Tuesday, December 31, 2013

December NABLOPMO were a bust, but I still had fun.

A short note:   Due to the holidays and other things in my life, I was not able to do every single prompt for December 2013.  To me that was a loss, but I will live.  However, the time that I was able to spend writing them, I had a blast.   
I urge everyone who is a writer (or aspire to be one) to take on January 2014's prompts.  No PRESSURE! (Which also happens to be the theme of the next set of prompts).
Here are the Prompts, in case you want to do them on your own, register at Blogher and submit your posts (you do have to be a member of Blogher), or as inspiration in case you want to try something similar on your own writing blog (just give Blogher the credit for your little inspirational challenge)
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Do you work well under pressure?
Thursday, January 2, 2014
What are you currently feeling pressure to do that you don't particularly enjoy?
Friday, January 3, 2014
Do you have a tendency to procrastinate, or do you like checking things off your to-do list?
Monday, January 6, 2014
Tell us about a time you bent to peer pressure.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Tell us about a time when you didn't bend to peer pressure, and you swam against the stream.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Can peer pressure be positive? Why or why not?
Thursday, January 9, 2014
A pressure point translates in Japanese to "tender spot." What are your pressure points?
Friday, January 10, 2014
Have you ever tried acupressure to treat a problem? What was your experience with it?
Monday, January 13, 2014
Eleanor Roosevelt said: "A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water." Tell us about a time you felt your strength.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Marge Piercy said: "A strong woman is a woman determined to do something others are determined not be done." Tell us about a time when you did what couldn't be done.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
"Courage is grace under pressure" is a famous quotation by Ernest Hemingway. Tell us about a personal moment of your grace under pressure.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Who puts the most pressure on you -- yourself or others?
Friday, January 17, 2014
Do you think you handle pressure well, or do you usually fall apart?
Monday, January 20, 2014
Do you still feel pressure of conform? If no, what age did it stop?
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Do you feel pressure to be perfect? How much of it is tied to what you see online?
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Do you have a bad temper? How often do you lose your temper?
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Do you think it's possible to control your temper when facing enormous pressure?
Friday, January 24, 2014
Does pressure ever make you want to rebel and do the exact opposite of what is being asked of you?
Monday, January 27, 2014
What puts more pressure on you: time constraints or achieving perfection?
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Which of your responsibilities stress you out the most?
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Are you good at influencing other people?
Thursday, January 30, 2014
If you could persuade people to do one thing right now, what would it be?
Friday, January 31, 2014
Did you feel a lot of pressure with January's NaBloPoMo?
Again, these are not my ideas, but Melissa Ford's.  She is over the challenge for the month,
  (sorry about the different fonts, after 4 years of writing on Blogger, I would have learned better.  Thinking about switching this blog to Tumblr)

Good night.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

A 3-Year old's favorite mash up song

Hello-

It may not be a Christmas Song, nor wishing someone a happy New year, but this is my nephew in all of his 3-year old happiness.  This was a couple of hours before the Christmas Eve festivities started at my parent's home.
Children bring their own magic to an otherwise chaotic world, and The song, which is a mash-up (or mixture of for you old schoolers), of The Barney song (to the tune of This old Man) and Willow Smith's I whip My Hair (his version).  I hope you enjoy it.





Merry Christmas, Everyone.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Curse you, IPad and the Blogger ap

Image by Google Images
Today, I decided to step away from this desktop computer, and take to writing via Ipad and the blogger app.   These days, sometimes I feel like all I ever do is wake up, come downstairs from my perch (LOL), and write on this computer, in hopes to gain viewers.  Aww, a writer’s life for me.  So, I decided to try my hand at Ipad writing.  
As I put finger tips to virtual keyboard, I eloquently compose the words on the app, and carefully making sure I write to help my potential readers understand what I am trying to get across.  I accidently added an extra line of nothing to a paragraph.  No problem, I will correct it.   So, as I went to correct it, I erase the whole thing.   I tried to get it back, but nothing.  I did not save it.  Well, it does not automatically save on the Ipad like the website automatically saves.  What a bummer.  Blogger, you need to change that.  
I have always said that the way I write is, writing the post first in a MS Word document, then cut and paste it on the blog.  I have not found a app on the Ipad that allows me to have the same feel as the combo of Word and cut/paste to the blogger software.  The reason could be the constant fight between Apple and Microsoft of who has the better device/software.  Enough already.  Microsoft will not do us Ipad users a favor by providing a complete Office app for the Ipad or Apple will not allow a complete Office app for the Ipad.   At least one that is free.  
So, my advice to you is to have more than one way of typing your post.  Once you have typed and proofread your work, save it.  I am slowly running out of room, so I need a new external drive.  I have one, but the computer hated the configuration of the drive once Windows 7 came into the picture. (It was configured in Windows Vista).  Be your best advocate when protecting your hard earned work from the very beginning.  This includes when vultures start stealing your well-written work. (Another topic for another day).  

I will tackle the topic of imagination and knowledge at another time.  I am 5 hours late with a topic.   Be blessed, my friend, be blessed.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

George Bernard Shaw said, "Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance." Do you agree or disagree?

Photo by Google image
Today’s (or I should say) Friday’s topic has me thinking about false knowledge.  I am not going to dive into it too close, after all, this is a writing prompt assignment. I wanted to know which is worst, so I looked the quote up by Mr. Shaw.  When I first think about false knowledge, I think about the word, “Lie” or “Lying.”  It makes me wonder how many lies we are told by people, such as family members, friends, and professional people.   For instance, when a child gets a shot at the doctor’s office, how many times are they told that the shot does not hurt?  Of course it is going to hurt, even for a tiny little second.  It is the longest second that anyone has ever experienced, because up to that point, that child have never experience that pain.
When I think of false knowledge, I also think about false advertisement.  As a business person, I always have to watch how and what I advertise.  The product has to be able to represent the company the way it is supposed to be.  For instance, how many of you watch the infomercials on television? For that company, you have to be able to prove that all of those exercise, business model manuals, and appliances work the way that they are advertised.  Anything less, and it is false advertising.  You have lied or scammed your way into the public eye.  So let us look at another word in the quote, “ignorance.”
Ignorance is the lack of knowledge.  For instance, to say that a person is unaware about a group of people, it means that person is ignorant.   There are all kinds of ignorance, but the most common of all ignorance is ignorance against a race, a lifestyle, a culture, religion, or a gender.  I can tell you from experience that one ignorant statement I hear all the time is “all African American males (AAM) are either unemployed, on drugs, cheating on their spouses, in jail, or dead.”   That is a statement that is false and here is why.  First of all, the word “ALL” is used.  Second, a person who makes that statement, has predestined all AAMs from birth to age 99 to particular way of life.  People often do not take into account on how a child is raised, the educational background, and other environmental surroundings.  Lastly, the person who makes that statement does not look at males of ALL races, they only look at the history of AAM and current stats on a concentrated few.   It also goes back to the false knowledge about the AAM.  Perhaps the person who made the statement about AAMs were taught that false knowledge through a parent or a teacher.  Who knows unless you start asking questions to that person?
Is it possible that “false knowledge” and “Ignorance” could be one in the same?  I just used the “African American Males” example, where it is possible for someone to be fed “false knowledge” about a group of people, by a person who is “ignorant” or “shows ignorance.”  If that is the case, to me, that quote is false and both false knowledge and ignorance can be dangerous at the same time.
People will always put their own spin into things that are a bunch of lies or “half-truths.”  It’s worse now than it has ever been.  There are lies against everyone, because people do not take the time to get to know that race, religion, or lifestyle.  They also do not take the time to get to know that individual, because people are always in a hurry.  For instance, today, I had a conversation with a cousin of mine, who is “tired of all the digital communication.”  He wanted to physically talk to people in front of him, instead of always to them through social media, texting, and through email.  We used to do that.  I expressed to him that I wish that I could get all of my cousin’s addresses phone numbers, and such so we could all get together to meet with one another.  I wish that we were all like my cousin.   In an age where teens could sit across from each other, only to say something in text, we need a little less false knowledge about one another, and so we can stop the ignorance that goes on throughout this planet.
So my quest I want from you is to comment below on what you think about that quote about “false knowledge” and “ignorance.”  Do you agree or disagree?

Until then, be blessed, my friend, and do not let a little thing happen to you.  Educate yourself about someone else outside your circle of friends.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Would you rather have one more hour with someone you like, or one fewer hour with someone you can't stand?

photo courtesy of Google Imagins
This is another Blogher post prompt that I am writing.  I find it rather unusual, and kind of annoying.  The reason being, is I do not like to discriminate against anyone.  I hope you find it very strange for me to say that.  But if I have to choose between either one, I would have to choose one more hour with someone I like.
The reason why I choose to spend one more hour with the person I like, is I have gotten along with this person from the very beginning.  We have something in common, a good start two what may be a bad ending, such as an accident, or that person moving away.  I will want to know what that person’s future would be like, or how they have enjoyed life.  I would then say how much I enjoyed their company, their friendship, and their life.  It would be hard for me if I had to witness the end of a beautiful life, or beautiful friendship.  What if it was not the end, but a beginning of something new?  Would I be selfish?  I mean, what if I am preventing something that can benefit either one of us?  Just because I’d do not want something to end, that does not mean that I am selfish.  What see if it is a new job?  It could provide a way for that person to maybe visit after they get settled.  Maybe that job is just temporary, and they will be back in a few months, or a couple years.  Finally, they could come back to teach others what they have learned.  The possibilities are endless.
Let’s look at it in a different light.  What if they were sick?  What if they could not get well?  How would to spend that time with them?  Would you to spend that time crying?  Would you spend that time holding that person?  These are questions that we have to ask ourselves when the time comes.  It is hard to talk about something that has not happen yet.  I do know this.  If I had to spend one more hour with someone who I liked, only to find out that they had something like terminal cancer, or some other terminal disease, I would spend that time thanking them for the time that they were in my life.  I would not cry, because I do not want that person to see how sad I am.  I hope that the person who I am talking to, has all of their affairs in order, and that everything will be all right.
So my question to you is, who do you want to spend your 1 hour with?  I hope it is with someone who you love, rather than someone you despise.  I hope it is with someone who you respect, love to listen to, and who can give you good wisdom for your future.  I want to give you one final thought about who I would have love to meet.  That person is a person who died last week, and that person is Nelson Mandela.  It would have been an honor to have just sit and listen to what he had to say about his country, his thoughts on the United States, and people in general.  Madiba, as he was called by many, was memorialized two days ago, with the private ceremony for his family on Saturday, will always be remembered as a gentle giant who changed a nation, and hopefully a world.  At least I would like to think so.

So comment on your thoughts below in the comments section below.   What do you think of this topic?  Feel free to use this as a jumping off point in your writing prompt for today.  If you have any topic you want to see covered in this blog, let me know that too.  Have a blessed evening, my friend.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

C.S. Lewis said, "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less." How good are you of placing others before yourself?

I am not sure how I would answer this question, and to be honest, I am not sure what that means.  When I first saw the subjects for this month’s NABLOPOMO, I thought that I do this all the time, but that is not what it means, so let me show you what it means to me.
At this time, we live in a world, where beauty is judge from the outside in.  Children (and adults) are shown what it is like when certain standards take president over the norm.  In a tall, skinny, male, Caucasian world, it is hard to tell anyone else that they are beautiful as well.  This is what the thinking less of yourself comes into play.  In order to compete, you need the right people.  That is what society says.  So yes, it was very easy for me, a short (5”), slightly overweight, slightly disabled, African American woman, with slightly above average grades to think less of myself.   I wanted to do it all; act, sing, play an instrument, model, dance, and have Wall Street in the palm of my little hand.  As a teen, I had low self-esteem, because I could do all of these things, despite what doctors told my parents, but I did not feel it.   It was because at the time, all I saw in the 70s and 80s were the white, tall, skinny models, who I did not know had to starve themselves in order to stay so thin.  I did not become overweight (the word is obese today), until my early teens, then dancing took the weight off.  (Do you know how many calories a shuffle-ball-change-tap-step burn?  It was enough to make me skinny again.)
Then when I wanted to be a dancer, and according to industry standards, you had to be between the height of 5’ 7” to 6” (I wanted to be a Rockette for starters, because I lived near New York City), or at least 5’7” in pointe shoes if you wanted to partner with someone.  Sorry but in both industries, I could not have the long arms, if people wanted to show off long-sleeve blouses and tops, or to show how graceful I was when doing a pirouette.  I fared a little better in the music department, but practicing was not my forte.  Education was also the highlight of the Logan Household.
Courtesy of  Google Images 
OK, I got off the subject, let me reel it back in.   I am very humbled to God to allow me to have these talents and more, but there are others who take their talents for granted, and do not feel the same way I feel about mine.   So I guess the real question is “what do you do for others with your talent?”  Are you doing it to boost yourself up, and to tell the world, “look what I am doing to make the world a better place,” or are you just quietly helping others?  If that is the case, I am quietly helping others.
For instance, I have to laugh at the holiday season.  Here is the reason why I laugh.   For 11 months out of the year, people think of self.  They self-promote and everything is me, myself, and I.  “I make X dollars,” “I live in this house,” and “I drive this car.” Well, it is great that you self-promote, 10 points if you are a celebrity.  I am not say that everyone does it or that it is wrong, but sometimes, there are some people who can overdo it just a little bit too much, Kanye?   I did a little self-promotion at the beginning of this post.  Did you notice it?  I thought so. 
Anyway, on that 12th month, everyone all of a sudden remembers that there are others in the world who do not have as much as they do, and out comes the checkbook. You start hearing phrases such as “I need to help someone out, what about the starving children of Ethiopia, I want to help them.” Well, what about them?  They were there the other 11 months out of the year, why have you not notice them until now?  Writing a check is good, actually helping is great.  Put yourself out in the trenches. I do not mean that you have to go to a foreign country to do it.  Help someone in your own back yard.  Volunteer by helping someone.  Show someone how to do your job.  Talk to that person and give them resources, do not just talk.  You can learn a lot. Ask them what they what they hope to gain from learning something new.  You never know.  A person may be just temporary displaced, and they need to know how to find shelter or to get started with something in order to find a decent place to sleep.   OK, I am going to say it, “GIVE BACK!”  Do not make it just one month out of the year to say that you did something good, but do it for all 12 months.  Show someone how to organize who doesn’t know how.   Work in a food pantry and see how the other half lives.  If a person forgot their lunch at work and they do not have any money, offer to pay it for them.  Better yet, do it anonymously (R.A.K-Random acts of kindness or Pay It Forward).  Pay for the person’s dinner behind you.  It is the little things you do that count.
So the original question is “How good am I at putting others before myself?”  It is a work in progress, I am getting better at it.   God is not finished with me yet in that department.

Be blessed and show others you are blessed, my friend, by doing things for others, and give back all 12 months of the year.  This is something that may not cost a thing but your time.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Set a timer for 10 minutes and try to write your whole daily post. Now go back and give yourself 5 more minutes to write about how you felt working under such a tight deadline.

10-minutes
Ok, I have 10 mins to write this.   (Well less if you consider the time it takes to walk from the microwave timer to the computer table and get settled, LOL)
OK, enough of that….today is sort of a fun post.  Let’s see….Monday, I did nothing, because as it goes, my sister wanted me to pick up her kid, bring her to a relative’s house.   After delivering said niece to the house and my sister was hugging me in all creation, I went back home to eat, and play on Facebook most of the night.  Not very productive.
Tuesday, I worked at Longaberger Homestead.  Something that if you want extra sales, you get commission on all the unattached customers who buy something.   Who are unattached customers?   They are people who do not have a consultant.   You do not get their names unless they sign up on your mailing list.   The store does not provide that for privacy reasons.  I will find out in a few days how many customers actually shopped and were not attached to a consultant.
Wednesday, my father decides to clean my garage floor, which looks nice, but with the man being 74 years old, I worry that he is still doing too much.  He should ne relaxing, but I guess when you are that age, you feel like you are no longer needed, so I let him.  I went grocery shopping after he and my mom left.  Came back home to put away groceries and went to bible study.   (Time has ended)
Aftermath….
I like taking my time to write.  It relaxes me, and I can get my thoughts together rather I plan it or not.  My English is not good so if you do not mind, I am going to copy the above and give you the correct version…..
Corrected version of the above
Ok, I have 10 mins to write this.   (Well less if you consider the time it takes to walk from the microwave’s timer to the computer table and get settled, LOL)
OK, enough of that….today is sort of a fun post.  Let’s see, my week so far….Monday, I didn’t do anything, because, my sister called and wanted me to pick up her kid, and bring her to a relative’s house.   After dealing with the sounds of a 5-year old and delivering said niece to the house, my sister was hugging me in all creation, I went back home to eat, and play on Facebook most of the night.  Not very productive, because I was supposed to start the next set of NABLOPO for this month, and I could not concentrate.
Tuesday, I went to work at Longaberger Homestead.  Since I am an Independent Longaberger Home Consultant, this is one thing you can do if you want extra sales. You will get commission pay on all the unattached customers who buy products in the store.   Who are unattached customers?   They are people who do not have a consultant they regular by current products from.   The products they can by at the store are retired products that are no longer available in the catalogue.  You cannot get their names unless they sign up on your mailing list and you ask them if they mind receiving monthly flyers from you.   The store does not provide that for privacy reasons.  I will find out in a few days how much I made in commission pay.
Wednesday, my father decides to clean my garage floor, which looks nice, but the man is 74 years old, and I do worry that he is still doing too much.  He should be relaxing, but I guess when you are that age, you may feel like you are no longer needed, so I let him.  I went grocery shopping after he and my mom left.  I came home to put away groceries and went to bible study.   (Time has ended)
I did that to show you what it takes for me to create a blog post.  If you are interested, I want you take time out to see if you are cut out to be a blogger.   As I have said in previous posts, it does not take much to blog, if you blog in general (such as telling people about your day).   If you are an expert at something, it may take a little longer to type out a blog post, because if you are not sure of a certain area of expertise, you will need to research that area.   In fact I recommend you research it anyway.  The first two rules of blogging in my opinion is 1) stay up on your current information on the subject and 2) keep them interested.   You want to keep them coming back for more.  
This was my week so far.  I am not looking forward to tomorrow, because this winter storm is supposed to hit.   I need to run, Scandal is about ready to come on, and I want to see how Olivia reacts to seeing her mom in few years.

Be Blessed, my Friend.