The interview went well as far as I could tell. I left feeling good about it. Now I sit and play the waiting game. No company ever seems to be in a hurry to make a decision. They're never on my timeframe.
It seems that I will be taking another trip here soon. Might as welll, with all this time off. Brian has to stay the weekend in Portland the weekend after Labor Day, so his company is flying me up there instead. I'll be able to spend a few days seeing the city, meeting his Brother and Partner and seeing Brian. It should be fun.
The highlight of the trip according to them? His brother is a Justin Timberlake fanatic. We all are going to the concert on Friday night. It was odd for me to go to a Beyonce' concert, let alone now going to Justin Timberlake. I'm not a huge fan, but the concert should be fun.
This week is all about getting ready to go camping at The Ranch for Labor Day. We're sponsoring a beer bust on Friday night, in hopes to raise donations for my participation in this years AIDS Walk. My goal is $2000 and I'm currently sitting at $1150 with only two months left to go. For those who would like to make a donation, please click on the donation like on the upper left hand column.
I was so proud of myself this weekend. I picked up power tools and actually used them. Brian and I, along with our friend Brad went to The Ranch this weekend to finish up working on our deck, getting it ready for next weekends festivities. The big Labor Day Show. It's that time of year again, to help Mama and Twyla put on their comedy drag show and spend the rest of the weekend, drinking and having a blast.
We had left our deck in shambles after we moved it a few weeks ago when Terry broke his wrist and had to have it presentable before next weekend. Not only did we get it presentable, but we actually finished it, creating a 3 leveled deck, complete with stairs. It turned out great. At one point, I was tired of supervising and grabbed a drill and went to town on it. It was the Womyn's Festival at The Ranch that weekend and we didn't have to ask one lesbian for help. I felt so butch. I'm now ready to tackle the 12'x16' flagstone patio we want to add coming off the side of the deck for our fire pit and seating area. Who knows. Before you know it we'll have a koi pond, water feature and Japanese garden.
Who am I kidding. We'll be lucky to make it through the flagstone deck without killing ourselves.
In a moment, I'm going to start getting ready for my 2nd interview with First American. They called last week and was wondering why I hadn't been asked by HR to come in for another interview. HR forgot, so I got a quick call on Friday afternoon to come in this morning.
Wish me luck.
Growing up, my Father and I really only had one thing in common. Mustangs. Helping restore vintage mustangs was probably the only Father/Son activity that we did together. We both had a love for these cars. When I first turned 16, I was given a 1967, pale yellow Mustang to drive. Eventually someone wanted to buy the car and we sold it. This happened throughout my teen years and straight through my college days.
My Father and I were driving around one afternoon and saw a car, sitting in the back yard of someones house, covered with a tarp. We could tell by the shape that it was a Mustang. Dad went and pulled out $1000 in cash from the bank and we knocked on the door of the house and a woman answered. My father asked if he could look at the Mustang out back. She responded, "That old thing? I bought that thing brand new back in 1965 and after putting only 25000 miles on it, I wrecked the front end, parked it and never drove it again." Of course, this peaked our curiosity. A Mustang with only 25,000 original miles. The car was damaged pretty bad in the front, but the rest of the car was in perfect shape and the interior was like brand new. My Dad asked if she would take $1000 for it and she said yes as long as we got it out of the back yard ourselves. We spent the next 6 months repairing the car in the hopes of eventually selling it like the others.
That car ended up becoming another car for me to drive while in Highschool. It was my baby. One afternoon while eating lunch with the family, a man walked up to us and asked if we owned the Mustang parked outside. Of course we said yes. He offered us $10.000 on the spot for it. My heart sank. My Dad looked at me and said that it would be a profit of $7000 and that we shouldn't pass up this opportunity. I knew he was right. I just didn't want to see my beautiful car sold off. I somehow thought that this car would end up being mine forever. He left the decision up to me. Jokingly, I finally said sure, as long as I can get a convertible to replace it.
We sold the car to the man and two days later, my father drives home in a beat up 1968 red Mustang Convertible. I about pissed my pants. We spent the next 6 months getting this car restored and she turned out beautiful. Everybody was envious of my car and I constantly received compliments on it. I was asked to be in numerous parades and I can't begin to tell you how many Prom Queens that sat in the back of my car.
I drove that car for four years through college. When it was time for me to go to Grad School, I knew that I couldn't afford the upkeep on a vehicle like that. Old cars require a lot of work. The car needed some rust repair and the engine was basically falling apart by that time. Selling that car was one of the hardest things I had to ever part with. My Dad was terminal during that time and we both stood there on the front lawn and watched her drive away with her new owner almost 17 years ago. Nothing much was said between us except for the shedding of a few tears.
We were told that the owner kept the car for a while before selling it to a well known family in town. We heard the guy completely restored it again, put in a new engine and only drives it on clear, beautiful days. Not once during my visits back home have I ever seen the car again, which was probably for the best.
A few days ago, my family was downtown and they stumbled upon an antique car show. Low and behold, there sat my old Mustang, looking shiney and new. They spoke with the owners and we confirmed that it was mine. My mother ran to a store and bought a disposable camera and took a few pictures. I can tell just by looking at it.
What I wouldn't do, to have her back today.
I never thought I would ever say that I can't take any more Disney at this moment. This coming from one of the most rabid Disney fans out there. I'm all Disney'ed out.
We all had such a wonderful time this past 5 days. I feel like I've traveled more since I've been out of work then I did before. The only thing that was an issue the entire time was the heat. Temps were in the upper 90's with about 65% humidity. It was tough enough for Brian and I to deal with the heat, let alone Brian's Parents who are both diabetic and well, much older. We had to make a lot of pitstops for shade, drinks or for something sweet to eat. Brian and I are also use to going from 8am until the parks close. You could tell that about dinner time, his parents were really beat, but they were troopers and kept on going until we all decided to leave.
We arrived in Orlando on Thursday afternoon and once we unpacked our bags, we headed immediately to the Magic Kingdom and stayed until close. We were able to ride a couple rides, watch the parade and fireworks before hoping on the Monorail back to our hotel. Friday, we spent the entire day at Epcot. Although I enjoyed it, especially the World section, I found the place to be geared mainly towards young kids and not so much for adults. Mission: Space was something that almost caused all of us to blow chunks before getting off the ride. The best part of the day was the fireworks and water show on the lake.
Saturday, we headed to Disney's MGM Studios. We figured we would only spend a half a day there, but once we got there and enjoyed it so much we ended up closing the park. We saw some great stunt shows, rode the Tower of Terror, Rock 'n Roll Coaster and ended the evening with another fireworks and water show called Fantasmic.
Sunday, we headed to Disney's Animal Kingdom. This had to be the worst day for heat and humidity. We walked around the park, rode the new Mount Everest ride and the Water Rapids ride so we could get wet, then headed back to Magic Kingdom to end the trip. Brian's Parents were so exhausted by 8pm, so we sent them back to the hotel and Brian and I stayed to ride a few more things and watch the parade and fireworks one last time.
As you can tell, four theme parks in four days is a lot to take in. We all flew in yesterday, rested a couple hours and headed out for a nice dinner. I couldn't wait to get my ass into bed and pass out. Which is exactly what I did. Brian's on a plane for Portland and his parents just left for some antique shopping, before driving back to Big Spring.
The house is quiet and it's only Max and I.
It's good to be home.
For those crazy enough to sift through 362 photo's, please click here. I apologize for the amount of Castle photographs. We kept trying to get the "perfect" photo and ended up over doing it.
I'm honestly not sure why I'm cleaning the house like the Queen of England is making a visit. Brian's parents will be showing up tonight to spend the night before we all fly out to Orlando tomorrow. I keep a pretty clean house, but I always have this fear of someone, anyone coming over and being horrified that it's not spotless. The silly thing, is that once they arrive, we'll be heading out the door to grab dinner and then probably come back home and go straight to bed since we have to get up early. They probably won't even notice all the cleaning I've done for the past 3 days. Better to be safe then sorry.
I'm starting to get excited about this trip. It just hit me today. I never get excited about a vacation until the day we leave or the day before. I started thinking about it this morning and I started getting a Disney boner. We get to run around and act like kids for 4 days, wearing Mickey ears. Nothing is better then that. I just hope his parents can keep up, but luckily if they can't, the hotel is pretty close so they can relax some.
The only thing I'm worried about is the heat and humidity in Florida this time of year. Mama Brown has hair piled up as close as she can get to Jesus. Full of wiglets and all. I just hope she uses a lot of Aquanet to keep the wiglets from ending up on her shoulders. Maybe we'll be lucky and it won't end up being as hot as normal.
My only delima is trying to figure out how to get a set of Mickey ears on top of her 12 inch high hairdo.
With Brian's new project in Portland, our weekends together seem to fly by quicker then I would like. He doesn't get in until late Thursday and before you know it, he's heading to the airport on Sunday morning. I like to sit here and say that over the past 3 years, we've both gotten use to being separated from each other during the week, but the truth of the matter is, you never fully get use to it. Tolerate it, yes. I know this is our way of life and unless there's a career change on the horizon, this will be our life for a while. You learn to accept things and move on. It's been a huge growing part of our relationship.
We had a relaxing evening on Friday watching movies and I cooked dinner. Saturday was spent at a pool party. We were invited through friends of ours. We didn't know a soul there, but had a good time. It was a great way to escape the 100+ degree heat and humidity. We both drank a little bit too much. Sunday morning when Brian got up to leave, I was so out of it. I honestly didn't even remember our conversation. A half an hour later, I woke up and realized he was gone. One word of caution is to never watch the movie It's My Party when you're in this mood. Steven showed up around noon to grab some lunch and hang out all afternoon, and he found me sitting on the couch bawling my eyes out. I swear I would never see that movie again, but that damn Logo channel had it on.
It seems that every single gay movie in the early 90's was about someone dying of AIDS and how it affected him and the people around him. I know that it's not every movie, but it sure seems like it at times. I know it was a representation of the world we were living in at the time. I just have a lot of trouble watching those sort of films anymore. It's My Party has to be one of the most heartwrenching movies of this type. Once the flood gates open up, there's no stopping it. Luckily, we spent the day doing nothing but hanging out and watching movies. Nothing like having a best friend there to take your mind off things.
It probably isn't helping that I have my quarterly check up this afternoon. I'd like to say that I'm still handling the whole lay off thing pretty well, but the truth of the matter is, I'm still a mess on the inside. I'm stressing out to the point of haing anxiety issues lately. I'm just hoping all of this hasn't affected my counts and I guess I'm a bit concerned about it. Physically I feel great. I just know what stress does to ones body.
As I sit here, I've re-read this post over and over and the only thing I can notice is how my posts have become so whiney lately and are about the same thing, over and over. Bear with me. Hopefully all of this will change soon and I'll be bitching about work and some stupid co-worker or about some guy who wanted to blow me in the mens restroom at work.
But I'm lucky to have a dog that can make me laugh in times like this. I just looked over at him laying on the floor next to me and he actually lifted up his leg and farted.
Man's best friend.
I should have this finished by this weekend and possible even framed.
As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours. Sometimes, the rain becomes a deluge. Here I am sitting around battling depression, trying not to feel worthless and hopeless and out of the blue I'm getting tons of calls all within a few days.
I've been interviewing with a certain company that I've mentioned here before. Yesterday I had my 5th interview. The 3rd one with the same hateful woman that I told you all about. When I arrived yesterday with knots in the pit of my stomach, she walked up to me full of smiles and said, "Hi! So nice to meet you!" I quickly pointed out that we had met once before and interviewed a 2nd time over the phone. She lauged and felt bad and said she was a horrible manager. During our interview, she indicated to the other girl that was there, that she didn't have much to ask me and for the other girl to go ahead. She said if she had interviewed me twice before that she had probably drilled me enough.
"Yes, you drilled me pretty good both times", I responded. We both laughed and she said that she's known for doing that. It was a total change from previous times. She was friendly and personable. She really likes me and we sat there trying to find a position in her department that was the best match for my skills. She was bound and determined to find a job for me she said.
Before the 15 minute interview was over, she asked how much I made previously, asked when I could start and not only picked out the perfect position for me, actually created a new one that's a combination of two types of jobs. Did she come out and say that I was hired? No. But she did in a round about way I guess. She said she was going to call HR and get the ball rolling because she wanted to act fast. I know it's not definite, but there's hope. I was worried that this wouldn't be the right company for me and she wouldn't be the right boss either. After this last interview I had to change my mind. I left feeling good and had a great piece of mind.
The day before, I got a call from some random mortgage company asking me to come in and interview for a position. That happens today. Then I received a phone call for a automobile financial company wanting to phone interview late this afternoon as well. I had just hung up from setting up the phone interview when I got a call from a recruiter for business analyst positions he wants me to interview for this week.
I sit around and wait for a whole month, then it all seems to start happening at once. One week before we head out to Orlando for vacation.
Funny how their timeline is never in sync with our own.
I have a new love and it's called the LOGO channel. Rencently, Brian switched us from Time Warner to AT&T's Uverse. While channel surfing this weekend we noticed that we had this new gay channel and didn't even know it. I just hope the Bravo channel doesn't get jealous. I was spending probably 90% of my tv watching time over there, but now that we have LOGO, I spent almost the entire day yesterday watching documentaries, comedies, news, music videos and gay themed movies.
I'm not going to talk about how much time I spent in front of the computer yesterday looking at gay porn.
I'm all gay'ed out today.
I can't take anymore gay.
I'm just glad I don't have any sort of gay literature or magazines around the house that I could have read. I might have exploded in my own gayness.
An afternoon in the Groesbeck Emergency Room was enough to make us come back home today around 4pm. We got our trailer moved after it being a huge ordeal. The trailer wouldn't fit this one particular way and after almost getting the trailer stuck, the truck stuck and after numerous tries, we had to give up and put it in the spot a different way. I wasn't happy about it, but it will be fine. See? I don't ALWAYS get my way.
Then we spent this morning taking apart our deck which also ended up becoming a huge nightmare. Nothing with this move was going right. We basically have to do a lot of rework on the deck the next time we go down there to fix everything.
The worst part was while working on the deck around noon today, our friend Terry slipped, fell and busted his wrist. It took all he could muster not to pass out. Hell, after seeing a busted wrist, it took all I could do not to pass out. It didn't help that it was 98 and muggy today. We spent the afternoon in the hospital emergency room with him and decided to bring him home this afternoon so he could rest.
It stressed me out that our friend got hurt helping us with our deck. it stressed me out that nothing went smoothly with the move. I'm the one who wanted to fucking move the trailer and deck in the first place, so of course I lay all the blame on me. Hush, it's what I do.
I'm just glad he wasn't more seriously hurt.
So that's our weekend in a nutshell.
Pretty shitty nutshell.
Brian and I are heading to The Ranch here in an hour to move our trailer to a new spot. Something a bit more private rather then stuck in the middle, sharing the space with others. This space will feel more like ours alone and will be a better fit for when his parents come to The Ranch to visit. Hopefully, moving all that shit won't be a big pain in the ass. Luckily, we'll have tons of help. *crossing fingers*
Enjoy your weekend.
It's funny how inspiration can hit you like a ton of bricks and come at you from absolutely nowhere. I feel bad quite often, that I've been given a gift to be able to draw and paint, yet I find myself sitting there watching TV or reading a book rather then working on Art. I remember my days in college when I couldn't get enough of my time spent in the studio. I worked from 6am to midnight almost every single day of those 4 years. Grad school wasn't much different. I lived and breathed that life.
Lately, I sit looking at a canvas or piece of paper and I'm completely blank. I had to force myself to sit down and start drawing this recent portrait. I absolutely love drawing. I forget how much I love doing it and the sense of accomplishment I feel after I've put it off for so long.
Yesterday, I went through my portfolio of all the old drawings I've started, yet never finished. I plan on trying to finish some of these works and get them framed. I already have other ideas floating around in this normally empty head of mine. In the past, my busy life or a period of depression would hit and I would find myself shoving it all on the back burner.
Hopefully this trend will continue, even after I find a new job. We're heading to the Ranch this weekend to move our trailer to a new spot and I'm taking my drawing supplies with me, in hopes of having some down time to draw.
For those who want to see, I've done a little more work on our portrait.
Starting today and through October, I'll also be pushing my fundraising for the AIDS LifeWalk quite frequently. I have attached my fundraising site to The Rainbow Ranch Team. I'm not sure what the team goal is, but I know total, we've raised around 8K. I'm hoping to surpass my individual goal of 2K like I did last year.
This is a cause dear to my heart as you all know. This past year, I've had more people then I care to count, come to me for advice once they found out they too, were positive. This disease hasn't gone away and we have so much more work to do.
For those who have already donated, I appreciate it so much. For those who haven't and would like to, please click on the link to the left. I average about 250 hits a day. If every visitor donated only $10, just think what would happen. Any donation no matter how small or how large is appreciated.
