Deborah Woehr

Several weeks ago, I posted an email that I received from a friend, which spoke volumes about dealing with nasty people. It was called The Law of the Garbage Truck. I should have printed it out and stapled it to my forehead because once I posted the message, I went about my way and forgot about it.

These past few weeks have seen more stress and anxiety than I’ve experienced in a long time. I’ve been juggling two full-time jobs since I got hired for the company I’m now working for, although that’s about to change very soon. My new job is a lot more challenging than I had anticipated, which has me very frustrated right now. On top of that, a coworker I thought was a friend turned vicious on me the moment I sat down at my new desk.

That stung quite a bit. But this is what she does to people in order to boost her poor self-esteem, I’ve been told. So, now I’m faced with dual challenges: mastering my new job and deflecting her barbs. I plan on fleshing her personality out on a piece of paper for a future character.

I’m reminded of the speech that Ray Bradbury gave at the 1999 Writer’s Conference in Palm Springs. He said that he would write a lot when people disappointed him. I’ve been doing a lot of writing lately––seven chapters in the space of a month. Outside of the NaNoWriMo competitions, I’ve never achieved that volume. Whether or not it’s any good, I’ll know when I go over the draft. In the meantime, I worked out a storyline for my latest paranormal novel. Last weekend, I came up with a title.

Other than calling my mother and grandmother, I don’t plan on doing much else for Mother’s Day, except to enjoy the peace.

We live on the edge of town, which means that we see all kinds of wildlife. One morning, shortly after we moved into our house, my youngest son found a drowned baby rat floating in the shallow end. Recently, I happened to get up late one night to find a huge raccoon taking a drink at the shallow end. This morning, my husband found two ducks swimming in the deep end, happy as can be. So, he took this picture. Click on the image for a clearer shot.

I asked both of my sons this question last month, particularly my oldest. He’s a freshman in high school and has a strong interest in becoming an architect. Back in October, I posted a picture of the replica he made of our house. For Christmas, my husband got him some home designing software. He signed up for sculpture and multimedia for next year. I was hoping that the Beginning Drawing class would be available to him, but I guess it wasn’t. So, I’ll have to sit him down and teach him myself, which is not a big deal because I need to brush up on my drawing skills anyway.

We’ve talked about college, although both my husband and I have serious doubts that he’ll go to college. Ron is his father’s son. He’s a very hands-on, visual learner. I’m still encouraging him go, despite our family history. My late brother was the only man in our immediate families that attended college. But in the event that he doesn’t, I talked to him about a back-up plan. If he isn’t able to realize his dream of becoming an architect, he would like to be a contractor.

I can definitely see him doing that. After watching him plan and execute the building of that replica, I think he would be very successful in this field.

When I logged on to my email yesterday morning, I wasn’t prepared for the nasty surprises that waited for me. Someone from Indonesia had managed to get my PayPal password so they could buy a couple of cell phones on Ebay. They committed this crime a mere fifteen minutes before I woke up, robbing me of $357. So far, thanks to PayPal, I was able to get a refund on one of these illegal purchases. I’m still waiting for the resolution of the other.

While this is very upsetting, I consider myself lucky (although I’m still very nervous). To give you a little more of my background, I used to work in the records department of my local police department. Part of my job was to enter in the police reports as they came in. This one poor guy was dealing with an identity thief, who racked up close to $1M in credit card debt, buying all kinds of electronic equipment. I don’t know if this case was ever resolved, but it shocked me enough to where I’ll always remember it.

Technology has made it extremely easy for criminals to rob people blind and get away with it. I’m not just talking about the Internet either. I recently read a news article about how employees of grocery stores rig the ATM machines so they can lift the PIN number of your card as you pay for your groceries. There have been stories where someone breaks into a doctor’s office to steal the computers, specifically to get the social security numbers of the doctor’s patients.

I was thinking about all of these stories yesterday while I was at work, as well as the part in Revelations where it is predicted that people will be forced to have a microchip implanted in them that holds all of their financial and medical information. Twelve years ago, I sloughed this prediction off as paranoia. Today, I think this prediction has an excellent chance of becoming a reality.

Be careful.

My husband and I were discussing what kind of year 2007 was. His attitude was that it sucked. We’ve had some issues spring up with the family business as well as a certain member of his family. Despite that, I can’t say that this year sucked. For me, it was a mixed bag. I’ll focus on the good things.

1. Published Prosperity: That was a goal that I had set for myself at the beginning of this year.
2. Landed two job assignments that had a great crew of people. If you’ve been in the workforce (and in an office environment) as long as I have, you’ll know that this is a rarity. I’m still working as a temp for that worker’s comp company. They’re still talking about hiring me on. Either way is fine with me, as long as I have a steady income.
3. Watching my sons adjust to their new schools. It still amazes me how different my boys are. The youngest is very scholastic and competitive, while the oldest is more easy going and social.
4. Our Washington D.C. trip: Actually, we went to several places. But going to Washington D.C. will be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. The only thing I regretted was not being able to take the boys on a tour through the White House due to the 4th of July holiday and the terrorist alert that was going on at the time.

That’s it for 2007. It went by way too quickly. I imagine this next year will go even faster.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

I’ve lived in the Bay Area for the majority of my life and have become used to the occasional mild temblor. About fifteen minutes ago, I was sitting at my desk when everything began to rumble and shake. My first thought was to ride this out. But then the shaking began to intensify, and I became aware of my floor-to-ceiling bookshelf.

I left the office as my youngest son rushed into the alcove that separates the hallway from the breakfast nook. By then, the shaking had stopped. My husband looked out the back door and saw the water rippling in our pool. We were thinking this was a 4.5. I was surprised to learn that it was a 5.6. That’s a pretty good temblor. I’m glad I changed my mind about stepping into the shower shortly before this hit.

My oldest son has been teaching himself how to build a replica of our house out of balsa wood for the past year. He wasn’t happy with the result, so he decided to rebuild it from scratch. This time, he added stucco to the walls, rigged a mechanical automatic garage door, landscaped the yard almost exactly as it is in real life, etc. He’s put so much time and effort into this project and it shows. I look forward to posting another picture when he finishes.

I refuse to buy cell phones for my boys. They don’t like them, anyway. My oldest son discovered text messaging on the computer some time in the last year. He uses it to his full advantage, which I don’t mind because it’s free. He’s going to be another year older next week, and we’re already discussing driving. I can already feel the white hairs taking root in my scalp.

Son: im bored
me: I’m mom.
Son: o
me: What do you want to do for your birthday?
6:23 PM Son: my real 1?
me: Yes, your real 1
Son: pizza i guess
6:24 PM me: You want to go out for pizza? Or, would you just rather eat it at home.
Son: um
idk
me: What’s idk
Son: i dont know
me: Nevermind. I figured it out.
Son: o
6:25 PM me: Well, you’re a lot of help.
Son: i wanted to have those baja chipotle fajtas but dad said to just order a “darn” pizza
6:26 PM me: We’ll get you the fajitas, if you want. Do you want to go out to eat?
6:27 PM Son: yeah i guess i dont think it will be crowded anywhere on a thursday night
me: It shouldn’t be. Okay, we’ll plan on going to Baja then.
Son: ok
6:28 PM i meant the ones me make with the sauce but that works too
me: The ones we make with the sauce. Excuse me, I’m having a senior moment. Can you refresh my memory? Just curious.
6:29 PM Son: um
idk its in the pantry
but that probably doesnt help because theres alot of stuff in there
me: Yup.

Just popping in to say hello and let you know that I’m still here. I’ve been rather busy with the job search. Filling out applications and tailoring cover letters to fit specific jobs is a life-sucking experience that I hope I won’t have to do for a while. I managed to land a temp to perm assignment, which I start tomorrow.

Thursday, I was in such a state that I went out and bought myself a pack of cigarettes . . . and paid dearly for it on Friday with a nasty headache. I’m still trying to recover from that. I’ve come to realize that I feel much better when I don’t smoke. I’m able to focus better because I’m not so amped. That’s why I haven’t run out to buy a pack or a carton. I’ve just been smoking my husband’s.

I do fine when I’m not around him because I know that there are no cigarettes lying around. It’s my fault, not his.

Today is the first day of school for my boys. My husband called me an hour ago to tell me that he felt like an old man when he saw kids driving themselves to school. Yep. I felt that way two summers ago when I met cousins that I had never seen and who are now 20-something. After working with 20-somethings, I’ve come to accept and appreciate my age. Age and experience has its perks, too.

Anyway, my oldest is sitting in class right now while my youngest is still getting ready for his first day of junior high. Soon it will be very quiet in this house. My plans are to:

1. Go to the store
2. Get a newspaper (still job hunting)
3. Finish a scene I had started to rework yesterday for God’s Last Twilight.
4. Have what I want for lunch
6. Finish editing GLT so I can start designing the book tomorrow.
7. Finish the rewrite of another chapter in Prosperity.

Update: I finished the scene in GLT. The job prospects in the Bay Area are very low right now, which had me researching for writing-related careers. There are so many avenues for the writer today that it’s hard to figure out what I want to do. I’d like to do a little bit of everything. Perhaps I’ll get there eventually. Right now, I think it’s best to start off doing what I know how. With that, I’m going to work on my home page this week.

Both boys enjoyed their first day of school, although the youngest was upset over having homework on his first day.