So, here you are at the end of 2009 and you have got about 3 days to tie up any loose ends you may have for the year. Lots of friends this year left their long time careers, sometimes without another job to go to. Many friends are also moving now, lots of nests being emptied, and lots of garbage, too! It seems to me that we’re getting less tolerant of the garbage in our lives and are taking active steps to toss it out, and this usually means big lifestyle changes. When we start working on getting rid of our garbage, there might be friends that drop out of the picture in the process as well.
Author Archives: Andrea
The Zen of Farmville on Facebook? WTF?
Facebook is an idle relaxation time for me, when I have a few moments free, but am not free enough to actually leave the computer. It lets me check up on what real life friends are doing, when I don’t have time to telephone and visit with them. It lets me feel I am in the social loop, even if I can’t attend the local events. Lots of my Facebook friends I don’t know at all, but am glad to expand who I interact with to be exposed to a variety of viewpoints. A lot of them post motivational quotes, which I usually skip over unless they include a personal comment. I’ve been reading one liners like that my whole life – I’m on Facebook to learn what someone else thinks, not to hear a rehashing. Post a quote, but also comment on what made you choose that one, right now. I mostly like to know what people are doing in their ordinary lives. That’s what lets me get to know them and want to follow what they say. Those are the people who are on my Facebook News Feed. Continue reading
Pakistan Recognizes Third Gender
Pakistan Recognizes Third Gender by Ria Misra: The Supreme Court in Pakistan ordered that the government officially recognize a separate gender for Pakistan’s hijra community, which includes transgendered people, transvestites, and eunuchs. The court told the federal government to begin allowing people to identify as hijras when registering for a national identity card. Not having an identity card, or having one with incorrect information, leaves a person vulnerable and easily excluded from society. In India, voters are required to identify their sex both on their voter ID cards and at the polls. The insistence that they identify as male or female effectively barred many transgendered and transvestite people from the polls until late this year, when the government declared that for the purposes of voting it would recognize a third option. In addition, a warning was issued that the hijras’ rights of inheritance would be enforced, and that police harassment would not be permitted, a sign, perhaps, of rulings to come. Continue reading
Keeping Track of Stacks of Books
Whew! I just put 51 new books on the low shelves next to the reading nook. I have lots of books. One way I keep track of them is to keep an ongoing list of all the titles, so in case I want to know if I have something, I can do a word search for it. I have 589 on the list right now on Christmas 2009. Actually, this number does not include the maybe 100 books of my own collection from before I began my list. They get moved around quite a bit. When books first arrive, I log them in and then I put them on the lower shelves by the main reading nook. I have several areas for sitting and reading, all next to different bookshelves. After each has been read, they move on to a more permanent location, typically by topic or author. Now if I could just keep track of where each title actually is, I’d be set.
Talking in my sleep
I was napping earlier today and woke up talking on the phone to my friend Joy. Well, I thought I was anyway. I purposely keep the phone (usually) where I have to walk to it answer it, but this time it was next to my big puffy chair, where I’d fallen asleep proof-reading. I answered the phone automatically in my sleep. I thought I was making sense, saying real words. Apparently not. I always tell friends, the wake-up trigger phrase if that happens is to ask me, “Are you awake? Do you want to wake up?” Continue reading
Is Bipolar The Root Of Genius?
A fave friend has been taking their new bi-polar meds Symbyax for a year now and is happy with how their moods have evened out. They don’t get depressed and they’ve had no adverse side effects. I miss their manic upswings though, their wild ideas, their inspirations and musings. Their hare-brained schemes, as his wife calls them. But while they may have been simply grandiose babblings from a clinically manic state, to my ear they sounded like messages of inspiration. They sparked ideas which often evolved into projects that earned both of us income. When I look back, after my friend was first diagnosed as bi-polar a couple of years ago, and think of all the ideas for projects that never materialized, I still can’t see that as being grandiose – one man’s absurd exaggeration is another mans’ actual life. During the same time frame, I think of all the ideas for projects I have left undone. It’s about the same, so you can’t blame it on bi-polar. Part of the fun we have together is chatting about what might be possible to achieve between the two of us. That’s not grandiose, it’s simply enthused pre-paving. Continue reading
Christmas in Florida, Happy Birthday Jesus
It’s 10:00am ET on Christmas Day in central Florida. It’s 75 degrees out there, 89% humidity, a 12mph breeze going, so it’s not sticky and the windows are all open. The windchimes are singing away out there and squirrels just now running across the roof to raid the acorns. I heard the rain coming down during the night and I walked outside wearing my rain poncho. I barely saw the moon. It’s a lovely Christmas Day.
Happy birthday, Jesus.
What Is My Message from the Undercarriage Incident?
During last week’s Ocala Cassadaga Trip, I managed to dislodge the plastic undercarriage cover on my 2007 Toyota Prius and, since it was dragging, I had to remove it before I could continue on my way. I got to wiggle around underneath the front bumper of the car and locate the screws and bolts and remove the panel in two pieces. One of the screws was so loose I could remove it by hand. That made me think that the whole reason for the casing to drop was likely that a screw came loose and worked its way out. I contemplated what my message was from that. Continue reading
‘Balloon Boy’ Parents Richard and Mayumi Heene Sentenced – Sphere News
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (Dec. 23, 2009) – The parents who pulled the balloon boy hoax in hopes of landing a reality TV show were sentenced to jail Wednesday – 90 days for him, 20 days for her – and barred from profiting from their newfound celebrity status for the next four years. The sentencing was the culmination of a saga that transfixed the nation in October with the sight of the silvery balloon hurtling through the sky on live television. In the end, it was all a publicity stunt by a family broke and desperate for attention and money after networks kept rejecting their reality TV show pitches. “What this case is about is deception, exploitation – exploitation of the children of the Heenes, exploitation of the media and exploitation of people’s emotions – and money,” District Judge Stephen Schapanski said. The Heenes were also put on four years’ probation, during which they cannot earn any money related to the stunt. That means any book, movie or reality TV deals are off limits. Jay Leno said it best when he said, ‘This is a copycat game.’ And people will copycat this event.” The Heenes “need to go to jail so people don’t do that. Read entire article here
On the upside, in four years and one day they can re-commence hawking their story and after 4 years time to write it, it could be a good one.
🙂
In case the FTC is wondering, I am not endorsing anyone.
This Week’s Ocala Cassadaga Trip – Seeing Synchronicity in Action
The Tuesday before Christmas, I drove to Ocala and Cassadaga with galpal Theresa Hudson a/k/a Tigger. It would be her first time meeting Catherine Wendell of Ocala Ghost Walks and the three of us got to hang out and chat awhile. Cat delivers the magazine to the Ocala area for me, which I so totally appreciate! On the drive to Ocala, I tell Theresa about my two clients and my earlier blog post Relationships: What Is My New and Improved Type? And I told her that part of the exercise I am doing with the 2 clients are to keep an eye out for what I appreciate about the men around me. Any men we run into all day long. As we drive from Ocala toward Cassadaga, I tell her I wanted to see what I attract out of Cassadaga since I know some of the guys there yet not much interaction in all these years. And sure enough, we walk into the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp Bookstore, and I run into Luke, a friend I’ve emailed and spoken with for years and just never met in person. As soon as I saw him, he looked very familiar. We were stacking the January Horizons in the corner and I kept trying to place him. Finally I just walked up to him and said, “Do I know you?” He smiled because he knew it was me before I knew it was him. Brat! Continue reading