…because I am most definitely workin’ (for a livin’)
See below for an example of my work. Well, technically, not my work, I just held the boom mic. Sometimes. But I like this video and it gives me goosebumps when I watch it so I’m sharing it here. Thank you and good day.
I have been known to blast this song very loudly in my car the past few weeks:
The Song: Hate On Me
The Artist: Jill Scott
The Album: The Real Thing
The Lyrics:
If I could give you the world
On a silver platter
Would it even matter?
You’d still be mad at me
If I could find in all this
A dozen roses
Which I would give to you
You’d still be miserable
In reality, I’m gonna be who I be
And I don’t feel no faults
For all the lies that you bought
You can try as you may
Break me down but I say
That it ain’t up to you
Gone and do what you do
CHORUS
Hate on me, hater
Now or later
‘Coz I’m gonna do me
You’ll be mad, baby
Go ‘head and hate
Go ‘head and hate on me, hate on
‘Coz I’m not afraid of it
What I got I paid for
You can hate on me
Ooh, if I gave you peaches
Out of my own garden
And I made you a peach pie
Would you slap me high
What if I gave you diamonds
Out of my own womb
Would you feel the love in that,
Or ask “why not the moon”?
If I gave you sanity
For the whole of humanity,
Had all the solutions
For the pain and pollution
No matter where I live,
Despite the things I give,
You’ll always be this way
So go ‘head and….
Hate on me, hater
Now or later
‘Coz I’m gonna do me
You’ll be mad, baby
Go ‘head and hate
Go ‘head and hate on me, hate on
‘Coz I’m not afraid of it
What I got I paid for
You can hate on me
You cannot hate on me
‘Cuz my mind is free
Feel my destiny
So shall it be
You cannot hate on me
‘Cuz my mind is free
Feel my destiny
So shall it be
Hate on me, hater
Now or later
‘Coz I’m gonna do me
You’ll be mad, baby
Go ‘head and hate
Go ‘head and hate on me, hate on
‘Coz I’m not afraid of it
What I got I paid for
You can hate on me
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Dear middle-aged white woman with a big, 80′s-style Texas perm,
Thank you for rolling the stop sign and almost t-boning me in the parking lot at the grocery store just now. I could see how it would have been my fault, since I’m in the driver of a dark-colored vehicle and it was dusk. Clearly, I should have seen you ignore the gigantic red stop sign, since you’re in a shiny, practically-glows-in-the-dark-it’s-so-white Mercedes Benz convertible. Your giant bicycle reflector of a vehicle should have been a beacon signaling me to stop for a while longer and let you coast on through.
I also wanted to thank you for stopping at the red light a few moments later and choosing to wait to make the right-on-red in both lanes. That was also very gracious of you. It gave me a moment to reflect on how clever your “DA SHZL” personalized license plate is. It’s a good thing it was not a California plate, as I’m sure you would have had to settle for another personalized mantra calling attention to yourself because surely Snoop Dogg’s wife has the CA plate with “DA SHZL” stamped on it.
You were so very patient waiting at the light, as you sat practically parked in both lanes. It must be wonderful to be so carefree that you don’t realize that you are creating a traffic jam in the parking lot of the grocery store behind you and that those also attempting to leave the grocery store lot were forced to block the McDonald’s drive through lane, only to have people honk at you because they cannot exit the drive through with their happy meals. You even waited to make double sure that cross-traffic in the street was clear after the light turned green and you had the right of way. Very careful driving…those at the DMV would be proud.
I’m sure you didn’t even hear those other people honking at you over your music. Afterall, you were kind enough to blast your 80s hair band rock with your top down for all to hear. It is these thoughtful gestures that make me want to drive my car all the way back home across the country in the hopes that I can meet more people like you.
It is now my sincere wish that by the time I’m 45, I, too, can have a personalized license plate that references 20-something’s pop culture and drive like I own the road.
Sincerely,
Your fellow driver
I’m in Hattiesburg this weekend. I hadn’t ever pictured myself having a need to travel to Hattiesburg until I realized Southern Miss is in our conference. The only thing I ever knew about Southern Miss is that I’m pretty sure it’s Brett Favre’s home town.
We arrived yesterday and played our game. It ruled. Our pitcher threw a complete game with 13 strikeouts which was awesome. Only, it further complicates my “no cheering in the pressbox” rule that I have to abide by. A guy doubles his career-high strikeouts in a game and I can’t cheer. [sigh]. It’s hard.
But I did it.
Then I came back to the HGI where were are staying and I did my post-game deal. Then I went to sleep. And THEN, at approximately 3:50am I woke up. Not of my own volition mind you. The fire alarm went off. And it was LOUD. And it had a strobe. Dear God, we practically had strokes. I managed to slide my flip flops on and grab my phones and we shuffled into the hall where the entire team looked about as happy to be awakened in the middle of the night as I was. We all went down the stairs (silently and not-so-silently cursing the whole situation) only to reach the outside, where the alarm turned off. We trudged back upstairs and tried to fall asleep.
It was not the highlight of my night.
The best part was at breakfast this morning, when you get to hear the stories.
One person tried to punch the thermostat, thinking, in his disoriented state, that the alarm would going off if the temperature was lowered in the room. He walked outside into the hall and came back in, only to see his roommate holding three pillows to his ears.The mere mental image of this made me giggle.
Another person slept right through it. Luckily, his roommate woke him up so in the event of a real emergency, he’d have been safe. Now that’s a teammate. In defense of said sleeping person, he had just thrown a complete game victory with 13 strikeouts and was probably a little tired. I’m just sayin.
Someone else announced he had decided he was not leaving his room until his saw smoke. He is stubborn and slightly fearless that way, so that mentality checks out.
One person wanted to text our ops person and find out how to make the alarm stop as if she controlled that. In the morning, he realized that was not within her power but somehow, last night in his state of half-consciousness, he figured her to be a magician.
Something I did learn about myself is that I’m surprising calm when a buzzer the same decibel as a jet engine is ringing at me. I methodically grabbed the important items and was not frantic. Which was a pleasant surprise because I had always thought I would more on the frantic side during the course of something like that in the middle of the night. Maybe my not-fully-awake state played a role. The only thing is that I didn’t grab my wallet. Tactical error in the event of a real emergency. But I did get my roommate squared away, helping her find pants to throw over her PJs and we were out the door. Grumpy at the fact that we were awake in the middle of the night, but out the door.
So that’s been day/night one in Hattiesburg. I’m hoping for another victory today and a solid, uninterupted night’s sleep during day/night two.