August 2012 Expats Party!

Expats Aug 2012 Party! Woo-hoo!

Oh, it's so freakin' ON...

I hope you have a lot of faith...

Humpy Hap Day! Remember to keep smiling, even if it's a sardonic smile. (ESPECIALLY if it's a sardonic smile!)

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A quick Monday wrap-up...

I went on a home repair call with my buddy Bret, a good Christian brother and crazy Cajun from my church. I learned a lot from paying attention to the interplay between the subcontractor (Bret & me) and the contractor (another dude from the church). First thing I learned: Bring a hat. Holy cow, the sun is bright and blazing. Second thing: Inspect the job before you accept the bid. Some drunk flunky looked at the job and measured the house all wrong, and we got there and there was a lot more work than originally projected. We had to renegotiate the price of the job.  Third thing: get plenty of sleep. I thought I was gonna fall off the scaffold. Yikes.
Trying to decide if I'm going back to the walk-around-Home-Depot job. A new job opened up, still walking around Home Depot, but less stressful, and more of a helpful position, not a pestering the customer gig. (I really need to finish the screenplays and escape this realm, anyway.)
Until next time, keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the whee-ull...

Monday greeting, August 27, 2012

Happy Monday, everybody! Have a great week, and remember to bring home the bacon. Unless you're a vegetarian. Then just send the bacon to me.

I was worthless today...

OK, you know when you reach that point where you've said "screw it", and lost all initiative? I think I reached it today. Much like Peter in Office Space (and no hypnosis necessary!), I came to the realization that I just don't care. I did a perfunctory attempt at the job, so it can be said that I actually did try to try, but the "screw it" motif permeated the atmosphere like a low-hanging fog bank. I'm not sure if all the refusals I received were a result, or if the people were planning to shoot me down anyway, but it was a fruitless effort today. Tomorrow, I travel to Dripping Springs, to ply my trade there. It's about an hour away. Let's see how that turns out. Sometimes when I say "screw it", doors open and magical success occurs. Other times, I say "screw it", and it gets screwed. I do place it in the hands of The Almighty and let the chips fall where they may.
I do hate to let apathy be a driving force in my life, and I question the notion that apathy is a driving force at all. Who's ever driven by apathy? Perhaps it's more of a "cruise control", but even on cruise control, the driver still has to steer, and avoid other drivers and sundry road hazards. But, note that I'm not apathetic about my life and my goals; merely apathetic about this particular job. I think I'll look for something else; as I stated before, I might have to carry plates. As I absolutely loathe waiting tables, I have to pick the least sucky (in my mind) option. I rule out Denny's and IHOP. I also don't think I can handle the "awesomely excellent" chain tavern genre, like Chili's and Applebee's. Someplace I can wear my own clothes and not feel like a total dweeb. There should be a few of these kinda "hipster-type" places; this being Austin, after all.  This chapter of The Shoehead Chronicles sure is fraught with uncertainty. Meanwhile, I'm practicing saying "More iced tea, sir?" without having a complete meltdown...

A sense of normality has returned...

My Friday greeting...

Happy Friday everyone, and remember--Go crazy, or go home! OR, go home THEN go crazy. Either way...

Thirsty Thursday...

I'm still thirsty, in fact, because I didn't drink tonight.  I know what you're saying--"Shooey, no Bud Light Cheladas tonight?" To which I will respond, "Why, no, good friend. I had none of that delicious elixir of beer, tomato, and clam on this fine evening. But I most certainly will tomorrow!"  Today was a decent day. I'm staying on track with my previously-stated goals. I went to my weekly sales meeting today, and it reinforced that I really do suck at that walk-around-Home-Depot job. It's not so much the walking-around-Home-Depot part that I suck at; I'm actually quite good at walking around Home Depot. It's the getting-people-to-sign-up-for-shit-they-don't-really-want part that I really suck at. I'm sure that I'm not nearly aggressive enough, but I don't like to be bothered by sales pitches at Home Depot (or anywhere, really) and I'm quite certain that neither do most people. It's like, I'm live spam.  *sigh* I guess I'll have to just ratchet up my obnoxiousness, and just throw myself at everyone I see. Ugh.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ But in a related Shoehead story--hanging around Home Depot so much has been giving me great ideas for Camp Shoehead 2.0. I'm really stoked to do this, It feels good. I know my dogs will love it! I'm planning the layout of the bathroom, kitchen, all the good stuff! It's gonna ROCK!!! I'm leaning toward New Mexico, an hour's radius from Las Cruces. The mountains near Ruidoso would be pretty sweet. Or maybe the desert between Deming and Silver City. I would set up a wind turbine and solar panels and never pay a power bill again!
So, as a Thursday wrap-up, I'm taking the advice of the Most Interesting Man in the World, and I'm staying thirsty, my friends. Tomorrow, I'll have two BL Cheladas for Fubar Friday!

Here's the situation. (No, not that momo from "Jersey Shore")

After a very inspiring an motivating conference call from my Herbalife leaders, I'm very determined and focused. I also got involved with a new opportunity to market Solavei--an unlimited 4G text/talk/data for $49, and I've had a modicum of success with that, too. I'm trying to winnow out the negative people in my life. Not abandon them, because I don't do that to people, but lessen their influence on my life, my moods, my attitude, and my endeavors. So, with all the aforementioned factors, I've reached the conclusion that I need to proceed at all costs, and do whatever I need to do do make my goals happen. I'm about to go back to being "5-Job Jimmy" until I reach the next level. This 'just-getting-by' crap is... well, crap. As much as I hate waiting tables, I think I'm gonna suck it up and carry plates for 3-6 months. I'll treat it like a sentence. I've been to jail--waiting tables is better (slightly.) I'll sock away every penny until I'm able to climb out of the morass my life has become. In the meantime, I'll work on all my other endeavors with a new sense of purpose. Here are my goals, by category:

Herbalife: I'll become a supervisor in 30-60 days, and have my own nutrition club in 6 months.
Solavei: They make it relatively easy an attainable to hit $1000/month, so I'm shooting for that by the end of the year.
Screenwriting/Producing: I will put the rap script into pre-production, and the vampire script second draft completed in 30 days.
Acting: Get my SAG membership back on track, and secure an agent. Get back into the auditioning circuit in 3-4 months.

"Whatever it takes" is my new mantra from now until these goals are completed. The next phase will be to begin implementing Camp Shoehead 2.0, beginning in the Spring of 2013! So, that's the Situation, and not the Snooki...

And, I'll finish it out with something kinda funny:

I love when he does this!

I already have the rocking chair!

I'm gettin' QUENCHED!!!

This was on my apartment bulletin board

This is a silly vehicle! Just silly...

Hope floats...

I'm not even sure why I posted that title, but let's see if I can work in. My blogging has been sucking of late, and I apologize. I feel like anyone who takes the time to read my blog, I owe them something; and something not-too-short of brilliance. Luckily, brilliance is subjective, and if I declare a piece brilliant, then by golly, brilliant it is! Unless it really sucks. But, no matter. Hope floats. So, as you see how I brilliantly carve a blog out of nothing--this week, I am filled with hope. That's right, the floating kind. Last week, I was really in a foul demeanor. Like, almost a Sylvia Plath-level funk. All hope seemed to be gone, and your ol' pal Shooey's usually optimistic manner was as scarce as a telephone booth. Luckily, I got a really good message from The Almighty this past Sunday, and when I taught the Sunday school kids, the lesson was so applicable to my life.  It lifted my head out of Sylvia Plath's oven and back to the optimistic world of floating hope.  I picked up a little freelance work, I'm making headway on my screenplays and writing projects, and I'm fully committed to my "Little Cabin in the Woods" plan. (Either referred to as 'Camp Shoehead 2.0', or 'Uncle Shooey's Cabin'. Not sure which I like better. Maybe both.)  My job is crazy. Prowling the aisles of Home Depot trying to get people to have a salesman--I mean, water technician to come to their house.  Luckily, this is a stop-gap job. Not at all a career move. I do like the company I work for, and the people are very nice.  So, it could be better, but it could be a lot worse. And just for laughs, if you see me lurking the Home Depot aisles looking for prey, chances are I'll look something like this:

Have a great week, my good and faithful readers! Be well, and don't eat the brown acid!

I'll definitely miss that laugh...

#RIP Phyllis Diller... A funny lady :'(

My happy tune!

Steely Dan"s "Bad Sneakers" on the sound system. Now I'm in a good mood. :)