There is a GOD indeed and His blessings continue to shine on me and my family. 

 

Friday- After 7 weeks of waiting and comin down to the 11th hour before i was to call'em back to ask what the dilly yo, i go check the mail and theres 2 envelopes from unemployment.  i know what the blue one was, just the usual printout bout me not gettin nothin for the week so i was like whatever but there was a white envelope.  so i opened ot up and scannin the text to see what it is and its allll works no numbers. no congratulations nothin.  so im like greeeeat but upon closer look i start readin this paragraph stating "no misconduct was found..." so i really start readin it and sho nuff i got my unemployment WITH retro backpay!  Lonnie Lon is back afloat and out of the repo/foreclosure worries (for now)!  Cant ask for much more! Went upstairs and immediately started settlin some debts.  That night there was a good Friday service at Bethlehem where all the associate ministers preached a brief sermon on a specific scripture.  I went wit my kids to support my dad who was #2 up to preach.  He got the biggest clapping response from the crowd I was proud of my ol' man! :)

 

Saturday-  Was test day for one of the jobs i had applied for up north.  It was redemption mode for the low (but passing)  score i had recieved a few weeks prior down locally.  I get there with a few minutes to spare and it was only me another another dude testing.  I take my typing test and score a 66wpm score, down from the 70wpm i had certified for through Clover Park TC in January.  From there it was taking the Criticall test which was redemption time.  I had scored 81% (as your previously read) but this time was time to step up my game and i sho nuff did! 97%! ta-dow im back in the game!  The other guy didnt pass (you needed a 75% to pass) so it was all on me now.  They had a mandatory 2hr observation in their com room (was really only for entry level people to see if that was for them or not) I didnt want to be treated any differently so i did my 2hrs no problem and pretty much made a new friend in one of the call recievers up there. she was really nice showed me the ins/outs of their com room, their policy/procedures, what their monitors meant, even what was in their current union contract!  I can tell ya they have a ways to go to be where i used to be at the corrections center but to breath easier w/out all the stress that i was under i can tolerate not havin luxuries as holiday pay.  They have internet at every console and the gurl behind us was checkin her facebook page and all of'em had food, dranks, and even cell phones on and on the counter! i was like... Im HOME! hahahahhaha!  I felt a lil discouraged cause even though the posting said "dispatcher 1" thats actually a call reciever but im okay with goin back if i have to to prove myself and go back to where i wanna be a year from now.  Long as my bills are bein paid and I have a job i will in no way feel discouraged.

 

Sunday- Was Easter and a great time for my whole family.  For the first time in probably 4-5 years ALL of us were in church together.  Sister and her kids, my family, and my parents all under one roof to worship.  That was awesome.  From there we went to Black Angus where we had some drinks (week 2!) then back to my parents house to chill, watch a movie, play gh3 on the wii.  From there went on down to check on tha cane then on home for the night.

 

Monday- Things were excelling great even still!  On Saturday after i had passed and did my observation the lady scheduled my oral board interview for today (monday).  I already felt super confident with the oral board cause i have NO problem sellin myself (verbally) hahahha can sell salt to a slug and sex to a nun! lmao.  I go in there ready to battle and sell myself for this chance to work for'em and put alllll the dirt out before they went and looked at my personnel file and got shell shocked.  but they had their own course of direction with their questioning different than that of Sumner's so I never had an opportunity to pull our the disciplines i had to explain to'em what happened and the "policy violation" committed.  So i withheld it since i was told after the oral board if passed a detective would be in contact to start the background check.  Went home feelin good cause i already felt in my heart that was a done deal, passed and wait to work on the detective.  Later that day my daughter had her 2nd p/t conference at her school.  Her teacher gave her rave remarks and told her she's a very energetic child who participates in class and was among the top readers in her class! I was so proud of her. :)

 

Tuesday- I get the confirmation call from the HR lady that was super excited for me that sho nuff i had passed the oral panel.  It was shocking for me because she had told me it could take 3-4 weeks to hear back the results and up to 60 days to get through the background check.  I gave my praise to the Lord and kicked back and enjoyed my day, runnin up to Best Buy for the 1st time and many many weeks to buy Day 26's cd (those who watch Making the Band 4 would know) aweeeesome cd ya'll!

 

Wednesday & Thursday-  Nothin much happened at all just school store like we do every wednesday and layin round the house.  The Det called me to set up the day to come down and take that pre-polygraph scantron test.  Again excited yet curious that now was the time it was gonna go down.  The tell-all story was gonna come out.

 

Friday- I headed up and met wit the Detective.  Just as before i did the scantron and a lil questionaire.  Was told when i was done to just let her know and if im not in a rush we'll run it through the machine to get the results and from there if im not in a rush sitdown and dicuss the results and move forward.  Good, my forum to sell my case.  I takes a lil under an hour to finish an i hand'em over and go wait in the lobby.  5-6min later the Det comes out and tells me, "well, we got this new machine and now it seems that its not working... so we're gonna have to fwd it on to the psychologist to scan and we should have the results back in 3-4 days." Im thinkin in my head geez lady I know i answered in the affirmative that i have a couple assault rifles and several other guns but Im not psychotic!  Never been in a physical altercation never got into a verbal sparring at work, im ooooookay!  So i shook her hand and thanked her (as a sane person would do) ;) and left the bldg.  She told me when she got the results that we could meet 1/2 way or i could come back up and discuss it wit'er.  Im thinkin lady ive spent almost $20 applyin for this job not includin gas and im not guaranteed anything so you can meet me 1/2 way! sheeeeit....  lol so now i sit and wait for a callback. 

 

From there since i was already up north I had been talkin to Olympic Boat Center about de-winterizin tha cane.  Back on Weds me and wifey had a sit down that we gonna have to invest the $$ to dewinterize'er cause if it does come down to the point we have to sell'er she needs to be up and runnin to "test drive".  Cant sell a car sittin in the driveway and say "trust me she runs"  So in case it does come to that I decided we gonna play on'er and have a good time and make some memories in case we gotta sell'er.  So i go up to where she's moored and get ready to hook'er up and realize im missin a cord i need to hook up the lights etc! CRAP!  So i get to thinkin do i wanna abort the mission and come back today (Saturday) or run to the store and buy another cord. It was snowin after all but i didnt wanna risk the snow stickin and icin up so i go down and buy a cord come back and hook'er up (which i must say is TEN TIMES easier wit my rear-view camera that i can back the towing ball right up to the trailer on the first time no havin assistance lining up or jumpin out in the snow and checkin and checkin) and head on down the big 277th hill past the corrections center and on to the freeway.  Probably looked like the hugest DORK towing a 23' Yacht in the snow but oh well! hahahahaha

 

Later that night had a business meeting at the church at 730 i get there a few minutes after and grab a seat pop open my coca-cola and post up waitin to start.  After a few more minutes they do a head count.... 25 people needed, only 22 people showed up.  Mtg cancelled.  UGH!  So we all file out and i stop to talk to the Rev about an announcement he had made in service on saturday.  He basically asked for a few people to become political liasons for the church to make calls on behalf of certain and specific legislation that may be up for vote or to pass.  (nothing too political such as endorsing canidates etc cause of course that could make you lose your tax exemption status).  Bein as im heavy into politics and religion seemed like it was right up my alley.  Left and came on back to Puyallup and stopped at the new Lil Caesars they got up here which i hadnt had in foreeeeever!  Bought back some good ol school memories!

 

Anywho.... tty next week! Hopefully Ill have tha cane back and ready to launch in the water!

And week 1 of drinking.  Last night depression officially set in for a long term stay.  Things just not gettin any better and certainly no end in site. 

 

Last Friday i was so freakin bored with nothing to do i actually went and took a CPR class just to occupy time!  Pretty sad i know but it was fairly educating i was not aware they were switching to 30:2 (30 compressions and 2 breaths) STANDARD for all ages.  Adults, teens, children, infants alike. ALL 30 and 2.  They (Tacoma Fire) did briefly mention the compressions only tactic that was bein studied as well.

 

Saturday-  Bummed around the house all day.  Was supposed to go to a Harriet Tubman play at Bethlehem Baptist but my wife (who opted out on goin) oh so convieniently "misunderstood" that she was to be here to watch the kids while i went.  So i made sure she knew that ish wasnt gonna fly and remained here the rest of the night.

 

Sunday-  Church.  In a shocking turn of events my sister actually showed up!  So after the kids went off to sunday school we sat by each other and enjoyed the service.  Later went over to our parents house enjoyed lunch, watched a Tyler Perry play then I split to go check on tha cane then home.

 

Monday- Bummed around the house tried to call Sumner a couple times to see why none of my personal contacts hadnt got their survey to fill out on me.  Never got a returned call.  Called unemployment first thing to see whats taking them so long to give me a decision.  The lady was like "wow you shouldve had a answer weeks ago" (again this is now week 7)  so she put a hardship claim onto my account to speed it up and get an answer by the end of this week. hardships bein mortgage about to slip behind, havin kids, tabs bout to expire this month on the SUV i drive and need for interviews, and bills period.

 

Tuesday- On a hunch, I go check the mail before goin up the stairs wit my breakfast i had just cooked. I get a letter in the mail from Sumner along wit my weekly "the jury is still out letter" from unemployment.  I immediately start praying cause im not gettin a good feeling.  rip it open and sure enough its a "thanks but no thanks" letter.  CRUSHED.  The ONLY lead i had goin and its now been extinguished.  I call'em immediately seeking a "what went wrong"  explanation.  Oh course the guy that wrote the letter is "out of office" so i request a callback.  I sit and think on it for awhile and ponder.. well maybe this was for the entry level position i had initially applied for now catchin up and the left hand dont know what the right hand's doin. so after a couple hours no callback i call Sumner again and talk to the HR lady and ask her was this letter pertaining to the lateral position or the entr... before i could even finished she had already butted in and said it was the lateral.  Oh. so i say ok well ill wait for the callback and we disconnect.  Nothin the rest of the day from them and i was already immediately back on the grind lookin anywhere and everywhere.  47 days now wasted and NO prospects/leads.  By the end of the day i had rushed down to one job submitting my application getttin there right as they were lockin the doors for the day.

 

Wednesday- Up early and went to 2 other job prospects first thing since i had app and all filled out the night before.  Got those taken care of and back up the hill to do my weekly volunteer work at my daughters school.  It was fun and nice to take my mind out the zone for the moment but it was the school book fair i was workin this week so it bought it alll back home that im amongst all these books my daughter is browsin and wantin stuff and i cant even buy her one freakin book.  Heart breaking.  On a positive note though early that AM since i woke up mind racing i picked up that freakin Clinton book "Living History" that had been in my possession for the last 4 months.  A fmr co-worker and great friend of mine gave it to me to read after i had read Obama's 2nd book and it was soooooo try and boring it took that long to finally stomach it.  I actually emailed msnbc about a certain piece in the final pages where Senator Clinton is consistent on harping on "EXPERIENCE". If this is the case, why in HER OWN WORDS in her book "Living History" (Simon & Schuster Copyright 2003) Page 524, 2nd paragraph does she state, "After eight years with a title but no portfolio, I was now Senator-Elect".  Why didnt she claim all her "experience" then?? hmmmmm. This last week had been a major push to finish it cause i was gonna return today since i was goin back to the corrections center which could potentially be my very last time, to view my personnel file as im sure thats what shell shocked Sumner into passin on me. 

 

I got there at 2pm (which i had scheduled) and with kids in tow breached the doors, signed in like a visitor, took a visitor badge, and followed her on into her office.  And there before me sat my personnel BINDER basically.  Literally if you stacked the papers it was probably 5" high. 2" of it termination, discipline, inquiry, counseling, misc papers. Sumner was allowed to see my termination letter (which im sure bein it was on top turned them off IMMEDIATELY with the strong words used in it), my discipline/counseling/inquiry log (yes inquires ARE in your file), miscellaneous file (which had when i applied for and was nominated to go into the dispatch classes, as well as so convieniently slipped in there printed out CAD MAILS between me and an older female SNITCH (who walks around wit a nervous feeble laugh ill let you figure it out) when we had got into it about her accusing me of sleeping in a CE training class years ago.  It was an 8am class i was present on time in the FRONT of the class far left side wit people sittin next to me, behind me and a supervisor a few feet away on my leftside.  I was visibly slouched in my seat cause everyone knows how uncomfortable those seats are.  She had the audacity to say she saw my eyes closed and it appeared i was sleeping!  I didnt bomb on the fool like i had wanted to kept it professional and told her i was NOT asleep and im pretty offended that she would say such a thing when the only view she had the majority of the time was the back of my HEAD.  My eyes are naturally lazy at times and wit long eyelashes at times it appears may be closed but i definitely wasnt asleep.  Well the idiot wants to try to rebutt it that "she can only report what she believes she saw" nah trick. if you aint positive you keep your mouth SHUT.  So my msgs to HER was printed out but not hers to me. go figure.  the typical one-sided corrections center politics.  I read on lookin at the disciplines, the inquiries, and just knowin thats all they needed to see. they probably only spent a few minutes there and were done wit me.  Even though i had been honest and up front wit'em about my disciplines maybe seein it visually just shell shocked'em.  I did find it interesting though that the HR lady told me that Sumner had been there to look at SEVERAL personnel files lately.. HMMMM!

 

I went home via checkin on the cane and droppin off my friends book, not feeling pity for myself cause every page in there i had did to myself.  They probably didnt even look at my annual reviews cause ALL of those were meets standards and exceeds standards..only mark in'em was when i had got disciplined.  Depression was in full swing.  There was no need to talk to Sumner anymore im sure i now knew why i stood judged.  So gettin back here i pulled my own corrections center file and started re-creating what i had just seen.  I cant afford to score more interviews just for them to get to my personnel file and get shell shocked.  So all in hand now from here on out if i score an interview early like that im just gonna take it to them directly so we're not wastin each others time.  I regret those disciplines especially the 1st one it never had to happen. 

 

So last night i needed to just relax and put it outta my mind.  Went to my infamous Liquor Cabinet known to many, got some E & J w/coke and kicked back.

 

Thursday-  Here now typin to ya'll.  Stopped at the one drank the night before (yes not drink...drank! lol) daughter in school, the boy chillin wit his ol man.  Wifeys stepdad is comin over today to interview me on religion for a school project. (was to do it yesterday but it didnt pan out for'em)  Came to the right person thats for sure!  It should lead to a good convo bein his chosen religion is JW yet im a Christian in a Baptist denomination church. (and yes ya'll can THINK you can start a debate wit me that JW's are christians but be warned... have your documents ret-ta-go cause were gonna be "debating" for a looooong time cause theyre not!!  

 

TTY next week keep me in your prayers hopefully ill have somethin positive to report vs advisin ive upgraded from 1 to 2 drinks.

(Yawn) Its week 6, not much has changed.  Still unemployed, Unemployment still jerkin me around, family life was somewhat hostile... whats new right?

 

Last Friday (day after the interview) I had my sisters kids stay the night cause they all had choir practice at church the following day and my dad (who normally takes my sisters kids) had to work.  So it was Harris: Party of 5!  Got'em some pizza and we chilled and but of course played guitar hero 3!  Next morning wifey got up and cooked'em all breakfast which was nice of her and we all set out to let'em get their sang on! A lil bumps in the road wit their behavior which pissed me off (my nephews and my daughter) so i was in NO mood to be around'em afterwards.  My oldest nephew soon as they came off the stage asked me "can we play..." i shut'em down immediately.  "you really think i wanna hear your mouth right now after what you were doin up there?" (was in a semi shovin match wit the kid next to'em on stage) my youngest nephew was dinkin around wit choir books and everything BUT what he shouldve been doin and my daughter slouchin and 1/2 sangin (yeah not singin we SANG in that church!) hahahaha.  so soon as we left there, we went home fed'em the rest of their pizza gathered the rest of the money my dad gave me to feed'em and gas and headed to their moms house to take'em home. 

 

Stopped at the gas station still pissed but knowing my intentions already were to go to the new NW African American Museum in Seattle.  Started feelin bad cause i left BOTH my kids behind and was only gonna take my niece since she was the only one that would enjoy it outta all the kids.  But decided in the end id take my daughter anyways so doubled back got her, went to Kent to drop off my nephews and just me, Tamia, and my niece proceeded up to Seattle.  Got there round 320ish found parking and went on in since that day Admission was free and they closed at 4pm.  Its still a work in progress with installing more exhibits and artifacts etc but its definitely something worth checking out.  I had my camera going like crazy snappin pics.  We were out by 355 and they had already started turning away people since they were closin.  Dropped my niece off, checked on tha cane and came on home in time for the comedy show at my church which was sooooo funny! Had a comedian there who had been on In Living Color and BET's Comicview AJ Jamar.  Didnt get to see him that night though.  We were tired so we cut out and came on home. 

 

Sunday, but of course gots ta get to church!  My daughter had a performance that morning which she did awesome!  You know most of the African American singers got their start in the church! Shes 5 now so plenty of time to master the art of sangin and get a record deal! lol  The whole house was rockin that day, awesome sermon, mens choir as well were coo, was AIDS awareness day so they had a lil discussion on that.  Then the music director came up to give a thank you to all the people who had attended the comedy show the night before and told us AJ had to catch a flight but wanted to come up one more time.  and just like that we had a comedy sketch in service! hahahahaha he had us all DYIN laughin it was awesome!  Went to my parents house afterward had some bbq and we all watched "super size me" lol.  Volunteered to take my sisters kids home since i was goin home too and had to check on tha cane again.

 

Monday, was the best day of the week that quick!  Been prayin prayin prayin bout this job and went to check the mail 3x before 1pm!  No mail that whole freakin day (which you'd at least get some junk mail) but lil after 1 my house phone rings.  Both my satellite recievers have a caller ID option so it showed on my big screen who was callin.... it was the gig!  Said a quick prayer before answering and sho nuff they tell me i passed the oral panel interview! YES! Move on to the next step which is the background check.  Said he was gonna send out the lil questionaire things to my 5 personal references and was callin to get the info on them (since on the application i hadnt included any addresses cause thats personal unless needed.  Gave'em that info wit a quickness and put my 5 people on notice that its a comin and to pleeeeaase fill out that day and put back in the mail.  Im tryin to get to the top of this hiring pack for senority if i can.  Hung up the phone giving all praise to the Lord for the blessing!

 

Tuesday, mostly bummed around the house doin a bunch of nothin.  Posted up on the couch makin sure it didnt try to jump up and run when i was in the kitchen lol Was gonna sow the seeds in the garden but opted out since the seeds say plant in may.  But maybe ill just do it in April.  Watched the Mississippi primaries and Obama spank that butt 61-39%! Went to the store in the evening to get the boy some more lil meals he eats.  Ran into a couple friends of mine so... hung out wit them for awhile as well :)

 

Wednesday-  School store volunteer work.  Didnt make much it was a slow day. My son's health kinda tanked obsessively coughin but not dry like my daughters was last week. It was just like it was last year literally at this time when we had to go to cali for wifey's grandfathers funeral.  So i called the doc as a precaution (wasnt tryin to go BACK in after i was just there a week ago) they said neb'em for 2 days and if not better by friday to bring'em in.  So gave'em 2 treatments that day. That evening finally had it out wit wifey bout all the ailments of the household over the last week and the beef'n and ignorin each other.  Got all that resolved so things much more peaceful and relaxed again.

 

Thursday- Mostly loungin around again doin a bunch of nothin.  Nobody still had gotten their surveys which kinda concerned me but not enough to call'em up and ask.  Dude had said hes gonna try this week to go up to the corrections center and look over my personnel file cabinet hahahahah j/k personnel file to see if anything else in there they needed to be aware/concerned about. (which to my knowledge less then snuck some crap in there on me i told'em er thang that was in there). Got a txt from my sister that my youngest nephew got in trouble yet AGAIN at school and they were requesting he be picked up.  She had testing to do that day round that time for another job she's tryin to get as well so she asked me to get'em.  I was NOT amused but i went up to see what was the deal.  Come to find out my sister had been gettin emails from the school or calls everyday about his disruptive behavior in class. At that time he had only been in class no more than 20minutes before bein removed.  Threw his glasses across the room and all.  Oh i was ready to take it back to mine and my parents generation and wear his lil butt out right there wit a belt! couldnt even believe it myself!  But not my kid ill leave the discipline to his mom but I aint gonna let'em think it was a free ride comin to my house.  Went to check on tha cane again and came on to the house where he was made to read some books and LITERALLY sit on the couch till his mom arrived and not just any tv shows... MSNBC! hahahaha the place for politics!  They left and we went back to our family life watchin some shows we have in common to watch.  Later on talked to one of my best friends for almost 2hrs recappin life and work and other... events :)

 

Which leads us to now.  Sittin here bored wit MSNBC runnin in the background, typin all this out wit no further plans but to call unemployment and ask'em what the deal.  Just called the bank cause i was assessed a $5.95 charge come to find out they say thats a monthly charge for not havin a direct deposit applied to my account.  UGH salt in the wound.  Asked'em is that always the case cause i lost my job.  They said yep. Im like man, cold-blooded.  oh well. Hopefully im prayin wont have to go into another month bein unemployed.  Already called the boat center as well checkin their backlog on de-winterizin boats cause soon as things get finalized i wanna get my bayliner ret-ta-go agap! they said 1-week turn around so im fine wit it. Goin to a CPR class tonight at my church cause im just that bored with nothin to freakin do!tty next week!

 

I wont make ya'll read to the point of climax cause i know alot of ya'll be skim readin anyways so ill do the climax first and the rest thereafter lol.  We'll start wit the interview.

 

Ive been nervous all week and all last night cause it pretty much comes down to today.  Prayin hard and askin all of ya'll prayers too (which now i find an interesting question cause does God grant a prayer cause several people pray about the same thing?  Is not one prayer sufficient enough?  Is "power in numbers" truly qualify when it comes to prayer that it goes up on the priority list for God cause i have a petition page of people prayin vs just me prayin to my Lord and Savior alone? Makes ya think huh?!) Anywho, got my house downstairs all cleaned as my close friend was comin over wit her kid to watchin my 2 chidlins for me.  Was upstairs re-showerin (can never be TOO clean!) re-groomin, took my hoop earrings out (look a LIL more professional, kept nose and cartilage rings in though).  Ironed one of my dress shirts (funny short story on that one is i bought that iron for wifey a long time ago plugged it in its lit up im waitin for it to get warmed up... it was cold! i didnt even know how to work it! lmao!) finally didnt even hear the doorbell ring.  She arrived i got dressed made sure i had any extra papers i may/may not need and set off. 

 

Takes bout 13min to get there since its much closer to home.  checked in and sat and waited. Put on my eyeglasses (again for a more sophisticated/professional appeal) and within minutes the H.R. lady came to get me from the waiting area.  Introduced herself and I myself and went into their conference room where she was about to introduce me to the 2 other people on the 3 person panel but I, being already meeting them on the 2 other occasions of being asked to come down, approached both and shook their hands after sayin their 1st names.  She was like "well, since you all already know each other...." lol.  She got started addressing this is an "informal" interview so i can ask them questions as well.  Expressed they will be interviewing several people, scoring them by their answers and  of those people choosing the highest to advance to next step in process.  When another people was initally signin me in i was kinda lookin over the counter and saw the list to see if any names looked familiar (which none did) looked like maybe 9 people and i was the only male, so hopefully that works in my favor (too bad they ended affirmative action id be locked in! hahahahahha)

 

They asked me what are my interests and passions.  I told'em exactly what it is.  Im a member of the trustee committee at my church, I am a PTA volunteer at my daughters school, I am HEAVY into politics, and im a working man thats killin me to just be sittin at home (they chuckled).  They asked what makes me qualified to work for them, i told them again of my 6yrs working at the corrections center and that it was a line of work i enjoyed doing.  I made a joke stealing what that annoying female candidate said expressing to them "im ready at day one" they smiled amusingly lol.  They asked why their facility.  Told'em LOCATION, that i had lived right up the hill.  Also pay, how small more intimate their facility was, the hours.  Asked if i had applied to other facilities told'em of the 2 others and that with their backlog i hadnt expected to hear from them at all but yet Sumner called back immediately.  They asked if i had applied in other lines of work i told them yes but this is  what i enjoy doin.  They asked where do you see yourself in 5-10yrs i told them i always think of goin back to school maybe takin a night (or day) class but ultimately i had not planned on leaving the corrections center and it was a surprise to me when i got let go because i had just wanted to put my head down do my time somewhere and retire, so if they'd allow me to do that there i would.  Told them if this is on a personal level id at one point wanted a 3rd child (which i kinda chuckled and they smiled). They asked about clarification on a part of my application process where i had said YES i had committed theft.  I told them it directly tied into another question they had asked on the questionaire about have you ever committed theft amounting in less than $25.  I told them it is my personal opinion that even taking a piece of paper out the printer to do your grocery list when the sunsets thats considered theft.  Takin a pen accidentally from work but after realizin you did you didnt return it ... well... thats theft folks! So he agreed that it had made perfect sense why i had said that then and dismissed the need for elaboration.  Fast forwarding and not goin point by point they asked elaboration on what led to my termination (which has never been a secret to them i laid it all out on the table on the inital application), they asked if i'd be available for a split shift, or have i worked shift work, they asked if any situation arose at work how I handled it and what would i do differently (hate that question but i told'em of a situation when i 1st got to the corrections facility where i was beefin wit an ol' head as a rookie but instead of gettin into a war of words i advised a supervisor about it, told them not to pursue anything i wanted to find common ground wit that person, which in the end i did... cooking).  They asked for clarification on my previous jobs (such as my dealertrade driving).  They asked about my supervisor if they'd have anything to say about me.  I told'em i had worked under her for a year and that she should have nothin but good things to say about me.  That i was very nice and outgoing, always comin in with a smile, always willing to help people i worked with if they needed my help, volunteering my services, and told'em of times people needed coffee i had my own inside joke name of "Cafe Lon-ay" Coffee even though it was just normal coffee (oh they got a good laugh outta that! i laughed wit'em) I told'em of thanksgiving every year when i was off work how id drive all they way back up to the corrections center and drop off a couple home baked pies for those who had to work STRICTLY FROM THE HEART. (hopefully that scored points wit the panel).  That was pretty much it.  They asked if i had any questions, initally i said no cause i didnt want to get my hopes up on their facility, but one interviewer (the comm room supervisor) interjected and said "well you better ask now!" i was like sheesh! ok!  So i asked them the questions ive been tryin to avoid cause i didnt want my hopes gettin up about benefits (they pay 100%? of the cost for emp and dependents) then somethin bout 60 day this 90 day that, starts 1st day of new month for somethin i dunno again wasnt writin down or anything wasnt tryin to get hopes up. And the way she replied answered some of my questions about Union (they are), Holiday pay (yes), Vacation rollover (yes), Sick leave incentive (no), and i already knew about the pay.

 

Before we were done my LCD remote for my trailblazer started goin off.  I reached to silence it in my pocket and advised them it was my vehicle alarm.  They chuckled "hopefully its not gettin broke into!" ( i was parked directly in front of the bldg)  The other truthfully chimed in that it was probably the train passing by (which it was).   I thanked them for their time, shaking all their hands, and proceeded out the door feeling very good about the interview and thankful to the Lord that He brought the words to my mouth to say the right things not stumbling, yet sounding precise in the answer, and not compromising who i am to "make the sell".  Was back home in less than an hour and here now typin to ya'll!

 

Ill get to the other events of the week a lil later right now im starvin from my nerves bein a wreck! (i only ate strawberries for lunch so as not to get anything stuck in my teeth and not have my breath kickin! lol lol) Holla at cha boy and thank you so much my true friends for keepin in touch wit me and bein there for me emotionally. TTYL

(Yawn)  The days drag on... another 7 days passed, alottta thinkin and time on my hands.  Still weekly "the jury is still out" letter comes in the mail from unemployment.  Last sunday early am i picked up my homegirl and kids from the airport from their fun in the sun trip then back home to sleep and up late am and went to church which is always nice.  Wifey was sick still from the ish we passed around the house (shes all better now as the rest of us are) Me and my niece and nephew rocked out on Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii (we have 2 guitars) then watched Transformers the movie (which is always like the 1st time!).  Went on down to the 'Cane and upgraded her GPS since Garmin had a firmware upgrade.  Finished that in like 6min unplugged and homebound we went passin by the old corrections center and seein my girl Ally McBeal pullin in as i passed.

 

Most days are spent sittin riiiiight here next to the laptop or the PC doin a bunch of nothin.  Mon/Tues drop off daughter at school and pick her back up.  Watched that tv movie "A Raisin In The Sun" that was a really nice show kinda wish couldve seen the broadway play.  Weds did my volunteer work at the school store and bein a "WATCHDOG DAD".  Got ahold of wifey before leavin and went down to her job and had lunch like we do from time to time wit the kids.

 

Thursday I had volunteered to set up for the 1st annual Step Show at my church.  Turns out only 4-5 of us showed up so made the work all the more harder but we got it done though!  Took pics of the 3 organs that the church wants to sell, 1 i had been workin on for bout a month had 2 people interested last month but due to their own personal issues both deal feel apart. 

 

Friday after droppin off my daughter at school i went ahead and posted up the 3 organs on Craigslist.  Within 20-30min my blackberry was BLOWING UP! People crawlin all over this Hammond B3 organ!  Didnt even realize what I had at all i posted it for $200 but before evening i had it sold for $500!!  Told the dude i was gonna be up there for the Step Show so he could meet me there.  Sho nuff dude arrived from longview round 6:30ish and snagged her up!  Money in the bank, shawty whatcha drank? hahahaha Lil after 7 the show started and it was awesome!! it didnt fully work out like the organizer wanted to cause all but ONE step crew renigged at the last minute due to the basketball tournament.  But the filler she had in its place was by no means disappointing!  ALL my family except for my sister was there but to see my parents have such a good time dancin and laughin to one of the local rap artist tell us to basically do the rockaway and lean back was classic! even the Rev and his wife got into it (and yes i got it alllll on film!)  We left all hyped and buzzed!  Took wifey to nordstroms, winco, walmart then finally home to crash.

 

Today was Tamia's choir practice, so went up there for an hour to listen to'em.  My dad bought his tiller cause i wanted to get my garden plowed to start anew this season but i couldnt get the dang thing to crank! ugh!  out there for 30min checkin things and pullin that stupid cord and nothin.  I had put 1/3 gas in the tank and it sprank a mysterious leak out some hole above the choke!  i dunno if the carberator is clogged or what but it sucks cause i was truly motivated to get that garden plowed.  Now here i am again!  got laundry goin watchin cartoons wit the kids and deletin myspace friends.

 

Its amazing you find out peoples true nature when it comes down to the 11th hr.  been gone 1 full month now and i can count on both hands how many people actually genuinely kept in contact with me after i lost my job.  So nice to those people the 6yrs i worked there.  Makin coffee for those 1/2 dead, candy, cookin fully soul food meals for some back when i was in my cookin phase, EVERY year bakin a couple pies and drivin all the way back to the facility to drop'em off for those havin to work and when youre out on your a**, show you NO love back.  When i talked to the union lawyer on friday he told me probably best to let it go and walk away i told'em i had already done it mentally and emotionally.  People dog you out like that you really think i wanna fight to go back to that for'em to just smile in my face like they gave 2 s**ts?  Sorry but money or no money I got more love and self respect for myself than that. 

 

So some of those very same people (some had deleted me awhile back shouldve took that as a prequel of what was to come) i went through and one by one deleted. Two that bothers me the most was 2 people i was cool wit.  More of business aquaintance.  That person got sick awhile back and was on leave for awhile.  While they were gone I made it a point to keep in contact wit'em BOTH.  Emailed checkin to see how they were doin, if they needed anything, what was new wit'em, sent'em a christmas card.  They both came back to work eventually and recieved a hug from'em and chatted when i saw'em.  TO THIS DAY ive heard from neither of'em.  Rocked me to the core how messed up is that seriously.  ill just keep the less than 15 genuine people and f**k the rest and thats my word.  Gotta run, watchin one of my friends kids at 530 ill be back for week 5's chapter on the 6th when I have my final interview at one of the places i applied to.