Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Parachute Pop



There was a time, years ago when I landed my first big internship in my line of work. It was out of state, so I lived with my aunt and took the train over to my job. I was so excited to be in this world of grownups, so filled with accomplishment. Everyday I’d look around at folks around me who actually wore real clothes to work instead of uniforms and hats and didn’t end their sentences with, "would you like fries with that?" I got a nice check every week and I had it made. During that time, a woman asked me if I liked my job and I, with no hesitation whatsoever, said “I LOVE IT” with such enthusiasm that I frightened her.


And my, how things have changed.


I don’t hate my job, but I don’t love it either and I'm having a general malaise toward the whole profession. I’m fed up with so much of the crap that goes into it. The internal politics, the nosey colleagues, watching everyone work in deference to the certain Powers That Be and lately, the constant worry about layoffs.


I won’t allow myself to be miserable with my working situation because a wise person once told me ‘positive thoughts lead to positive results.’ Still, I’m frustrated with my career choice. I wish I didn't have to wake up every morning and deal with The Man for 40 hours a week then come home and put whatever energy I have left into my own writing endeavors. On that end, I've reached the 50,000 word mark in the novel I'm writing. I celebrated for about five minutes, since I realize I have another 50,000 words and dozens of revisions to make before I can even imagine this as a published product. But I'll get there.


We have an intern who started and a few months ago and boy, is he eager. Not eager in the annoying sense, but eager in the ‘awww, isn’t he sweet’ kinda way. I made the mistake of taking Eager out for an Auntie Anne’s pretzel on his first day. I say it was a mistake because every day after that when he sees me rushing off, he wants to come with me and asks if I’m going to lunch. I make up some excuse about where I’m going because I want to be left alone. I’m very picky about my lunch break. I like to spend that hour in my secret hiding place (typically the library) reading a book or getting a new one. The last thing I need is someone tagging on my heels.


I'll probably take Eager to lunch again sometime before his internship is over. But I'll cut things short if he wants any career advice or asks me for any professional direction. That's when I will proceed to tell him that I am not a role model. I don't give career advice and if I did, I would advise him to get into another field altogether, one with more money and job security. I'd tell him to stay in school as long as he possibly can and to find the color of his parachute, before that bad boy pops.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Upgrade U




"Hello, may I speak to Strength/Courage/Wisdom?"


"Yes, this is her."


"Hi, I'm calling from Sprint to alert you of a service upgrade. No need to worry, this call will not affect your minutes."

"That's great. But I'm in traffic right now. Is there any way you can call me back --"

"Are you happy with your current service plan?"


"I'd say so, yes."


"I see that currently you have 450 minutes a month and you pay $xxx. Is that right?"


"I think so, but again, I'm driving. If I could look at my paperwork and call you back ..."


"Well, to thank you for being such a good customer, we're going to give you additional minutes and an additional phone line for an extra $xx a month! How does that sound?"


"Fine. But --"


"This way, you could have another phone for anyone else in your family for an inexpensive rate. This is only available to our best customers, S/C/W. You've been with us for six years, right? This is to make sure that you won't ever leave us. Ever!"


"I wasn't planning to leave, but --"


"If I could just get your authorization, I could start the paperwork on your new account right now."


"Sorry, I'm not interested. I have no use for a second phone."


"Oh come on, S/C/W!! Surely your family members could use another phone to keep in touch with you during the day! If not your husband, then maybe your kids. I'm sure they could use a phone."


"That's just it. I'm single. I couldn't use the phone for anyone else."


*Silence*


"Hello? Is anyone there?"




"I'm here. Strength, surely you could use our phone. There's got to be someone, anyone ...!!"


"Nope. Sorry."

"Well, that changes everything. Thank you for being a Sprint customer."


"But wait! I did want to upgrade my phone. Do I still get the rebate for that?"



"(Sucking teeth) I guess. That's not my department. I'm strictly for our family rewards program."


"Oh. Then why are you calling me?"

"Good question, Strength. Anyway, thanks again for choosing Sprint. You have a nice day."







Monday, June 11, 2007

Healing


I woke up a few days ago with a scratchiness in my throat that indicated my worst fear. Ned is trying to make a comeback. I've been downing green tea non stop and eating more soup than I ever have in my life. I even down Nyquill before I go to bed. I have a four day weekend coming up and I do not want to be sick. The only thing worse than spending a day off being sick is having to spend a sick day actually being sick.


Hopefully, this will all go away soon. I'm reading this book, "Wild Seed," where one of the main characters, Anyanawu, can heal herself and others. She can look inside her body to see what's wrong and fix it, so to speak. How I wish I had that power. I would gladly blink away the stuffy nose, the sneezes and this persistent cough. Ah well. Time for some more tea.


Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Destination: Out There


I'm sure many single folks have heard this statement before. "What, you're not seeing anyone? You've got to get out there!' It would be easy if 'out there' was this place where you just slipped a quarter into a machine and the perfect man would fall out. Unfortuantely, in reality 'out there' is pretty much defined by clubs and bars -- places I typically stay away from.



But the other day I looked in the mirror and decided that I am waaaay too fine to be sitting around with no one to talk to but my cat. I'm going to get 'out there' and see what I can see. I won't be doing too much club and bar hopping, but just trying to go out more often instead of limiting my world to work and home.


I took the first step the other day by joining meetup.com. It's a social networking thing where you hang out with folks with similar interests. I joined a few groups -- sunday movie buffs, first time home buyers, salsa and fitness. None of my groups are having any events any time soon. Later this month, I'll check out a home buying seminar and next month I'm doing a movie with this Sunday matinee crew. Ehhh.... it's something to do.


And I don't say all this because I'm looking for a man. I guess you could say I'm blindly looking. I signed up for a couple of online dating sites -- I'll call them Hatch and Achoo! Personals -- but only for the free trials. I can look at the clientele and they can look at me, but I can't make any real contact until I pay a fee. And I won't pay a fee until I see someone worthy, but I won't stress about it. All I want is someone who is single, childless, gorgeous, fit, rich, humorous, and hygenic with no arrest record who has all his limbs and teeth. Ok, I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get the point.


But being online again has helped me face an awful truth -- the fellas don't seem to be that into me anymore. Juicy warned me that guys would treat me differently once I decided to wear my hair natural and it's so true. These days, men barely give me a second look. There was a bit more interest when my hair was short, but now that it's locked, they're thinking 'here comes one of them earthy chicks. watch out.' There's been a significant change in the number of winks I get on Hatch now compared to when I did before, when I had a picture of myself with relaxed hair. Does hair make that big of a difference? Apparently so. Locks may be considered the hip sexy thing for men to do, but for women it's a no-no.


Anyway, I didn't want to turn this post into a long ramble session. I just wanted to put it out there that I'm going to make a greater effort toward being more social, to getting 'out there.' I'll be sure to keep you all posted about my experiences.


(Photo from http://www.internationalreporter.com/images/lro_to_moon-1.jpg)

Monday, June 04, 2007

I'm Officially a Widow...


Back in the '90s, I was madly in love with Tony Thompson. So I was saddened to learn this. Oh, it hurts. Now I'm going to have to dig up my Hi Five tape. Yes, I said tape.


Apparently, the Internet doesn't like my grief and won't let me embed any of the videos. So go here and watch a video, preferably 'I Like.' He's the young lead singer. R.I.P. Tony, R.I.P.

(Photo from http://www.eurweb.com/images/tony_thompson(undated-cd-cover-med).JPG)