Thursday, June 2, 2011

Conversations with Family Members...

by Brittany Geragotelis

I talked to two of my family members yesterday and both conversations were eye-opening and enjoyable. Let me clue you in to a typical Geragotelis phone call:

The first talk I had was with my mom, who caught me just when I was on my way out of the office for the day. It had been a week or so since we'd last talked (both of us have been super busy) and we took a few minutes to try and catch up. After chatting about boyfriend/relationship stuff, the conversation turned to my writing. That's when she said it:

"Life's a Witch is getting really good!"

Sounds simple enough, but if you knew my mom, you'd know she's not really a reader. Smartest person I know, but she just doesn't like reading the way I do and doesn't do it much for pleasure. In fact, even though she's my biggest fan, she's never read a book I've written. Not because she doesn't believe in me and/or think I write well, it's just not her thing.

Well, ever since I started publishing LAW on Wattpad.com, my mom's been logging on...and reading! It's been such a pleasant surprise and a joy to hear that she's reading my book (finally) and enjoying it! Because what she thinks matters to me (I mean, come on, she's awesome!), it's been really nice knowing that she's digging my work!

So, that was the first family convo I had. The second was with my little sister. She's 10 years younger than me and is working at a company that is owned by Microsoft, testing video games. Or at least that's what she wants me to believe. Here was our talk:

Me: How's work going?
Her: It's fine. Did I tell you I got put on another project?
Me: No! That's exciting! What kind of a game is it? A zombie game? A driving game?
Her: It's not a zombie game....
Me: Well, what is it?
Her: (silence)
Me: Can you not tell me about it or something? Matt said maybe you had to sign a confidentiality clause or an NDA or something.
Her: Yeah.
Me: Wait, so you're not allowed to talk about what you're doing at work?
Her: Nope.
Me: It's like, top secret information?
Her: Something like that. Everyone has different levels of clearance and we aren't allowed to go into certain labs...
photo credit: ABC/Alias
Me: Are you sure you're not a secret government agent? It sounds like you're a secret government agent.
Her: I'm sure. But if I were, I couldn't tell you anyway, so....
Me: I know this girl who works for the government and nobody knows where her work actually is. She's not even allowed to bring her cell phone to work with her or surf the internet while she's there.
Her: We're not allowed to have anything with a camera on it.
Me: So you could be a secret agent.
Her: (laughs nervously)
Me: Could they be tapping the phones right now?
Her: I test video games for Microsoft!
Me: Maybe Microsoft is really just a front for a secret government agency. Did you ever think of that?
Her: I'm going to go now.

It's amazing how much I learn every time I talk to my family members. One's reading regularly and the other is a secret government agent...errr, video game tester.

Gotta love family!

5x5,
B.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hahahahahaha! Laughing through my tears!

Andi~Letters of Lore said...

Hmm. My son may very well be a secret agent, too. Works at Los Alamos, yes that Los Alamos. Had to get clearance after clearance and kept telling us that if a black SUV pulled up, don't worry, they just want to check us out. eek. Luckily no black SUVs ever showed. He hasn't mentioned not being able to have anything with a camera, but I know he can't have anything "important" on his desk, if the window blinds aren't drawn, just in case someone maybe focusing in on his desktop with a zoom lens.

 
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