I just had lunch with my oldest brother who turns 70 today!!! We spent a nice hour or so together, and I got to treat him to his Gyro and coffee.
It's amazing to think of having a brother that age, but I'm glad I have him as a brother -- despite the vast differences between our views of the world. I'm not sure how we came from the same upbringing, but it could be a gender/generational thing. He's uber conservative, and I'm more of a liberal. We get into some very interesting discussions regarding the country, same-sex marriages...we do bait each other...it's good sibling fun.
Anyway, Happy Birthday, Tony! I wish you love and happiness, and I'm glad you are my big brother.
Love, Me
Friday, August 27, 2010
To Eat and Pray and Love...with Friends
A friend of mine that I've known since high school and I went to the movie, Eat Pray Love last night. She had won two tickets from a local radio station and invited me. It's the first time we've been out to a movie together in over 30 years (did I just say that?).
It was mostly women, of course, and the four or five men may or may not have felt out of place. The earlier movie that was still playing when we walked in was The Expendables with Sylvester Stallone...all action...explosions...gun shots...impaling...total oppositive of the chick flick.
Anyway, it was nice to hang out and eat a box of $2.50 of Milk Duds and watch Julia Roberts looking so, well, Julia Roberts. We even went to the diner afterwards and I didn't get home until after 11 p.m. This is big-time stuff...I rarely stay up that late, let alone out that late. It was a decent two-plus hours. I had read the book over the summer, and the movie more (or less) kept true to it.
I don't care which gender you are, would any of us like to be able to afford to take a year and travel like Liz Gilbert did? I would have passed on the India part and maybe even the Bali (as beautiful as it was) and hung out in Italy, since that's where my roots are. To fully immerse yourself into a culture and the language has to be one of the coolest things to do.
So that is two times this week I got to be with very positive women friends. Real people who love each other for who they are and not who they should be according to any standard or statistic or magazine quiz.
Go girl power!
It was mostly women, of course, and the four or five men may or may not have felt out of place. The earlier movie that was still playing when we walked in was The Expendables with Sylvester Stallone...all action...explosions...gun shots...impaling...total oppositive of the chick flick.
Anyway, it was nice to hang out and eat a box of $2.50 of Milk Duds and watch Julia Roberts looking so, well, Julia Roberts. We even went to the diner afterwards and I didn't get home until after 11 p.m. This is big-time stuff...I rarely stay up that late, let alone out that late. It was a decent two-plus hours. I had read the book over the summer, and the movie more (or less) kept true to it.
I don't care which gender you are, would any of us like to be able to afford to take a year and travel like Liz Gilbert did? I would have passed on the India part and maybe even the Bali (as beautiful as it was) and hung out in Italy, since that's where my roots are. To fully immerse yourself into a culture and the language has to be one of the coolest things to do.
So that is two times this week I got to be with very positive women friends. Real people who love each other for who they are and not who they should be according to any standard or statistic or magazine quiz.
Go girl power!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Energy Conservation for the Soul?
Everyone has heard about "toxic" relationships, right? Let's face it, we've all been involved in them, and it ain't pretty. You know what I mean...these are the friends, partners, siblings, bosses, or even those voices in our own heads...who find the darkness of every situation and try to lure you into their rabbit hole of suckness.
At first, you don't realize what is happening because there is a bit of a rush as you delve into that negative energy (you later realize that's the sucking of your soul being pulled away from you) as you share them with each other. But then, you listen to yourself (and not any of those bad voices) as you and your noxious companion regale each other about the negative, and you stop. What a drag it is to be around this person...ewwwww. You say, "Gotta go," and you save yourself and your tattered soul before it's too late.
But the lightness of this situation are those people in your life who actually give us (not to sound all new agey) good energy. In fact, I think what happens is that good energy begats (great word, no?) good energy, and it seeks it out. Fortunately, there are those individuals who have such good juice in them that they can sort of help exorcise out the remnants of that toxic junk that may have been hanging out from a previous rush with darkness. But, as we all know, you gotta want it yourself.
Okay, so why I'm into this mumbo-jumbo energy stuff right now is because I hung out with some friends last night, and I feel a good kind of rush from it. We ate and laughed and shared, and it was way cool.
I think women are so much better at this than men, and this is just based on no scientific study, just my own experiences. Men -- no matter what their chronological age -- do not tend to share as much as women. And, even if they do, they immediately try to pull it back to them. But, as most people know, once it's out there, it's totally out there...like it or lump it, right? Don't you feel that by sharing something -- good or bad -- kind of does a soul good? In the case of good, you can lighten up someone's burden a bit; in the case of bad, you lighten up your own. It's a give-and-take kind of energy exchange that we're all involved with all the time whether we know it or not.
Of course, sometimes we cannot remove ourselves from the toxicity of a relationship because we are caught in a dependency issue -- I hate my boss, but I need to pay bills, he's heavy, and he's my brother -- that's when we have to really dig into ourselves to fight the darkness, right?
At first, you don't realize what is happening because there is a bit of a rush as you delve into that negative energy (you later realize that's the sucking of your soul being pulled away from you) as you share them with each other. But then, you listen to yourself (and not any of those bad voices) as you and your noxious companion regale each other about the negative, and you stop. What a drag it is to be around this person...ewwwww. You say, "Gotta go," and you save yourself and your tattered soul before it's too late.
But the lightness of this situation are those people in your life who actually give us (not to sound all new agey) good energy. In fact, I think what happens is that good energy begats (great word, no?) good energy, and it seeks it out. Fortunately, there are those individuals who have such good juice in them that they can sort of help exorcise out the remnants of that toxic junk that may have been hanging out from a previous rush with darkness. But, as we all know, you gotta want it yourself.
Okay, so why I'm into this mumbo-jumbo energy stuff right now is because I hung out with some friends last night, and I feel a good kind of rush from it. We ate and laughed and shared, and it was way cool.
I think women are so much better at this than men, and this is just based on no scientific study, just my own experiences. Men -- no matter what their chronological age -- do not tend to share as much as women. And, even if they do, they immediately try to pull it back to them. But, as most people know, once it's out there, it's totally out there...like it or lump it, right? Don't you feel that by sharing something -- good or bad -- kind of does a soul good? In the case of good, you can lighten up someone's burden a bit; in the case of bad, you lighten up your own. It's a give-and-take kind of energy exchange that we're all involved with all the time whether we know it or not.
Of course, sometimes we cannot remove ourselves from the toxicity of a relationship because we are caught in a dependency issue -- I hate my boss, but I need to pay bills, he's heavy, and he's my brother -- that's when we have to really dig into ourselves to fight the darkness, right?
Friday, August 20, 2010
Long-Term is a Bad Term
So when you receive a form letter from the department of labor that says you've been identified as being "long-term unemployed," it really does a lot for your self-esteem. What's nice is that the department of labor shares employment websites, and some of them are fairly decent...except I'm still unemployed.
I am, frankly, tired of talking about trying to find a job, being unemployed, and the whole job-seeking experience. I need a break from this "break" I have been on since the beginning of the year. It truly is demoralizing, especially when I've been applying like mad back at my former employer (where, and I'm sure I've mentioned this before, the HR director told me to think of my time away from there as a "long vacation").
So, with all my experience at my former employer, my good performance reviews, and all, why have I not received any calls for interviews? Is it because I'm no spring chicken (as Mom used to say)? I did get a "you're in our pipeline for jobs" email from an HR specialist about a month ago. Now, is that a pipeline going into the company or exiting...as in waste???
Have you ever experienced the spurt of optimism when you've sent off your cover letter and resume to a potential employer? It's nice to feel like you've taken action to get yourself hired. "Ah, I did it, and it should be about two weeks before anyone hears back from them considering the amount of resumes they'll be getting...patience, right?" Yeah, right. Each Monday I feel like it's another opportunity to hear from a potential employer, and each Friday I hit that wall of reality...ugh!
Have a nice weekend...it is the weekend, right?
I am, frankly, tired of talking about trying to find a job, being unemployed, and the whole job-seeking experience. I need a break from this "break" I have been on since the beginning of the year. It truly is demoralizing, especially when I've been applying like mad back at my former employer (where, and I'm sure I've mentioned this before, the HR director told me to think of my time away from there as a "long vacation").
So, with all my experience at my former employer, my good performance reviews, and all, why have I not received any calls for interviews? Is it because I'm no spring chicken (as Mom used to say)? I did get a "you're in our pipeline for jobs" email from an HR specialist about a month ago. Now, is that a pipeline going into the company or exiting...as in waste???
Have you ever experienced the spurt of optimism when you've sent off your cover letter and resume to a potential employer? It's nice to feel like you've taken action to get yourself hired. "Ah, I did it, and it should be about two weeks before anyone hears back from them considering the amount of resumes they'll be getting...patience, right?" Yeah, right. Each Monday I feel like it's another opportunity to hear from a potential employer, and each Friday I hit that wall of reality...ugh!
Have a nice weekend...it is the weekend, right?
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Taking a Chance on Me...
I figure that each Monday brings another opportunity for me to hear from prospective employers. After all, they are so busy reading through the stacks of online resumes and cover letters that they've received, and it'll take them a good amount of time to get to MINE, right?!
Then again, it's really just another opportunity for disappointment for me. How many times can I get a "congratulations, you've qualified to go onto the next step in your application process" email from my former employer only to never, ever hear from them again. The tally on applications to that former employer (remember, "think of it as a long vacation?") is now 15. So, really, when that HR person told me that I was still in "the pipeline," she didn't go on to say which pipeline that was, and I'm thinking it wasn't the fresh water one, if you get my drift.
This whole thing is manifesting itself into heart palpitations and cooking and baking "experiments" on my part that are not really as successful as one would hope. On the positive side, I'm catching a lot of crazy TV marathons, including the "Twilight Zone," and might I add that the 80s (or maybe it was the 90s) revival of the show was not a good thing, and that so goes beyond the fashions of the time.
Anyway, I'm going to the gym now. Yes, the gym. It's only $20 a month, and I think it's worth my walking/riding to keep my heart pumping in case any of those prospective employers calls...
Then again, it's really just another opportunity for disappointment for me. How many times can I get a "congratulations, you've qualified to go onto the next step in your application process" email from my former employer only to never, ever hear from them again. The tally on applications to that former employer (remember, "think of it as a long vacation?") is now 15. So, really, when that HR person told me that I was still in "the pipeline," she didn't go on to say which pipeline that was, and I'm thinking it wasn't the fresh water one, if you get my drift.
This whole thing is manifesting itself into heart palpitations and cooking and baking "experiments" on my part that are not really as successful as one would hope. On the positive side, I'm catching a lot of crazy TV marathons, including the "Twilight Zone," and might I add that the 80s (or maybe it was the 90s) revival of the show was not a good thing, and that so goes beyond the fashions of the time.
Anyway, I'm going to the gym now. Yes, the gym. It's only $20 a month, and I think it's worth my walking/riding to keep my heart pumping in case any of those prospective employers calls...
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Community
I try to get to the gym at least three-five days a week to do my 40-45 minutes on the treadmill and bike. Yeah, I know, I'm unemployed and how dare I still keep paying towards a gym membership. Cut me some slack, okay, it's only $20 a month. And besides, it gives me more alone time to have my imaginary conversations with the voices inside my head.
Anyway, as I was driving, I noticed that all of us had our same color garbage and recycle bins lined up in front of our houses like good little conformists that we are, and it actually gave me a sense of community of sorts. Every Tuesday evening, we all drag our garbage stuff to the curb for pickup sometime on Wednesday. Before the recycling truck rolls by, there's a guy on a bike who scours the recycle bins of all of us (we're his favorite, by the way) to gather up the cans and bottles from the soda and other drinks that can be redeemed for money. Hey, anything I can do for someone else's economic health, right?
Being home has afforded me views into the neighborhood that I would not have seen had I still be working. Our elderly neighbor across the street lost his sweet wife in January. Each day, weather permitting, I see him with his walker and aide (or daughter) doing laps on our street. He gets into a pretty good stride at times, and I'll catch him on my goings and comings occasionally. This is a man who would run through the neighborhood when we first moved here 30 years ago (and he was younger than we are now). His wife used to say that you could not keep him still for a second, and in his 80s, it's still the truth.
I think I've figured out the new(er) neighbors and their family (two girls and a boy), but it's been difficult because the teenage girls look so much like their mother who is superwoman when it comes to gardening.
The summer camp is across the street and it's nice to see the field used for activities with kids. When our kids were young and into baseball, there was a baseball field with a fence around it. Local businesses wanted to display their signs along the fence, and the older neighbors put up such a stink that the businesses were voted down. Not too long after that, it seemed that the field wasn't used as much by local town sports teams, and it was dismantled. I always liked seeing the field filled with kids and parents, it was loud and lively and nice to come home to from work, even with the additional cars parked in front of the house.
Now we're the older neighbors, but we're of a different generation, and that may be why we view the kids playing basketball and soccer across the street as a good thing, even if it goes on to 10 p.m. Of course, our house is not directly across from the basketball courts, but still, why hassle kids shooting hoops...maybe it keeps them from shooting themselves up with drugs or bullets...I'm just saying, right?
All this is good, but I need to return to the land of the employed. I have outstanding credit card balances that are choking me, and while I appreciate unemployment benefits, they do not come close to being enough to keep payments up on a timely basis.
Well, I have to feed our "community" of stray cats now.
Anyway, as I was driving, I noticed that all of us had our same color garbage and recycle bins lined up in front of our houses like good little conformists that we are, and it actually gave me a sense of community of sorts. Every Tuesday evening, we all drag our garbage stuff to the curb for pickup sometime on Wednesday. Before the recycling truck rolls by, there's a guy on a bike who scours the recycle bins of all of us (we're his favorite, by the way) to gather up the cans and bottles from the soda and other drinks that can be redeemed for money. Hey, anything I can do for someone else's economic health, right?
Being home has afforded me views into the neighborhood that I would not have seen had I still be working. Our elderly neighbor across the street lost his sweet wife in January. Each day, weather permitting, I see him with his walker and aide (or daughter) doing laps on our street. He gets into a pretty good stride at times, and I'll catch him on my goings and comings occasionally. This is a man who would run through the neighborhood when we first moved here 30 years ago (and he was younger than we are now). His wife used to say that you could not keep him still for a second, and in his 80s, it's still the truth.
I think I've figured out the new(er) neighbors and their family (two girls and a boy), but it's been difficult because the teenage girls look so much like their mother who is superwoman when it comes to gardening.
The summer camp is across the street and it's nice to see the field used for activities with kids. When our kids were young and into baseball, there was a baseball field with a fence around it. Local businesses wanted to display their signs along the fence, and the older neighbors put up such a stink that the businesses were voted down. Not too long after that, it seemed that the field wasn't used as much by local town sports teams, and it was dismantled. I always liked seeing the field filled with kids and parents, it was loud and lively and nice to come home to from work, even with the additional cars parked in front of the house.
Now we're the older neighbors, but we're of a different generation, and that may be why we view the kids playing basketball and soccer across the street as a good thing, even if it goes on to 10 p.m. Of course, our house is not directly across from the basketball courts, but still, why hassle kids shooting hoops...maybe it keeps them from shooting themselves up with drugs or bullets...I'm just saying, right?
All this is good, but I need to return to the land of the employed. I have outstanding credit card balances that are choking me, and while I appreciate unemployment benefits, they do not come close to being enough to keep payments up on a timely basis.
Well, I have to feed our "community" of stray cats now.
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