A "Pit Stop" With Heather

This week's Friday interview features one of my favorite bloggers, Heather. She is always amusing, her comments on this site are something I look forward to daily, and her site kicks some serious ass. Definitely check it out if you haven't already. Here is the Heather interview:

CMAC- Looking back, what was your greatest/happiest childhood moment and why?

HEATHER- I think that any time spent with my parents created this giant, globby memory. Although they are recently divorced, the times that I spent with the 2 of them together were most important to me. I have racked my brain trying to think of one specific moment, but there isn’t. The times that we laughed together were most important. Those moments were few and far between, but they were the most important to me. They are the best friends I could ever have and they keep me in check.


Heather is always on the right "track" 

CMAC-Recently you've written about being distracted or in a "funk", what do you think is the root cause of it and how do you feel you'll tackle it?

HEATHER-There are so many contributing factors. I have described it as my “tornado.” I’m just waiting for the winds to die down so I can see again. Work sucks. I enjoy the industry that I’m in, but my creativity and imagination are screaming to get out of this sales job. I’m bored and underpaid and VERY tired of it. Approximately 2.5 months ago, I ended a 2.5 year relationship. Someone that I went through the ringer with. Someone that I loved with everything I had. But he didn’t trust me and he fought with me constantly and for self-preservation reasons, I had to leave. It’s weird to be on your own again. I don’t know HOW to date! I’m totally screwed up! I think part of the problem is that I lie in bed at night and can’t sleep. I know that I made the right decision ending the relationship, but I hate to sleep alone. My 85-year old grandmother is having extremely serious surgery sometime this month and that’s constantly on my mind. She’s the only one I have left and I don’t know what I would do without her.

Now, tackling the funk. Truthfully, I need a vacation. It’s been almost a year since I’ve seen the ocean. It’s been 10 months since I’ve gone on a delightful weekend road trip. Part of the problem is that now that I’m single, I have no one to vacate with. So, I’m kinda stuck. I’m not saying that I need to have someone in order to go on vacation, because that’s not the kind of girl that I am, but I like to be able to share moments like those with SOMEONE! I’ll get out of the funk—I just need some sun and frozen beverages with umbrellas in them.

CMAC-Tell us about a guy from your past that you were maybe just friends with that you never dated that you now wish you would have.

HEATHER-We met in a Fiction Writing course in college. He had these amazing eyes that almost looked through me and his voice gave me chills… In a writing class like that, you get close to your classmates because you’re putting yourself out there in a public forum (like blogging) and you start to see each other differently than anyone who hasn’t “read” you. We would exchange our work with each other and rip the pieces to shreds, walked campus for hours and hours and talked like no one I have been able to talk to before or since then for that matter. The trouble you ask? Well, he was engaged. He would cry to me and tell me that he knew it was a mistake, but when I would ask him why he didn’t just leave her, all he would say to me was, “She needs me.” I never COULD have dated him, but I believe that in some form, we were kindred spirits. We made each other’s lives hell, but at the same time all the more worth living. It brings tears to my eyes right now knowing that I can’t talk to him and have that feeling again. I will probably spend the rest of my life chasing that feeling that I can’t even identify, but 4 years later still crave.

CMAC-If you were President for a day and had the power to have Congress approve anything you suggest/wanted, what 3 things would you change in the country right now?

HEATHER-
1. Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for ages 16-24. Did you know that 65% of those deaths occur because the driver gets 2 wheels off the road and overcorrects? Something so simple… With that gruesome statistic in mind, I would make DEFENSIVE driving programs mandatory and to be completed by age 17. We can prevent this—why aren’t we?
2. In the state of Georgia, we have this fantastic thing called the HOPE grant. We use lottery money to help kids pay for college. It certainly saved my life a time or two. Let’s make that national.
3. With the “funk” that I’m in, I would like to make 21 days of vacation mandatory for everyone. And a little of that defense money should go to each citizen to have a vacation fund. Kind of like a 401K, but for the beach. (Sorry, I couldn’t get on my soapbox in all three of these!)

CMAC-Tell us about the best date you ever went on in your life. Who was it with, when was it, and why was it the best date?

HEATHER-When I started to think about this, there has never been a date that stuck out for me. Lots of nights going out where a look exchanged in the car on the way there or a joke between us made the entire night memorable. But, there is one “date” that I think of often because I laughed so much…

Doug Becker. Summer of 2000. Doug and I didn’t have too many dates. He lived 800 miles away from me for the majority of time that we were dating, so every date that we went on was amazing. We traveled back and forth to see each other a lot and spent some time at his family’s “farm.” It wasn’t really a farm though. It was about 360 acres of manicured woods with an old house and a man-made lake in the middle. We went out there to hang out, drink, watch movies and be in the woods. His mom and dad showed up—I LOVED THEM. The 4 of us ate dinner together and when I stood up from the table, I realized I was completely shitfaced—and so was he, his mother and his father. We drove all around the property on over-powered golf carts laughing. He and I took off on our own across the property laughing and drinking while heat lightning shot across the sky. The moment overcame me and I told him that I loved him. We got out of the cart laughing and running through the fields. The rain came down on us hard and I could not stop laughing. The next morning, his mother woke me up at 10 and asked if I would be ready for a margarita when I got out of the shower… Best.date.ever.

CMAC-From a creative standpoint, what TV show do you think was/is the best of all time?

HEATHER-There has been a lot of creative television… It all depends on how you mean it… Although I don’t watch a lot of TV nowadays, I’m going to say The Real World changed television forever. It created reality television. I was 12 and I was in love with Eric Nies. I wanted to move to NYC and become a dancer like Julie or a painter like Norman. But, that said, I’m realizing there wasn’t much creativity…just a beautiful apartment where people fought with the girl from Alabama a lot.

Creatively, the Simpsons has this—hands down. And, Tiffany (tiffanysutopia.blogspot.com) will like this. They have been on TV forever. They have found new generations consistently each season they come out. The subject matter is entertaining and refreshing and we don’t even care that Bart has been 8 for the past 12 years! I have deep respect for that kind of longevity in our fickle world.

CMAC-And finally, tell all of us 3 things you've never done that you want to or plan on doing in the near future.


HEATHER-
1. I want to go skydiving. I have a few friends that have done it—some more than others. I don’t think I’ll get attached to it being that I have a horrible fear of heights, but it’s just something I want to do.
2. I want to learn to speak Italian. There is something so sexy about the language and I have been long obsessed with the country and their culture. I’m starting to get the idea that in order to get out of my funk I’m going to need to escape for awhile…that may mean a month somewhere else…and, if I go where I want to go, I’ll need to be able to speak Italian.
3. Realize my full potential and live up to it. This may never happen, but I’m planning on it!

Thanks to Heather for taking time out to be featured on this week's Friday interview. Thanks to all of you for taking the time out to get to know her a bit better. Be sure to check out her site!