Side Effects

For those of you not around this weekend, I was interviewed on David's blog.
I'm a dork, I know.
Who else talks about gas in their first interview?!

This is Donny's first season playing football.
He and I, we haven't really known what we're doing.
He's catching on a lot faster than I am.
I still need translation during the games, to understand what the heck is happening.


They had team photos this weekend, right before their game.
I can't help but take photos over the photographers shoulder.
He's used to annoying parents by now, surely?

My boy looks so handsome in his uniform.
A mother has to brag a bit.

I doctored up the team photo to protect the innocent.
The arrow points to Donny.

We lost the game.

Actually, we've lost both our games and both our scrimmages so far.

But, the coach reminds us, this is a team of newbies,
and he doesn't expect them to win until their fourth game or so.

Quite a pep talk, no?

A whole nother game's goin' on under the bleachers.
The rugrat siblings of football players are running a muck in the trash and dirt.

That's a whistle in his mouth.
It was a party favor at a birthday party he attended before his big brother's game.

He also had a soccer game earlier that morning,
which I don't have pictures of because I was coaching.

Coaches with cameras aren't taken seriously, apparently.

While I'm glad my boys are in sports and having lots of fun,
there seems to be a side effect to football that I don't like.

Good lord have mercy. My poor boy.
There is no way a woman invented football.

Were you ever injured in sports growing up?
What activities are your children in currently?

The Starbucks Experience - brought to you live & personal

I'm a people-watcher, and I love writing about life, ordinary life, in a fun way, because everyone can find a way to relate to it.

I think there needs to be a Starbucks' blog that focuses on what happens IN Starbucks. TRUE LIFE. Because, I'm in awe of all that goes on. Job interviews, old friends meeting up, blind dates, meetings, support groups, and who knows what else? When I stand in line, I see all kinds of activity around me. Groups who gather there regularly...are they friends meeting? Or have they all become friends through running into each other at this Starbucks?

I propose a blogger hangs out in different Starbucks around the state or country and gets the scoop. She could take photos and feature these customers on an Internet blog, willing participants who make STARBUCKS A PART OF THEIR LIFE. Because it is a part of so many lives, in so many different ways.

I think this would appeal to people, because I think people are more about personalization these days. And making things more personal, bringing it home...

Don't you think Starbucks would like this idea? I posted it on their idea site. Any suggestions how I should promote this? While I'm in the middle of job interview land, my mind is working overtime...

Have you ever gone to Starbucks for more than a drink?
I had a job interview at one the other day
(the interview wasn't WITH Starbucks, we just met there to have an interview).

It's black & white...and all over my house.

Quick note:
An interview with me is featured on David McMahon's site today,
if you want to check it out.

The hunter becomes the hunted.

David's an international photographer and journalist from Down Under.

now on to Camera Critters:

We have someone special staying with us right now;
my mom's dog, Seamus.

My boys love having another dog around.
Both dogs follow them from room to room.

Although they don't listen as well as Donny would like.

They're both well trained but when you get two dogs together,
there's a different energy in the house.

They like going outside together.

And it's surprisingly hard to get good photos of them together.
I'll keep trying.

Fizzing Thoughts

I've discovered a conundrum (and it's a good thing I have spell check).

I've determined how to access an extra bit of brain percentage
(do we really only use 10%? Nope, that's a myth, I just Googled it).


When this special moment occurs, where I am able to break free from regular thought,
my creativity bubbles over like pink champagne
and my mind froths with inspiration.




I come up with amazing story ideas, brilliant blog posts
and solutions to cure world hunger and spread peace around the globe.




You think I'm kidding?

I kid you not.

What's the secret?

Drugs? Alcohol? Deep meditation and transcendental transcendence?

Nope.

The secret lies in those last few minutes of consciousness before I fall asleep.
Those moments in my trance-like slumber state,
the house quiet, the fan whirring, the dog snoring,
the deep even breathes from my children
and the wind brushing tree branches against our windows...
this is my nirvana.
Just before I drift away to dreams of colored pens, blank paper and mountain retreats,
inspiration hits me.
Hard.
My mind suddenly hikes paths through a forest of ideas.




I meander through the trees, stopping to explore caves of plot and jump into fast-paced rivers of insiration, plunging eventually over a waterfall of deep ideas.





It's all so wonderful, so magical, so right, that I know there is no way I'll forget this by morning. I'm certain I'll awaken tomorrow with this immediately on my mind, ready to explore further. Potential rumbles like a thunderstorm ready to break loose.
The negatively-charged ions release, dancing into the air.

Briefly it occurs to me, like a glimpse of an eagle soaring overhead, that I should grab a notebok and jot down some of these thoughts and ideas...



Nah. It'll still be there come morning.
How could it not?

Then I burst through the forest into a field of flowers
and lie down among their colorful softness to fall asleep.




Happy. Replete with a whirlpool of visions swirling in my head. Ideas to explore come morning...

And then I wake up the next morning with a slight hint of pine, a wet leaf stuck to my foot and no memory of what I found in the forest, the caves, and the river.

I'm going to capture that cool mountain air and map those forest paths.
One day soon.
Maybe tonight.

Job Interview - Part 2

OK, where was I?

Oh, yeah. Gut cramps. Sweat. Bad feeling.

We sat down across from each other on leather couches. As I tried to settle in and look professional, my squirming produced a "tasteless" noise. I didn't actually toot, it just sounded like it. Honest.

I really hoped he understood that.

For the rest of the interview, I sat as still as a statue...which is very hard for me. I think I like to change positions a lot. (no bad jokes here, please)

If the sitting still so as not to make a farting noise, sweat and gut cramps weren't enough, the questions began (Tell me about a work situation you had that required excellent communication skills.)...and I swear every single one of my answers started with this phrase: "Well, I haven't really had this experience, but the closest I can come to it is this..."

I swear.

Holy heck.

I was pulling answers out my hiney...honest and creative answers/solutions to the hypotheticals he suggested, but probably not exactly the answers he was looking for.

He took notes. Probably so he could laugh at my answers later with his friends.

My job history has no customer service...I've worked summer jobs as a teen in law office and dental office...I volunteered at children's hospitals and in ICU's. I currently coach a children's soccer team. I've been a nanny, a medical transcriptionist and am currently free lance writer.

I put myself out there, honestly and wholeheartedly, but no one wants me yet. It's a tough feeling. Exposing your self, like running naked through the mall (I hate the mall), and then having everyone ignore you...begging for attention and getting none.

I'm holding out hope the right job is out there for me. Somewhere.

I haven't heard back from "Dick" Jones.

I do have another job interview elsewhere today. Wish me luck.

Job interview - Part 1

My hair doesn't like to look nice. It likes to curl and frizz and go its own way. See?!




So, when I take the time to wash it, blow it dry and roll it up in hot curlers, you know something important is going down in the Texas Word Tangle household. Add in a tiny bit of make-up, tasteful jewelry and my nicer (non-frumpy mom clothes) outfit and the fact that I shaved everything I could think of, something BIG was definitely going down.

I had a job interview.

Now, it really doesn't matter who this interview was with. It could have been a big hotel chain, a bookstore, or a clothing store. All that matters is that is was somewhere I have had no experience working. In fact, I have had no retail experience period. So that just makes me a tad undesirable. But, I put my best smile on, but wished I had my kick-ass tough cowboy boots on because then I feel invincible,



and I pulled up my big girl panties and turned off my cell phone (I thought) and strode right in.

The office was intimidatingly nice.

Me: Hi! I'm here to see Dick Jones for the 2pm interview.
Girl at the desk: Um...do you mean Rick Jones?

Me: (crap) Oh, yes, I'm sorry, Rick Jones. Thank you for setting me straight, I must have written it down wrong. (Whew, glad I found out before I met him!)
Girl at desk: (looks behind me) Mr. Jones, your interview is here.

Me: (crap, he's right behind me, no chance he didn't hear that!)


And I turn around to find a man in a suit, with no smile on his face. Beads of sweat broke out immediately on my forehead, and I felt my gut cramping up.

Not the best way to start an interview.

A Remy quote

A Remy quote:

"Mama, my legs hurt, so that means I need to go to bed."


I think he literally has to wear his little body out to go to sleep.




A post sharing my latest job interview coming up later this morning...