Monday, October 27, 2008

My Personal Spook Alley

My heart was pounding and fear clutched at my throat, restricting my breathing, as I nervously surveyed my surroundings. Where was I? Not in a haunted house. Not lost. I was in a mall!! Apparently the scariest place around for me! I had forgotten how terrifying walking through a mall by myself is. It really does a number on my nerves with all the people and the noise and the mass confusion. I especially dislike the vendors in the middle of the paths who jump out in front of you shoving soaps and potent fragrances in your face. It reminds me of Mexico. I can hear them now in thick Spanish accents: "Almost free for you." I hope none of them spoke Spanish because most of the time I passed by I leaned over and pretended to be engrossed in conversing with Annalee, but was really saying the same thing each time (hey, when you're nervous, fresh ideas run low in the brain). One time I sped up to walk on the outside of someone else...they caught her instead. The last time I was fortunate to be on the phone with Lee and realized that was my ticket. From now on I'll just pull out the trusty anti-social device and avoid any human contact!

Friday, October 10, 2008

The Role of a Referee in Soccer



When a team loses a match, whose fault is it? The referee's. When a team wins, to whom does the credit go? Their supreme skill of course, with no thanks to the horrible calls from the referee! While some may say the original intent of having officiators in soccer was to enforce the rules and to protect the players, it can be argued that an added bonus has emerged. The current role of a referee is undeniably to be a scapegoat... (Click to read the rest of the article)

That's the beginning of an article I wrote that has earned me $0.01! (...I know, I'm racking it in :) For those of you who don't know, I love to write. I have slacked off the past few years and have decided to pick it up again. Almost a year ago I found a website that you could join for free and possibly earn money for articles you write. How great would that be to get paid to do something you love?! However, I didn't do much with it until about two or three weeks ago. I'm still figuring it out. Lee found another site that supposedly earns more money and it's based solely on page views. I'll put up some links to articles I post there, but for now, I want to see how I earn money on this other site. I think it has something to do with page views as well. So, do me a favor and click to read the rest of my article about the role of a referee in soccer. Even if you don't know anything about soccer, humor me and at least visit the page. It's not at all technical and it's actually not a very serious article like all the others. I wanted it to stand out from the others so I took a different approach. Some people appreciated my twist because it's ranked 3rd out of 9 submissions.

If anyone else is interested in trying out these sites to get paid for writing about stuff you know about, let me know and I'll send you an invite because I think that's another way for me to earn money! Otherwise, I'll keep everyone posted here on my blog as to what I think about these sites and if they're worth checking into.