Interview me…

I had another interview today. I interviewed with a state college and let me tell you….

Everyone should interview with a governmental agency just once.



First off, I had to take a typing test and score at least 60 wpm. 60. 6 – 0. That’s a word a second! Riiiiight. But I figured I’d give it a shot and I was curious to know what my typing speed was anyway.

I tested and it turns out… I’m a moderate typer.

62 words per minute.

Thank you BLOGGER. Without you and my addiction to over-sharing, I’d be nothing.




Before going to sleep last night, I picked out my perfect ‘interview outfit’ – in my head. But you know how that goes… it only looks cute in your head. So I scrambled to find something else… anything else. I ended up finding an outfit in my dirty clothes hamper. Sure I smell and I’m wrinkled, but I look decent.

I'm just lucky I beat Chris home tonight. Our room looks like the closet barfed and I’ve got to clean it up.



I was worried about turning into a tomato for the interview so I literally spackled my face with foundation this morning. If I’m going to turn into a tomato, I might as well hide it behind ½” of cover-up. My greatest fear was that it was going to slide off halfway through the interview and pool in a pasty white puddle on the table – fortunately it didn’t.

Unfortunately it didn’t slide to my neck or chest either… you know, the other parts of my body that like to turn a special shade of ‘oh crap, is that a sunburn? Or do you suffer from severe Rosacea on your chest?’ My dirty clothes hamper shirt didn’t cover it that well.



Despite my tomato like appearance, I’d like to think I came off calm, cool, and collected… if you plugged your ears. When I get nervous, I develop a stutter.



The first part of the test was a written exam. I was required to correct a sample letter and create a letter to a prospective donor. The sample letter was so filled with errors, I almost begged to re-write it to save time (and no, I obviously don't use those editing skills on this BLOG. Sorry.). The letter to the prospective donor didn’t have a page limit.

Perhaps it should have.

Four pages later….

ANYWAY.



Then came the interview. One person right? Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

‘Alright Rebekah, please come this way. The committee is ready for you.’

Committee??!?!??!?

I walk into the conference room to meet my death *cough* I mean, to interview and the first thing they did was offer me water. Why are all interviewers fascinated with hydration? The last interviewer kept asking if I wanted water too.

Or wait… was that a test?

So that’s why I didn’t get the last job. I didn’t look hydrated.

Look people. I have frizzy hair. I NEVER look hydrated.



The interview went fine. I think I even assembled a logical sentence or two. Then the guy says, ‘if you pass this interview, we’ll call you for a second interview where you will meet with additional committee members.’

More people to interview me?

Maybe it was the look of sheer fear that flashed in my eyes or the Rosacea like redness across my chest but…

I’m not crossing my fingers for a call back.

It’s a Soufflé NOT a Soup Lay…

Friday night Zach, Beth, Casey, Mike, Chris, and I hung out at our house. Zach decided to throw a ‘quick dinner’ together for us.

Let’s clarify - my idea of a ‘quick dinner’ is Mac and Cheese.

Zach’s idea of a ‘quick dinner’ is a Morton’s steak, a Caesar salad, and Rosemary red potatoes with peppers perfectly crisped in the oven.

Needless to say, I won’t be offering to make Zach food, quick or otherwise, for a long, long, long time. Also needless to say, we begged him to move in when Ryan moves out next month.



Saturday I was still feeling under the weather with the stupid stomach flu. I was so sick, I turned down an opportunity to go to SeaWorld! Maybe the world is coming to an end. But, I wanted to save up my energy for the party we were throwing for Mike Saturday night. He is no longer a probationary firefighter!!

I decided to make chocolate soufflé’s for the party. Nothing matches Jack Daniels BBQ hamburgers, Louisiana hot links, or chili cheese nachos better than a hoity toity dessert. Why settle for cake mix when you can stress over a dessert that deflates if you so much as sneeze?

I was going to make a fresh raspberry lemon sauce but quickly decided that my energy level was barely at ‘functional’ and definitely not at ‘over the top ridiculous’. I ran down to the corner store to pick up some sort of stand in berry topping and settled for strawberry goo.

Nothing says ‘fancy’ like Nestlé. Particularly the bunny ears on the bottle.

I also grabbed two boxes of Ding Dongs. If all failed with the soufflé’s, I could cut up the ding dongs, sprinkle on some powdered sugar, dab them with ice cream, and call it homemade.

The night went really well. The food was fabulous and *gasp* the soufflé’s were textbook perfect.

Geez! Somethings just work out.

MEDIC!! I NEED A MEDIC!! – and a Flashback Friday…

I’ve been feeling quite sick for the last 4 days and I haven’t been able to eat much. Just the thought of food – heck, the thought of water - makes my stomach turn. The intense nausea has kept me awake the last two nights.

I knew things were severe when I drove to Taco Bell for dinner last night and nothing looked good.

Taco Bell?

My home planet?

Didn’t look good??!??!!

To make matters worse (and bring out the total hypochondriac in me), San Diego is having an outbreak of Hepatitis A apparently stemming from a Chipotle Restaurant in La Mesa.

Hepatitis A symptoms are:
Fatigue, Fever, Abdominal pain, Nausea, Diarrhea, Appetite loss, Depression, Jaundice, Sharp abdominal pains, and Weight loss

I don’t have all the symptoms but I have my fingers crossed about the last one.



OK, so technically I didn’t go to that Chipotle in the timeframe everyone contracted the disease but hubby darling did and we all know he’s a carrier monkey.

And yes, technically there is a stomach flu going around.

And yes, technically I personally know and was in contact with someone who has the stomach flu but…

What good is my hypochondria if not used?!?



I talked to Colegate last night and she thinks I have the stomach flu. When I said I haven’t been able to eat for the last few days, she asked if I wouldn’t mind coming over and sharing the flu bug with her.

She’s hoping to lose 5 pounds.




Which brings me to today’s Flashback Friday…

Our sister Paul-The lived in Australia for a couple years and was a member of a band that traveled the world. On one of their tours, she traveled to India. By the time she returned to Australia, she had lost weight. She ate all she wanted but for the life of her, couldn’t keep any weight on.

It turned out, she had contracted an intestinal worm. Sure she was ‘sick’ and the worm was labeled as ‘dangerous’ or whatever, but easy weight loss??!! Colegate and I practically tripped over each other running for the phone to book a flight to New Delhi.

After a month or so, Paula was finally able to get rid of the worm with some sort of weird intense diet but Cole and I were mad.

She was lucky enough to get an intestinal worm and she killed it?!?!?

What was she thinking?!!???!?!

So Cole. I hear flights to India are cheap now. Wanna go?

Here it goes...

This took me a long time to get to – mainly because I kept forgetting by the time I got home – but it is a photography meme and I was tagged by Ashmystir. I can’t compete with her lovely view but I’m still very happy in our home. ; )

1. Step out your front door and take a picture.
2. Step out your back door and take a picture.
3. Put them on your blog, along with the rules.
4. If there are things in the photos that you particularly like or dislike, you can point them out, or just explain what we are seeing. Maybe changes over the seasons or some junk in your neighbor's yard that drives you nuts.
5. Tag as many or few people as you like - preferably at least one though.
6. Do it again next month if you like.

We are still in the process of building our retaining wall (hence all the dirt) and when I apologized to our neighbor for being the 'ugliest house on the street' he snickered and pointed to the house directly outside my front door. 'At least it isn't pink!' he laughed.

Yeah. My house is DEFINITELY NOT PINK.

Our yard isn't great but I love our view of the city.

I'm going to tag Cole, Liz, and Lisa.

This may come as a surprise but…

I didn’t get the job I interviewed for a few weeks ago. I’m not necessarily bummed. I understood that, based on my interview, the guy would have felt like he was giving a United Nations job to the likes of a Sesame Street Character with slightly less fur.




Job interviewing feels like dating and like I’m running around behind my current boyfriend’s back.

‘Sorry job, you have leukemia and rather than wait until you die, I’d like to start seeing other people. It’s not you, it’s me. Oh, and I continually leave my number at dive bars like Monster.com. Hope you don’t mind.’

And, just like in relationships, I get all gussied up for the new job. Current job gets the t-shirt, jeans, un-showered me while the new job gets version 2.0 including freshly shaved legs and perfume.

The sad part is, I really like my ‘boyfriend’…he just has to get over his bout with a terminal disease.


Only time will tell. ‘Boyfriend’/Job has been given a 4 – 8 week timeline.



Meanwhile, Chris has been dealing with ‘Bad Mood Bekah’.

Example: Last night I came home from class and slammed the front door shut. I threw my fists up in the air and said, ‘OK hon, I’m going in the kitchen to make myself garlic bread for dinner. I’m going to wash it down with a frozen ding dong and a Pepsi. You got a problem with that?!?!’

A few seconds later I storm back in the living room and say, ‘AND, I’m going to watch Judge Judy. Take your tiny little butt and go watch your stupid ESPN crap on the little TV.’

Statements like that could have resulted in a fight but Chris has a difficult time taking me seriously, especially when I just returned from school and am wearing a chef’s hat with checkered pants and plastic shoes.

He just says, ‘OOOoooook’ and literally ladles it with sarcasm then starts laughing while turning up ESPN.

Good thing I have an industrial supply of Ding Dongs. I could pretty much take on the world with a chilled Ding Dong or two.

Well... Ding Dongs and that theme song from Robin Hood.

Weekend…

I had a bit of a rough week last week so Chris surprised me Friday night by inviting some of the girls out to the Field. It’s a cute Irish pub in downtown San Diego. We had a great night walking around downtown and smoking cigars (vanilla cigars). I have no pictures. My camera had the night off.

Saturday we went to the only free place in San Diego… Seaworld. Shocker huh? Same old same old except this time I fell off the manatee. Turns out, six girls on a manatee are too many. You’ll see the picture of all of us on the manate… then the next picture only has a few girls. Everyone was trying to help me up! Now I have a lovely bruise on my bum. Oh well. It was a good weekend. ; )

Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!!!...

All of us kids went up to mom and pop’s on Sunday (with the exception of those who live more than 9 hours away). Since John and Mike are on different shifts in the fire service, getting them both in the same place at the same time is a rare treat.

After dinner we had a hankering to play Taboo and asked mom if she owned it. She disappeared upstairs and a few minutes later we heard a loud thump in the room directly above us.

All conversation stopped.

Casey asked what the thump was and Mike, ever so caringly responded, ‘Mom probably fell.’

Pause.

‘Aren’t you going to check on her?!?!’ Casey asked.

‘Eh. If she doesn’t come downstairs in 5 minutes or so, I’ll go check’ he said with a sideways smile.


Isn’t he….

Sweet?



It reminds me of the time when mom reached into the fridge to grab a bite of cantaloupe and it lodged sideways in her throat. Not wanting to see ‘Cause of Death: Cantaloupe’ on her death certificate, she signaled to Paula, who had just entered the kitchen. She made the ‘I’m choking’ gesture with her hands to her throat and assumed Paula would save her. Instead, Paula overlooked her, walked around her, reached in the open refrigerator, grabbed some food, and walked out. Mom had to eventually perform the Heimlich maneuver on herself.

Paula swears she didn’t notice – we still aren’t sure if mom ever forgave her.



I pretty sure my mother doesn’t fear dying and going unnoticed for weeks, I think she fears dying in the presence of her ‘thoughtful’ and ‘attentive’ children and who don’t detect she has expired until the timer runs out during her turn for Taboo.


Officer: ‘When was the last time you noticed your mother alive?’

Us Kids: ‘Three turns ago while we were playing hand and foot… or er uh… I think she was alive then. Did we skip her turn guys?’



OK, so we aren’t THAT unaware. We did notice when she eventually came back downstairs…


We were trying to light a piece of wood on fire on the dining room table and we heard her say...

‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY CHAIR?!?!?!?’




She was totally OK by the way… but her chair… uh…

Not so much.


Love you mom.