try to learn to build websites.

Eventually, through my friend Scott, I got a job at a company called Concrete Media. I have no idea why they hired me. I went in to interview to be an associate producer and they gave me a job as a front end developer even though I didn’t know how to code. I learned everything I know about front end development in those first few months from my co-worker Joseph.

The company that fired me was called Winmill. Apparently they still exist. I have no idea how because, in retrospect, I don’t know what it is they actually did. But there they are, still standing, nineteen years later just like I am. Everyone makes their way somehow, I guess.