Brainwashed

Two weeks into my new job and I am singing Elvis in my sleep.

Nevertheless...... this is rocking. I just did not know at the time. I was too young. And he was too old for me (He was 33 at the time). I thought he was an old man.........

What I love About Living in a BIG City

I remembered the International Market from the first time we were here. It took me a while to remember where it was located but suddenly I saw it! I crossed three lanes of traffic to make the turn into the shopping center. (Luckily, there was no one to cut off or piss off as I crossed over!)

From the moment of entering into the store I knew I was not in the Neighborhood Krogers! You are greeted by the unmistakeable aroma of fish! When you grab a cart, it is not the average size usually available at the local store...oh no, it has extra room. More like your Club Stores variety.

And speaking of variety! I was like a kid in a candy store. The vegetables were laid out like a spilled cornucopia of exotic colors that had made an emergency landing in the store. Veggies were King! I threw in a seedless watermelon, eggplant, Japanese eggplant, Mexican yams....and on and on.

The aislse were a little more confusing since this is an International Store.

I did not give into temptation and grab Coca Cola from Mexico - honestly, the Real Thing. It is Still made with all those ingredients that are soooooooo good and not cost cutting. I did walk by - but I will go back and my resolve may not be so intact.

I did toss in some cookies that were like biscuits - so good I may eat the wrapper they came in to boot.

I found jasmine rice. Oh, Foodnetwork.com, here I come. First stop, Paula Dean and a recipe for fried banana peppers.

Fast and the Furious

Driving around the Memphis area is a trip! Everyone, well about 75%, of the "other drivers" on the road seem to be auditioning for The Fast and the Furious. And what is worse, it's contagious. I am constantly reminding my husband that we are going to the park to run! We are not in a life and death situation to get to the hospital! Slow down, quit tailgating, stop being so ANGRY & ANNOYED!

They may not be the worst drivers (that would be anywhere in Florida) but they are the rudest! Yesterday I was on my way home from the Biscuit Bucket. The drive is approximately 10 miles down the main drag in this part of town. There must be about 10 - 15 stop light along the way. The road is also the main thoroughfare to US 78. This translates to a lot of semis. This idiot (they are always an idiot when they pass you and a menace to society when they are in front of you!) comes up in the slow lane on the right and tailgates the car next to me. This is Saturday afternoon,, very heavy traffic. He gets tired of the car not getting the message (i.e., pulling over to let him by) and passes him on the shoulder! I had not seen anything like that in a long long time! The he gets around him and behind a semi. So what does he do? He begins to pass the semi. But there is a car in the left hand lane, the lane he needs to pass!! The driver in the left hand lane drives into the turn lane to allow the guy to get around the semi. Happy now, the idiot drives like a maniac to the stop light where we all meet again. The he turns right. Lord lord, he did yield to oncoming traffic.

I was just glad it was not me next to the semi. I don't know if I would have had the frame of mind to allow myself to be pushed over. I'm not that experienced with the intricacies of driving in Memphis yet.

Not only are they terrors on the roads, they are terrors on the jogging tracks on their silly bicycles. My husband does not understand my intolerance of sharing the paths with these new age Idiots. It comes down to this. One can not wear a MP3 while on the paths because you will be mowed down. They come up behind you and maybe one out of 100 will say "on your left" before they whiz by.

I know it's dangerous on the streets for bicyclists but damn it.....they irritate the hell out of me.

Thursday 13

Thirteen Things I did yesterday...

1) Got the job at Graceland. It's seasonal but who knows! I am a shining light in retail so I am certain I will become permanent in time. I believe they offered it as a temp thing because of benefits. It does not matter to me because I am covered by my hubs. I am working for the King! Come next week...

2) Found the major library for this county and found several books about fundraising but no Suze Rotolo book about Freewheeling Greenwich Village in the 60's and Bob Dylan. Guess it is going to come down to ordering the blooming book thru Amazon.

3) I went to the Shelby Farms and ran my three miles and am getting slower rather than the desired faster! I took on the challenge of Grandpa's Ridge at the Lake last week and my calves have not quite recovered.

4) Ate left over etouffee and Twinkies.

5) Watched the last half hour of The Food Network Star on a encore presentation - at 12 am! Actually I dvr'ed it and watched Jimmy Fallon. I love Jimmy. Even if it was s re-run from when Arnold got into trouble. The hash tag was "Iwentthere" - hilarious as always. My favorite? "stop singing "I'm bringing sexy back". Bitch, you are the reason Sexy left!"

6) Spoke to my High School friend and almost got to see her for the 3rd time this month. It's incredible because I have not seen her in 10 years! reunions are the bomb.

7) Worked at the Bucket and was actually called in early! I'm so good..

8) Found some sort of voodoo Watkins Pain spray. And my knees were bothering me so I thought I would give them a spray and see what happens. I justified it by thinking it would give me a platform to sell the stuff - by testimony. to my surprise and relief, it worked! very fast. Gotta find a place that sells it cheaper than the Bucket.

9) Made an after work trip to Walmart. Now since living in a much more civilized area of the country, I have Kroger's everywhere I can throw a stone. But at 1030 - no such luck. So I mosey into my local Wally World and they are in the process of restocking and people and lifts and pallets of enormous portions of product are everywhere. I get my Aspercreme (my knees after Grandpa's Ridge are a major concern) and knock off 7-up and a get well card for a pal and head for the check out line. There is not one! It's all self check out. Two young and handsome kids tell me to go ahead of them because I have less stuff. Oh such cute little hunks! Chivalry in the South! Who would have thought it still survives.

10) Took the knock off 7-up home and made my new self created drink "May May's Sunset" coconut rum, OJ 7-up and grenadine. Yummy. Very sweet.

11) Found my way to the new Goodwill Bookstore and found three fantastic cook books! Talk about Good II The book of Cajun Cuisine. The County Fair Cookbook and a James Beard recipes for the Cuisinart. Any James Beard cookbook is a treasure. Score!

12) Thought about straightening up the house.

13) Lost my cell phone somewhere in the house and had to take off to work without it. Found it under a towel on the couch. Maybe today I can more than just think about tidying up the Casa May-may.

750+ Words

Sometime ago, maybe around Christmas, I found this web site that was for aspiring writers to just dump their thoughts at the beginning of the day. Upon waking from the wonderland of slumber you would amble on over to your computer and just write .. write anything for about 750 words. Then it became a challenge to see how many days in a row you could go. It was great fun while it lasted. I would pour out my dreams as I had almost instant recall that early departed from them. I ran into some problems with the actual content of the dump, but that is a story that does not need telling...but I think I will try and just clean it up a bit and spare you all the details of my vivid dreamscapes.

Today was a humdinger and it is not even over. I worked late at the Bucket and watched part of Jimmy Fallon (man I love him) before going to bed. Joe came bursting through the door and asked me where the heck my cell phone was and why I was not answering it! It was charging in the corner. It had turned itself off because I allowed it to get so drained the day before. Seemed that one of the guys in the office who works with him had a solid lead for me concerning my pursuit to join the ranks of Fundraising. So I had to run over there and get all the info and run home and jump on the computer. Whew...

That done I went out to get my three mile run in. It began raining and I was so concerned about my watch! I did not know if it was waterproof, so I sat under a tree for a spell and then braved the heavy rain and made a mad dash for the car. In other words, did not run today, got soaked and the watch is OK.

Checked e-mails. Nothing.

Got ready for my second interview with Kingland.

Not really certain if I want this job, that is a sure thing I will get it.

Went to Best Buy (Not) and tried to demand my money back for this $99 package they sold me along with my new computer. One of the disc's is empty! They would not refund my money explaining to me it included the software for the virus protection and installation. (WTH!) I was refunded $30 for the disc's. I told them I would take my chances with system restore. The more I deal with BB the more I dislike them.

Off to Kroger to hand over my hard earned money. But I did have a slew of coupons which saved me $10! I had to get 10 frozen dinners for Joe-Joe so he can eat when I go to the Lake House (tomorrow) for the annual sibling gathering in eastern TN.

Check e-mails and the HR lady is handing over my resume and appliction to the "talent acquistion team" to assist...what does that mean? Did she really mean assess? What the Heck, it's a foot in the door I never had until today!

Then the MOD guy calls and we set up a meet for Monday or Tuesday. I will finalize tomorrow. Immediately add "Volunteer at MOD as fundraiser" on resume! Boy, I'm devious sometimes.

I'm making chicken and dumplings and slow cooking a pork tenderloin BBQ also for Joe while I am away. The Chick-n-dump is for me.

Nothing else has aggravated me today.

But it's still rather young.

Close Encounters of the Bucket Kind.

I have picked up the threads of my past existence, so to speak. I am running again and ran an ugly three miles this morning. But the run was in a fabulous park with several ponds. One of them with flowering water lilies. So I did not get all worked up about the people on bikes (do you have to whizz by so fast without warning! God forbid I dare wear my MP3 and stumble in you path and get smashed)and the young high school kids who breeze by as if they have wings on their feet. Or the old Grandma with her young granddaughter who came around me, running on their tippy-toes, to catch up with her husband. They could never maintain that stride for the three miles around the trail. And it was partly overcast with a refreshing wind announcing the impending storms which will arrive around lunch time.

I am at the Bucket and astonished at how much they adore me! All that time with Heather-be-Thy-Name prepared me to excel anywhere I put on the apron. They are poised and ready to promote me. When I was informed of this, I started laughing. "What's so funny?" I was asked. "Gosh, you gotta know Heather. I'm not laughing because its funny. It's just.....nice, thank you."

While at C-ville I just accepted that the recession and the economy was held at bay. I knew it was because C-ville is a military town and money flowed like honey. I knew the economy chugged along like a well fueled train due to the influx of military families visiting before the deployments and just as I was relocating to the Memphis area, they were arriving in droves to welcome the troops that were arriving home daily on the transport planes. It was a joyful happy time.

But down here! To say it's different is an understatement. The atmosphere at the store is much more guarded and less frivolous. So I adjust.

I still get a tremendous kick from meeting people from all walks of life and from all over the map. Since I am brushing the cobwebs from my keyboard and from that part of my brain that controls my blog inspiration, I may just write a lot about these close encounters of the Bucket Kind.

Stay tuned.

What's The Buzz Tell Me What's Happening?

After six weeks in the Memphis area I have finally broke down and rejoined the Internet. Using the library and my husbands office got complicated. When looking for a job, a computer and the Internet is a necessity anymore. Not a luxury. Though being off the Internet....I did not read as much as one would think. I didn't watch a lot of tv either. I don't know how those hours disappeared!

I am working part time at the Bucket while I try and find something else. Something that pays a whole lot more and I would have week-ends off. I have interviewed at several Fundraising Charities but my lack of fund raising back ground is a huge deterrent. I naturally think this is BS, but what you gonna do? Asking people to buy stuff and asking people to volunteer and sponsor special needs is very similar. The approach is different, but the technique is the same.

I am disappointed that "they" dismiss me and I am not a viable candidate. So, I have decided to volunteer with the March of Dimes and see what happens.

Today I ran three miles! It was not pretty. It was not fast. But I did it and my knees do not hurt much at all! Hooray! I have been practicing for six weeks. I walked the first three and then I bought a pair of good running shoes and have worked my way up to a steady and slow three miles. I also discovered the Shelby Farms Park, about ten miles from us, which is a fantastic area dedicated to outdoor activities! And as an added bonus, buffalo!

I attended my High School reunion and got to hang out with the cool kids afterwards as we headed downtown and danced at Johnny Angel. The cool kids are now the wild kids who don't know when to quit. I almost did not go. So glad I did.

The family reunion at the Lake House is this coming week-end and I am going to it. Gosh darn it, though, another six + hour drive. I may make a detour and visit my pals in C-Ville on the way to East TN.

That's the Buzz.