My Favorite Way to Relax

I like to spend a sunny day working in my garden, under the supervision of my two Abyssinian cats, Sultan & Sheba. I grow a lot of flowers and vegetables.  I really get in the zone out there, I’ll head out in the the morning intending to work until noon and the next thing I know its 6pm and my husband is dragging me into the house.  I am totally at peace out there. Gardening is a very sensual activity, one to delight all of the senses. The only sound is that of the birds are singing in the trees. The colors of the flowers change with the seasons, lots of pastels in the spring, a kaleidoscope in the summer, and flaming reds, oranges and yellows in the fall. My favorite flowers are hydrangeas and dahlias, because the bloom times are so long.

Keeping Up With My Reading List

I read quite a bit, and one of my favorite authors is James Rollins. I recently read his new book “Altar of Eden”.  I was not disappointed, his books are real page turners, and I’ll stay up all night to finish one. There is a high tech, scientific aspect to his stories which delights my geeky brain.  This book was about genetic experiments done in the name of national security. I felt to sorry for the animals & children that were experimented on, I was glad (spoiler coming up here) that they got away from the government in the end and left to live peacefully in Louisiana, in the care of loving humans.

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My Favorite Foods to Fanaticize About

I love sugar. I love anything with sugar. Cakes, pies, cookies, ice cream, candy, sweet salad dressings, fruit, soda, sweet and sour pork. Unfortunately I’ve had to give up these foods for health reasons. But that doesn’t stop me from thinking about them. Every once in a while I abandon my sugar celibacy, usually on a really bad day and pig out on sugar. Last night I made a carrot cake and ate most of it. It had fresh carrots, raisins, pineapple, nuts and coconut. It would have been better with frosting, but I didn’t have the ingredients. I’ll probably behave for another month before succumbing to temptation again, but I’ll still be thinking about all of those good things. I love a hot fudge sundae, with whipped cream, nuts and a cherry on top, real whipped cream please, not artificial topping. A piece of banana cream pie with an Oreo crust, they charge $7.50 a slice for this pie at my favorite restaurant, sometimes I go there just for pie and coffee, or I did when I had money. We are programmed to become addicted to sugar, and I haven’t found a painless way to break the code.

Day Begins

My day begins with checking the job openings. I’ve got all kinds of search engines operating to catch any kind of job for which I could possibly qualify. I usually go through hundreds of job postings. I narrow it down to the jobs that I might have a chance at, and then rewrite my resume for each application, being careful to use every key word found in the job description, so that search bots will flag it for an actual human to review. I write short cover letters for each job and submit the applications.  Then I go through my email and identify surveys that pay cash that I’m eligible to take.  I select the highest paying and fill them out. I’m working with dozens of companies who perform market surveys.  Finally I get up and go for a long walk to work off the accumulated tension, and try to think up ways to earn money to pay the bills. At night I knock myself out with pills if exercising to exhaustion hasn’t done the job.  And the next day it starts all over again.

A Day in the Life of A 99’er

99’er is the term used to describe someone who has exhausted all of their unemployment benefits.  We are called 99’ers because some of us received 99 weeks of unemployment, counting regular state benefits, state extended benefits, and federal emergency benefits. Unfortunately, I was not in that group. I only got 72 weeks because I live in Washington state and our unemployment rate was lower than other states, such as Michigan. The press refers to us as 99’ers because they don’t bother to research the real meaning of the term and it’s a catchy expression.  So the whole country is led to believe that every exhaustee is a 99’er. There are approximately 5.5 applicants for every job opening. Many of the 99’ers are baby boomers, which makes it really hard to find a job. Nobody wants to hire someone old and expensive, especially if they are young, cheap and employed.

A Chance to Meet My Hero, Who Is Dead By the Way

I’d like to meet Superman. I was a great fan of his when I was a munchkin. Being the runt of the litter, and subject to bullying by my older brothers, I dreamed of having super powers and having my revenge against them. The next best thing to that would be to have a friend who could do it for me. And I liked the way he always stood up for the good guy. He was a real inspiration. I recently heard a story about a widower who actually dressed up like Superman, and hung out at different places. I guess that would be the third best thing, to meet someone who impersonated him, so I could ask him how he liked being a superhero.

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The Best Job I Ever Had Was Something I Never Dreamed of Doing

Being the rebellious type, I never thought that I’d work in a corporate setting, let along in an authority role. I’d started as a systems analyst in the biggest aerospace company in the USA, the culture was very military. A co-worker told me about a guy she knew who was a corporate internal auditor. He got to be a manager, without the bother of having people reporting to him, he had a private office instead of a cube, he got to do all kinds of cool projects, and he got to write findings and assign action items to high level managers. It was the last item that caught my attention, although I thought the rest of the package sounded pretty good. I liked the idea of getting paid for throwing my weight around, and for a lot more money than I was making at the time. So I called up the Director of the department and asked him for a job, without bothering to go through the human resources department. He liked that, and created a job for me. I worked in that job for 16 years, and still didn’t see it all and do it all. Everything else seemed boring after that.

The Ultimate Concert

I should have just given up on concerts after seeing Jim Morrison and the Doors  in 1965 in Los Angeles, Calif., on the Sunset Strip. It was mind-blowing. That’s why I can’t remember the name of the club that I saw them in, it might have been the Whisky A-Go-Go or the Hullabaloo Club. It was the first rock concert that I’d ever attended and it set a high standard. I had to use fake id to get in; I was only 15 years old. I thought Jim Morrison was just the hottest thing since Hailey’s comet, and loved Ray Manzarek’s keyboarding, which substituted for bass guitar and gave an otherworldly background to Morrison’s poetry put to music. There was also a fabulous light show. I danced through the whole concert. I still listen to their music and they are still selling albums.