a peek inside the fishbowl

Why why why haven’t I made these before??

Thanks for all of your pro-introvert comments yesterday. Phew. I’m normal! Bwa ha ha!

And I didn’t actually read your questions until after the interview was over. It went well.  It helps that I really like the writer fellow. We talked about a lot of different things, and the interview itself wasn’t nearly as intense as the first one.

Part of my concern is that I want to be portrayed Like The Type of Person I Really Am. And how can I possibly convey all of ME in two measly interviews, each about 90 minutes long?

I had the same issue when our living room was being redone a couple years ago. I remember taking the design team on a tour of my house, anxiously pointing out my stuff and explaining it all, hoping they wouldn’t misinterpret anything they saw. For example I didn’t want them to look at my horrible dining room chandelier and think that I actually LIKE IT and that it’s my style. (We just haven’t found a good replacement, really!)

When it comes down to it, we are all very much reflected in the things we choose to have around us. That’s why photos of inspiration boards, the insides of our purses and even peeks at craft rooms can be so interesting… they are very revealing, aren’t they?

So now I have to supply the writer with a photo of myself. *sigh* Have I mentioned I hate having my picture taken?

A couple of you posted questions, but I didn’t have a chance to read them and think about it before the interview. I wasn’t really going to answer them, but why the heck not?

Lex had a good one (drawn for a recent experience!):

You are sitting at a cafe. You chat briefly with a woman at a nearby table who’s there with her 2 kids. How do you handle realizing you referred to her child as “your daughter” when you realized the kid dressed in the pink tutu and carrying a gold clutch purse is a little boy? The child heard you. What do you do? Apologize? Let it slide?

Ha ha. If I knew the boy heard me I would turn to him and ask him his name (to make sure he was a boy, you know) and then I would say something like “I love your tutu, it’s great, but you know what, I didn’t take a close look at you and didn’t realize you were a little boy. Do you have matching ballet slippers as well?”

Dani asked:

If I were interviewing you, I’d want to know if you ever regretted anything that you said on your blog, or if upon reflection there is something you would have done or said differently.

A timely question. I have been thinking about this very thing. First, a bit of backstory. Last week I had an interview for a potential writing gig. I can’t reveal the who/what/where, but I will say that I was really excited going into it BUT didn’t end up taking the job.

At one point during the interview the topic of my blog came up. I wasn’t going to mention it, but it came up. Interviewer Guy/Big Boss looked down at my resume, to see if I had mentioned it.

“You didn’t, list it here,” he said.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s not relevant to this job.”
“Of course it is, it’s your writing.”
“Yeeeah, but the kind of writing I’m doing on my blog consists of unedited posts and photography that are personal in nature.”
“Ok. So what do you write about? Do you write on a theme?”

That that’s where I drew a blank. I stammered something about my projects and my kids and my photos. I really need a clever 30-second descriptor. (Care to help me craft one?) I spoke to Mark about it later. He said that I should have told him it was about “the minutia of my life,” but I have to say, the word minutia sounds like I’m writing about what kind of toilet bowl cleaner I use and what I had for breakfast (HEY!).

ANYWAY, it got me thinking whether or not I should be putting more effort into crafting more posts and ramping up the intelligence quotient around here. After all, it could be read by potential clients and employers, right? But it would mean less posting, because each post would require more thinking/writing time. Gah.

The stuff that you read here is skimmed right off the top of my brain. But I do err on the side of caution when it comes to the topics I write about, or the people I write about. I don’t think there has been anything I regretted writing about. My internal “right v. wrong” gauge is pretty good. Too good, sometimes. My blogging policy is to only write about the kinds of things I’d be able to say to someone in person. And thankfully (knock on wood) I don’t get very many nasty comments or anything like that.

I feel very fortunate that all of you folks (*insert sweeping arm motion*) are so cool. I see this blogging thing like a giant water cooler, where we gather and chat, and I get to share my thoughts and projects with an audience … an audience that keeps growing. (I had 500+ unique visitors yesterday!)

I like you. And I like that you come back time and time again, AND I like your comments too. I’m not a comment snob. I’ve read about some bloggers who don’t like readers who post two word comments like “great post!” Frankly, I am pretty thrilled when someone takes the time to put two words together. As parent I know how difficult that can be sometimes!

The interactivity is probably the best part of blogging, don’t you think?

Okay, back to work.

Thank you all for your kind comments about the redesign. I still have some tweaking to do, but think I’m going to keep it for awhile. :)

So. Remember when I said that I was going to bike for groceries every day in June? Well, that was before my bike went into the shop. Since then, I’ve done groceries a couple times on foot, but mostly it’s been Mark, picking things up on the way home from work.

I got my bike back yesterday and I’m rarin’ to go, or at least I would be, if it just wasn’t so freakin’ hot outside.

But I have to go. I do. We need milk. And tea. And chickpeas. And a lot of other things that won’t fit into my newly installed saddlebag. I need to figure out how I’m going to do this. Perhaps a saddlebag and a backpack? 

Yesterday I bought salmon and veggies on the bike. Miraculously, the boston lettuce (from Quebec!) made it home without wilting or getting totally crushed. It was hotter than Hades yesterday, but it felt really good to travel on my own steam. But if I’m going to go today, I will have to go later.

Today I have my second-of-two interviews with a feller who’s writing an article about me. Me!

When I sat down with him last week the first thing I told him was how boring I was. ;)

We talked a lot about the Trust Experiment. And swap boxes. And randomness. And concrete.

I won’t reveal any more about it right now (HELLO, what if the article makes me seem like a total doorknob?) except to say that being on the receiving end of the interviewing process is quite challenging. Imagine being asked big questions like “what made you the way you are” and “why do you do the things you do” etc. etc. for 90 minutes.

Uhh, I dunno! 

It’s a strange feeling, talking about yourself for such a long stretch of time. Generally, socially, talking about yourself like this is frowned upon. If you talked about yourself for hours at a time you’d have no friends left. But there I was! Going on like never before – blah blah blah blah. But it wasn’t exactly easy. Although I’ve spent quite enough time in my own head (and keep a blog – ha), it’s not like I spend days superanalysing my own life. I just live it.

While I was talking to him I was thinking about how I was being picked apart for publication, and how this person was interpreting the trivialities that escaped my lips.  Once it’s out there it’s hard to erase, you know what I mean? There is one thing I mentioned that he’s likely going to use. I told him I’m an introvert. I’m still debating whether or not I should have admitted that. I wonder if this information could cause me some professional damage. It’s not like a have a phobia or anything, but I am not terribly outgoing. I wish I could change this about myself, but I’m not sure I can.

Or perhaps I should just stop putting so much pressure on myself. ?

Gah!

Help me prep would ya? Give me some tough questions to think about while I’m vacuuming!