When I was in my twenties, I used to go to job fairs sometimes. I would think to myself, “I wonder which crop of losers is going to show up at this one?”

The really hopeless ones would have people to jump out in front of you with a clipboard and stop you from walking by. “Can you start tonight?”

I was walking by this one display where the company’s name was KGB. That was intriguing, plus the interviewer met my gaze and sweetly beckoned me over to the table.

She was cool, hysterically funny, and depreciating about the company. “This place is ridiculous, but you might like it.”

It turns out KGB was a call center that did directory assistance lookups and upsells in a building beside the interstate east of Greensboro. She invited me out there for an interview and testing, so I went.

Part of the testing was spelling where she flipped open a telephone directory and found words for me to spell: attorney, concrete, plumber. I nailed them too easily, so she closed the directory and said, spell “bourgeoisie.” I wasn’t 100% sure, but I nailed it, too.

She told me the place was basically a mess, but was kind of fun, and she felt like I could probably be running the center within a year or two.

I really wanted to work there, but a better offer came in. I’ll never know how it was over at KGB.

When I was school-age, but before I was old enough to drive myself to high school, there used to be a burger place on High Point Rd (now Gate City Bvd) near Groometown Rd. called Ray’s. It was near the now gone Holiday Roller Rink.

Some days my mother would drive me to school to save me from the bus. We’d often stop at Ray’s for breakfast. I always had the egg sandwich. There was nothing special about it. Just fried egg, mayo, salt/pepper, on a smooth toasted Whopper-sized bun.

I still think about how good those sandwiches were and try to duplicate them at home to this day. Part of the good feeling was sitting in the car with my mother eating them.

Starting 7th grade, school became mentally hostile to me, and breakfast with mom helped start the day out better. She knew.

Speaking of Holiday Roller Rink, my parents dropped me off there many a Saturday. Nice place. Strangely enough, First Baptist Church on Friendly had roller skating. They dropped me off there a lot, too.

Just a reminder that AstraZeneca is here to help. 💊

A progression of phrases that a beginning language learner would use in a target language. They get more bold as the language is acquired and confidence builds:

— Hello!
— Today is Thursday.
— My name is _.
— What is your name?
— We need to get these pants off you. 😁 ❤️