The Sunday Spin

1. I had a fabulous 3-day weekend!

2. I spent it visiting my homies in my former stomping grounds and I tried my darndest not to use words like 'privet', 'axis,' and 'birdie' (inside joke).

3. I also discovered the joy of Rock Band on the Wii. I sang a little bit, played the drums and I even ...

4. ... played guitar, which was my favorite part. Being the obsessive person that I am, I became obsessed with one song in particular.

5. My trip did help me realize that the next time I fly, I may want to aim for a first-class seat ...

6. .... either that or rip out the throats of every spoiled mofo sitting in that section. (seriously, the flight attendants were holding up the line onto the plane just so they could give one of them some orange juice. GOODNESS!)

7. But now I'm feeling exhausted. So that means it's time to floss, brush and hop in bed. Maybe a teeny tiny bit of tv and a few pages of a book, but it's lights out after that!

The Sunday Spin

1. Happy Memorial Day everybody!

2. I hope you're out there enjoying this holiday weekend, filling it with parties and food. I'm spending it ....

3. Working. Sigh. But I'm done and I'll be off tomorrow. Can't wait!

4. Right now, my eyes are heavy and I'm resisting the urge to take a nap. I really need to ...

5. Do some laundry, and other chores. However, I'm ...

6. Sitting here blogging & halfway watching a marathon of General Hospital. Actually, the show is watching me more than I'm wearing it.

7. This group, The Ting Tings, is stalking me. A friend turned me onto this song, which she dedicated to an ex boyfriend. I was hipped to this one after Vh1 started playing it in the mornings and now they play this one at Job Deux. In fact, there are times where I just mumble "the drums, the drums, the drums, the drums ... " Sigh.

Enjoy the day!

The Sunday Spin

1. Yesterday was my first day off in two weeks! And I spent it .....

2. ..... SHOPPING! I bought some new perfume, some bath/body stuff and this book, which I'd been patiently waiting to read.

3. Unfortunately, I had to complain to management about the antics of some of my new neighbors. I learned tonight that I'm not the only one who seems to have a problem with them ...

4. There was a note on the front door that said: 'STOP PROPPING THIS DOOR OPEN! WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE, AND YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE. STOP IT OR WE'LL HAVE PROBLEMS! -NOT MANAGEMENT'. Sigh

5. We have a new Whole Foods (also known as Whole Paycheck) near my job and it's the stuff dreams are made of! I mean, it is HUGE. I did one of those Build Your Own Sandwich deals and it made my heart flutter.

6. Job Deux is helping me realize that standing is hard work. Whenever I leave a shift there -- one that's as little as four hours -- I'm in need of a nap.

7. The customers at Job Deux make me forget there's a recession going on. This one lady spent $630 like it was nothing. I was astonished. But I was able to put her in one of the special customer booklets and get kudos from the higher ups.

Don't Give Up

I love the elderly. They can bring out the best and worst in you. In my family, it’s the gray-haired ones that give the best compliments, the biggest hugs and the most honest advice. But sometimes in my work life, I have to deal with quite a few seniors that make me wanna holla.

A few months ago, I had to go to an art exhibit for something that was work related. Basically, this senior citizens activity center was holding a reception for the artist, a woman who was 80+ years old. I had to talk to the artist and she wasn’t in a talkative mood and gave me one word answers – which is the last thing I need for my line of work – so I politely told her that I’d give her a minute to collect her thoughts and then I’d get back to her.

She had about a dozen paintings and several people stood around, marveling at each piece. There was a man, who about the same age as the artist, who kept coming up to her and asking questions that I couldn’t hear. She brushed him off and he eventually came up to me and asked why I was there. When I explained that it was to see this artist, he begged me to come see a portfolio of his work. I agreed and he literally took my by the hand to his table.

I had no choice but to sit still as the man sifted through page after page of his artwork. He had a bunch of pieces he built with his hands and set up in his garden. I remember being impressed, but I can’t remember further details of his work. Each time he flipped a page, he’d say “I completed this when I was 54,” “I did this one when I was 62,” or “It took me 20 years to do this one and I was 78 by the time I finished.”

When we reached the end of his portfolio, I thanked him for his time and prepared to get back to the original artist. But the old man stood and grabbed my wrist, so I had no choice but to hear what his next words. “I say all this to you for a reason,” he said. “No matter what you do, don’t ever, EVER, ever give up.”

Excellent advice coming from a stranger. And words I definitely needed to hear. I nearly forgot about that moment until earlier today. An art teacher at the senior center called me to discuss another upcoming event. Unfortuantely, I won’t be able to attend. I hope that whoever gets to go meets this guy and gets hit with this same advice.

The Sunday Spin

1. Happy Mothers Day to all the mommies out there!!!

2. I'm on my way to mamasan's house, to deliver my gifts.

3. I got her two DVDs -- 'Chicago' and 'Moulin Rouge' ...

4. ... as well as a funny card. On the outside it says: "Hey Mom, remember all those times when I was little and I used to help out around the house?"

5. The inside reads, "Nah, me neither. Happy Mothers Day." Tee hee.

6. TBS has been playing Kill Bill Vol. 2 repeatedly. I forgot how much I love those movies. I may have to add them to the collection.

7. Lately, I've been stalking a coworker for the recipe to her blueberry coffee cake. I've worn her down and she's agreed to give it to me. I can't wait to give it a try. It's yummy!

The Sunday Spin

1. I got 13 hours of much needed sleep last night, complete with one nightmare, one interruption due to my bladder and another interruption because of my neighbors' getting busy.

2. It is raining hard and that's temporarily diverting my plans to go to the grocery store. The cupboard is seriously bare.

3. New TV obsessions: Being Erica, Celebrity Apprentice, The Amazing Race.

4. I made my first sale at Job Deux this weekend. Hooray!

5. Time to start thinking about a Mother's Day gift. Hmmm ...

6. Currently reading Ha Jin's 'A Free Life', which revolves around a family of Chinese immigrants.

7. I need to see the following movies: 'Star Trek', 'Wolverine' and 'American Violet.'

The Paper Route

To this day, the best job I ever had in my life was working at Blockbuster Video. Decent pay that went to double time if you worked a holiday and there was the extra benefit of all those free movie rentals. My best times were spent closing up that store after midnight, blasting that Best of Bob Marley cd and goofing off with my coworkers as we cleaned up. Good times.

Of course, it probably wasn’t that fun for the Grown Folks. I was in college then and using the job to keep me afloat. But we had quite a few Grown Folks working there – full fledged adults with full time jobs who worked here as well. My favorite was Clover. She was in her forites and had that sweet, mothering thing going for her. I just couldn’t wrap my mind about why she needed a part time gig. She had a husband and what seemed like a good full-time job, and I judged that based on the fact that she dressed up to go to work and had a secretary. I never understood why she’d need extra money. I didn’t ask her, but once she mentioned how her credit card debt got out of control and she’d indulged her children with gifts when they were younger. She was using this job to help pay for that.

Fast forward a few years and I’m in a similar situation. I wouldn’t say my credit card debt is out of control, but it is definitely above the zero mark. And I do want to buy a house, so any additional money I can gain will be a huge benefit. So recently I started working at my own part time gig, which I call The Paper Route or Job Deux.

On the surface, things at The Paper Route seem easy enough. It’s a women’s retail establishment, so ideally all I’d have to do is greet folks and ring stuff up. Right? Hah! I went to training the other day and was somewhat overwhelmed by my responsibilities. I have a packet of information to study so that I know certain things about the store’s specialty, their fancy pants. I’m not paid on commission, but folks will take note of my average daily sale. There is also a strategic way to put the clothes out just so, so that it attracts the customer’s eye. Sigh.

Training Part Deux of Job Deux starts this weekend. I hope I get used to it fairly soon. I’m a smart woman, I should be able to handle this. And I’ve already told myself that I’ll do the part time thing for no more than six months. That should give me enough time to have a big enough financial cushion. At least, I hope so!

Photo from http://img.tfd.com/wn/D6/6794D-paper-round.gif

On Fear

I was talking to someone about fear the other day. We all have them, no matter how small. For instance, I have a relative who is absolutely terrified of driving on the highway alone. She told me that she couldn’t visit her grandmother in the hospital because everyone in her family had gone already. When I asked her why she didn’t drive to the hospital – which is only about 15 minutes away – she said, “I don’t be traveling like that.” Then she explained her fear.

A coworker once told me she knew someone who was afraid of banana peels. Something about them just freaks him out. I also know of several people who are afraid of clowns. Sometimes, I can relate to that one, because I remember Stephen King’s 'It.' I also know of someone who is afraid of certain kinds of seafood, like shrimp, octopus, etc.

Anyone who knows me well,knows that I have several fears and "issues." For instance, milk. It creeps me out to see another human being drink a glass of that stuff. I can only handle it in my cereal, but I'll never just pour a glass of milk to quench my thirst. Just the thought of that makes me shudder. I can trace that fear back to my childhood, when someone (my mother! yeah, i'll put her on blast) mistakenly fed me sour milk. I'm overly cautious about that dairy product these days. I'm very careful to keep milk from spoiling in my fridge and I have strict rules about using it after the expiration date. (One day after is fine, two days maybe, but three -- it gets TOSSED!)

One of my overwhelming fears is that someone is watching me. I can’t explain it, but there are times that I feel like someone is out there lurking on my every move. When I close my blinds, I check them several times to make sure they’re all the way closed. When I’m in my car, sometimes I’ll stare into my apartment window, just to see what the general public sees. Recently, the maintenance staff at my apartment complex gave us new fire alarms. They put one in my bedroom. Sometimes, I stare up at it and wonder if it’s actually a hidden camera.

I know this seems a little strange, but hey, we all have our quirks. I'm better with mine these days. There was a time I'd go to extreme lengths to prevent my "watchers" from seeing me get dressed. Now, I just relax and hope they're getting a good show. I just hope I don't wind up on youtube.

Photo from http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Cinema/2636/clown1.jpg

Baptism Backlash

So, today was the first day of my official godmother duty. The goddaughter is Catholic (actually, her father, Homeboy, is a lapsed Catholic and her mother, Homegirl, is down for whatever), so myself and her godfather had to join the baby's parents at their church for baptismal training. When Homegirl told me about this training, I expected it to be no more than instructions on where to stand on the day of the christening and who was going to hold the baby and where. Boy, was I wrong.

We get to the class five minutes early, but you'd think you were late from the way the session leader, Miss Christine, shot daggers at us. We rushed to take our seats as she fired out questions: "Why do you want to be a godparent?" "What's the role of the godparent?" "Why do we even have to get baptized in the first place?" She shouted out these questions at random. Of course, she got to the Godfather first and he explained that he was a Catholic, and he was devoted to Homegirl and Homeboy, as well as their little baby. He said he'd do everything he could to make sure goddaughter walked a straight and narrow path. Now, I just met Godfather before the ceremony and he told me he was an atheist. Not only was he an atheist, but his wife was wiccan, before she decided to be an atheist too. Yet somehow, he won Miss Christine over with his line of hogwash.

I was about to laugh until Miss Christine called on me. She wanted me to tell her why I wanted to be a godparent, my relationship with Homegirl and Homeboy aside. I stumbled through a few things on how I just wanted to be there for the baby when she grew up and stuff like that. When I mentioned I was a Baptist, a gasp came over the room. Then Miss Christine explained that the church only wanted Catholic parents to be godparents to Catholic children, but I could still do it, since Godfather was a Catholic. (Hah! If she only knew!)

Miss Christine mentioned that Homegirl's stepson also needed to be baptized and they needed godparents for him as well. Miss Christine eagerly nominated Godfather for the position. When Homeboy and Homegirl selected me as the godmother again, she was less then eager. "Well, I guess that'll work ...." she practically whispered.

After about an hour of enduring the Sunday School SATs and answering questions about sin and original sin, we learned that Homegirl and Homeboy were unable to get the baby baptized this weekend anyway. They got their dates confused and would be out of town. Plus, they just realized they needed to find a name of a saint to give to the baby and that would be read on baptismal day. So they have alot of work cut out for them.

Miss Christine was nice enough to give me some paperwork to look over while I wait for baptism day. I think she's hoping I'll be a full-fledged Catholic by then. Nice try, lady.



Photo from http://media.bigoo.ws/content/image/cartoon/cartoon_77.gif

!!!It's My Birthday!!!!

There was a time I got so excited about my birthday that I couldn't even sleep. The words March 24th just seemed to have that special flow to the, a flow that would get me all riled up. Sometimes, I'd look at my watch at 3:24 and make a mental note that it was my birthday. Of course, this was back when I was a kid. (Yes, I know I have issues)

The birthday excitement dwindled over the years. The one thing I do like to do every year is flip through the papers and find out which celebrities have my birthday (Mr. Roper and/or Mr. Furly from 'Three's Company', Star Jones, Peyton Manning, Allison Hanigan, Mase, Annabella Sciorra, Harry Houdini) and that's a list that grows every year.

For whatever reason, I was particularly excited about my birthday this year. I don't know why, there's nothing really special about being 32, other than being older than all the days on any given calendar month. But whatever, I checked my watch at 3:24 each day and told folks it was my birthday. Naturally, they looked at me like I was crazy. I went to New York for the weekend and had an AWESOME time seeing The Lion King and catching up with old friends. I took the entire week off and I'm spending it doing whatever the heck I want.

Today, I took myself out for sushi and went to the mall. While I was at the mall, I ran into this woman who was looking at me strangely. Then she came up to me and said I had beautiful eyes. She was a Mary Kay consultant and wanted to know if I'd be interested in modeling for one of her lines.

I paused because this brought me back to a painful college memory. A female friend and I were singing Mint Condition's "Pretty Brown Eyes" and she said the song was about her. I told her it was about me also, but she said that it wasn't about me. She proceeded to say that the song couldn't be about me, because I don't have the "pretty brown eyes" that she does. Her eyes are light, mine are dark. Even though this happened years ago, I still think of that whenever I hear this song.

Anyway, I said yes and gave the lady my telephone number. Maybe she'll call, maybe she won't. Either way, it was a good birthday gift for my self esteem. Hooray! Now all I need is a new wardrobe, and shoes, and a massage, etc etc etc.


(Photo from http://images9.cafepress.com/product/119695959v2_350x350_Front.jpg)

Broadway Bound

My birthday is coming up, so I’m doing what I like to do during that time of year: Get outta town! I’m heading up to New York City to see ‘The Lion King’, which I hear is one of the greatest Broadway plays of all time. The best part of the experience is that I’ll be like 10 rows from the stage!!! That and I’ll be hanging with one of my homegirls from college, the ultra fabulous La Bianca. Can’t wait!


In the meantime, here’s a vid. I spend my mornings flipping between the Today Show and Vh1 videos, which always give me songs/artists to obsess over.

Rejection. It Feels Kinda Good This Time

I've been sending my short stories out like a mad woman, as I'm on that desperate hunt to get rich and famous. Or at least pay off my loans and live comfortably. Heck, I'll settle for something as simple as sushi and a massage.

Because I've been doing this, I've had my fair share of rejection letters. I used to have a shoebox with the words "HAKUNA MATATA" (it means 'no worries' -- Swahili) painted on the sides. I covered it with wrapping paper and taped all kinds of motivational phrases on it. Inside, that's where I kept all of my rejection letters. The idea was to keep the rejections locked up safely in there. Then, once I got a letter accepting my work, I'd look at these rejections and laugh. Ok, that's the nice version. I'd probably set the rejection letters on fire.

I've moved quite a bit since I had that box, but I still stock up my rejections. (I do save my winning letters too.) Recently, I submitted a short story to a website that posts fiction that meets their guidelines. I posted to them before and was rejected, so this time I sent something different. I was turned down again, but I'm not mad. Actually, I'm smiling a little bit. Here's the rejection letter:

From:	submissions@XYZFICTION.com
Sent:	Sat 3/07/09 5:49 PM
To:	Strength C.

Dear Strength:

Thanks for submitting "Up the New Jersey Turnpike" to XYZFICTION*.
While this story doesn't suit our needs at this time, I hope that you'll
keep visiting the site and keep sending stories our way. As we update
weekly, we're always looking for new fiction.

Thanks again,
Jason Reynolds

PS- While we don't have time to respond to every submission in detail, I
wanted you to know that "Up the New Jersey Turnpike" made it through
several rounds of reading and impressed a number of our editors along
the way. As such, it'd be great to see your name in the inbox again.

Best,
Jason

So yeah, that postscript made a sista feel geeked. And don't you worry, Jason. I'll be blowing up your inbox, best believe.



*Note: Name has been changed

!!!! Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

I hope everyone enjoys their special day. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I LOVE THIS SONG!! I've seen the video 7458475487 times, but I finally found a version on youtube that I can post. It's not the best quality, though. I'm a bit disturbed that the singers never appear together, but whatever. It's still my jam!

Bookworm

I mentioned in a previous post that I read alot. What I haven't mentioned is that I've become completely incapable of reading one book at a time.

Because of my habit, I'm a frequent patron of the library. I've been reading the Southern Vampire Books (HBO used them to create "True Blood"), but I usually have to add my name to a waitlist to get them because they are so popular. And because so many people want them, I can never renew my checkout time for these books, so I'm seriously under the gun. Recently, Club Dead, which is book 3 in the series, became available. So I had to pick that up and add it to the rapidly growing list of books I've been reading.

So far, here's what's on my reading list these days:
"Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte
"Reading Like a Writer" by Francine Prose
"Spike Lee: That's my Story and I'm Sticking to It" by Kaleem Aftab
"Unaccustomed Earth" by Jhumpa Lahiri (short story book, recently completed. loved it!)
"Club Dead" by Charlaine Harris

Yes, that is quite a bit. I'm hoping to clear out of this pile soon, so I can move onto required reading for school, i.e portions of Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" and Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice." (I give both books an early YUCK. Jane Austen and I don't get along. The movies are fine, but I've yet to get through one of her books) I also have to read "Wuthering Heights", but I think that'll be easier since I saw and loved the movie version with Sir Laurence Olivier. I'm also eager to move onto my copy of "A Mercy", since I'm a Toni Morrison fanatic. *Sigh* I hope my eyeballs don't pop out of my sockets!


(Photo from http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/images/big_bookworm.gif)

Discoveries

I read alot alot alot ALOT. (More on that in a future post) And one of my favorite books is "Lion's Blood: A Novel of Slavery and Freedom in an Alternate America", by Steven Barnes. It is not an easy book and even though I've highly recommended it to a few friends, they had to give it back to me unfinished because it was too heavy.

Basically, the story revolves around the idea of Egypt defeating the Roman empire, therefore causing Africans to have European slaves in what is known as the New World (aka United States). The story revolves around Kai, whose family owns a plantation known as Dar Kush, and Aidan, a slave who lives there. Despite the circumstances, the two become friends. The story includes some historical figures like Shaka Zulu. Anyone who has seen the Shaku Zulu movie (the first one with Henry Cele, not the Grace Jones version) hundreds of times like I have will get a kick out of his antics in this book. There is also a sequel, "Zulu Heart", which is equally good.

I mention this book because it introduced me to the 14th century poet, Hafiz. I don't mark up my books much, so when I do, it's got to be a special line. There's a scene in the book where Kai is chatting with his brother's fiancee', also the woman Kai loves. They begin reciting Hafiz, eventually leading to a poem I now know is called "No Other Kind Of Light:" Find that flame, that existence/That wonderful man/Who can burn beneath the water./No other kind of light/Willl cook the food you need. Beautiful! So yes, I underlined page 425 in pen, a clear no-no by my rules.

I did some research and became a fan of some of his other poems that are posted online. He has a timeless poem that I'm sure alot of people can relate to. It is called "Find A Better Job:"

Now

That

All your worry

Has proved such an

Unlucrative

Business,

Why

Not

Find a better

Job.

There are two other Hafiz poems in "Lion's Blood", but for the life of me, I can't figure out the titles. Here are the lines: We are exquisite coral reefs,/Dying when exposed to strange/Elements/Allah is the wine we crave -- we miss/Flowing in and out of our pores. The other poem goes like this: Why all this talk of the beloved/Music and dancing, and/Liquid ruby light we can lift in a cup?/Because it is low tide,/A very low tide in this age/And around most hearts. If anyone knows these titles, or knows how I may find more of Hafiz' poetry, please let me know. In the meantime, I do plan to check out "The Subject Tonight is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz."

Dead Man Walking

I'll admit it, there are a few dead men that I have mad love for. Actually, I can only think of two or three at the moment, but I'm sure there are more. Let me clarify. I'm not talking about any freaky vampire/corpse stuff. I'm talking about men who are dead now, but have my love just the same. Does that make sense?

Let me start by talking about Bruce Lee. I was always a fan of martial arts movies, particularly the low budget ones that would air at noon every Saturday in my neighborhood. The plots either went one of two ways. First there was the "Don't Mess With My Woman" plot. That story revolved around the movie's Hero who had a relationship, or a crush on, a beautiful woman in town. But the enemy would either rape/attempt to rape or kill said woman, angering the Hero. The Hero would take revenge and by the end of the movie, all the enemies would be gone and the Hero and the woman would ride off into the sunset together.

Second, there was the "Don't Mess with My Friend/Teacher" plot. That story revolved around the Hero who has a good friend or teacher that is just as skilled in the martial arts as he is. Then, along comes the enemy, who uses dirty tricks to kill/maim/severely injure said teacher or friend. The Hero takes revenge, killing all of the enemies in sight and then the credits roll. (Jean-Claude Van Damme is famous for these plots, i.e. "Kickboxer" and "Bloodsport", which are virtually the same movie)

The movies were cheaply made and they had that famous out of sync voiceover for us American audiences. But I still loved it. Eventually, I discovered Bruce Lee and I was never the same. I can't remember the first Bruce picture I saw -- maybe it was "Enter the Dragon" or "Fists of Fury." Either way, I just couldn't take my eyes off of this beautiful bundle of energy that was killing everyone in sight. I made it my mission to see every single one of his movies and I even caught a few flicks with Bruce Lee imitators. I was heartbroken when I learned about the circumstances surrounding his death and I made it my mission to learn as much about him as I could. If I ever decide to visit Seattle, seeing Bruce's grave is at the top of my list. Morbid, I know.

The other day, I was at Walgreen's and I saw a Men's Fitness magazine with Bruce on the cover. (I think it's the April edition) Naturally, I stopped in my tracks. They had several pictures of Bruce -- old and young -- that I'd never seen before. Yummy! I think the article was talking about Bruce's workout routine and what he did each day to sculp that physique. Dude was serious. Oh Bruce, if only we had lived in the same time period ....

Speaking of, anyone ever seen "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour? Well, I'm about to tell you all about it, SPOILERS and all. The movie is filmed in the 1970s and it starts out with Christopher, a playwright, celebrating his most recent play. This old old OLD woman he never met before approaches him and says, "Come back to me." He doesn't know what she's talking about and she gives him one of those turn of the century pocket watches. The lady leaves and he does some research to learn that she was this famous actress from the 1920s and 1930s. He sees her picture (it's Jane Seymour) and just can't stop staring at it, he immediately falls in love. So he finds this scientist and finds a way to go back in time and meet her. He's transported to her time when both are young and limber and the sparks fly! Of course, something happens and his transported back to his time. He's so heartbroken that he stops eating and drinking an dies. Then the movie shows them being reunited in heaven.

Sorry, I'm rambling now. No, my love for Bruce is not that deep. But it was the only movie I could think of to justify having a crush on a dead man.


(photo from http://images.art.com/images/-/Bruce-Lee--C10104019.jpeg)

Overheard, Or Just Being Nosey

"I'm definitely washing my hands after this!" -- Little girl in the bathroom stall next to me.

"What were they doing? Were they changing clothes?" --Coworker's young sibling's response to learning that a politician was found naked in the back seat of a parked car with a woman.

"I only have one penis to worry about with him. But I have all the penises in the world to worry about with you." -- My cousin, explaining to her teenage daughter why her younger brother is allowed to have female company but she can't have male company.


"KH can't believe she has to beg for a ring after 9 years. Either way, if I don't get one by Saturday, I'm gonna be single." -- A high school friend's Facebook update, talking about the father of her child. The next day she was listed as "engaged", the day after that "single."

My Third Blogday!!!

It’s my 3rd BlogDay! I’m now out of the Terrible Twos and can officially be called a toddler. Hooray!

I’ve done some research and found that as a 3-year-old, I should be moving out of babyhood into childhood, demonstrating my rich imagination, developing a sense of humor and moving away from the 2-year-old trait of having temper tantrums. Hmmm. I think I’m on track. I've matured. I've tried to get a little bit more creative. I get in a few laughs, from time to time. But hell, I'm still prone to the occasional rampage. But like me, this blog is continuosly a work in progress! I can't wait to see what my fourth blog day has in store for me. Or even better, my fifth -- isn't that when I'll start kindergarten?

Either way, thanks for visiting!

The Return of the Shady Friend

I've mentioned before that I have a friend whom I rarely see. And when I do see her, we get involved in some kind of whack scenario that either involves her kids or we have lunch dates that end with me not eating. I haven't talked to her in awhile, so imagine my surprise when I have an email from her.

Her oldest daughter -- she has two girls, oldest one is the one with the attitude -- is selling $20 tickets for a bowling party they're having soon. It's to fund her college tour trip, or something like that. Anyway, it's coming up soon and they're asking everyone to buy tickets. Now, I would happily just give her the $20 and be on my merry way, especially since I don't know what to expect from this bowling party crowd. Is it going to be teenagers or adults? What kind of adults? 'Cause I've been around her crew before and ... well ... it's interesting.

So, I have to make a decision sometime soon. In a perfect world, I'll say I can't attend, but give her money for the college tour and make "lunch" plans with my friend. (I put lunch in quotation marks because the last time we hung out, yours truly continued to starve) Knowing me, I'll forget all about the email and miss the deadline. But we'll see what happens.


Photo from http://content.pyzam.com/graphics/insults/MJZ1272.gif

Contagious

I got a facebook note from my friend H, and without opening it, I already knew what it said. I presumed that H, who once worked at the place where I’m currently employed, had heard about the layoffs/furloughs/other drama that we’re experiencing. It was an easy assumption, since after our company woes have been announced, countless people have come up to me and offered condolences, as soon as they realize where I work. It’s always weird to have a complete stranger try to get all up in your job situation, but I handle it. Things are different with H. We go way back, back to when I was an undergrad and she was a grad student. We both worked at the same internship, where our robotic (but charming) supervisor whipped all of us – grad and undergrad students alike – into shape.

But when I called H, she had some bad news of her own. She got laid off from her company and wanted to know if they were doing any hirings at my place of business. Bummer. I had the unfortunate task of telling her about how things have changed here and how the company has its own troubles keeping us on the payroll. Bummer. Then we commiserated about the State of Things and complained and complained and complained. Then we picked each other up and exchanged suggestions for coping. She got a part time gig, may return to school, may even start teaching.

I hope things work out well for H, since she has much more experience in this industry than I do. I’ve been trying to leave this industry for years, but she loves it. Unfortunately, lay offs are contagious. Hopefully, the rest of the year won’t be so sour, employment wise. And I’m talking for the entire country, not just my little space in the universe. Either way, I’ll be thinking positive thoughts and praying for the best.