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 |  of a tennis player, hiker, writer |
 A bird in the bath. well, just before.  On court 1. Lookin' to own.  In Jax, enjoyin' some solid juniors tennis.  I love my new phone cam.  * Clears throat * “Um, Robin here, your friendly neighborhood MC(Mistress of Ceremonies). Welcome to my blog. In it you’ll find my rants, ramblings and random updates on everything ME... …and since I’m the typo queen and master of misspelling, these will be present in most, if not all my posts.”  A few of my better entries - all quick reads: |
No longer a teenager! wait a minute...you can't be 20 cuz i'm not that old...am i?  |
| Today was strange. Dawn walks up to me and says, “Maybe you can help me out with a little problem I have.” She eyes a small girl, about the age of five, blonde hair, blue eyes, name’s Heidi. “She has bubble gum in her hair.” “Peanut butter.” I say, walking into my office. I jus happen to have some. Grabbing a spoon, the jar and some gloves, I get busy trying to take the gum out of her hair. If any of you out there ever get gum in your hair, peanut butter will get it out. But not without some work. After about twenty minutes Heidi wants to take a break. “My head hurts. And I’m tired of bending my neck.” I get her some chips while she waits. She’s part of the all day activity camp which comes through the tennis center every morning, to learn how to play the game. She is worried about missing her lunch time and her field trip. To the skating rink, I believe. The gum in her hair is not a problem for Heidi. Although, she does express concern about the peanut butter. “You are gonna wash it out? Aren’t you?” Back to work and I’m chatting with her. “How on Earth did you get gum in your hair?” “Some man.” After a few more questions, its discovered that while one of the teenage camp councilors was talking to her, his gum fell out of his mouth and into her hair. I cracked up laughing. A new one for me. “Are you kidding?” I ask between giggles. “No. He was talking and it fell out of his mouth.” She confirms. So, while I’m desperately trying not to hurt her, get the gum out quickly so she can meet up with her class, Rashod, another teenage camp councilor sticks his head in my office. “Miss Robin, you got any perfume?” “Um…perfume?” I ask, making sure my ears heard me correctly. It’s not everyday a teenage boy asks me for such a request. Somehow, and I did not ask for details, he had spilled gasoline on himself. He was hoping the perfume would over power the smell of the gasoline. Okay. Whatever. "Yeah, sure, I have some body spray." Gardenia Lilly from Bath and Body Works. Lots of people step into the office to see why Heidi is there. Bless her heart, she is embarassed and asks to shut the door. but I don't. I almost close it, but leave it open a little. Finally, I get most of the gum out. she is all too ready to leave. I knew there was a reason I brought a jar of peanut butter to work. |
| I’m in one of my ‘I suck” moods. I know you guys are soooo tired of hearing it from me. But this IS the place for me to express my feelings. I’ve been reviewing lately. Got my name on the Active Reviewers list and the Credited Authors list. Yay for me. So, in my quest, I came across this:
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| The conversation somehow drifted to ‘odd names’ parents give their children. We had been swimming around in the pool for over an hour now. Laney working on evening out her tennis tan in the four O’ clock sun. “Moon Unit.” She said, splashing water in my direction. “Very Odd Name.” I had to agree. “What was she thinking? I mean, how wasted did she have to be…to name her baby Moon?” Laney’s face twisted up in bewilderment. “No,” I said, “I want to see the list of names she turned DOWN, before she settled on Moon Unit.” Laney was laughing, “Really!” Then, we start spitting out really odd names…she says, “Hey honey, how ‘bout Rotting Dead Corpse?” Nothing like easing into the grossness. We are both laughing, It’s my turn to contribute; “um, Dog’s Breath?” I say Laney likes my suggestion and says, “Kitten Litter.” “Eww gross.” We are both shouting names at the same time; “Cold sore.” “Colinoscopy.” (sp?) “Pink Eye!” I raise my hand up. “Okay Okay Frank, Moon Unit it is! Just shut up already! In reality, I think parents can name their kids whatever they want. I went through way too much grief when I chose Autumn Elizabeth its not even funny. And, I get the Moon part, it’s the Unit part giving me trouble. But, oh well. |
| I started this entry in Word yesterday and never got around to posting. Yesterday’s part is in blue. So during my second day of painting w/ Steve, he told me he wanted to do a video journal – as opposed to a written one. I can so totally see him getting into this. He’s very funny and I’m sure it would be a comedy to watch. Darrell sent Avinash over to help w/ the painting since my arms were angry with me for even trying. I introduce the two of them. “Avi,” We call him Avi for short. “This is Stephen. I call him Steve behind his back.” I say. This is true. I do call him Steve when he’s not around, but I call him Stephen to his face cuz that’s what he calls himself. Somebody introduced him to me as Steve. Steve is stuck in my head. Not Stephen. It could be worse; I could call him Stevie. Avi is here finishing up the last of the trim. I’m gonna get him to blow the courts off while he’s here. Down by the wall is a complete mess. I’ve got to be here at 7AM in the morning. That is way to early for me. It’s eight AM now and I’ve already had a near heart attack. One of the umpires comes up to me as asks, “Where are the single sticks?” “What do you mean? Where’s the single sticks?” Granted, its just five words I am hearing, but the effect on my anxiety level increases immediately. Where are the single sticks? And more importantly, WTF moved them? “Should we call JDS and ask?” “NO. Wait!” I say, my heart beating faster than it should at 7:15 in the morning. “Let me have a look around.” Then, I add, “I’m gonna be in huge trouble for this.” While I’m tearing the place apart in the usually single stick places, I’m thinking, WTF didn’t someone come out here yesterday and check on all this stuff so I could have time to prepare and not wait till forty-five minutes before match time during a significant tournament as this one is. But, I kept my thoughts to myself. After checking around twice, I relent, “Go ahead and call, maybe someone took them from here when the last tournament was over.” Again I add the part about me being in trouble if they aren’t located. Then, I see Ann. “We have a real problem about the single sticks.” I tell her. No sense in beating around the bush. “Why? I just brought them.” She says, all smiles. “Thank goodness.” And my arms are hugging her neck. I’m way to relieved After not getting any sleep last night, and this morning’s anxiety attack, I don’t know how long it will take my SFA to recover. . |
| The Power Ade machine is on the fritz. It’s not accepting dollar bills. It wants change; quarters, dimes, nickels its not picky about this part. The aversion to the bill developed during the Georgia Qualifying tournament and has gotten continual worse. Now, I just keep a box of change handy; trade out w/ bills when customers want to buy Artic Shatter. Oh. Excuse me. Sorry. Coco Cola has just discontinued making Artic Shatter. (which is the fav around my tennis center.) oh well. So, finally, I get around to calling the service department to put in a work request. I’m tired of swapping out change. Eventually a real person answered the phone. She was less than personable but not quite rude. Unpleasant. Even though she apologiezed for my machine being out of order – which was not her fault. Just her tone ya know…said it all. I don’t want to be here. I am tired. I don’t want any bullshit from you! |
| My office is a total wreck. I’ve been painting all day long. Oh, wait. STEVE and I have been painting all day long. I’m not much into painting and Steve loves to gloat his knowledge about proper painting procedure to me. So, when we have brushes – or rollers in our hands, he is acting supervisor. The good thing about relinquishing my supervisory card is that I get to hold the Whine Card! Being a whiner, I’m elated at the opportunity. Plus, it does feel good every now and then to let someone else have control. Today was my second painting day with Steve; we painted my office sometime back in March. I had forgotten all about the ‘card’ thing. We were a bit slower starting than I had hoped, but by the end of the day, I was soooo ready to quit. Tomorrow’s go time will be pushed forward in honor of today’s realization that Robin can’t handle a full eight hours of painting. (She is too old.) Steve says this is an excurse and today’s activities do not warrant the Old Card. Yeah. Right. Whatever. Besides being physically pushed to the limit. Remember, Robin does have T.O.S, Steve’s a funny guy so I enjoyed joking with him. Steve is an artist and had originally wanted to go to some college in Savannah. However, somehow and I’m unclear as to how, he ended up doing premed at Mercer, with a minor in art. I’d sleep better at night – knowing my physician could design and paint the company logo onto his office building. He also is a runner. He competes for his school. Track meets. He has referred to tennis tournaments as such – meets – I mean. This always makes me laugh. But not out loud. I have corrected him, but not every time. Today I learned that Steve isn’t really a reader. Since I’m a writer, I can’t image life without books to read. He says he’s gotten more into it lately, but never really liked reading in school and furthermore, his dislike motivated him to b/s his way through lit class. And while he didn’t plagiarize, he was very good at summarizing, and finding a different way to say what had already been said. I said, “You’d make a good writer than.” He shot me a confused look, pale yellow paint on his chin, “Huh?” he failed to see my point. “Cuz.” I said, as I dipped my paintbrush into a can of not my favorite green color paint. “Everything that’s written has already been said before. In some form or fashion. You could take an existing story and change the names, characters, and setting to make it your own.” “aaaahhh.” He said, in a tone I’ve only heard Steve do. “I get it. Like I could take Oedipus and change it around.” “Yeah, instead of the mother, it could be the—“ “Sister!” He jumps in. Then we started chatting about how we’d change the story. Maybe not the sister, but the grandmother! Omg! Reminds me of a Jonathon Irving book. Anyway, I’m glad I’m finished painting for today. I have about two days of it left. Maybe I’ll be an expert by then. Painting and Plot Re-arranging. |
| i hate being so busy i don't have time or motivation to write. i'm helping Ramsey w/ his tournament and I'm hoping to score some visitor passes for tennis and golf! |
| My right arm is hurting. For no apparent reason either. I’ve got cardio with Jenn this evening and I’m going no matter what. If I’m gonna be in pain, might as well have fun while I’m suffering right? Laney threw her tennis bag in the back of the Avalanche and it rained last night. All three of her racquets spent the night inside her sopping wet tennis bag which laid in the back of the truck soaking up all that water. We didn’t discover it until this morning. And I just had her back up re-strung too. Ramsey’s been getting me to help him with his satellite tournament. Its his first. On clay. I think its good to have a novice tournament on clay, get kids used to it. Laney will do Jaime’s on clay at the end of this month at the other private club |
| Oh yeah, its Monday. Par for the course, scattering to tranquilize obstacles, which had erupted over the weekend during my absence. It’s just now a few minutes after nine in the morning and I’m just now settling in. I’ve been here since 7:30 and nothing is like it I thought it would be. I’ve ironed out wrinkles with ease, but it a bit difficult to maintain a diplomatic attitude at such an early hour. I’ve done okay though. No major outburst – on my part of others. And at least no one is in my face. I was very happy the P&R travel program when off without a hitch. Especially since I had heard late last night it may be cancelled. The high schoolers were on time and eager to work. If I’m lucky, it will stay that way. Tomorrow, the CIS Summer program begins at 1:30. Saying a prayer this goes off well too. I got some new green tea. Honey lemon ginseng flavored. It is fab. And yes, I know I’m rambling. Motivated to keep it going, gotta do it while the urge is on. Should I be so bold and post my June writing goals in this public blog? |
| Laney plays doubles tomorrow evening. She is out of the singles draw but played sooo well during her first match. (her serve needs major work and lets her down) but she had the best match of her life yesterday afternoon. She lost the first set 1 – 6, won the second 6 – 4 and in the third, she forced a set tiebreak at 6 all. During which, she was ahead, I think 5 – 3 but lost 5 – 7. What a tremendous performance for her. Plus, I was proud of her when she got off the court. She fought off tears – its tough to lose after putting everything into it for almost three hours. But those who knew here were right there for her. And after about 15 minutes, she was over it. Talking to her friends. I am sooo proud of her. |
| I miss you Autunm! I hate your summer job and your new busy schedule and I really hate One Tree Hill had its season finale and you skipped cable last Tuesday. Am I supposed to wait until the season premiere??? Hey, if you want, I’ll buy the entire Friends series on DVD and, I’ll even watch it with you… |
| Okay that does it. Laney is banned from touching the computer for LIFE! Yep. You heard me. life. I swear its about to crash. Its been draggin its ass for two weeks now, getting slower and slower. I’ve tried to system restore – unsuccessfully each time. I’ve compressed and defragged. Nothing seems to help. Grrrrrr. I took today off. Steve covered for me and I barely got anything done. Well, okay, so I did several loads of laundry and cleaned out all the birdcages, but I didn’t’ do much more than that. Oh yeah, I did go jogging. It was wonderful. Not working, goofing off. I kept the tv on the music choice adult alternative channel all day long on both tv’s . Robin feels better. Working so much has really drained my creativity. I hope tomorrow is better in that department. And other departments too. no, if i could just get this compie running up to speed - highspeed that is. |
| Everyone says you need an outline. A loose string of parameters mapping out a route, with a destination in mind. An idea. An inkling. But every time I jot down my premise, decide on a direction – east or west, choose a vehicle; a bens, Nissan, Taurus or SUV or maybe even a private Lear jet or Amtrak or greyhound.. I choose my companions, I start to trip. Over all those destructive thoughts I can’t seem to completely toss out of my head. Does everyone struggle to a debilitating length? Or, is it just a few unlucky souls who know what they want, but just can’t shatter the glass to get it. |
| okay so don't tell give me your email, tell me that's the way I'm supposed to keep you in the loop, and then yell at me cuz you have no clue what's going on!!! so, i'm still w/out Dave! going through withdrawal symptons here. I'm listening to Pearl Jam. Eddie isn't quite dave. (I love Eddie though) so no hate email okay? But what's up w/ Eddie anyway? |
| I saw my muse last night. Granted, it was in the middle of a dream. A day dream at that, not even a sleep dream. But I saw her… I was lying across the bed long ways. Drifting in and out of my thoughts was a couple of comments a friend of mine had made to me about my writing. Initially, I was insulted, even though I knew he meant no harm. Why am I so sensitive? Also woven in there were the usually flashes of destructive self-doubt lines. Why does it always come back to this? Can’t I ever move on? So, in between all this silent emotional drama, I saw her. A glint of an image. My thoughts ran after her. Into the bar, I went, shoving some young couple standing in the doorway. ‘What was she doing in here?’ I asked myself as I entered, seeing her leaning over a pool table. Was that a cigarette hanging between her lips? “Robin!” I yelled. She’s my muse and yes we share the same name. “What the fuck?” She never took her eyes off the cue. I stopped short, the nicotine invading my nostrils. It finally hit me; “Okay, so now I get it.” I said out loud. My head returning to reality. What he meant, about my writing, my muse, and where I could go. This isn’t the first time I am thanking him for insight and inspiration. |
| My Dave Matthews CD is missing. It’s at JDS. Laney borrowed my portable and left Dave just sitting there – at the tournament desk. I moved him into the conference room, where I knew I’d forget it. And sure enough, I did. The unpleasant discovery was made at 7:13. Thirteen minutes after JDS closes. I called, in hopes that Avi may still be there, hanging out after he is off the clock. Nope. No answer. So here I sit, no Dave, no DreamGirl, no American Baby, no Stand UP. What am I gonna do??? |
| I really need to clean my port. It's messy and unorganized. Now is the perfect time, with no SFA, patience and now my muse has gone missing. Okay, so she's been missing. Yes, I’ve documented this. But the severity of it - I kina ignored it. Plus, it's not that she's lost, she's just scattered. Cleaning up my port might inspire the dispersed pieces to congregate long enough to fertilize, produce and harvest a story. Hell, I’ll take a poem. Something, anything. |
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