Making Fun of Myself

When I first got hired at the radio station, I started listening to myself as much as possible, because I needed to cut all of that down. So here are a few of the words, I had to fix.

Iran - pronounced I-Ran. (it's supposed to be ear-ran) Now I hear these hillbilly republicans say it all the time and I surely did not think I pronounced the country like that. Because I don't say I-Raq. I say "ear-rack" Don't know how I say one right and not the other. Anyway, I'm better now.

For - I say "fer" also country. I remember in elementary school (when I was still a stutterer), I would say "foe" instead of "four." I still haven't cut this one out after three weeks on the radio. I realize immediately afterwards. I think I'm going to start thinking of golf. You know, when a person screams "FORE!"

Parish (the term we use instead of county) - I say "perish" like someone died. I kind of don't wan't to stop saying it like this. So I don't know. LOL.

Also, Moss cancelled the football party. Probably all for the best, since Tebow, even recovering from a concussion, is a beast! I still love my Tigers though!

AND, my dad bought me The Conversation! I'm only through the first chapter and it's something else. Go Hill!! I don't even remember telling my dad that I wanted to read this book, but we have discussed the state of the black family on many a occasion.

Jinx!!

In June I told my mom that I was praying for a slow hurricane season because last year kicked my butt. Well if you've turned on CNN lately, you'd know that all of the South Pacific is getting spanked by typhoons (which is just what they're called in different hemispheres). So she keeps telling me that I sent all the natural disasters to the South Pacific. "What did they EVER do to you?" Yeah, me and my mom have a dark humor between us.

My workout is being completely revamped. After two weeks of no running (because I was tired from working two jobs. I know, no excuse!) I dropped the 10K training. I just started back doing yoga and abs. THEN, I found this workout sheet my college coach gave me. Every set of workouts, focuses on muscles you barely use. Lay on the ground and try and hold yourself up with one arm while lifting one leg 10 times. It hurts. I told myself I do his workout, but I'm not as much of a masochist as I was I was in college.

I think the Florida Gators may have lost their minds. Because they really thinks it's gonna be all good when they roll into death valley tomorrow. It won't! The homie Moss is having a watch party, so I will go over there.

And finally, I kinda feel the same way about baggy pants as I do about gold teeth. Those are no longer in style sir. It's not 1990!

I got to write for our food section. I had to go to an Abita beer tasting. They were rolling out two new craft beers. I am officially a fan of Andygator beer. LOL!

I Wanna Die....of happiness!!

People it has been crazy busy with two jobs. I worked two jobs for almost two years in 2006-07 and I was always cool. Guess I know I'm old now huh?

Anyway, the radio job is going well. I had to learn to turn down the hillbilly in a my voice. I stumbled a little the first few days. I report for two stations. One is an ultra conservative talk show, the other is a country station. I don't listen to the talk. My co-workers are redneck enough to get on my nerves.

There are about eight country songs I like so I just keep that low and turn up CSPAN. I love CSPAN. I need work for them! LOL. On the country music station, almost every cop in this town listens to it. I knew this because I've rode with a lot of them. But by the end of my first week, I had seven calls asking if I had left the newspaper or what was I doing on the radio. (Like I didn't belong there or something. Jerks!) I know they didn't mean anything by it. Cops, can live without them, can't get a scoop without them. :)

I think Moss is still conspiring to find me a man. Some of the troopers were talking about a bar-b-que this weekend and I was tryna steal a plate. Two of them are asking about what time I'm stopping by and have boxed me into after 2 p.m. Maybe I want to come at 1 p.m. so that I can drink your liquor too! The other two are telling me how I will get to meet their wives. Why are you trying to incorporate me into these cliques.

The thing is, I'm cool with most of the black officers. But I'm cool with THEM. I will not be forced to listen to those women clucking about how they won't cut the grass or fix something until three hours after you tell them. Yes, there are a lot of stereotypical marriages in this small town.

Finally, I knew some of my co-workers were not the smartest, but one chick took the cake Thursday. Near the end of her shift, she's calls the city police information officer from her desk phone and tells him she needs him to fix a ticket!! In front of two editors. WTH!?!? I'm around police all day, erryday and won't do no foolishness like that. Our editor exploded and sent us a angry email. You can guess what happened to her. I've had at least three officers offer to fix tickets. (I sometimes have a heavy foot) They never explained what reason they had to run my license plate at random. But police are so pretentious.

This will definitely be a weekend of doing nothing. Oh and here's my Rick Bayliss recipe I tried. Very, very goooood!

Salmon Cakes with Jalapeno Remoulade Sauce from Vanessa Deggins on Vimeo.

Thumbs Up

I love when I have a day full of small good things. I'm not picky. I wouldn't mind a million dollars, but I'll settle for NOTHING blowing up in my face.

The day started off with this off the record luncheon which I never pay attention to. The stupid information officer will be talking and (thinkin' she slick) will slip in off the record for one sentence. I quickly informed her that for something to be off the record both parties have to agree to it. And this is Lake Charles, La, not the freaking New York Times! Fall back.

The Restaurant is great. Glad to see my tax dollars get me a delicious, expensive meal once a year. I then head to the office, with a medium level case of itis and my phone rings. It's this federal agent who I am cool with and slowly realizing how cool. He's calling me about an arrest they JUST made. Dude had been wanted on a warrant for four years.

An hour later, another body is found in one of our other bureaus. We might have a serial killer. the first seven (over the past five years) have been connected but this eighth one may be the guy or a copy cat or random. We don't know. Anyway, we have been doing maps on it, but mainly in the paper in full color, which is expensive. The webmaster (late as usual) suggests a full multimedia piece on the bodies. Who gets put in charge of the full multimedia project? ME!!!

I've started and almost finished the google map. I have their photos and stories linked in, but I have some video I'm gonna knock out next week. I've been in touch with the family and what upsets me is they criticize the police for not finding someone but wanna talk about not snitching. Really people!?! Anyway, this is gonna be great.

I have a story on tasers I should finish in a week or so. I have an idea for a video but it might not fit. We'll see. I only have one video assignment next week. It's the free yoga classes that are starting back up!! They want me to do the yoga. We'll see. I don't have a problem with yoga, I just don't want to be on camera. I just don't sorry.

Regardless, there is nothing bad going on. Just lots of work. I'm so proud. Gonna try and put together a professional web site this weekend. Seeing as I have a reliable lap top now, that shouldn't be a problem.

I love it when God compounds a bunch of small things. Thanks GOD!!

Oh dang it, last and most importantly: the childhood homie is not getting deployed again. She's an arabic translator and they sent her back to school because they activated her unit. But she called me today to say she'd be back in Lafayette, which is an hour away in a day because her unit was sent back. Her unit is still activated, but not mobilized. Meaning they are still on notice, but don't have training and deployment instructions. I'm sure I explained something wrong, but at least I know she's farther away from the freakin' middle east!!!!

Thanks again God.

Say Something?

The weekend in Houston was fun. We didn't do anything spectacular, I just wanted to get away from Lake Upchuck. I didn't take any pictures, probably because I was just happy to be free. I will next time. I've already been swamped with stuff do. I get to video a car being "clunked." That means pouring sodium silicate into the engine until it locks and then smashing it. Sounds like awesome video to me! Of course my editors want me in front of the camera. I don't know if that's going to happen. As you can see, I don't like to do that.

Houston:
When I got in Friday afternoon, I met Wash at the mall. He had to go to GNC and buy vitamins. I never pegged him for a health nut, but I understand his concern as a former football player. (They become obese and die early. He doesn't want to.) As usual, it was great fun hanging with him. One thing that bothers me is his issue with his son, which he vented to me about. I guess it's safe to assume we are friends if he talks about this stuff, but he would be the third male friend to tell me about a similar problem. I don't know how that trend developed, but I will say I am a fan of black men, so I'm a super cheerleader when they on their job!

I declined to voice my opinion because it's not like I have much experience with kids and unstable households. After talking to one of the other two, it was good I didn't say anything (for now at least).
I am still a bit mad (along with him) because I think he's another example of the father stepping in when the mother is being worthless and too many people don't give black men enough credit!

Anyway, I had a great bar-b-que brisket sandwich. La's mom must have expected me because her apartment was stocked with four bottles of wine, which we murdered. It caused me to be ten minutes late for work on Sunday. I had to go home and shower that liquor off of me first!

THAT'S A GOOD WEEKEND THERE!!

Speaking of good, I found my old
foodie files post and I think I need to start that back up. Jam the super foodie reminded me of a Rick Bayliss cookbook I had and I think I will be making Salmon Cakes and Jalapeno Remoulade this weekend. There are a few things I'd tweek, but it will rock and I can easily knock out a slideshow for ya.

FINALLY: Why is Taraji Henson in a freakin' Tyler Perry movie!?!?! I like her but can not deal with his cheesy, weak plots. But I guess I'll go see it because I like her. And who is this Adam Rodriguez? Yummers!!! I think I can stomach it. Lol!

ALSO: I have to say that I'm always glad to see couples my age in my bible study class. I don't really know why. I don't get hopeful that a man will enter my life. I think I'm just glad to know that other people my age have some relationship with God. I don't really talk to other people about that.

Ain't Scurred

Going to NABJ caused me to miss a week of my pastor's podcasts. Yep, my church gets the multimedia on hard. And last week's series was on "God's Defense Against Fear." I had to start on Part 2 but it was the message I needed.

I came back from NABJ in Tampa refreshed after seeing my fellow black journos but also feeling that everything will be ok in my life. As I prepared for Tampa, I wondered if the money I saved was enough. A week before I left, I got offered a part-time job. Nobody wants to work two jobs, but I've done it before and this will bring in income and more journalism experience.

I left for Tampa worried about talking to recruiters and if I could really sell myself. Because let's face it, even before the recession, it was all about letting the company know what you can do for them. I still don't know how good I am at selling myself. We'll see in the coming weeks as I contact people I've met.

More than anything, I think I need to stop over analyzing things. I meet my deadlines at work, both on the print and online side. I shouldn't complain that I am tired. I like my work. I'm going out meeting recruiters and telling them what I am good at. If I keep doing my work and keep talking to people, something will happen.

I don't know what and it's probably going to be like that. When I lost my first journalism job I didn't know if I'd ever get back in. And I know it didn't all come together until I started just doing the basic things I was supposed to do and got closer to God. I think it was just another example of me thinking I need to help God out to move things along faster, when I just needed to shut up.

So we'll see how this all shakes out.

See How that works!

I think I'm about two thirds settled from all the convention run around. And I know we were in Tampa, FL but for some reason I really didn't expect it to be Louisiana hot. Ah well. My mentor Bob Butler won VP-Broadcast. Yaaay! If you're in NABJ you probably got an email from me asking you to vote for him. And if you're my facebook friend, you'll see all the pictures. I didn't take any myself. Sorry.

I spent most of my time awake in the career fair and in workshops. Also I was tired!! I missed almost every NABJ After Dark event because I would get back to the room and crash. I guess I was used to running ragged at work. The only good part of that was that my roommate's ex-boyfriend was on a mission to torment her and if I had to witness it more than once, I woulda showed my color. I don't have time for you. I'm gonna let Kat Williams deal with you!!

Anyway, I met lots of great people. There was only one rude recruiter. I say this with surprise. Usually all of them are. Even the CNN guy was super nice and I know I'm not near CNN caliber yet. I'm working on it though. Please believe! Another strange incident: I met Brown Prince's mentor. He told him who I was and he hugged me super hard. I don't talk to Brown Prince that much anymore so I was kinda scared to ask what was said about me. His mentor is a cool guy. He works really hard to keep a good stable of black and Latino sports writers, which I think is good. And on the topic of work experience, the radio job is a go. I start in two weeks.

There was some trepidation from my bosses at the paper, but I let them know that it didn't overlap with my shift at all. Turns out their issue was "we compete with them for advertising dollars." Well, I somehow kept my voice at a regular level and said "yeah but you clearly don't compete for your employees' salary dollars." How did he completely miss the point that I was taking a second job for financial reasons, not to mess them up? I just lucked up that I can get radio experience out of this, but at the end of the day, I would like to be able to save more money than I am now because emergencies happen.

And that happened last week for sure. So I come back from NABJ to have my laptop just conk out and the AC in my car break. I was expecting the laptop to go soon, it had computer AIDS for real. But not the car AC. And I don't just need freon, there is a leak somewhere. I got another laptop. It's not the one I want. I want a mac because that's what I do all my work on, but I can't afford it. This one has lots of space and will do well. I was really ticked about this, but my dad hopped out of the wood works and dropped 20 percent of the laptop costs, which will keep my account in the black.

So there is a silver lining. My money is a bit tight, but I'm not in the negative and I have a laptop that I can actually move around. And I can still go see my Saints next weekend in Houston!! La's rolling with. That should be fun. And I called Wash, I don't know if he can come to the game. I think he's gotta work because he's opening another store and that's good. I think I'm going to make him take me here. That place is great!!
That or Pappadeaux just because I've never been there.

It's back to work tomorrow for me. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!!

And this is late, but I'm loving me some Anthony David! He is heavy in rotation on my Pandora radio.