Every day.

I just read that being a writer is like having homework every day.

I suppose every successful endeavor must be like that-from exercise to cooking clean to getting words on the page or practicing some other art form.

And so, I need to commit to that.  I was hanging out during the week in hopes for the weekends.  I tend to be so tired and such a stick in the mud that I don’t want to get in the car and do anything on the weekend.  Hence, a lot I promised has not happened.

So here’s the deal.  If I can cook and do dishes and be in my chair by 7-I should be able to exercise, do the meal, and be able to write some things for at least the time it takes to hit 8 pm.  That gives me an hour and a half of game time to relax.

Put your thinking cap on while you work out.  What choreo?  What costume?  What music?  What characters are talking to you while you do it?    Put your quiet character in another room and see what they do.  Get your story lost on a really far off the mark event and see what comes out of it.  

Get some things down and start letting your muse earn her money.

There are things we don't do anymore....

When listening to a worker describe how math is now being taught to his children, one part of me shuddered, the other wished I'd been taught in that way.

Having been child of the 60's and 70's I went through leaning phonetically, learning by memorization, and the phenomena of New Math fallowed by a dismal one semester of New English which quickly was tossed out.  No doubt by all the F's we had in class.

Education changes and it needs to.  When I was a kid there were no advanced classes.  Likewise, there were to classes to help the ones struggling in a class.  You were to work harder although I think it meant your parents were supposed to step up and push you harder.

We have since learned that not everyone can learn that way.  And how many of retained the bulk of what we struggled to learn for test time?  Done any long division of late?  Any gradients, logs, quadratics, figured out whats a base, identified any split infinitives?

I signed up to Luminosity and was not surprised that I struggle to get any better with the "problem solving" game that has drops falling that house a short math problem.  You type in your answer before it hits bottom.  If you can think on your fingers and toes fast enough.

We don't do this sort of brain work as we age.  The people you buy carpet from will tell you your square feet.  Your spell  checker will attempt to put out a correct word.  Heck, we don't even have clock faces to see if its a quarter till yet.

The one demise that worries me is schools not teaching cursive.  Sorry, that is very wrong.  How can you read your grandparent's letters, the recipe your Mom jotted down in a cook book.  The notes left in the family Bible?  Not only that, cursive is one of the systems by where our own identify comes through in the slant and the use of large swirling letters, little circles to dot the i or the invention of a way to bypass half the letters in your last name and streamline your signature.

Cursive is a poor cousin to caligraphy.  It is one part of the art you come up with to express your ideas.  Creativity is not just limited to art class (if you are lucky enough to find one). It is also a way to pick up the thoughts of others, those little notes left by family, the recipe that everyone enjoys at Thanksgiving and now no one knows how to make.

Winning Combinations

I've always been on of those people who would rather park away from the store where my car would not get beet to death by the doors of other people.  It also afford me a few more steps.  I can not emphasize enough how those few steps, and the ones at the parking lot at work and the gym add a bit more to stretch my legs and hopefully stall another half pound of fat from finding a nesting spot.

So one of my revisions for the 2015 plan is more walking.  Now it isn't hard since all apartment complexes have an exercise room, and lord knows there are miles of sidewalks in Texas to enjoy.  But since being under employed, I have been loathe to get out and shop.  This may seems a crime to some folks-especially since Stonebriar Mall in Frisco is a scant mile from me.

So I tossed on my jeans (supposed to hit 70 this afternoon) and went to the mall.

It accomplish a myriad of things.  I got to spend time in Sephora with Kim who artfully showed me how to fill in my brows and helped select some blush.  (Not much of a girlie girl.  Even getting eye liner to work for me has taken instructions from Mollie Brodt who colored my hair and improved my life in many ways).

I talked to people!  I got stuff!  I walked the two story (yes) Barnes and Noble. Strolling a midst shelves of book covers is like visiting a chocolate shop for me.

It also put 2 miles on my pedometer.  SCORE!  I did my shopping, toured the Mall, interfaced with the native species, and got some exercise in.  This is exactly what the idea of a winning combination is.  It doesn't have to be painful, you don't need a trainer, you don't even really need an excuse.  Just do it.

Into the Fire

I  had to switch careers, if that is what we call what we do.  In my case it has been more of a case of what ever opening I could fit in and thrive with.  When I made the decision to give up where I was living and move to be closer to family, I also had to leave the work I was doing.

There was more than just relocation, it was a job I did after leaning it on the job.  That doesn't translate well on resume's.  Nor was it something that I could picture myself doing for another five years or more.  I wanted something else.

So how do you qualify for something else?  Even after finding courses at a local community college, there was still the gap in experience.  I happened to read an on line article that suggested volunteer work, and that is how I got my present job.

It's hard to be underemployed and put yourself into the position of working 'for free' for someone when those hours might have brought in more money through a second job.  But I took the chance that I needed solid and recent experience to be able to put on a resume more than I did a second income.

I went on line and checked a couple of hospitals (records departments) and cities for volunteer programs.  They do exist, especially cities that are trimming off the work force in hopes that technology can help keep things rolling under budget stresses.

I can tell you that technology can't.

Luckily the city I volunteered for had a position come open.  Everyone moved up a chair and left one open for a candidate.  Although I am sure I interviewed along with many people who wold have had better credentials, there were now two important ones in my favor.

I knew the data input and I was a known performer.  I was on time and dressed appropriately.  If they needed me to stop and help label, fold letters and stuff envelopes for a mass mailing, I did so and went right back to the stacks of work orders.  I came in twice a week for four hours, missing two mornings due to weather and one day ill.  I started in June and made it into January when I told them I was being forced to give it up, because with cut backs to my night work, I needed to submit applications and look for a second line of work.

It just so happened, one of the ladies decided to retire.  Bless her, she now has the time to devote to her ailing mother and enjoy her own life, while I know make enough money to get out on my own and have benefits to boot.

Sometimes preparedness is everything and sometimes you have to take your future on faith.  I am a staunch believer in the term, "Leap and the bridge will appear."  I can't say it wasn't scary.  But my sacrifice paid off.

Aging in America

You'll understand if I use the term mixed bag.

If you are my age group you are bombarded with sports drinks, gyms, equipment, apparel, gizmos that track every step and calorie, and are presented with the new next idea in keeping yourself fit.

Zumba, Yoga, dance, weights, Cross Fit, P90, swimming, water aerobics, cardio, with or without impact, ballet exercises, Tai Chi, etc.,.  This list grows with each new gee whiz idea.  The next one might be the one-the one you can't resist, the one that will get you out the door or out of bed before sunrise to take charge of your health.

*sigh*

The truth is I am tired in the morning.  I style my previous night to selecting tomorrow's clothes, loading them in the bathroom.  I've shopped with the eye towards what will be for breakfast and what I will pack for lunch.  I have between 20 and 30 minutes drive to work, sometimes in a fury of stomping on brakes and keeping track of what every other driver on those 3 lanes and side street thinks they are doing.

Once at work, I will be there, in the present, focusing my attention from 8 till 5.  Then its back in the car for the return trip.  Being thrifty on gas, I do my stops on the way to hit the grocery store.  Dinner, if immediate, now brings me to about 6:30 to 7 p.m.

With the looming idea of bed on time and enough sleep to keep functioning, I don't have much time to convince myself that I really want to start leap hopping around for exercise.

Thinking of New Years and everyone promising "this will be the year I ...."  I decided on two more important focuses.  Sleep and portion sizes.

Gen X, Gen Y, Millenial or Baby Boomer.  Along with these terms comes the catch phrase "Fifty is the new forty."

This one is stepping on my last gasping nerve.

No, dear, fifty is fifty.

Many people believe someone of 'that' age group searching for employment is doomed to a long struggle. I say that is balderdash.  In the following blog entries I hope to persuade you otherwise.  After all, I'm in that fifties group.  For now.  I can tell you that what ever your hang-ups were, your self esteem issues, and what you haled as your successes are not over yet.

It's no time to rest on your past, its time to find the energy and pull in the resolve to make the remaining moments of your life the ones that are amazing.

Fifty is the new fierce.