I’m exhausted. I’ve been working on a presentation every day this week along with my own work and I had to give the presentation this morning. Then it was a long day event of taking the clients to lunch and giving them a tour of the city landscape. It would have been fun except that the mini bus we took was super hot. The other down side is that I haven’t really had time to do the sales part of my job to my own clients.
I bumped into an old college friend at that friend’s funeral last week and she told me, like she’s told me before, that she doesn’t know how I do it- between working full time, the children and trying to write a book. The truth is that I don’t do it all. I struggle just like every body else does to do what I can. I don’t get all the things I need to get done, but when I start beating up on myself I remind myself of how much I do get done. It’s the only way to keep my sanity. I am my worse critic. I’m the hardest on myself. I never feel like I’ve done enough and I always think I could have done better.
Like today for example. It’s Thursday and it’s my writing day. I just started this writing day thing last Thursday, right? Well today, on only the second Thursday, the kids were sick so my husband kept them all day. We misunderstood each other and I told the sitter he was keeping them all day but in fact he wanted to drop them off after taking them to the doctor. Since he kept them all day I felt obligated to come home right away. So I came home and watched Oprah and made dinner, but I didn’t walk and I didn’t write. See how I don’t do what I want to do.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Monday, October 31, 2005
Lori McKenna
Remember that name. She is going to become HUGE, especially now that she was on the Oprah show. She's a singer and song writer. Faith Hill used 3 of her songs on her new album, "Fireflies." McKenna wrote the title song too. Oprah took that angle on her show but how many women like me went and Googled Lori McKenna after that to find out that she already has several independent CDs and is well known in the Boston area? Either way she's a star now!
If you like folksy slow music you will love her. Her voice reminded me of Natalie Merchant a little, not her style, but her voice. Check her out! http://www.lorimckenna.com/ Her journal entries about her Oprah experience on her website are so cute! She's so honest about how every one of us would feel if we were on Oprah. I'm definitely getting her music. I especially loved her song, "Ruby Shoes." Gotta go to work now!!
If you like folksy slow music you will love her. Her voice reminded me of Natalie Merchant a little, not her style, but her voice. Check her out! http://www.lorimckenna.com/ Her journal entries about her Oprah experience on her website are so cute! She's so honest about how every one of us would feel if we were on Oprah. I'm definitely getting her music. I especially loved her song, "Ruby Shoes." Gotta go to work now!!
Sunday, October 30, 2005
First Meme Ever: Timeline
I’ve never done a meme and I probably don’t know what the heck I’m doing but I love this meme a fellow blogger had on her blog a few months ago. I actually saved it for all these months because I always wanted to do it. I really liked doing this. Like my friend said, “These are a fun way to take stock of what's been going on in your own life.” I suggest you try it!
Meme: Timeline
25 years ago: It was 1980 and I was 10. I lived in Houston with my parents and it was the one year I didn’t live with any of my sisters. The youngest of my four older sisters had just moved out the year before and had gotten married. I was in 4th grade and I had an evil teacher that gave me a good reality check. Up until that point all my teachers had loved me and treated me like I was extremely smart. This teacher taught me that sometimes people don’t love you. I was attending elementary school in the ghetto because my parents didn’t know about Magnet programs. I didn’t discover Vanguard until 6th grade and it got me out of the schools I was zoned to and I got a much better education. I started writing short stories and comic strips with my best friend.
20 years ago: I was 15. I was semi-popular in the tenth grade at Waltrip High School. I was writing for the school paper and I was the Circulation Editor. I thought I was fat because I wasn’t a stick figure like some of the girls my age and I had boobs, which made a big difference in my shape. It was the year I was invited to my first young people party (by the most popular girl in my JW community) and it was big time! My mother took me shopping for my party outfit at Clothestime and I bought a short black skirt, a sleeveless white top with little black paislies, and a pink satin leopard print jacket! I wore these all with black patent leather pumps, flesh colored hose, and a string of pearls. My hair was in a bob! Weren't the 80s great?! I was writing short stories that I could never finish.
15 Years ago: I was 20. I was going to UH full time and working for the school paper selling advertising. (See, I’ve been doing this way too long!) I was an English minor and I loved my literature classes and wanted to take some creative writing classes. I thought I was way too busy with school to write. I wish I had all that time now!
10 Years ago: I was 25. I had been out of college for 2.5 years and I was partying way too hard. I had quit my job at the Chronicle and I was substitute teaching because I wanted to go into teaching. I spent a whole month is Spain that summer with my girlfriends and fell in love with that country even more. My sister died of complications from leukemia that August. I met my husband that October and bumped into him at Elvia’s and at two different parties in December. I didn’t know at the time that we would start dating that following January. I was trying to write and I wrote some but not as much as I wanted to.
5 years ago: I was 30, married 3 years, and my mother died that January from heart failure. I missed her terribly and now that I didn’t have a mother I felt the strong urge to be a mother. I longed for that relationship again. (my sister recently sent me an article that captures this feeling exactly) I started trying and I was pregnant with my eldest daughter Miranda by Summer. I was working at the Chronicle again. I’d gone back in 1998. I was selling Direct Marketing and I loved it! I wasn’t really writing because I was finishing up my Master’s at UH and I had to write my thesis.
3 years ago: I was 32. I had a one year old baby and I was now working as the Hispanic Projects Coordinator for the Chronicle. This was before the launch of La Vibra and before we bought La Voz so my job consisted more of being a specialist of Hispanic advertising for the rest of the ad division. I had received my Master’s the December prior but I walked that May. I started writing again and I started working on my novel full force and was invited to read at Nuestra Palabra and on their radio show.
1 year ago: I was 34. I was stilll working as the Hispanic Projects Coordinator but it was a whole different game now. I gave birth to my second and last child, my son Seth in April, launched La Vibra and came back from a 3 month maternity leave to start working on the possiblity of purchasing La Voz. I continued working on my novel on a very part time basis. Work as usual is always all-consuming.
This year: I am 35. I still work at the Chronicle, I still struggle to find time to write between work, meetings (religion), my children, my home. I love my job and I love my writing. I only wish I had more time for the writing. This is the year I will finish the first draft of my novel and will start on the revising and will start shopping for an agent. I’m going to “Iris Chang it!”
Yesterday: I was very lazy or depressed because I slept in really late. I cleaned up the living and dining rooms a little and watched some Oprah that I have recorded. Before I knew it it was time to start getting dressed for Rey’s childhood friends’ anniversary party. We drove out to Conroe for the party last night. I drank a little too much of our new tequila drink we discovered in Cozumel. I didn’t get drunk but it didn’t agree with my stomach. Yuck!
Today: Slept late again but this time because I woke up sick in the middle of the night. I googled a guy I met recently in the biz and I caught up on a couple of old favorite blogs, but I need to get with the program soon. I have my Sunday meeting at 4 and I need to bathe the kids before we go. I also need to clean my bedroom tonight before I go to bed or I’ll wake up for the week feeling overwhelmed by the messiness. I still haven’t fully unpacked from our vacation! Thank goodness my cleaning lady comes on Tuesday!
Tomorrow: Tomorrow I go back to work to my real job that pays the bills. I start my week all over again. Sometimes I feel like the weekdays are better for me because they give me more structure and a schedule. I went back to writing once a week because that morning thing just doesn’t work for me. I’m not a morning person! So since Wednesdays are Rey’s basketball night Thursdays are my writing night. Also, this week is Magnet Awareness week and the schools will have their Open House. We need to go check out a couple of elementary schools because Miranda starts Kindergarten next year and we want to apply for Vanguard. I’m a product of Vanguard and IB (but not until junior high and high school) and Rey went to Magnet in elementary schools for gymnastics so we are both believers in the Magnet program if we want to live inside the loop. In other words, busy week!
Meme: Timeline
25 years ago: It was 1980 and I was 10. I lived in Houston with my parents and it was the one year I didn’t live with any of my sisters. The youngest of my four older sisters had just moved out the year before and had gotten married. I was in 4th grade and I had an evil teacher that gave me a good reality check. Up until that point all my teachers had loved me and treated me like I was extremely smart. This teacher taught me that sometimes people don’t love you. I was attending elementary school in the ghetto because my parents didn’t know about Magnet programs. I didn’t discover Vanguard until 6th grade and it got me out of the schools I was zoned to and I got a much better education. I started writing short stories and comic strips with my best friend.
20 years ago: I was 15. I was semi-popular in the tenth grade at Waltrip High School. I was writing for the school paper and I was the Circulation Editor. I thought I was fat because I wasn’t a stick figure like some of the girls my age and I had boobs, which made a big difference in my shape. It was the year I was invited to my first young people party (by the most popular girl in my JW community) and it was big time! My mother took me shopping for my party outfit at Clothestime and I bought a short black skirt, a sleeveless white top with little black paislies, and a pink satin leopard print jacket! I wore these all with black patent leather pumps, flesh colored hose, and a string of pearls. My hair was in a bob! Weren't the 80s great?! I was writing short stories that I could never finish.
15 Years ago: I was 20. I was going to UH full time and working for the school paper selling advertising. (See, I’ve been doing this way too long!) I was an English minor and I loved my literature classes and wanted to take some creative writing classes. I thought I was way too busy with school to write. I wish I had all that time now!
10 Years ago: I was 25. I had been out of college for 2.5 years and I was partying way too hard. I had quit my job at the Chronicle and I was substitute teaching because I wanted to go into teaching. I spent a whole month is Spain that summer with my girlfriends and fell in love with that country even more. My sister died of complications from leukemia that August. I met my husband that October and bumped into him at Elvia’s and at two different parties in December. I didn’t know at the time that we would start dating that following January. I was trying to write and I wrote some but not as much as I wanted to.
5 years ago: I was 30, married 3 years, and my mother died that January from heart failure. I missed her terribly and now that I didn’t have a mother I felt the strong urge to be a mother. I longed for that relationship again. (my sister recently sent me an article that captures this feeling exactly) I started trying and I was pregnant with my eldest daughter Miranda by Summer. I was working at the Chronicle again. I’d gone back in 1998. I was selling Direct Marketing and I loved it! I wasn’t really writing because I was finishing up my Master’s at UH and I had to write my thesis.
3 years ago: I was 32. I had a one year old baby and I was now working as the Hispanic Projects Coordinator for the Chronicle. This was before the launch of La Vibra and before we bought La Voz so my job consisted more of being a specialist of Hispanic advertising for the rest of the ad division. I had received my Master’s the December prior but I walked that May. I started writing again and I started working on my novel full force and was invited to read at Nuestra Palabra and on their radio show.
1 year ago: I was 34. I was stilll working as the Hispanic Projects Coordinator but it was a whole different game now. I gave birth to my second and last child, my son Seth in April, launched La Vibra and came back from a 3 month maternity leave to start working on the possiblity of purchasing La Voz. I continued working on my novel on a very part time basis. Work as usual is always all-consuming.
This year: I am 35. I still work at the Chronicle, I still struggle to find time to write between work, meetings (religion), my children, my home. I love my job and I love my writing. I only wish I had more time for the writing. This is the year I will finish the first draft of my novel and will start on the revising and will start shopping for an agent. I’m going to “Iris Chang it!”
Yesterday: I was very lazy or depressed because I slept in really late. I cleaned up the living and dining rooms a little and watched some Oprah that I have recorded. Before I knew it it was time to start getting dressed for Rey’s childhood friends’ anniversary party. We drove out to Conroe for the party last night. I drank a little too much of our new tequila drink we discovered in Cozumel. I didn’t get drunk but it didn’t agree with my stomach. Yuck!
Today: Slept late again but this time because I woke up sick in the middle of the night. I googled a guy I met recently in the biz and I caught up on a couple of old favorite blogs, but I need to get with the program soon. I have my Sunday meeting at 4 and I need to bathe the kids before we go. I also need to clean my bedroom tonight before I go to bed or I’ll wake up for the week feeling overwhelmed by the messiness. I still haven’t fully unpacked from our vacation! Thank goodness my cleaning lady comes on Tuesday!
Tomorrow: Tomorrow I go back to work to my real job that pays the bills. I start my week all over again. Sometimes I feel like the weekdays are better for me because they give me more structure and a schedule. I went back to writing once a week because that morning thing just doesn’t work for me. I’m not a morning person! So since Wednesdays are Rey’s basketball night Thursdays are my writing night. Also, this week is Magnet Awareness week and the schools will have their Open House. We need to go check out a couple of elementary schools because Miranda starts Kindergarten next year and we want to apply for Vanguard. I’m a product of Vanguard and IB (but not until junior high and high school) and Rey went to Magnet in elementary schools for gymnastics so we are both believers in the Magnet program if we want to live inside the loop. In other words, busy week!
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Why are Schools Still Promoting Mediocrity?
This week I also visited with my mentee. She is such a cool chick! This is only the second time we meet and I still like her. We had a very interesting conversation this time. She told me she needs to apply for college scholarships and I asked her if she was interested in journalism and broadcast. (Her counselor told me she was interested in journalism and that's why he matched us.) She said she is but that a teacher advised her to pursue a career that would give her job security, like nursing.
I almost went through the roof! It took all that I had not to go off on that teacher. I just couldn't believe that there are still teachers and possibly counselors who are promoting mediocrity. It made me angry because I thought of my own counselor who didn't help me apply for any scholarships, except one small Hispanic one.
Don't get me wrong. Before you get angry with me thinking that I don't consider nursing a noble career. My sister was a nurse for twenty years before she passed away and I had a great respect for her. I believe that all service careers are wonderful careers if the person who pursues that career is passionate about it, because you have to be passionate to do a good job. Which is what I asked her. It took a bit to get her to admit that she's not passionate about nursing like she is about broadcast journalism. With that said I told her that that's what she needs to pursue, the career that excites her.
I want to introduce her to friends in journalism and broadcast careers who have achieved a lot in their careers. I need to try and undo the damage that her teacher has already done, making her believe that she shouldn't strive for an "unatainable"career. I told her that her success depends on her and her passion, not on what other people decide for her.
I hope that I helped her see this. Not until teachers stop promoting mediocrity will our children strive for more in life.
I almost went through the roof! It took all that I had not to go off on that teacher. I just couldn't believe that there are still teachers and possibly counselors who are promoting mediocrity. It made me angry because I thought of my own counselor who didn't help me apply for any scholarships, except one small Hispanic one.
Don't get me wrong. Before you get angry with me thinking that I don't consider nursing a noble career. My sister was a nurse for twenty years before she passed away and I had a great respect for her. I believe that all service careers are wonderful careers if the person who pursues that career is passionate about it, because you have to be passionate to do a good job. Which is what I asked her. It took a bit to get her to admit that she's not passionate about nursing like she is about broadcast journalism. With that said I told her that that's what she needs to pursue, the career that excites her.
I want to introduce her to friends in journalism and broadcast careers who have achieved a lot in their careers. I need to try and undo the damage that her teacher has already done, making her believe that she shouldn't strive for an "unatainable"career. I told her that her success depends on her and her passion, not on what other people decide for her.
I hope that I helped her see this. Not until teachers stop promoting mediocrity will our children strive for more in life.
Back from Vacation
I know that I should be blogging about the cruise but I don't have time. It's something I may do later. I kept a daily journal of our travels. I'll just tell you what I learned.
1. Don't go on a cruise during hurricane season
2. If you have children either
a. Wait until they are 3 years old and completely potty trained so they can go into the kids' club on the ship.
b. Or only take them on a cruise that caters to small children.
That's all I'll say for now.
When I got back I learned that a friend from school had died on Saturday. I wasn't close to her but I had a couple of friends that were close to her and I'd known her since middle school. I met her when I was 11 and she was 12 or 13. She was in 7th grade and I was in 6th grade with her sister. I decided to go to the funeral and I didn't expect for it to affect me the way it did. It was very sad. I couldn't remember being to the funeral of someone my age before.
Later I remembered a friend from high school who died right after graduating from college. Somehow this was a little different from even that experience. I was faced with my mortality. This woman was only 36 years old when she died. That's an incredible thing to imagine! It made me so sad... I still don't even know why she died. They did an autopsy. Seeing death in the face makes me question my own life all over again.
1. Don't go on a cruise during hurricane season
2. If you have children either
a. Wait until they are 3 years old and completely potty trained so they can go into the kids' club on the ship.
b. Or only take them on a cruise that caters to small children.
That's all I'll say for now.
When I got back I learned that a friend from school had died on Saturday. I wasn't close to her but I had a couple of friends that were close to her and I'd known her since middle school. I met her when I was 11 and she was 12 or 13. She was in 7th grade and I was in 6th grade with her sister. I decided to go to the funeral and I didn't expect for it to affect me the way it did. It was very sad. I couldn't remember being to the funeral of someone my age before.
Later I remembered a friend from high school who died right after graduating from college. Somehow this was a little different from even that experience. I was faced with my mortality. This woman was only 36 years old when she died. That's an incredible thing to imagine! It made me so sad... I still don't even know why she died. They did an autopsy. Seeing death in the face makes me question my own life all over again.
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