The Runaway

"Did you ever run away from home?"

Most children threaten to run away at one point or another. Their parents make them do something they don't want to do, or they don't get a particular toy that they really, really want... I, however, had a different approach. I was smart enough to know that I wouldn't make it very far out there on the streets. As my niece has said, "But who's gonna take care of us?!? We're just little kids, you know!" So when I got really mad at my parents, I locked myself in the bathroom with all of the things that I considered to be necessities to live.

 

Yep... I would make a big deal out of how angry I was by not speaking a word as I moved one item at a time into the bathroom. My pillows. My blanket. A book. A glass of water. A bag of potato chips. The cat. His litter box was in there, so I wanted to make sure he was taken care of. :-) The TV. I wasn't stupid. If I was going to be alone in the bathroom for the rest of my life (or until the toilet paper ran out), I needed something to do! And after I had moved in everything I could possibly think of that would sustain me for life, I walked in and locked the door.

I would settle into my makeshift bed in the bathtub to read, and usually after about 5 minutes or so I'd think of something extremely important that I had forgotten to move into my new home. I knew I couldn't leave though. Not after I had just spent over an hour moving in and having the ceremonial "locking of the door..." I refused to give them the satisfaction. I was way too stubborn for that. What was I going to do?!? Thank goodness for little sisters. "CHRISTY!!! I NEED MY ALARM CLOCK!!!" She, of course, being the dutiful little sister would bring it to the door for me. I would crack it just enough to pull in whatever item she was bringing me (or have her slide it under the door if it was small enough) and lock the door again.

Yep. I showed them! They'd think twice before doing whatever it was that made me angry again! What was it that they did again? Why am I mad? I'm kind of hungry. Man, this is boring. That catbox stinks. This bathtub's hard. My butt hurts. How long has it been? 20 minutes? Yeah... I think that's good. :-)

Beware! Apparently, I'm Contagious...

 

I've caught a disease. It's called the "Blog Bug."

Since I began this blog last month, I've totally rediscovered my love for writing. Unfortunately, there are some nasty side effects. I have found myself thinking in "writer mode" at all times. That wouldn't be so bad, but I tend to be rather dry and sarcastic in my every day life anyway... So Tammy in "writer mode" is about 100 times worse. I just can't seem to stop myself! People don't dare do anything remotely questionable around me because my "already-quick-to-shoot" mouth is on a roll! I am sooooo going to get in trouble one of these days.

I'm constantly on the lookout for inspiration. People are frightened of me now because they are afraid their actions will end up being the inspiration for one of my blogs. I might have to start getting more creative with the names to protect the innocent. :-) But then again... Come on! You have to know I'm going to say something about it when you do or say something ridiculous. This is me we're talking about!

To be fair, I am an equal opportunity blogger. I think I provide just as many laughs (if not more) at my own expense as I do at others'. How many other people would willingly admit they squealed like a teenage groupie to a comment from a complete stranger or that they were a favorite client of the Hooter Fairy? Actually, the more I think about it, the more I realize that I humiliate myself much more than I embarrass others. So I don't feel so bad now. :-)

Not only are the side effects to the Blog Bug potentially dangerous, the Bug itself is apparently contagious! I discovered this last week when my mother started her own blog... which then spread to my aunt... to my cousin... and now to my sister! I never meant to spread this infectious disease amongst my entire extended family. Had I known I was that contagious, I would have worn a mask or something. What started out as a simple blog to update my friends and family on my foster/adopt journey has turned into a widespread disease and a major competition.

You see, I don't get my sarcastic nature and writing ability from any strangers. We're all full of it! We're also all rather competitive, so it's going to be interesting to see who tops who in the blog world. We might all be telling the world that we "just want a place to vent or keep our friends and families updated," but that's not entirely true. We secretly want to win the unspoken family competition on who has the best / funniest / most insightful / most popular blog post for the day.

It's called the "Blog Bug"... and it's a serious disease.

The Journal Jar

I changed my mind and decided to post my Journal Jar entries here on I Must Be Trippin' too so I wouldn't have to deal with multiple blogs. What is a Journal Jar, you ask? Well, my cousin made homemade Christmas gifts this past Christmas, and one of them was a Journal Jar. It's basically hundreds of random questions and topics to give you a starting point for your daily journal entries. I LOVED the idea, and thought I'd carry it over to my blog. It's a great way to discover little-known facts about your family and friends, and can be saved for future generations.

"What was your first paying job?"

I always tell people that I never really had a "typical" job as a teenager or in college. I never did fast food or waited tables at restaurants. I don't really have the personality for it. I think the first time someone would have said, "Hey, Miss... My coffee's cold," I probably would have told them where the coffee pot was located and what they could do with it when they found it. :-) The only time I ever attempted retail lasted about 4-6 weeks in college. I worked in the Children's Department at Mervyn's during Back-to-School season. If that's not enough to send a person screaming in the opposite direction, I don't know what is. Retail was not for me.

I think my first paying job was working at the dentist office with my Mom when I turned 16. They had me cleaning instruments, developing x-rays, sending out mailings, cleaning the office, etc. ...pretty much all of the stuff that no one else wanted to do... :-) I really liked it though (except for the part where I had to clean out the suction traps at the end of the day. All of those tooth bits and nastiness... YUCK!). But the best part was that I only had to work about 10-12 hours a week and made the same amount of money that all of my friends made at their 20-hour-a-week fast food jobs. (They didn't like me much. :-)

I worked there for about a year when my Aunt Linda asked me if I'd be interested in coaching gymnastics at the YMCA. Heck, yeah!!! That's a COOL job, and I was good at it. I ended up coaching from the time I was 17 all through my early college years. It's good money, that's for sure. At one point, I was coaching at a nearby club about 30 hours a week around all of my college classes. I was in awesome shape... I was very bendy too. :-)

Throughout the "early years," I had all sorts of jobs. I worked at the dentist office. I coached gymnastics. I helped my aunt coach PE at a private school. I did after school care at the YMCA. I worked summer day care. I did private tutoring. I gave beginning clarinet and flute lessons. I answered the phones and did some billing a couple days a week for my uncle's piano tuning/moving company. I've even worked in several libraries (It's easy to get on at a library if you've ever even been inside of one before. :-)

I think the busiest I ever was happened around the time I was 20 or so. I had about 15-20 hours a week of gymnastics classes in the mornings, some late evenings, and Saturdays. I did after school care at the YMCA another 15 hours a week. I threw in about 6-8 hours a week of private tutoring and clarinet lessons. And my aunt and uncle let me hang out at their house and answer phones for their company a couple hours a day in between my morning and afternoon stuff so I wouldn't have to drive back to the dorms (It was very nice of them to basically pay me to do my homework :-). Crazy busy, but again, the money added up. Especially because I didn't have any free time to spend it!

I love that I never had a "typical" job when I was young. I was certainly busy, but the variety made the time fly, and I love working with kids. I kind of miss it. :-( I'll definitely be one of those PTA moms. Shoot... I'll probably be the president of the PTA knowing me. I don't do anything half-way! :-)

Faith

"All I have seen teaches me to trust
the Creator for all I have not seen."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The True Call of a Christian

"The true call of a Christian is not to do extraordinary things,
but to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way."

~ Dean Stanley