Joining the 56 club

Last Monday I turned 56 having been born in the year 1956. I somehow had the idea that this should be a magical number and something fabulous would happen to me. As a matter of fact I got to partake in a few fabulous things, my bff took me to Benbow for a weekend in the beautiful redwoods of Ave of the Giants Humboldt county. It was so peaceful and relaxing just hanging out with her in a fab old historic hotel. The weekend before that I got to watch my adorable god-daughter get married to her soulmate and have their gorgeous infant daughter baptised during the ceremony, so thankful that I got to be a part of that special event. Thanksgiving we hosted my mom, sis and sis' boyfriend and got weather and scenery that one can only find in our part of Northern California, well maybe elsewhere you could find it but I'm biased. So this makes me think that if you want to have something magical happen you should probably try to work on getting it yourself. It must be that the idea of publishing my story collection that I've been working on for the last 6 years has been coming to the surface of my subconscious since in dreams I have seen the cover floating through space or laying on a cloud or being held by some unknown person while they are reading it on a train or in a pasture. So I have a year of magical attempts and will work towards seeing The Fridge Magnet Chronicles in print. Happy Birthday to me!

Books, books and more books!

Last Saturday I covered for my friend Jeane at her booth during the Sonoma County Literary Festival. The hubby and I carried several boxes of local author's books to be for sale during the festival. Coming on board as Jeane's assistant is a part-time job from the heart. As a writer myself (although The Fridge Magnet Chronicles is going on 6 years in the making) I love to see the success of other local writer's. I am also old fashioned and love bookstores and the feel and smell of printed pages that I can sit with and loose myself into while reading a well written story. So it was my suprise that sales just weren't happening and alas didn't even earn enough money for Jeane to earn back her investment of the rented spot. What I did notice when folks stopped by the booth was that many took out their phones and snapped pictures of books title pages. Finally after mulling that for a week it came to me what that was about, people who Kindle could probably go home and get on Amazon and download the books I had for sale at a fraction of what a hard copy book goes for. Too late to do anything about it now but it's still annoying. All in all even if the books are bought electronicly the author still gets paid so that's good but next year if I'm at the booth selling local author's books those people who try to take photographs will get a nice picture of my hand instead. What do you think of that? "-)

New job

I have a new job! Commuting to Sonoma for work at Outdora as customer service. Commute seems a harsh word. I leave my house and about a half hour later after winding through pretty country roads over hills and past vineyards I arrive to begin my day in a town that's like a postcard. I've already lunched under the trees in the park at the town plaza and window shopped at Sister's, a consignment store that friends have raved about for years. My co-workers and boss at Outdora are really wonderful so far. With a completed week under my belt, although not really earning a great salary I have to say I feel a good fit has been found for me to work at til retirement. Will keep you posted.

End of semester...

The semester from hell finally ended. Below you will see my grades for the 4 classes I completed. I am on board with the D from BOT 85.4, had decided about halfway through that legal docs made my eyes glaze over. But the F in BOT 56B is intolerable. I turned in my professional portfolio, albeit the biography was a short story about when I was a teen and would sit in the pear tree smoking and daydreaming of leaving Ukiah. Ok, I admit that the cover for the binder was the page I always print out for the cover of my story collection The Fridge Magnet Chronicles. Comments from the instructor were as follows, "Cute cover but highly inappropriate for business portfolio, in fact you didn't follow the instructions at all." Well I think it was inappropriate for a teacher switch-a-roo halfway through the semester. And I also think that there should be a way to test out of a class about joining the 21st century workforce if you've been a worker in both the 20th and 21st centuries! Such as it is I do feel that I got something out of it besides having a dream team to work with (you know who you are Rebbeca, Tracey, and Eli), I figured out that I don't want to be an ace admin assist or a bookkeeper extroirdinare. So will spend the summer looking through all the certificate programs that don't involve so much printing that I go through 2 ink cartridges in one semester or have books that cost an arm and a leg and then are barely refered to throught the whole class. What do you think, lessons learned?

5356	BOT 85.1	LEGAL PROFESSIONS	B	1.00	1.00	3.00
6889	BOT 85.4	CIVIL LITIGATION PROC	D	1.50	1.50	1.50
4306	BOT 56A	WORKFORCE ISSUES	C	3.00	3.00	6.00
4307	BOT 56B	BUSINESS CAREER PLANNING	F	1.00	0.00	0.00
6569	WEOC 99	OCC WORK EXPERIENCE	W	<1.00>	0.00	0.00
Semester Totals				6.50	5.50	10.50	1.615
Semester Degree Applicable Totals				6.50	5.50	10.50	1.615

April showers bring May flowers

Dear Spring, No more showers please. I always forget my raincoat in the truck and get wet. Seeing the lupine and poppies is making me happy though. And I shouldn't complain about the longer days, seasonal affected disorder sufferer that I am. The wind is kind of making more allergies kick in too but nothing like earlier in the year when the dreaded Acacia was in bloom. Have even done a little spring cleaning and put up interesting wall scapes. Getting a lot of reading done although not the homework for school that I should be doing to get a halfway decent grade in May. So thank you Spring for coming along, guess I can live with the rain so I'll be able to shower this summer without water rationing! Sincerely, M

Stepping out of legal and into I don't even know what...

Just took an online career assesment test and have realized that I am not legal office material. SOOOOO... I will start all over once again even with a year of legal assistant paid and studied for and try to figure out where my path shall lead me. If you are interested I have copy and pasted the test results. Open for feedback you all. "-)
As a Blue...
you may be among the most loving, nurturing and supportive people in the world. You often seek to express your inner self.
You do not have to work at it; it is simply your nature. All of us have special talents and gifts, but Blues possess extraordinary people skills. Others easily recognize you because of your soft and gentle demeanour.
One of your greatest gifts may be your ability to love unconditionally. Many think of you as the least judgmental of all people. You tend to focus on what is good in people.
You often communicate from your heart. You are generally sensitive and have a need to express how you feel. This can be construed by others as weakness, if they don’t appreciate sensitivity. For male Blues, this can be difficult because sensitivity in men is sometimes not understood in a society where maleness is sometimes equated with a lack of sensitivity. Because of this sensitivity you may tend to cry more easily than others.
You tend to value honesty and authenticity. You usually enjoy close friendships with those you love. Making a difference in the world is somewhat easy for you because you cultivate this potential in yourself and in others.
You have a great deal of latitude in career choices and may succeed in many fields. In work environments, as a Blue, you are usually at ease with colleagues, and others enjoy your presence. Blues are generally highly creative in dealing with people and are outstanding at inspiring group spirit and getting people together. As a Blue, you may begin to dislike your work environment if the people and the tasks become routine.
You may prefer a family-like, friendly, personalized and warm work environment. You may dislike jobs that require painstaking detail and follow-through over a period of time. Blues tend to prefer people-oriented careers and jobs that allow creativity and variety in day-to-day operations.

Class Essays

I turned in an essay recently that I thought had a tongue in cheek component to one of my legal class instructors. When I received it back she wanted to make sure I knew that I wasn't a very good writer and she thought I could benefit from a business English class, the "C" she had given me on it wasn't really deserved. Well I already knew that to shift gears from classes over the last 2 decades in creative writing and the humanities to legal and 21st century workforce issues would be hard I didn't think it would be brutal. Crying all the way home (but before that first giving thought to pushing her down the stairs) I was ready to give up. Then I realized having invested  over $1,000.00 and countless hours at the JC working towards making myself marketable in a world of massive unemployed and few available jobs that want to pay over $10.00 an hour, I would put on my big girl panties and just work harder. No I'm not giving up on my dream of having the story collection published, in fact have made myself promise that before this year is out I will have Fridge Magnet Chronicles typed, edited and polished for all the world to see. In the meantime here's my latest essay assignment, a different instructor so we shall see what her take on my grammar and writing style is...

Time Allocation
My goal for the year is to have my story collection The Fridge Magnet Chronicles published. Everyone said when I got laid off “Oh but just think how much more time you will have to write.”
I am getting better at doing the old writer’s adage of BIC and no I don’t mean make sure you have a pen in your hand at all times should the muse arise, I mean BUTT IN CHAIR! I have found time for more creative writing workshops than I would have been able to attend but then as time went on without a job on the horizon and the fact that unemployment doesn’t last forever, had to forgo classes of that nature and focus on marketable skill learning.
During January and February with extra free time I cleaned out drawers and closets finding a treasure trove of notebooks filled with my ruminations on family, friends and my life past present and future. The goal then became to set the timer and type from these scribbling to make lucid and tidy for the upcoming editing necessary to put my stories into the book.
So there you have what my main focus has been over the last several weeks, wouldn’t say it’s anything to write home about but I am starting to feel a sense of accomplishment. I know that to become better at anything it requires practice, I am putting that knowledge to work and do feel that the challenge of my goal for this year will be accomplished!

What February means to me...

I sit here ruminating about the shortest month of the year looking out through the kitty pawed dirty sliding glass door to the bright winter sunlight reflecting on what February means to me. Ten years ago I was angry at February as my dad hung in comatose from the last fight against his cancer. Valentines Day brought me the news that he was gone and until recently I didn't want flowers or candy, I wanted my dad back. This year on the 10th anniversary of his passing my mom wants my sister and me to write something about a memory with dad so she can scrapbook it. Mine will be a fish tale of 21 year old daughter getting the first bite while the seasoned old fisherman watches as his hook just bobs about in the water. Five years ago I was also angry at February while I watched the decades old relationship with hubby waiver between the end or a new beginning. I now post the miscelaneous ramblings of a suburban kind of guy on his facebook page for him, guess that means we got through the rough patch huh. So the February that used to make me angry has now mellowed over the years, kind of like I have. This February actually is making me very happy with the publication of Healdsburg Alive, poetry and prose of some talented local authors including yours truly (ok and the husband). So I wish you a splendid February. What could only have made it a better February is if today while enjoying the company of friends we could be cheering to the 49ers on Super Bowl Sunday!

New Semester

Well everyone, Sockmonkey and I start back to JC today. I am enrolled in the stupidest classes ever but they are a requirement. Title of classes are "Deciding on Your Career" and "Entering the Work Force". Tried with all my might to try to get out of them but can't go for the credits that are internship until completion which is going to take the whole semester Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Hmm, once I get into the class you think my white hair will be a give-away that I've found and lost careers over 35 + years and that I wouldn't be in the Legal Sec. cert. program if I hadn't decided on what I want to do til I retire! Sockmonkey thinks I should just deal with it and I guess I will. Now if I can only test out of business English, I am a published author after all and I edit books in my spare time for heavens sake. Do you think there is going to be any available parking on campus the first week of school? Well looking at the clock guess I better get going in case I'm driving around for half an hour looking for a space. Will keep you posted.