Simply Right INC - Best Practices on Communication

Best Practices on Communication Face to face meetings are the most preferred way to interact with a client or colleague. In the  theme of communication, here are some tactics that will  improve your ability to understand and resolve workplace situations.             For each method there is a note added in brackets that helps you understand what method works in that situation. Sometimes they work in all interactions other times they can be used for face to face interactions (F2F), or a phone call (P). Part 1: Communicating Effectively with a Client: 1. Understand the client’s needs (All Interactions) 2. Be a good listener (All Interactions)   Don’t interrupt your client Maintain eye contact and take short notes where possible Nod your head gently and/or smile (if appropriate) Try to rephrase what your client says to ask follow-up questions. 3. Provide clarity for your client (All Interactions)   Use language that the client will understand. Be clear on what you are doing at any given step, the results you expect, and why you are doing it. Explain if work is being delegated to subordinate or colleague 4. Document every interaction with the client (All Interactions)   Any interaction you have with a client should be documented: face-to-face, phone calls, voicemails, text messages and emails Send confirming note/email about your understanding of the agreement(s) reached during the interaction Part 2: Interacting with Clients: 1. Remain professional at all times (All Interactions)   Don’t be overly casual Always double-check your grammar and spelling Ask about your client’s personal life if they reveal any details, but don’t pry or get too overly familiar with the client. Say polite and appropriate comments Avoid polarizing or inappropriate topics 2. Be Proactive: (F2F)   Don’t wait for your client to call you with news that affects them, break that news to the client, and your client will recognize your value. 3. Respect your client’s time: (All Interactions)   Don’t call your clients for idle chit-chat (P) Don’t overload client with emails or voicemails. Allow them time to respond. (All Interactions) 4. Ask your client for their thoughts and opinions (All Interactions)   Acknowledge and respect the client’s opinion. Avoid telling a client he/she is wrong as it will make them defensive. Instead, ask questions like “Have you considered…? Or “What if …. Happens?” Ask a client if they understand the actions being taken and whether or not they agree with the tactic being used.   5. Pay attention to body language (F2F)   Take note of both your client’s body language and your own. Leaning back can be seen as arrogant, while leaning forward is seen as aggressive. Crossed arms across the chest can indicate feeling defensive or resistant. Fidgeting is a sign of nervousness or irritation. 6. Be aware of your tone and demeanor (F2F)   Make sure your tone matches your facial expression Check that your tone also matches the words that you’re saying. Be sure to smile when you talk, especially over the phone. (P)   (Notes taken from: www.wikihow.com/Talk-to-a-Client, by Michael R. Lewis Published May 13, 2019)             When conversations need to be conducted face to face but you’re unable to meet or address a situation in person, a phone call is the next best option. Email is an easy way to bring up issues with a project or performance problems, but it will not be as clear and controlled as a phone call. Here are 6 reasons why a phone conversation is better than sending an Email. 1. When emojis aren’t enough to convey tone                        Emails are poor at conveying a writer’s tone and context.                        Even the best typed email messages can be misinterpreted. In contrast, the back and forth dialogue of a phone conversation gives you the opportunity to communicate beyond your words. The tone and rhythm of your voice indicate both meaning and emotion. 2. When you want to get things resolved quickly                        Do not opt for a phone call for every single item that you need to communicate. Instead, be strategic in using phone calls for urgent or time-sensitive matters. 3. When you don’t have the clarity to send an email                        Emails can be a challenge in conveying a clear message. If vocabulary is limited or you must give quick instructions a phone call can be in easier solution.            4. When you want to build camaraderie                        Phone calls are a way to build better rapport.                        Phone conversation adds layers of information in an interactive dialogue. Camaraderie is deeply tied to the transfer of emotions, and phone conversations can do a much better job of that than emails.            5. When you expect there will be questions:                        Volleying emails back and forth on an issue is not very efficient.                        Consider situations where there is ambiguity or when you predict that clarification will be needed. 6. When it’s personal or sensitive:                        When you lose so much auxiliary information in an email, you can best handle discussion topics that are sensitive, personal, or potentially negative in a conversation. (Notes taken from www.ooma.com/blog/6-reasons-conversation-better-email/, by Ken Narita, Published June 7, 2018)             Once again people respond best with personal interaction. To build a good relationship with a client or employee a Face-to-Face conversation is key.

27

At the moment I feel pretty useless. . . I guess this is a common problem for new Post-Grads. Spend all this time staving at the computer, pleasing the professors, doing everything possible to get your ass out of school. This thing we call “getting an education.” Once its all over the only thing I have to look forward to is being a barely employed 27 year old. Its funny how we spent years learning a new talent that we dream of using to give ourselves a feeling of self independence only to end up applying for a dead end retail job to just pay the bills.
I don’t know what its like for others, but I seem to have the worst time answering the damn assessment questions these retail applications have. If you Had’t had the fine privilege of filling out one of these online forms, I’ll briefly describe it to you. First you have to create an almost useless username and password in which you can use to return to the application process. They do this because your about to take a assessment test in which you’ll be asked 55 to 95 questions. Some of these test are just about as hard as my Senior year finals. (By the way, what the hell is an assements test? The only thing I can figure out is that its just a way to find out if you’re a complete jackass or thief. Either way the test is flawed because if you’re a thief you better be smart enough to lie on the questions anyways). Most of the questions asked in the workforce test are based on a Likert Scale from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. These questions kick my ass due to my dyslexia switching the Strongly’s to their exact opposites. Each application takes about 30 to 45 minutes just to fill out. This doesn't even include the time it takes to fill out the previous work experience.
Another thing that sucks about applying for work in this time and age, everything is non-interpersonal. Forget about the days when a man could walk into a store and talk to a manager about open positions. Today they tell ya just to drive home and fill out an online application. If you’re the lucky bastard on that right moment to submit an application at the 3AM time the manager actually checks the human resources email for new employee forms, you just might get the job. Most managers seem to be looking for friends or blood relatives to hire anyways.
Another new development for Chris G is that I moved to Provo, Utah after getting married. As an East Coast man, Happy Valley is very strange place for me. I feel completely out of my element. A literal Alien among my own countrymen. Living in Provo is like being the main character in my very own Twilight Zone esipode. Eyes constantly watching, religious leaders at the front door checking in on you. The feeling that you must simulate or you’ll be forsaken from the community. What makes it even stranger is that people didn’t even acknowledge that I lived here until I shared my beard. My neighborhood is also married couple only area. Maybe I’ll survive this Twilight experience. Only time will tell.
Being 27 is also a real bumber for me. I saw myself being more successful. I usually find myself lying in bed starring at my white ceiling questioning my vain existence as a man. About the only good thing about my bed is having my wife next to me, however sometimes that too can be a pain. Its not that I don’t like sharing my bed it just that my wife gets into these weird touching phases. In the early morning hours she’ll rub my tummy. This action always wakes me from the dead of sleep. She’ll go through these phases where she’ll pet me without realizing it. Maybe my lack of sleep is causing me to be more paranoid then usual. Frankly its hard to tell.

YouTube Fame

Bad Blood

Characters:
MATT: Baby Brother, logical and reasonable.
WILL: Big Brother, angry at the world.
TIME: LATE NIGHT
SETTING: Zombie Apocalypse. Two brothers trapped in an abandoned house.
WILL is holding MATT up as they enter the room. MATT is limping and his leg is bleeding.
MATT
Over there… Over there by the chair.
WILL
What the hell did you do! What happened!
MATT falls into the chair and removes his belt.
MATT
I need you to strap this around my leg.
WILL straps the belt quick and hard.
God that hurts!
WILL gives a sly laugh.
WILL
Damnit. There’s a lot of blood!
MATT
I think one of them bit me. It’s hard to tell with all this blood. God the pain!
WILL
One of those things bit you? I knew it. I knew right when I saw the blood.
MATT
I’m not sure… Whatever happened, something took a chunk right out of me! It could have been the razer wire fence we had to jump. I can’t remember… So many of those things surrounded us, I just kept shooting, but they just kept coming… I’ve gotta stop the bleeding. Try and find something I can use as a bandage. This pain is killing me.
WILL searches around and finds some old rags.
WILL
Here, but they won’t help.
WILL watches as MATT wraps the rags around his leg.
Your gonna have to die.
MATT
Huh?
A sound of banging from outside.
WILL
They followed us… The blood, it must have been all the blood. Damnit Matt.
MATT
The blood? You think they followed the blood trail?
WILL
OF COURSE… Why the hell did I listen to you? (Murmur) Something bad always happens to me when every damn time I listen to you.
MATT
We had to come back for dad.
WILL
(Mockingly) We had to come back for dad. We gotta find dad. Dad will know what to do. Dad. Dad. Dad… What a bunch of bullshit! Why the hell did I listen to you…
MATT
Will, once I can get this bleeding to stop we’ll leave this place and get to dad and his guns.
WILL
You can’t be real. No way is that happening now. The bleeding not going to stop. Cuts that big need stitches… I need to get out of this place. You’re gonna have to give me your gun.
MATT
You gotta calm down Will. This place is pretty solid. We’ll be safe here.
WILL calms down for a moment, then becomes very nervous.
WILL
HELL, this is no good. If one of those creatures bit you, who knows how long you have before… before you start acting like the people in town?
MATT
I’m not even sure if I was bitten, but Will you need to calm down.
WILL
Would you shut-up! I’m the older brother! I’m in charge and I need your gun so I can leave this damn coffin.
MATT
This house is SAFE! We need to wait.
WILL
You’re always trying to take charge! No matter what I say, you always have a better way! Look where your better way has gotten us now!
MATT
I’m hurt Will. My leg is bleeding all over the place and I can barely walk as it is. We need to figure out our options.
Sounds of moans and creatures banging against the house walls outside.
WILL
Did you hear that? This is goin’ to be my coffin!
MATT
We’re fine for the time being, but we are not going to be if you keep freaking out. We need to figure out what we’re going to do. We need to wait for help.
WILL
Help…to…come. You serious? The town just turned into a living nightmare out there. There’s no help comin’. Everybody is just as screwed as we are. And those creatures outside, I don’t even know what they are. Whatever the hell they are, they ain’t human. And one of them bit you. I ain’t waiting around, for those freaks to get in here or for you to turn and come after ME!
MATT
You are right. Things are crazy out there and that’s why we need things to be cool in here.
SILENCE
WILL
I’m gonna have to kill you.
MATT
WHAT!
WILL
If I know anything about the freaks outside, they carry some-sort of virus, and I can’t let you infect me.
MATT
You don’t know that!
WILL
I know enough. It doesn’t take anybody especially smart to figure out that the virus travels by contact.
MATT
(Frustrated) Will I could have just cut my leg on the fence. Remember the razor wire? In fact I’m almost positive about it.
WILL
I can’t take that chance. Even if you weren’t bitten, you bleeding all over the place is creating a homing beacon for the those psychos. You’re gonna have to die so I can have a chance at surviving this night.
MATT
But, Will the bleeding is slowing down. Once it slows enough we can leave. We can get dad!
WILL
You just told me you can barely walk, Matt. What, do you expect me to carry you back to dad’s? I ain’t gonna carry your ass one mile, let alone the three till dad’s house. More than likely dad’s already dead.
MATT
Dad’s smart. He’ll figure something out. He’s the one that taught us how to shoot straight, how to hunt, and how to survive. He’ll know what to do. We have to find him!
WILL
DAMNIT MATT! You never listen to me. I’m not following you anywhere else! Now give me the .45 before I’m forced to take it from you.
MATT
I’m not going to give it to you… Just so you can put me down like some rabid dog.
WILL
Look Matt this is worse then rabies. Now hand it over. LISTEN TO ME!
MATT
We’ve never really gotten along but killing me? (Pain) Oh, oh graawww, my stomach. It feels like a knife is turning in my stomach. (Screams in pain).
WILL
You’re turning! Gimme the gun before you do something stupid, like biting me!
MATT
(Murmur) I wish dad was here. We need to hold out in here.
WILL
Whatever! Give me the gun!
MATT
I’m not going to give it to you. (sickly) Oh god… my stomach…awh!
WILL
Matt, your leg?
MATT investigates his leg.
MATT
My leg… it stopped bleeding…Awh!
WILL
Give the gun NOW! I’m taking control.
Banging against the outer walls.
MATT
No.
WILL
I already asked for it nicely. Now I’m going to have to take it from you.
MATT
Maybe… maybe there’s a cure, that’s why we need to wait for help. Somebody must have some sort of cure?
WILL
The only cure we’re gonna find in this place is me putting a bullet in your head! That’s your damn cure!
MATT
What is your problem? We have to stick together. We need each other in order to get through this. We have to assess our situation.
MATT stands up, holds his stomach in pain and moves to the back of the room.
WILL
Stick together? That’s real cute coming from the brother who was always the head of class.
WILL slowly moves closer to MATT as he talks.
MATT
What are you talking about?
WILL
From the brother who could do no wrong in dad’s eyes. From the same damn brother who’s the Eagle Scout, the class President, the prom king, a Football hero.
MATT
What is this? This is not the time for this.
WILL
Mr. MVP of everything he ever did!
MATT tries to move away but doesn’t get far in his weakened condition.
Is this the same person? I just want to make sure were on the same page, ‘cause the brother I know he never wanted to stick together.
MATT
I never tried to control you. This is the wrong time to be getting jealous.
WILL
You always had to be dad’s favorite! No matter what it did to me!
MATT
Dad’s favorite? I’ve only ever tried to make dad proud. This is not the place for a fight. If you would just listen we might be able to survive this.
WILL grabs MATT by the shirt collar and pushes him against the wall.
WILL
Put it all on me, that makes it easy. Its my fault that you were perfect and I was just unwanted piece of reality in your life!
MATT
You’re being unreasonable! Listen to me!
WILL
NO! Now you listen to me! Give me the gun you SONAOFBITCH!
Banging from outside is getting louder.
MATT
You’ve gone insane!
WILL punches MATT several time around the kidney. WILL reaches inside MATT’s jacket and pulls out the 45 revolver.
WILL
You’ve had no idea how bad I’ve wanted to do this.
MATT
What the hell are you trying to do!
MATT and WILL fight for control of the weapon. The banging from outside grows louder. Will shoves him. WILL points the gun at MATT.
WILL
I’m gonna give you your cure.
WILL walks towards MATT with the gun aimed at him. MATT puts up his hands as to surrender.
MATT
Your acting crazy! Calm down. I’m your brother. I’m your BROTHER!
MATT launches toward WILL and bites his neck.
WILL
(Screams in pain).
WILL knock his brother away points the gun and pulls the trigger. The chamber is empty. He pulls the trigger five more times.
MATT
(Laughingly) I wasted the rest of the bullets at the fence… Awwwwhh.
MATT falls into the chair while still holding his stomach. Coughs out a laugh then lays his head, face down on the table.
WILL
(Holding his neck) God no.
WILL sits in the chair next to Matt.
I should have never listened to you.
The sounds of creatures in the house. MATT and WILL wait as the sounds get closer.
END

Christmas Wishes

Characters:
CHRIS
CHEF
SHERRY
Time: Late Christmas Night
Setting: Freeport, Bahamas Resort Buffet area, all the evening deserts are on display, but the buffet area is empty except for a CHEF wiping off the counters.
CHRIS enters the buffet area looking at all the deserts. There’s a CHEF standing on the other side of the buffet counter. The CHEF notices CHRIS, he smiles walks into the buffet area.
CHEF
Merry Christmas!
CHRIS
Merry Christmas.
CHEF
It’s kind of late for eating my mon?
CHRIS
I guess so, but there’s never really a bad time for something sweet on Christmas day.
CHEF
You said it mon. You look lonely my mon. You lonely this Christmas, my mon?
CHRIS
A little but nothing I can’t handle.
CHEF
No need for being lonely on Christmas, my mon.
CHRIS
Well I still got Santa Claus right?
CHEF has light laugh to CHRIS’ joke, then uses his eyes to size CHRIS up. Then moves closer to CHRIS as if they’re close friends.

CHEF

I hear you my mon. You know, I have good friend I think you should meet. Would you like to meet her?

CHRIS

Hhuuhh…sure.

CHEF

Very good my mon.
Shouts over the buffet counter.

SHERRY! HEY SHERRY COME OUT HERE!

A large Bahamian woman comes out from the kitchen. She is dress in what looks like a lunch ladies’ uniform.

Here she is.

She leans up against the buffet counter window, looks at CHRIS and smiles. CHRIS is nervous.

She is very, very nice lady.

CHRIS

Well…hum…I huh, came in for a little desert.

CHEF

Of course you did my friend that is why were talking. Have you met Sherry?



CHRIS is silent. CHEF puts his arm around CHRIS and leads in close.

Sherry, she does everything.

CHRIS

-gulp-

CHEF

She does everything.

SHERRY winks at CHRIS and smiles.

CHRIS

That’s cool…

CHEF laughs.

CHEF

Yes, yes my mon. Now you have no reason to be lonely for Christmas. What you say?

CHRIS moves out of CHEF’s grip and moves over to the desert buffet table.

CHRIS
Wow, this cheesecake looks good. This is what I came for, cheesecake.

CHEF

Don’t be scared my mon. You never been with woman before? Sherry she real special. She knows how to take care of young boys like you.

CHEF squeezes CHRIS’s shoulder and SHERRY continues to smile at CHRIS.

I know what your problem is my mon. (Looks CHRIS dead in the eyes). You worried about the price. ‘Cause we both know this buffet is free, but the sex ain’t. So since it being a holiday, and we all should get somethin’ special from St. Nicholas, ain’t that right my mon? All good boys get gifts from St. Nicholas? And I can tell my friend, that you was good boy this year. Am I right my mon?

CHRIS moves out of the CHEF’s grip.

CHRIS
I should probably try and find out where my parents are.

CHEF
Forget your parents. You worry they find you doing somethin’ in their room. No worries my mon, I’ve got a place you can use.

CHRIS
No, I’m worry about getting a freaking STD.

SHERRY
What’s that?

CHEF
Shut-up Sherry this is man talk.

SHERRY
I just wanted to know.

CHRIS
She doesn’t know what STDs are?

CHEF
Like I said mon she’s special. And she ain’t dirty either. Now let’s talk money.

CHRIS
I just came for the cheesecake. I’m really…

CHEF cuts CHRIS off and gets louder.

CHEF
SCREW THE CHEESECAKE! It taste like shit. Now the price for Sherry is twenty bucks. What you say, my mon, we have a deal?

SHERRY
I like the cheesecake.

CHEF
Shut-up woman!

CHRIS
Sex for money is against my religion.

CHEF
It’s Christmas mon! God turns his head on Christmas Day. Now twenty bucks gets you everything.

CHRIS
I think I see my mom over by the cabana.

CHEF
Look here boy! You shouldn’t be coming in here looking for action if you’re not wanting any!

CHRIS
I just came in here for a piece of cheesecake. I swear that’s all I had in mind when I came in here!

CHEF
What the hell my mon! You came in here saying you wanted desert and that you were lonely! Now if you don’t give me twenty bucks for Sherry, you better give me twenty bucks for wasting my time. And you better do it before I kick your stupid white ass!

CHRIS grabs a plate that has a slice of cheesecake.

CHRIS
I’m just gonna take this and go.

CHEF
You can’t be goin’ nowhere until I get my money.

CHEF grabs CHRIS

CHRIS
I don’t want trouble. I…I… Just want a piece of the cheesecake and I’m gone.

SHERRY
You’d better just give him the money baby.

CHEF
You in trouble now!
CHEF pulls out a switchblade.

Now give me the money before I take something worth more then twenty buck.

CHEF holds the knife near CHRIS’ crotch. CHRIS tries to escape but he’s stuck in between the buffet table and the CHEF.

CHRIS
I’d kind of like to keep that… In fact I’d kind of like to stay in one piece.

SHERRY
How’d we suppose to do it, if you cut that off?

CHEF
WOMAN! What did I tell you about talking? NOW SHUT UP!

CHRIS
Can’t we discuss this like rational human beings! I just wanted the cheesecake, I don’t want Sherry, I don’t want trouble, and definitely don’t want to lose any body parts, and especially the one you have that knife on!

CHEF
And I bet you didn’t want to give me twenty bucks, but now you goin’ have to.

CHRIS
I don’t even have the money, ‘cause everything at the resort is already paid for! Now please put down the knife before you hurt the family jewels!

SHERRY
Marty you hear that? He’s got jewels on him!

CHIEF turns around to face SHERRY pointing the knife at her, giving CHRIS enough room to run.

CHEF
WOMAN! What the hell did I just SAY! Now you better-

CHRIS grabs his slice of cheesecake and books it out of the room.
What the…? Now look what you did! You dumb bit-

Another RESORT GUEST walks into the buffet. CHEF quickly hides the knife between his back.

CHEF
Merry Christmas my mon!

RESORT GUEST
Merry Christmas! Oh sweet you guys got the cheesecake out.

CHEF
And we got more than that my mon.
CHEF closes knife and slips it back into his pocket and walks up close to the RESORT GUEST.

END

The End Days To Summer

(12 Aug. 2010) I’m feeling half past dead after spending all of yesterday in the sun. SimplyRight had a Utah Appreciation Day for all our customers. I was the one put in charge of watching and maintaining 8 wave-runners. I had one bottle of water and one plate of food to last me for ten hours of work. I miss the days when hangin’ at the beach was fun. Any open pieces of flesh were of course burned.

Working on the beach reminded me of my short trip to West Island. Where I had one day at the beach as well. A wondrous, glorious day! My only wish is that I had my scuba equipment. I find it very peaceful to float on the water and watch the sea life move along. I feel like some sort of deity. I’m so much larger than the sea creatures and the actions I make can drastically change their lives with the slightest move of my hand. Being on West Island is like being a little boy all over again. The only difference is everybody looks twice as old and my cousin Brian gets twice as dirty.

Cousin Brian, who I affectedly call Uncle Brian, is one of my favorite parts about going to West Island. Being around Brian is like hanging out with your favorite peeved high school buddy. However, Brian is not in high school, he’s 55 years old, has two kids and is divorced. When I went to “hang with Brian.” He took me to his union job at the T. He showed me his locker where he keeps pictures of his 40 plus year old girlfriends in bikinis and pre-worn panties. Brian made sure to snuff the panties before placing them back into his locker. He’s a good enough pal to offer me a hit before putting them back into their special place. (I respectfully declined).

(18 Aug. 2010) One of the employees at SimplyRight found them old photos of me. The pictures were taken before the mission. Back in the days when I was taking to make money a an extra in movies and television shows. Boy! Don’t I look young without any facial hair?

My cousin Summer Kilgore returned home from her mission last night at midnight. She looked the same as usual but thinner. One of the funniest facts I learned about Chinese people is that they HATE the sun. They hate it so much they’ve created socks that women can wear on their arms to protect themselves against the UV rays. Real funny looking clothing. Social customs of some people are just too unreal.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I quit my job at KWCR. Due to lack of time and I didn’t like how things were being managed, nor did I like how management was trying to turn a college radio station into a corporate station. I’m still in-charge of local music. So I’m still keeping it real.

I Think Were Alone Now

There are times when life seems to take a major turn. We experience moments that are so powerful they burn a mark into our memory banks. When I was 24 years old I truly fell in love with a girl. I fell hard too. We were together for about six months. In the end the relationship didn’t work. I tried to forget her. I tried to burn every bridge we built. I tried to leave her in the past. Out of everything I wanted to lose, I kept this memory. The memory of our first kiss.

I still feel chills, every time I think of that moment. I felt so calm and so nervous all at once. If she would of let me, I could of stared at her all night. I could have just embraced that moment for an eternity. The look in her blues eyes, the sly, giggly smile she would make as I stared at the lines on her lips. She had teeth imprints on her lips, she claimed that it was a habit she formed out of boredom, but I believe it was a nervous thing.

As I describe this moment I can feel the Goosebumps growing on my forearms. Everything just felt natural. It felt as if everything was meant to be. This is what is described in film as “the perfect moment.”

She looked at me as I looked at her. I wondered if she could hear how loud my heart was beating.

All I could hear was the sound of her breathing. I watched her chest moved up and down, up and down. We were completely alone. As if we were the only two people the room. The only two people in the town. The only two people in the world.

“It almost feels like my first time,” she said smiling.

I had to compel myself to keep breathing, it took every ounce of energy I could posse to control my emotions. God is this really happening.

“What’s on your mind Gil?”

I didn’t know how to answer. I felt frozen. That small voice in the back of my head kept telling me to kiss her. Kiss her.Kiss her. Kiss her now.

“I don’t know? What’s on your mind?” Trying hard do my best Marlon Brando impression, but the words didn’t really come out like I wanted.

“Gil, do you want to kiss me?” Her voice sounded like a little kitten purring.

This was my moment to be cool.

“Do you want me to kiss you?” That totally did not sound cool.

She just shakes her head up and down. We both go in for the kill – 50/50. I kept my eyes open all the way up to the moment of impact. I watched as her eyes close and her lips puckered up. Contact. As her lips moved against mine I could taste her. A taste that I really can’t describe. It was such amazingly new experience that my brain went dead. All emotions were gone, it was just me and her, stuck in this moment. “This magic moment,” talk about clichés. I felt as if I had just crossed some major road in my life.

She sucked my bottom lip into her mouth and lightly bit it. It was such a new sensation that it shocked me. I pulled back.

“My lip.”

She let go. It was the first moment in my life where I felt completely air-headed.

“Did you like my kiss,” she asked with a sincere desire to know.

I really didn’t know what to say. I liked it, I liked it a lot. I just couldn’t put the words together. I just wanted to think for a moment.

The word came out slow, as if I learning to talk all over again. “Good,” was all I come whisper out.

Basic instinct took over and I went in for another kiss. During the second kiss I didn’t close my eyes. I watch as she moved her mouth. I found the movements of her mouth fascinating. She moved her mouth from mine.

“I’ve never been kissed so aggressively on first time with someone,” she said with that same sly smile. I became confused because she was the one biting my lip.

“This time try doing it slower,” she said.

On round three, everything became fuzzy…

…As we stood by her front door, we just held each other. The warmth of our bodies creating a glow around us. I buried my face into her neck, as I raised my head our eyes caught. I gave her a small kiss on the lips. It made a smacking sound. I made my way up the stairs. I could hear the sprinkler system turning on. Right before I reached my car a wave of cold water hits me in the face.

It was such a magical moment for me that I didn’t feel the effects of it till the next day.

Cliques

One thing that has bothered me for all 25 years of my mundane life are “clicks” (spelled in some parts of the world as cliques). Why the hell are they so fraking important to us? Any place I’ve ever lived. Any place I’ve ever gone to. Any place ever even considered moving to, has “clicks”. If you were to travel to Hawaii, you would notice the locals even have a click. When you go to church and all the “holier than thou” clowns have their own click. College and highs school and even pre-schools have their own clicks. Being apart of a click, I guess is what makes us feel as if were really apart of the human race. Clicks remind us that we’re really alive. They give us purpose in living a somewhat normal life.

Granted the term “click” is mainly used while in high school, but the fact remains that clicks don’t just exist in high school. They continue into college, the workplace, and even religious institutions. (Hell, I personally believe that religious institutions are the biggest click). We just want to call it something different.

There are large clicks and little clicks. Some clicks become so huge they even petition the government to have their own rights.

Now, I’m not saying that I don’t belong to any clicks. I do. I in fact belong to all sorts of different clicks. I’m in a religious institution. I geek out on movies, music and comic books. I once belonged to a baseball and paintball teams. I’m involved in a online posse in RED DEAD REDEMPTION. I played D&D games when I was in high school. I work at a radio station. I’m even a Facebook junkie. Since I’m in so many different clicks, I see what they do to us as human beings.

I feel that catering to clicks is an injustice to all people. The more we allow ourselves to separate into are own clicks. The more we separate ourselves from each other. We should really start creating groups (like on Facebook). Groups that everybody wants to be apart. For example everybody seems to love Bob Marley. So we so have a Bob Marley group. He even wrote a popular song called “One Love.” This song has very positive message, let us all be one. One heart, one mind, one people. But no! We can’t do that because it’ll hurt our image in the other click. We have to be “one click.” When we get to involved in “our click” we just end up separating ourselves from others. Lets my groups or something that doesn’t feel so exclusive.

Time to change the subject.

Last night I went with my friend Lono to another Twilight Concert Series show. The two bands playing were The Twin Sister and Beirut. Both bands were brand new to me. I had heard a lot of good things about Beirut, but never gave them listen to. Lono and I tried to figure out why Twin Sister gave themselves that name for their band. You would just assume that with a name like Twin Sister that there would be twin sisters singing the songs. Well they weren’t.

Lono created a metaphor in which every time he would smell pot, he’d call it a skunk. “Where’s that skunk at?”

My biggest beef with out-door venues is all the pot smoke. I can barely stand the smell of cigarette smoke and so that bittersweet smell of pot is repulsive to me. Frankly I really don’t care what another person does. Just don’t blow your damn smoke in my face! There was one other thing that bugged me at the Beirut show. This fella smoking pot in front of me had the world's biggest nose. I’m not even close to joking when I say that his nose literally looked like one of those red clown noses’ you can buy in a costume shop. It was fraking HUGE! It could have been its own country. The worst part was I was so entranced by this sucker’s clown nose; I couldn’t even enjoy the show because all I could do was question how elephantiasis could only affect one part of the body. All in all, it was a fun night out in Salt Lake City.

I think I would let my dog sleep in my bed, if he didn’t get hair all in my sheets.

3AM

Darkness surrounds me. The darkness rushes away as the low dim of a ceiling light glimmers. I’m in the same living room as last time. Every thing is closing in. The ceiling seems so close that there’s not enough clearance for my head. The living room feels like it’s underground. It feels like a coffin. I look down at the ground and notice a black spot on the floor. It looks wet. I stoop my body down. I use my little finger to touch the stain. The liquid is wet and warm. My eyes focus on my pinkie to see that the color is not black, but a dark red. My insides tense up. I fight the bile beginning to rise. My heart beats faster.

From the stain, a trial leads to a darkened bedroom on the far right of the living room. I don’t want to be here. My conscience prods me. My body feels as though it is being drawn into the darkened bedroom. But I just want to leave. This living room feels like a coffin. I step into the bedroom. I reach for the light switch. The light slowly flickers on. I wish I didn’t do that. I see a bed in the far corner of the room. On the bed there is a body covered in blue sheets. The dark red color is everywhere on the bed. I can only imagine what’s under those sheets. I’m gonna puke. I’m gonna puke. I’m gonna puke. GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE! I hear a loud deafening scream.

I wake up in a cold sweat. What time is it? I turn to see the neon-green lights telling me its 3:45AM. It’s sad. I seem to be able to sleep for two hours a night. I get out of bed.

The day moves by in a blur. I can’t believe its 10PM already. I went to my classes then to work. Now night has come. The nights are the longest part of my day. I lay in my bed, praying that I’ll be able to sleep the whole night through. I pray that I won’t have the same nightmare. Around 3AM I’m in darkness. Once again the light enters and I’m back in the coffin living room. The blood stain is in the same place. There’s a trail of blood leading to the bedroom. I HATE THIS! I walk into the darkened room and turn on the light. The body is still covered in blood.

I have to see the face. I have to see what’s under those blue sheets. If you think this is nightmare, wait till you see what is under those covers. The curiosity is killing me! I slowly move to the figure on the bed. I grab the blue sheet at the bald of the head, the figure is a shape of a girl. The sheets stick to the lifeless body as I pull them away. Long black hair mangled with blood is the first thing I see. My knotted stomach turns. Pale blue eyes stand out sharply against the blood. I’ll never forget the color of these eyes. As I stare at the girl’s eyes, I feel as if I am looking into a tormented soul. Her jaw is horribly busted. Most of her teeth are missing and her eyes are the only distinguishable feature. Her head twitches and the jaw moves open. A sound comes from her distorted mouth. A scream comes out like the siren of an ambulance.

My eyes open and I look to see my alarm. Its only 3:45AM. The same time as last night, I try to stop my body from trembling.

By noon feel like I could pass out from lack of sleep. I sit on a tacky blue chair on the shuttle bus that will drop me off by my car. The shuttle has three stops before I arrive at the parking lot where I get off. The bus diver looks to be in his late 50s; what little black hair he has left, he combs over. This is a special bus to be on. The driver blares the music from the radio as loud as bus regulations will allow. Today it sounds like he is making his own regulations.

Two girls get on at the second stop. One of the girls has long black hair, pale white skin, and distinguishable pale blue eyes. I think the gods are sending a direct message of supernatural proportions to me because the song playing on the radio makes this whole event even more bizarre. I don’t know the name of the song, but the lyrics give me goosebumps. This can’t be real. I’ve gotta be dreaming again!

“Linger on your pale blue eyes. Linger on your pale blue eyes.”

The word “linger” just adds more to my shock. Since the moment I saw those eyes the image lingered in my mind. I’ve never been the type to listen to others’ conversations but I try as hard as I can to hear what the two girls are talking about. The girl, sitting next to the black hair, pale, blue-eyed girl, is an average everyday blonde-haired petite girl in blue jeans.

“Joey asked me to go with him to the Halloween party this weekend and I said yes,” pale blue-eyed girl says.

The blonde girl rolls her eyes and acts as if a major sin is being committed. “I can’t believe you’re actually thinking about going out with him. He’s strange.”

“Well unlike you Jenny. I don’t have boys rushing in line to ask me out. So I go out with those who ask me.”

“Alice, Alice, just because you don’t have as fortunate a dating life as others doesn’t mean you should go out with a creep like Joey. You still have to use good judgment.”

Her name is Alice.

“I’m sure Joey’s a fine guy, he just gets excited sometimes. Anyway, all you heard were rumors.”

“They’re not rumors if they turn out to be true. Now, I can line you up with Nick, he’s cute in his own way. How about that?” The blonde girl sure is trying hard to keep Alice from going out with this Joey guy.

“I’m not going to cancel with the guy, that would be mean. I am going to the party with Joey. Now let’s talk about something else. Alright!”

The bus finally arrives to my section of the parking lot. Alice and the blonde girl, Jenny, stay on the bus. There is only one stop after mine and that’s the school dorms. I remember seeing ads all over the school for a Halloween party at the campus. Today, is Thursday, the party Saturday.

This time when night comes I try as hard as I can to keep from falling asleep. I don’t want to see anymore of that cursed dream. I’ve had many nightmares before, but never about real people. Nothing has ever been this real. Around 3AM I lose the battle to stay awake.

Not again! I’m in the basement living room that feels like a coffin. I hate this stupid nightmare! Routinely I look to find the wet blood stain on the carpet. Where’s the spot? It is not in its usual spot. In fact it’s not anywhere. I hear noises upstairs. I need to hide. My mind goes into a state of shock I can’t move. A young man with dyed red hair, about my size, wearing a black cloak walks down the stairs carrying a body wrapped in blue sheets on his left shoulder. The young man is speaking to the wrapped body. He can’t see me.

“Why won’t they listen? They never listen.” His voice causes my skin to crawl. The body begins to shake, As if it is fighting for its life. The young man loses his hold on the body and it drops right in front of me on the floor. The sheets separate and I see Alice’s face. A blood curdling scream comes out of her mouth.

The young man’s eyes looks like hell on earth. He pulls out a scout-hatchet from the inside of his cloak.

“SHUT-UP. SHUT-UP. SHUT-UP,” the young man yells. He takes the hammer part of the hatchet and repeatedly beats it against Alice’s jaw. I turn my head away. Once the young man is satisfied he picks up the lifeless Alice and carries her and whatever is left of her face into the bedroom. The spot has returned.

The blood trails into the bedroom. My courage fails me and I huddle in the corner. I try using my hands pressed tightly against my head to muffle the awful sounds that come from the darkness of the bedroom.

Once my eyes open, I run to the bathroom. The toilet accepts the remains of my dinner. The terror and nausea causes me to pass out on the bathroom floor.

Saturday night finds me at the campus party. I wear a cheap black costume from the local grocery store. It consists of a black robe with a white skeleton face mask. I want to make sure I can hide in the crowd easily if I need to. I find Alice in the lounge with the red-haired young man. Alice is dressed as a ghostly bride. Her groom, Joey, is the Reaper. Joey just stares at Alice the whole evening. The faces he makes are every mothers worse nightmare. This guy is a creep. The more real this nightmare becomes reality the more I can feel the adrenaline running through my body. My body is on fire. This mask feels like it is melting my face off! I follow the couple on the shuttle taking me back to the parking lot. I look at my watch to find out it’s already 2:45AM. My stomach feels as if butterflies the sizes of bats are flying in circles inside of me. I swallow back the overwhelming nausea.

I get off the bus with the couple. Their conversation starts to get heated, so I hide behind a yellow Honda. The time is 2:50AM.

“You should come over to my apartment and we can have few drinks,” The young man’s voice reminds of the voice from the dream.

“No thanks, Joey. I should go back to my dorm-room and get some sleep,” Alice says warily. I can tell by the sound of her voice she wants to get away from Joey.

Anger enters his voice, “Come on; don’t play me off like that. Come to my apartment.”

“No Joey I want to go back to my room. Anyway, there’s no reason to raise your voice at me.”

“LOOK GIRLEY, you’re coming with me.” Joey reaches into his cloak and pulls out his scout-hatchet. Pure fear is drawn all over Alice’s face. The blunt end of the hatchet strikes the right temple of Alice’s head. I fight the desire piss my pants in the parking lot.

Joey opens the trunk to his car and pulls out blue sheets, which he uses to wrap Alice’s body up in. “If you would I’ve just listened to me it wouldn’t be like this,” Joey said as he places Alice’s body in his trunk.

At 2:58AM I track Joey all the way to a brown house with a brown lawn. Brown, the same color as a coffin. His house is not too far from mine. How was I gonna stop this lunatic from murdering Alice? I jump out of my car and run to the back of the brown house. I find a window that is almost buried in the ground. I look through the window to see a washer and dryer. This room has to connect to the living room. To my surprise the window is easy to open. I decide to go in head first. The window seal is more slippery than I anticipate. I lose my balance, fall, and smash my head against the washer. Before the darkness over comes me I see the arrows of the clock touching on the 3 and the 12. What just happened?

I open my eyes to find myself once again in the coffin living room. My heart feels as if it going to punch a hole through my chest. The stain is in its normal spot. I follow the trail of blood to the bedroom. She can’t be. I’ve failed her. GOD NO! I see the body lying in a tangled mess of violence. My stomach contracts and the feeling to puke is also a reality.

I run to the closest bathroom. I can’t even make it to the toilet, waste sleuths from my mouth into the bathroom sink. I switch on the bathroom light and look into the mirror. Blood is spattered all over my face. My red hair shines brightly from the ray of the florescent light. This can’t be real.

The Modest Mouse Adventure!

Here’s a summary of my adventure at the free Modest Mouse concert presented by the Twilight concert series.

I left work at 4:30PM to meet up with my friend Mike, so we could jump aboard the fast-tracks next to Union Station. Mike use to be my General Manager at KWCR, when Mike left he was replaced by a different Mike. Mike also lives right across the street from where I work. Once aboard the train we talked about all the crazy things we could write blogs about. The best idea was probably the one where I write a fake letter to Katy Perry telling her that I secretly listen to her music and if she would send me an autographed photo.

When the train entered Salt Lake City we walked down the street which hosted all the halfway houses. I put my guard up assuming that at any moment someone was going ask me for spare change, so they could run off to the closets drug dealer or liquor store for their next fix. One fellow we passed on our way to Pioneer Park was so mentally unstable that he walked down the sidewalk like an Egyptian, hands pointed straight and everything. The Bangles wrote the hit song about it, but I just figured that it was a joke, I guess not.

Inside the park were hundreds a pond hundreds of people. Half the vendors I talked to had been to Desert Rocks. (A magical place I’ll talk about in a different blog). Most of the food lines were a mile long and I never realized that so many lesbians liked Modest Mouse. A sixteen year old girl with green braces came up to me and asked if I wanted to go back to my place to make out. (She must of been turned on by my cheap wayfare sunglasses which I had over my prescription frames and the neon green sweatband I had on my forehead). In figuring out a spot to stand so we could watch the show, Mike and I decided to stand behind a dude in a wheelchair; doing so would allow us to always have a view of the stage. I’m always amazed at how many people get wasted even before the show starts.

In a nutshell here is what happened during the almost two hour Modest Mouse set. About fifteen different folks climbed the tree next to us. For some reason it was a real cool thing to do. A dude decided to relieve himself on the same tree. A five foot tall girl danced up on me for Modest Mouse’s hit song Float On. The Mayor called Modest Mouse, “The Mouse.” I might of got a contact high from the three different people smoking pot next to me. And at least a hundred people stepped on my foot while trying to pass me.

The worst and most disturbing part was seeing a 21 year old male getting it on with a 50 year old female. It was one of those things you witness where as badly as you want to stop watching, you just can’t take your eyes off it. It is what I call the freak-show syndrome. Whereas strange and weird it might seem, we as human beings can’t take our eyes off the so-called “freak” because we find it so fraking curious. I’ve seen some MILF’s in my 25 years and this 50 year old was no MILF. I couldn't tell if the motley cure couple were so drunk off their rocker that they couldn’t tell what was happening or if the 21 year was just that desperate to get some action.

At the end of the concert Mike received a call from his wife, telling him that she was feeling pretty ill. Mike decided that we should use our “manly courage” and take a three mile walk through the heart of Salt Lake City ghetto to get to his wife’s place of work. Boy! Was our manly courage tested because I could have sworn that a monster or hobo was going to jump out of the dark and shank us.

On the drive back to Ogden we talked about Christian rock music. I impressed Mike’s wife with my vast information on popular Christian rock artists. All in all a good evening.

TCB (That means Taking Care of Business)

For the last two months I was able to keep my laptop on my work desk. Doing this allowed me to watch movies on Netflix while I spent countless hours scanning documents. Now that era of white noise movie watching is over. Scanning all days makes me fall asleep. I don’t care who you are but you’d probably fall asleep too, if all your workload required was pushing sheets of paper through a tiny fujitsu machine.

In the past I would just listen to music, but my ears would get tired of the Pandora tunes. Listening to my iPod also gets old. I get tired of trying to figure out what artist I want to shuffle to next. Since my boss cut me off from my laptop I’ve been using my iPod to sneak in my movie watching. It’s kind of ingenious when you think about. I lay the iPod in front of my keyboard, that way I have complete control and large body covers the small device. Now don’t jump to any conclusions about me. It’s not like I just seat at my office desk and stare at my iPod screen like some sort of couch-potato. I really do my allotted work load. I just need something to help the time pass. It keeps me focused. I’m the same way when it comes to homework. I don’t know what it is about silence but it causes me to procrastinate.

Things pertaining to taking care of business is my desire to beat my video games. I usually don’t go crazy on purchasing video games but the Game Crazy near my apartment was closing so all their games were super cheap. I ended up buying 6 new videos games for the price of what it usually cost to purchase a new PS3 game. Now I face the dilemma of finishing the games I’ve already started or beginning the new games. I only seem to get maybe four hours of game play in per week so this is a big decision for me.

The Beginning of Summer

Summer has now started.

I have now almost been out of school for the past two months. I’ve been getting a lot of leads for music videos but not a lot done. The dating scene has been out of whack for me since the one girl from Provo. Lead me on just to put me down. Further increasing my personal hatred for Provo. That place bugs me. Nice looking town but the folks spoil the atmosphere. Rhode Island and Provo are two places I never care to spend time in.

I swear, I think my summer job is going to kill me!

I keep having this desire sucking feeling of hopelessness wash over me. Usually I’m a happy go-lucky kind of person, but as of late, I haven’t been. I think this feeling of hopelessness is brought on by spending long hours in an office building were all I do is answer phone calls, run errands and scan documents. There’s no glory in it. If I get real lucky my cousin Adam will show up, sit behind me and complain about his marriage problems and get paid for it. One thing that really drives me crazy is when my cousin Danny will come into my office and reviews the movie he saw over the weekend. Critics suck when their favorite movie of 2008 is STEP UP 2: THE STREETS. To escape the pains of my day I stare out my office window. My view is of a funky looking house built in the 1960s with scenic mountains behind it. The same mountains covering the Ogden Valley. My view would increase if the ugly-ass house from the 1960s caught on fire and burnet to the ground.

Has anybody else ever noticed something I call “sexual competition”? It’s the type of competition where you’re dating someone and you find out their dating other people at the same time. It’s a strange emotion a male feels when he finds out he’s competing for the opposite sex. A basic animalistic nature takes over making us feel that we have to fight for what’s ours. The funniest thing is we could also be dating other girls but the basic instinct still takes over. As a male I feel like finding the guy, just so I can start a fist-fight (and I don’t even like confrontations). You wanta find out what they look like just so you can size them up. “Sexual Competition” can also get very ugly very fast. Luckily I haven’t been into too many situations, because usually I suck at competing.

TGIF

Do you remember how awesome it was when we were young and Friday would come along? After the last bell would ring, how exciting it was to think about all the cool things you’re gonna do that night and the adventures you’ll have with your friends over the weekend. Friday afternoon would come and I was as happy as the first time I was ever invited to a birthday party at Chuck-E-Chesses’. Man! Me and whatever best friend I had at the time would meet and figure out whose house we were going to have a sleepover at. Hands down sleepovers were the BOMB.

One thing I would always love to do at a sleepover was to either build a fort with sheets and blankets or watch a movies (usually horror). Anytime I had friends over at my place we would always build a fort. I had a one bed bunk-bed, meaning that I always got to sleep on the top bunk. My dad would always get me the coolest stuff. Since my bed was so unique, it was real easy to build a fort. Now, sometimes we would set up a TV inside the fort and watch movies until we all fell asleep. Most of the time we’d have ‘boy talk.’ Real personal and secret stuff. In Elementary school it was usually real innocent stuff about toys and violent video games. As we entered Middle school the conversations would involve into what girl we thought were hot and boobies and violent video games. For the most part harmless pre-teen talk.

MAN! I LOVED FRIDAYS!

Well I still love Fridays. I only wish that we would still have sleepovers. I guess in a sense we still do have sleepovers, just a different type of sleepover. Now we don’t really call them anything. (Maybe stayovers)? After thinking about it, I think we now call them ‘one night stands’ if it involves the opposite sex. (Usually fort building does not occur at these sleepovers). I believe the last sleepover I had on a Friday was when I accidentally feel asleep at my friend’s house as I was watching his dog. Unfortunately there were no forts.

I’ve decided that with my next girlfriend we’ll have a sleepover where we build a fort in my basement and watch horror movies ALL NIGHT LONG. It’ll be mandatory! If she wants Gillis in her life she’ll be building a fort with me. (Thinking like this is probably what keeps me single). Oh how times have changed since we were young.

Another thing I have noticed about Friday is that the childhood excitement comes with each new Friday. People love Friday so much they made a restaurant and three Ice Cube movies just to honor the day. Shoot! Half the movies we love probably take place on a Friday. However, I do wish more movies had scenes of people building forts.