"Secrets of Getting a Freelance Writing Career!"

Learn the Secrets of Getting Freelance Copywriting Jobs

I’m about to reveal everything to you about my lucrative freelance copywriting career!

I’ve just finished putting together this 3 volume set. It consists of the these 3 giant reports. And that’s it, no videos or CDs not even a fancy case.

But I’m sure you will treasure these 3 copywriting reports. Because there’s no bells and whistles and no bull just the amazing copywriting facts and ideas you will need in your career! I don’t have a big staff and you won’t see me on infomercials. You are going to get it all straight, just from me to you, and I’m not planning on selling a lot of these sets.

If I were to sell these reports to everyone, it would water down your copywriting career advantage.

I’ve spent the last 37 years creating very profitable direct mail companies and working as a freelance copywriter and marketing guru for direct mail, catalog and Internet companies large and small.

And now I’m going to help you start a career with a copywriting job or working as a freelance copywriter. You’ll get my secrets of marketing and copywriting. By learning how to write copy that sells, you will be able to quickly build up a client base and large fees!

Whether you have limited writing abilities or are already a copywriter looking to increase your skills, I guarantee this will work for you!

Go ahead and check out this amazing copywriter’s kit and you will realize why I’m claiming that no one else can give you this advantage:

http://www.freelance-copy-writing.com/

Learn the Mail Order Millionaire Copywriting Secrets

Get the Mail Order Millionaire Copywriting Words

[Via http://freelancecopywriting.wordpress.com]

Cutting losses

Another stumper: “The more time you take to make a decision, the harder it will be for you to recoup any loss you’ve incurred. Money matters can be resolved if you collect or pay an old debt. Get busy before it’s too late.”

As I’ve said, I can NEVER make decisions. But in this case, I’m not sure what it’s referring to, other than the fact that I have this constant dialogue in my head: “Should I send in a resume for that cool-sounding job I just saw posted, or should I really commit to full-time freelancing, as scary as it is?” I can understand how making the commitment might help me focus more, but how would it help me offset previous losses? The other constant script is, “Should I stay in my current home, or move, despite the loss I’d take on the value of the home?” Hey, maybe that’s it!! OK, I’ll get busy looking at real estate — one of my favorite obsessions, anyway.  I can’t think of any old debts, whether owed to or by me. Clarity, please, oh cosmos!

[Via http://loonar.wordpress.com]

Obama's speech met with hope and skepticism

NEWS
Obama’s speech met with hope and skepticism
January 28, 2010 3:13 p.m. EST

(CNN) — When it comes to word choice, President Obama is less positive than any president in modern time, according to a scholar who has dissected the language of State of the Union speeches since Harry Truman’s 1946 address.

James Pennebaker, professor and chairman of the psychology department at the University of Texas-Austin, theorizes that the language that presidents use in these high-profile speeches reflects their overall mood and state of mind.

The president isn’t negative per se, Pennebaker said, but he doesn’t use as many words such as “happy,” “excited,” “enjoyed,” “good” and “nice” that have positive tones, making his tone more somber.

Deborah Tannen, linguistics professor at Georgetown University, disagreed somewhat. She said she thought the tone was positive and optimistic, with a serious overtone.

“I felt like it was serious, because he realized that people are worried and that it’s a serious time. We are facing serious problems,” she said.

But a person who inspires optimism and hope in others doesn’t necessarily exude positive emotions, Pennebaker said. Instead, Obama has shown himself to be “cool in every sense of the word,” Pennebaker said.

“He is a guy that many of us really admire. He’s the cool guy at the high school dance. He’s not giggly and funny. He’s cool. And a cool person can really symbolize optimism for the future, and this person can be a good and strong leader, but they don’t have to be the class clown. They don’t have to be laughing and saying they’re happy or that things will be great,” he said.

Obama’s speeches also indicate that he is the most complex thinker of the presidents Pennebaker has studied, with John F. Kennedy as the runner-up, he said. That’s because Obama frequently presents an idea and re-evaluates it from a variety of perspectives in subsequent sentences.

Obama is also a more dynamic thinker than he is categorical, Pennebaker said. He does not tend to break things down into components, as other politicians such as George W. Bush have done, but looks at the history of the topics he speaks about.

For example, at the very beginning of his speech Wednesday night, Obama said that while it is tempting to assume America was always destined to succeed, the country’s history shows otherwise.

“But when the Union was turned back at Bull Run and the Allies first landed at Omaha Beach, victory was very much in doubt. When the market crashed on Black Tuesday and civil rights marchers were beaten on Bloody Sunday, the future was anything but certain,” he said.

Generally, the way he spoke this year was similar to the way he spoke at his inaugural address last year and even during the campaign, Pennebaker said.

“You don’t see any giant jumps in terms of the way he’s thinking, feeling, relating to others,” he said.

See how Pennebaker and colleagues track language in speeches

Presidents tend to be consistent in their speaking regardless of what is going on in the country, Pennebaker said.

After the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush continued to use positive-emotion words at relatively high rates. Pennebaker’s team also analyzed blog posts from that year and found that people’s emotions reflected on the blogs were back to their pre-9/11 state within four days.

“If there’s something bad that happens, you bubble back up to your emotional state surprisingly quickly,” he said.

Obama’s word choice also reveals that he is a bit more psychologically and emotionally detached than some other presidents, perhaps on par with Ronald Reagan, he said. It’s not necessarily that he’s hiding his feelings, but he does not present himself as an emotional person.

“If you sit down and talk with him, you’re not going to get a sense of what his deep emotional feelings are,” Pennebaker said. “Whereas if you sat down with Bush and Clinton, they would give you signals of how they felt.”

The subtleties that Pennebaker studies are nearly impossible to hear just by listening to a speech, he said. He uses a computer algorithm to calculate the percentage of total words in a speech that reflect a variety of categories, such as “positive emotionality” and “dynamic thinking.”

One parameter is the number of function words — pronouns, prepositions and articles — a person uses, which can say a lot about his or her mindset, Pennebaker said. For instance, someone who thinks a lot about people and is social would use a lot of pronouns. Someone who wants to avoid the press tends to use “I” a lot, he said.

Although presidents generally don’t write their own speeches, they do approve them, and speechwriters must know them very well, Tannen said.

“It’s as much his own words as any speech is going to be these days,” she said.

© 2009 Cable News Network Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.

[Via http://dominicstoughton.wordpress.com]

Wake Up Productive - How Do I Prevent Distractions And Interruptions with Eben Pagan

How do I prevent distractions and interruptions? Hi, I’m Eben Pagan, creator of the Wake Up Productive time management and productivity training program. If you’d like to watch my 47-minute video on how to manage yourself and your time and become dramatically more productive, just go to WakeUpProductive.com, and enter your name and email address. You can watch this video worth $100.00 for free.

So let’s talk about preventing distractions and interruptions. As you probably know, distraction and interruption are the ultimate time stealers. If you get interrupted or distracted, it takes 10 or 20 minutes from when you end the distraction or interruption to just come back and get back to where you were. So if you get distracted or interrupted every 10 or 20 minutes, you don’t get anything done at all. Who’s had that experience in their lives?

I’ve discovered that there are three big distracters and interrupters in the modern work environment, especially if you work from home, especially if you work around computers, especially if you’re using the internet while you’re working. The big three distracters and interrupters are cell phones and text messages, instant messenger and Skype and e-mail. So let’s talk about the three of them.

Cell phones and text messages. When you have your cell phone and your text message just rolling, what does that say to the world? It says, “Distract and interrupt me any time you want.” It’s especially bad if you actually answer your cell phone or respond to text messages very quickly. What I do is I take my cell phone, and I either turn it off or I put it somewhere where I can’t hear it. I never have the ringer on my cell phone turned on because I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to program people that they can call me and reach me, that they can send me a text, and I’ll get back to them immediately. Why? Because then, they’ll start expecting it, and I will have to deal with their distractions and interruptions all day. So turn off the cell phone. Put it on vibrate. Put it outside of your range, so you can’t hear it. It’s not around you. Don’t keep it clipped to your body. Then, you can work and focus chunks of uninterrupted time.

The online version of this is instant messenger and Skype. Anything where you’ve got a status that you can leave on, and people can ping you or contact you and say, “Hey, can I talk to you right now?” The answer here is only turn on your availability a couple of times a day. Set aside blocks of time, maybe from 11:00 to 12:00 and then from 4:00 to 5:00 where you set your status as on, and you’re available.

A nice little trick with voicemail you can do is you can set up your voicemail so that when people call you, it says, “Hi, I can’t take your call right now. I return calls typically between 11:00 and 12:00 and between 4:00 and 5:00. I’m also available by e-mail and instant messenger during those times. If you want to reach me, it’s urgent, try me during one of those times or just leave me a message here, and I’ll get back to you during one of those times,” which is a way to program people not to just interrupt you and expect you’re going to answer the phone. It kind of programs them to expect to wait a few hours because there’s really nothing in the modern environment that can’t wait at least a few hours.

Now, the big one, the big problem is e-mail. E-mail is probably the biggest consumer of our time and our attention that exists in the modern work environment. The trouble with e-mail isn’t just that there’s a lot of it. The trouble is we get addicted to checking it. Even worse than that, we get the little alerts so that e-mails pop up, and we see them as they’re coming in. They go, “Ding,” and then it distracts it. Then, we go click on it, and then it pops up the e-mail, and it makes it so easy.

So to prevent distraction and interruption with e-mail, I recommend that you do a couple of things. First of all, don’t have your e-mail browser on – don’t have your e-mail window open – unless you’re specifically dedicating time to checking and returning e-mail. Especially turn off the pings and the beeps and the pop ups because that stuff is just a constant racket of distraction and interruption. If you’re like me, you get dozens – hundreds of e-mails every day. If you just do the math, if you leave on the pop up or the ding or the beep or the thing that pings you, you’re going to be distracted every few minutes all day, and it will literally destroy your productivity.

Even better, borrow from the technique that I gave you a little earlier, and answer e-mails and return calls during specific times during the day. I call this scheduling your interruptions. Schedule time where you’re going to be doing a lot of this back and forth and where you’ll make yourself available in case people need to kind of reach you in a hurry.

If you start focusing on those big three distracters and interrupters, which is the cell phone, the instant messenger and the e-mail, and the variations of those, you’ll get yourself a long way down the field to eliminating distraction and interruption. Ultimately, what you want to do is you want to turn all that stuff off and as Peter Drucker recommends, work in focus blocks of uninterrupted time of minimum 90 minutes. Any of us can do that. I like to get little kitchen timers or little digital timers for $5.00 or $10.00. You can get them on amazon.com. Type in there an hour or 90 minutes, and just turn everything off, and just focus on getting one thing done. That’s really the ultimate way to prevent distraction and interruption.

Finally, if you’d like to learn how to really master time management and productivity, learn how to keep yourself focused, learn how to eliminate procrastination for good and learn how to create positive habits and eliminate negative ones, just go to WakeUpProductive.com right now to watch my 47 minute video on how to manage yourself and your time and how to make yourself dramatically more productive.

The video is worth $100.00, but you can watch it for free by just visiting WakeUpProductive.com, entering your name and e-mail address and opting in. Of course, I’ll also send you many more valuable free video trainings, and I’ll also send you private invitations to listen to me interviewing some of the top experts in the world on business, marketing, success and productivity all for free. Just go to WakeUpProductive.com, enter your name and e-mail address to get it all right now.

[Via http://wakeupproductive.wordpress.com]

DAILY JOB TIP: Doesn't a Good Resume Get Me a Job?

Last week Angela and I were talking about our upcoming seminar and how to get the word out about the webinar version of The Job Search Boot Camp, and the tele-seminar/tele-coaching event Find A Career You Love that we are doing in February.  We both noticed that the original contact we have with most clients is through their resume.  We are happy to help people streamline their resume.  But, most job seekers think the resume is the magic bullet, and will get them hired. 

A good resume won’t get you hired.  A resume has one purpose – to get you the interview.
Dick Bolles in What Color Is Your Parachute 2010 says that “Resumes make you feel like they are out there, working for you.  They make you feel as though you are really doing something about your job-hunt.  But in fact they may be moribund or comatose.” 

What Bolles is confirming is that you have to have a good job search strategy to compliment your good resume.  A good job search strategy is not submitting your resume to Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, or HotJobs.com.  These mega-job boards have thousands of applicants for every job posting.  Neither is replying to job ads a good search strategy.  The resumes are already piling up when you reply to a job posting on the company’s web site, a newspaper posting, or Craigslist.  Answering ads is called a Reactive Job Search.  You are literally reacting to a posted position.  There is literally too much compeitition once the ad is posted.  I’m a competitive person, but compeitition isn’t good in a job search when you are relying on income to pay your mortgage, fill the gas tank, and feed the kids.

A good job search strategy is getting your resume in the hands of the person who has the power to hire you.
Angela and I will be speaking at the upcoming CareerConnects Event on Friday, January 29th at St. Edwards University – North Austin Campus.  Our topic will be “Out of Your Comfort Zone”.  We will talk about the Targeted Job Search – which is a Proactive Job Search.  This method is 86% effective!  I like those odds.

Proactive + Reactive = Results
You don’t need to abandon answering ads.  Just include the Proactive/Targeted Job Search to your strategy, and shift your effort.  Spend your time looking at mega job boards and aggregate job boards (like Indeed.com), but make it less than 50% of your time.  Spend the bulk of your time creating and organizing a Targeted Job Search and watch your results skyrocket!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jay Markunas is a Career Coach and Fortune 500 HR professional.  Along with his partner, Angela Loëb, will be hosting the session “Out of Your Comfort Zone” at the upcoming Career Connects Event on January 29th. 

Through his company, Great Occupations, Jay helps job seekers and career shifters by offering The Job Search Boot Camp webinar, Find a Career You Love tele-coaching event, career & job coaching services, and career-related products. Each 1st & 3rd Saturday, he & Angela host The Job Search Boot Camp Show – which also available on iTunes.

[Via http://greatoccupations.wordpress.com]

Job concerns

I believ that one way to get better is to get a job. Hopefully I can get a paid job. I want to be able to walk into that interview room, present myself a best I cam, Hid e any atistic tendancies that I have, and come out smelling like roses. I want to be able to pull the wool over the eyes of whoever is interviewing me. I want a goof=d challenging job that neith overwhelms me or underwhelms me. I would love to work in a library. I’m kind of tire with working for the school for autistic kids. It’s just not for me. I want to work in forensics. That would be an awsome job, I would love to to research for nonverbal communication and become an expert in lie detection. I want to work very hard for that goal.

[Via http://secretsue12321.wordpress.com]

dream jobs

(draft) everyone is looking for them and they’re out there somewhere. the thing is, you can’t find them at your local career market.
based upon UK data, almost 2,5 million  students graduated in 2007. that’s a lot. all looking for that great job that makes you feel important, satisfied and pays the bills at the end of the month. that year 65% of the graduates got *a* job within 6 months. 2007? that was before the big recession right?
yes, i couldn’t really find new numbers, but i’m guessing they won’t be better than this.

i’ve seen friends of mine graduating and desperately looking for a respectable job.

[Via http://malikfourir.wordpress.com]

DAILY JOB TIP: What color is your parachute? GOLDEN?

These past few weeks we’ve heard about The Tonight Show debacle.  Conan O’Brien and staff will make over $45M to walk away from the Tonight Show. 

Coaches, athletes, and top executives sometimes work out an agreement with the company that will ensure they receive certain benefits if terminated.  It’s known as The Golden Parachute. 

According to TIME Magazine, Charles Tillinghast, Jr. was the first recipient of a golden parachute.  When he took the helm of Trans World Airlines (TWA) in 1961, the airline’s creditors were trying to gain control of the company away from Howard Hughes. Tillinghast’s contract included a clause that would pay him money in the event that he lost his job.

Golden Parachutes have been very popular recently, but mostly because of the size of their payouts in a company with declining profits.  Some call it — “Failing Upwards” or “Pay for Failure”.  For example, Rick Wagoner departed General Motors with a pension of more than $20 million.  GM lost over $30B.  Eugene S. Khan former Chairman of Mays Department Stores received $10.94M after he left.  During Khan’s tenure, Mays Department Stores lost 32% of theirstock price.  After Khan left Mays Department Stores stock rose 16% the first day! 

Do Golden Parachutes have a purpose?  According to supporters it serves three purposes:

1. Golden parachutes make it easier to hire and retain executives, especially in industries more prone to mergers.
2. They help an executive to remain objective about the company during the takeover process.
3. They dissuade takeover attempts by increasing the cost of a takeover, often part of a Poison Pill strategy,

Can YOU get a Golden Parachute?
If you are an executive or upper management, you can ask for a golden parachute in your contract.  But the average employee usually doesn’t have this option.  Tomorrow, I will discuss what the average employee should do when they leave their job.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jay Markunas is a Career Coach and Fortune 500 HR profesisonal.  Along with his partner, Angela Loëb, will be hosting the session “Out of Your Comfort Zone” at the upcoming Career Connects Event on January 29th. 

Through their company, Great Occupations, Jay & Angela help job seekers and career shifters by offering The Job Search Boot Camp webinar, Find a Career You Love tele-coaching event, career & job coaching services, and career-related products. Each 1st & 3rd Saturday, he & Angela host The Job Search Boot Camp Show – which also available on iTunes.

[Via http://greatoccupations.wordpress.com]

More studying and exams

When I was young, I resolve to study hard and go as far as I can. Unfortunately along the way, bad STPM (A-level) results and financial constraint curtailed my bachelor degree plan. So have to look for cheapest option, study part-time to get a professional cert. that took me 3.5 years.

Then I work in the IT field, fell in love with IT, like to know more of it, so went off and study diploma in computing and IT part-time. That took me 1.5 years.

Then I thought of studying Masters. I thought get a cheap cheap Masters degree in Malaysia then habis cerita (end the story), so have been flipping several Masters degree brochure for fun for at least 6 years. When the prospect of going overseas, getting out of Malaysia looming in the horizon, I start aiming higher and checked out the global league table for MBA, and came across a handful that could offer both an MBA and an automatic route to a working visa in the UK. The MBA took 18 months, not before preparing 1 year to score an acceptable scores in the GMAT test – the MBA admission test.

At this point, I am tired. Mentally and physically. I told myself I am not going to study anymore, don’t even think about Phd. Then I started job hunting in the UK. Every job requires you to have this cert, must have that cert, most commonly you must be Prince 2 certified for project management, 6 Sigma Black Belt preferred for my line of business, *censored swear words* !!&&^$@!!!  After talking to people, I was advised to go get a basic cert to show seriousness in the financial services industry. 2 days ago while talking to a freelance consultant and I found out that with circa £7000 and you can be a certified 6 Sigma Black Belt! Wow that was what I wanted to do even before thinking about the MBA!!

I avoided the IT business, because I knew you have to keep upgrading yourself in the latest IT upgrades and invention. Personally I knew software programmers who eat and breathe IT exams and certification. CISCO certs la, Microsoft SQL certs la, Java pro la, no ending. I also found out to be a Banking professional, you also need to upgrade yourself with practitioner certs and qualification. Risk Management, BASEL II, Sarbane and Oxley, other country’s financial regulations if you want to be a trader in other country etc. etc. No ending of paper chase.

I am not even going to say who benefits from all these tests and exams. OK maybe I will in case you didn’t count the whole value chain of who are involved. It’s the education institutions, the professional bodies, the IT companies, and oh also the guys who offer Computer-based testing IT solutions, the IT test companies, like Pearson or Prometrics, the government (more than the local student population if the students came from overseas).

The point I am making is that if you really want to get ahead in this challenging time, there is no endless studying and exams. Especially my part of the world, when talents came from all over the world vying for few coveted professional positions in the market. Maybe not only my part of the world, in the developing competitive countries as well. A Shanghai classmate of mine graduated from Beijing Uni, came over to UK and did the MBA, last year 4 – 5 months after graduation from a nerve wrecking MBA she is studying for The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certs, another nerve wrecking qualification which notoriously has passing rate less than 40%.

And then I have a girlfriend whom I know since we were 7, living in Singapore. Her Canadian IT degree got her into that island, work for the Singapore Government, took up Masters in IT subsidised by the government. I paid her a visit some years ago and she is studying for IT Auditing certs in Singapore. At one point she is sitting for teaching diploma in Music to teach music part time. Now she is sick of IT, teaching children in Churches and Sunday Schools, and now as we speak, she is studying for Early Children Education certification. No ending……

I study because I love it but I hate exams. I used to ace in exams until recently, when Computer-based testing results failed me.

When you go for job interview these days, they put you through numerical and verbal English test, if that’s not enough, they put you in a room with a bunch of strangers and pretend that you work very well with them as a team and demonstrate few minutes of leadership skills (which will have no bearing of whether you succeed in your future workplace or not).

Maybe sucking up and networking to get a job of which you have no qualification to deserve it, is a more successful, easier and surer way to get hired.

p/s: I am not making this up. One of my MBA classmate network himself, sucking up to HR professionals, got himself an internship with Goldman Sachs and a full time job in Credit Suisse. He used to sell Double Glazing windows. So make sure you teach your kids all the skills they need to pass exams and sucking up, it’s going to get more competitive out there!

[Via http://upeupo.wordpress.com]

Running in Circles

There’s a lot of jokes out there about NASCAR drivers and  their singular ability to drive in a circle all day. But at the end of that day, the drivers are the ones laughing as they collect millions of dollars for their “talent”.

Much like a racecar driver, my life lately has been running in circles, literally and figuratively. Unlike a racecar driver, my bank account does not show 7 figures after the dollar sign.

I’m in my third week of training thus far. This week the training regimen called for 3 days of alternately jogging/walking, varying the segments between 200 and 400 yards, for a total of 1 1/2 miles. While the distance has increased, the view has remained a constant. My original intention was to venture out and pound the pavement all over the bay area. I still intend to do that sooner as opposed to later. Even though there is a sense of safety and security by sticking close to home and running the the circular route around my apartment complex, the monotony of it all is starting to get to me. The view never changes and there is a mental drain as my directional sense tells me that I’m getting nowhere.

A friend of mine pointed me to two websites to find different running routes that other people have posted. www.favoriterun.com and www.mapmyrun.com both offer some cool features that allow people to highlight on a map where they run. I did a quick search of Sarasota and it seems that many people are only running in one area- the Ringling Bridge. Now I know that not all runners in Sarasota use this route, but it seems that the computer savvy runners stick to the same route.

My job search has been following a very similar circular course. Each pursuit of an opportunity leads right back to where I’ve started- with no job. For instance, I recently drove 45 minutes to a “job fair” excited by the possibilities that prospects would be plentiful. Only once I arrived, I found that the majority of tables were occupied by night schools offering courses for certain career paths, but with no actual jobs to fill. And the tables that did have employers had no one behind them with actual hiring power. I approached one table with great interest about a couple of positions that I believed I was qualified for. I engaged the company rep to tell me more about the company and the job itself. The rep responded simply, ” The best thing to do is to go on the website and fill out the application online.” So I left the job fair questioning why I went in the first place as I could have just stayed home because there was no actual jobs (that fit my background and experience) at the “job fair”.

My frustration was exacerbated when I filled out an online application for another position that sounded promising. After I filled out the form and submitted it electronically, I soon discovered that I had been duped. I thought it was a good idea to mark the box that said I was interested in pursuing another degree. Thinking that the potential employer would be impressed that I would take the initiative to further my education while under their employment. A few days later, I learned the truth. The form I filled out went through an agency, allegedly hired by the employer, to screen the applications before the company saw them. Because I had marked that box, I began getting phone calls throughout the day and into the late evening hours from night schools offering their services to help me in my pursuit of higher education.

A posting on craigslist had some real possibilities for an entry level position in public relations. I replied to the posting and was excited to see a response in my email inbox a short time later. But then I realized that it too was a setup for something completely different. The offending party suggested that my experience would be good for this “position” where I could “work from home” and make as much money as possible in this online get-rich-quick pyramid scheme.

Even my backup plan has fallen through. I applied to a major retailer through their online application for a part time position just to get some cash flow going. I had been told that they hired any warm body.The automated response from the store thanked me for applying. Unfortunately, they don’t have any open positions at this time.

A number of my former co-workers who are also no longer with the company have started their own companies. I’ve started to think about this option, only to be discouraged by the realization that I have no actual capital to speak of  to help me get started. So, again, I’m back to where I started.

Forgive me for a moment while I vent. A lot of my search has been focused on marketing positions. And I just don’t understand why these companies don’t see me as a strong candidate. My mascot experience has taught me what it takes to get the attention of thousands of people and entertain them long enough for the logo of the team/company I’m representing to get noticed. Yeah, it took a ridiculous costume. But it also took my personality and experience to use that costume properly. I don’t necessarily need to dress up like a farm animal to utilize this skillset.

I guess you could say that my experience is much like that of a NASCAR driver. We both got paid to get out in front where  people would notice the companies we represent. Now if I could just figure out how to make the millions that those guys make.

Maybe I’ll look into what it takes to become a NASCAR driver for my next job. It would fit nicely with my goal of going the distance of an ultramarathon. And I’ve already got a lot of experience driving in circles.

[Via http://mattscot.wordpress.com]

Fortune's sun, shadows linger

Yesterday was one of those days where something in the universe just aligned just right and what flowed out was magic or at least a prelude to magic.  I have more roughs,  ideas that just need some tweaking, some stewing, and some pounding in order to achieve something great.  It started with my blog, a short piece that just kind of popped out.  It is not perfect in any way, shape or form, but it is an idea.  Something to keep in mind for later.

Then came a challenge on Ligthouse Refuge, one of the writing forums I participate in.  It was supposed to be just a short description of a bridge.  Supposed to be, that is the key words here. It ended up being a much longer piece than I intended at just over 600 words.  It is one of those pieces that after writing it, you have left a chunk of your own flesh still in it.  You are still bleeding, lightly and it will take a few hours to seal the wound.   I like the piece, of course there is more to it but I will find it later.

Then there is a matter of a duel piece that I worked on at the Fifthwind forums a while back.  It was a duel between me and FW and the subject was ice cream.  I have written more on it and have been bouncing the idea of a much longer work.  I have some research to do about the 40s and 50s eras in the US to see where the story would have a bigger impact.  This would be my first attempt at a YA story.  *shrugs*  but it feels right.

I spent the evening bouncing between the hilarity of  ColleenLindsay on twitter and his #thingsishouldnotseeinaquery list, IM with my friends and some serious writing time on Dragon Masque.  In less than 30 minutes I had over 500 words on the page and before 9 p.m. I had just over 1,000.  In the mean time I looked at some recipes for candied ginger, a bit of research on some minor things, and talking with my love. (   love you BABY!)

The words just flowed from me yesterday, I am not sure where they came from but they hit me over the head and carried me downstream more swiftly than I would have thought.  It took a long time to get to sleep, that writing high felt just as good as a runner’s high (yes I have experienced that, unfortunately my knees cannot handle that abuse any more). More stories turned over in my head, even with trying to read Mystic River I have read about four chapters in it and I was hooked after the first page.  Dennis Lehane dances a bit on the purple prose but he does it with purpose.  I will enjoy the book much more than the movie.

But no matter how fortune smiles on your day, shadows always linger.  I interviewed for a job last week and received a letter today that I did not get the job.  *shrugs*  a couple of tears, a well placed handkerchief, and I go on.  Not getting this job is not the end of the world, however it is a big disappointment.  I guess I shall just shoot for something else.  My writing for instance, I always have that.

[Via http://shadowflame1974.wordpress.com]

This man is a doctor so I can't show you his face.

…but this happened just before Christmas. It was so great that M’s Dad, Graham, Sisters Mel and Jayne and niece Abbey were able to come down for the ceremony.

Dr Art is now also in his second week of his new job as Inflight Gallery Coordinator.

Congrats Doc, there’s so much to be proud of.

[Via http://sallyhasblog.wordpress.com]

Desperation

These days I’m waiting for my saviors, the Call Center guys, to call me. But they are taking too much time. I should just call them instead of waiting for my CV to be viewed through the job sites. There must be thousands of other super enthusiastic guys applying for the same job. You can find their ‘CVs’ all over the internet: “I need a job bcoz i  want 2 b a self made person..”

I should wake up early tomorrow. By early I mean before 12 p.m. When I wake up late, I’m effectively brainless. I feel far too guilty, for waking up that late, to be able to consider anything else.

I had an entrepreneurial  idea. But I just can’t face the risk of failure at this time. I considered selling the idea. But I can’t face appearing an idiot either. Not now, when I already look absurd enough. I just want the saviors to well and truly save my ass for now.

[Via http://brespace.wordpress.com]

Do you know who is checking out your Facebook pics?

Ten years ago…..no make that 5 years ago, how many of us would be able to proudly state that we had our own blogs, 500+ Facebook friends or membership in 50 LinkedIn groups? Times are a changing, and we now have the World at our fingertips….okay, at least at end of a keyboard!
However, every step forward towards a total cyber community also entails an element of dropping of the guard and loosening of the security belt. Then comes the issue of the terabytes of information that we all exchange and store by using this wonderful free service. What happens to this information and who is entitled to have access to it?
There is currently a battle raging in cyberspace about whether it is ethical for a recruiter to check connections and conversations of a person on social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Some rage on about such actions being unethical because such information is “off limits”, whilst others retort that by posting the information on the internet makes such information public, so that accessing it and using it to evaluate a prospective candidate is ethical.
There are enough tools out there to evaluate a candidate at a face-to-face interview, to determine whether the candidate fits the role profile sought. No one will ever get it 100% right, and there will be those that will fail to meet the company’s core values when they seemed to be the perfect candidate, whilst others will prove to be a very good fit, although at the interview they appeared less comfortable. Then again the results are as much about the candidate as the interviewer, the interview criteria, the job profile narration, the advert in the paper and the actual needs of the line manager with whom the new employee will be working. This is about people and working environments, and both are highly variable. Therefore, having precise checklists is impossible. It is not about checking on people’s after hours (because that is what the social networking sites such as Facebook are supposed to be – “AFTER” work) behaviour. This is about getting the most suitable person for the job on conditions acceptable to both the candidate and the prospective employer.

In this sense it may useful to separate sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook, because they seem to be providing different services. To me Facebook is more personal and less formal, i.e., Facebook users relate more information about what they are doing, more frequently and exchange information about their personal lives, including pictures and videos of their families and personal lives. They discuss sports, politics, religion, sex, etc and sometimes make silly comments, unaware that they may be used by a prospective employer, who would be viewing the postings in quite a different context. LinkedIn on the other hand is more skewed to professional networking (eg. professional references and recommendations) and building business contacts, and hence provide more information on a person that would be relevant to a prospective employer. The freedom of including comprehensive details provides the opportunity to persons to include a variety of information that is perhaps difficult to insert into a concise 2 page resume (using 10 point Ariel font!) and would certainly be useful for a fuller evaluation of a candidate. Furthermore, no one puts up pictures of their new puppy or baby on LinkedIn, but you’re sure to see the picture of the candidate’s wife’s sister’s daughter’s new born on Facebook!

I am inclined to support the view that recruiters could and perhaps should examine a candidate’s background on his LinkedIn profile (public view) before or after an interview. I have included a link to my personal LinkedIn profile in my own CV in the past, and it has been well accepted. After all, I have setup my LinkedIn account to inform the public about myself, so why should I fear anyone having a look at it (hence my public profile on LinkedIn is the full profile!).

As to whether I want a prospective employer to know that I support Manchester United Football club (which I don’t!) or that I like B&W photography (which I do), or that I ran over a cat yesterday (which I didn’t!) and that my wife and I had a wonderful vacation in Bali (which we did!) is not for an unknown person to consider, especially in the context of prospective employment. Therefore, people checking out a candidate’s Facebook-type personal details about his/her personal life, family, hobbies, etc, is taking it too far.
There is an aspect of classification of the information that is freely available on the internet that needs to be carefully considered before a final conclusion can be drawn. All one has to do is Google search a person and a host of information is available on screen, unless that person is “invisible” on the internet. A lot of the information on the internet is owner originated. But there are also a lot of information out there that is not originated by the person concerned.

In the case of Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites, the content is created by the owner, but the “intention” of the creator is different. This is the critical factor in determining whether the information on the internet should be used to evaluate a person or not, when making a hiring decision.

To put it simply:
- evaluation of Facebook-type “personal” information for recruitment: NOT ethical (as the information is not intended for career evaluation);
- evaluation of LinkedIn-type professional information for recruitment: IS ethical (as the information is intended for career evaluation)…

…..and thus the information concerned is being used as originally intended.

If the recruiter wants to conduct extensive background checks, as a security precaution due to the specific nature of the role (eg. substance abuse counselor),then he/she has other more reliable tools available (rather than checking out the bikini clad babes in a person’s Facebook photo album).

[Via http://chandri.wordpress.com]

Life...

That job I thought I might get, I didn’t get. He never phoned and neither did I cause I was too damn tired.

The first week of school was exhausting, I had barely any energy left at the end of the day. Yet I’ve been trying my hardest to find a job, I’ve made a budget and I’ve started to sort myself out a bit more.
I have no money to really live off of, which is sad but sometimes that’s life. My biggest worry is that I won’t be able to afford the plain tickets home. I bought a jacket which put me down quite a bit money-wise but it had to be done. I’ve also bought literature for school which couldn’t be avoided. So now I can’t afford to buy anything else, practically, till it’s time to buy the plane tickets.
I’ve started knitting. I just decided to take it up one day and I’m finding it so relaxing. It just takes my mind off of everything else and I can focus completely on something for a while. I love it. I’m not actually doing anything, I’m just knitting for the sake of knitting, but I will make a nice, cosy scarf at some point.
Job-wise I haven’t been doing very well  at all, though today I think I might have gotten somewhere. It’s a cleaning job in proper office buildings. four hours a day during the weekends. I really hope I get it cause I sure need the money.

I haven’t been very active here lately and that’s cause I’m so tired every day, I have a cold now as well which isn’t helping. I’m thinking though that as I get used to being in school I should start feeling more energetic, I think there’s a bit a transition period for me to get used to attending school again.

Please leave a trace of you behind before you leave, I love reading comments:)

[Via http://minaethiel.wordpress.com]

Bible in a Year--Day 18

Carrying over the thought from yesterday about The God Who Sees Me, I am struck by how often God appears in some tangible form in our readings. He appeared to Adam and Eve in some form in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8); He spoke directly with Cain (Genesis 4:6 & 10); He spoke to Noah and directed the building of the ark and the repopulating the earth (Genesis 6-9); the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building in Babylon (Genesis 11:5, NIV); He spoke to Job out of the storm (Job 38-42); and now He is speaking and appearing in various forms to Abraham and his family (Genesis 12+). God sees us, God lives in us, and God appears among us. What a wonderful truth!

Without further adieu, today’s scripture reading: Genesis, chapters 19-21

Two angels appear to Lot in Sodom, to warn him and help him escape destruction. Have you ever felt as if you were in the presence of an angel of God? I have and it gives me chills to even think of it. (FYI–this is one of the matters I will question when I get the opportunity to ask Father God all the questions I want in Heaven) Whether angels live and walk among us is a matter only for God to know and Hollywood to aggrandize, but I do know that there are people and circumstances that are absolutely bursting with the loving grace that can only be from the Lord, our God.

God appeared to Abimelech in a dream, as He appears many times throughout the Bible. My human mind tends to wonder to the question: if God appears to me in a dream, how do I know that it is Him and not just some really unique dream? The answer comes even before I really have time to attempt to process the question: if it’s Him, YOU’LL KNOW. God doesn’t do anything half-way and you can be sure that if He chooses to reach out to you through a dream or a vision, you will know it is from Him.

Have you heard God’s voice, speaking to you so clearly that it’s as if He is right there standing next to you? Although I won’t know for certain about my encounter with an angel, and I can’t ever recall having a God-inspired dream, I have heard Him speak to me and when He does, let me tell you, I stop everything else I am doing and listen up! I can tell you this, friends, even in my limited understanding of God and His ways, I know that if He wants you to hear Him you better listen! In a previous post, entitled Thumbprints, I wrote about just such an encounter with the audibility of God.

If God tells you to build an ark, build it! If He tells you to eat this, not that, listen! If God says He will bless you with descendants too numerous to count, you don’t have to knock up your maidservant to make it happen. When he speaks to us, in whatever form He chooses, we must listen.

Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. (21:1-2, NIV)

God isn’t human! I hate to be Captain Obvious here, but so often our human selves seem to think all of the promises God has made to us since Creation have been mere words. As humans, we have a knack for promising ourselves into the ground. We’ll promise to get this chore done or that task checked off. We promise to read the Bible in a Year or lose 20 pounds by summer beach weather. But, as humans, our promises are often only partial-promises. So often, we fall painfully short of the mark. Not God! God keeps His promises every time. EVERY TIME. God speaks to us, tells us “do not be so distressed” (21:12, NIV), gives us direction, gives us comfort, He opens our eyes (21:19). He is an honest and faithful Creator God and He will be ever-faithful to us, no matter how many times we have messed up in the past or will surely mess up in the future.

Help me watch for the promises to come as we continue our journey through the Bible in a Year. We are 2 1/2 weeks in and there is so much more in store for us along this journey than we can even begin to comprehend this early in the game.

Just as a reminder, for anyone who has picked up this post and want to start from the beginning or just speed read and catch up to where we are, you can begin with my New Year’s Resolutions post from December 31, 2009, and the Bible in a Year–Day 1 posting, originally published on January 1, 2010. All of these daily entries will be categorized under Bible in a Year, so that is another option to make this journey a part of your journey, chronologically, through the inspired Word of God. Whatever brought you here, wherever you are on your personal walk with Him, I am so glad you are here and I am excited to take this journey with you.

Also, I have had a wonderful request to post the next day’s scripture reading each day, so that readers and fellow sojourners can know what’s up-and-coming. Excellent idea, so I will begin today (no time like the present). Tomorrow’s scripture reading: Genesis, chapters 19-21. Enjoy and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Make it a great day,
Marilyn

Dear God, thank You for touching my life so greatly that you also allow me to share my love for You with others. God, please let me only lift You up and not displease You with anything I write or think as I take this year long journey. Lord, please deepen my understanding as I continue my daily reading and writing, so that what I share of You can be scripture-based and sound. It is in Your mighty name that I pray. Amen.

[Via http://marilynrh.wordpress.com]

SHORT STORY - ANANTHU'S FAMILY

My name is Ananthapadmanabhayyar. As it is too long, all called me Anathu. As we lived in a remote village, father put me in a school in Bombay where my uncle lived.

I had some school mates who led me to women of undesirable character and soon I knew things which were very tempting, including alcohol.

Uncle arranged a stenographer’s job for me. I was very quick and accurate; so much so that I got several jumps in my factory. Then father thought of marrying me to a girl who was related to him

There was no thrill of the “first night”described in novels and shown in films; still I enjoyed deflowering her. For the first time, I saw hymen!

 She was plain but very docile and enjoyed our new life, seeing a city like Bombay for the first time.

We were living in the quarter allotted by the company. I found that my wife, Nina, was becoming very popular with the neighbours and one or two were always there, when I came home. I didn’t like it but could not find a way of convincing Nina, who was too innocent to suspect their intentions.

I was happy to leave her in her home in the village as soon as she became pregnant. I reestablished contacts with my night lovers who were too eager and adept in making love.

When she came with a son, everything changed. I never knew that a baby could be so sweet and precious. As son as I came home, the boy would come smiling and the next one hour would be spent in playing with it. On holidays, we would go for a movie or to some friends’ flat. Or simply moving around in parks or temples.

The years passed and my son was enrolled in a good school. As soon as the school bus moved away with the kid, I would be uneasy until the boy returned safe and sound, at two in the afternoon.

We used to attend parent-teacher meetings. The teachers were full of praise for our boy, except that he needed improvement in maths. So we engaged a tutor for him.

One day I returned at noon from the factory to search for some document. I saw a pair of shoes in our front veranad. The door was locked from inside.

I quetly went round towards our bed room. There were sounds from inside; when I peeped through the window curtain, Nina was lying on the bed with her skirt drawn up and Pawar was pumping with gusto…. More forcefully, more forcefully: she was shouting…….

I was dazed and completely lost my senses.

 Somehow, I managed to walk away towards the railway station

I was sitting on a parapet on the road side, where the road and the rail line were running parallel. I do not know how long I sat there, watching the movement of suburban trains and the red buses. A woman came and sat beside me. It was Mary. Both of us had learned short hand in the same institute together.

She said: after a long time I am seeing you; what are you doing here? You look terribly upset.

I was in no mood to speak. We new each other too much and all attempts at evasion were futile. I spoke out, about what I saw in my bed room.

She kept mum for some time; then she urged me to go with her: my mother is not well. That is why I am here.

We walked along, talking. I just listened.

I am working in a private company at Nagpur. You know I can manage any boss with my beautiful body. Now I am getting handsome salary. Still unmarried. I don’t say you marry me. Let us live together. I shall fix up a job for you. I have just to ring up my boss.

We reached her place. It was a rented house which her parents occupied long ago. Her father was no more.

Her mother was very pleased to see me She told me to sit beside her in the bed and kissed me on the cheek: I am seeing you after a long time. Now you have become a man. Aren’t you married?

Yes, Maji. How are you?

I am beyond hope. My daughter gives me all sorts of medicines. I tell her not to waste money on me.

Mary brought coffee and biscuits. Afterwards, we went to her room.

As was our habit, we lay on the bed. She cuddled towards my body and whispered in my ear: I am yearning for your warmth.

I was in no mood. Yet, can any man resist it? How long? Soon we were converted into the Khajuraho postures.

At last, when fully satisfied, she opened the subject: you must realize that circumstances make us virtuous or not. What will your wife do when you are away in the factory and the kid in the school? And this neighbour, having done his night duty is ready all the time. It is not a new thing. Fashionable ladies are always eager to have a fling. They are just afraid.

I told her I can come with her.

The first few months were somewhat pleasant. But I missed the joy we felt at home, with the boy a source of great comfort, especially when I return from the factory. He was a tonic, better than a glass of fresh fruit juice.

And those barbs…….Poor Mary has to satisfy her boss in the office and Ananthu at home…. some wags would say.

I told her about it.

She said: if you want, I shall give up my job.

That is a good idea, but I want my boy.

We decided to go to my quarter in the factory, but my family had already left.

One day I just went away, in spite of Mary’s protests.

First, I went to Hardwar and then Rishikesh. In those days the mountainous Rishikesh was somewhat scarcely populated, especially upstream along the bank of the Ganga. In my state of mind I approached several sadhus living in caves. No one impressed me, but their very presence was soothing.

A well known Guru in a math was different. He advised me about life in general.

He said: sanyas is not for young people like you. You have done Brahmacharya (schooling). Now you must complete your Grihastham, including looking after business, property, children etc. When all things are settled and your children grown up and able to look after the business, should you think of Vanaprasth. You may wander the whole Himalayas even now, as it will change your narrow out look and enable you to see things objectively. Stay here for some days and go through the books in my library.

I followed his instructions literally and then returned to my village, after wandering in the Himalayas for full six years.

I was able to locate my family after some enquiriesthough her people had shifted to Salem.

 Nina appeared like a shadow of her former self, very thin and wiry. The boy was grown up and could not recognize me. In spite of the presence of curious on lookers, I went and embraced them.

WHEN WE REJOINED, IT WAS A NEW LIFE.

[Via http://waterfriend.wordpress.com]

Great day

I feel so incredibly blessed right now!  After a while of some hard days and not-so-fun days, I had another good day today.  In fact, today was a great day!  Here’s why:

–Finished my pattern completely!  It launches tomorrow!  I hope you’re excited about this and that someone feels it’s worthy to buy.  Trial by fire, but I’m excited.  I’ve worked very hard on it.

–Watched the new episode(s) of 30 Rock, pretty much my favorite show right now.  I thought it didn’t restart until next week, but then a friend mentioned it to me today and I realized that it actually restarted last night, so I watched it on Hulu!

–Crock Pot–my wonderful mother bought me a crock pot and had it mailed to me!  Today there was a knock on the door and a nice UPS man with a giant Amazon.com box asked me to sign.  Talk about a lovely surprise!  I’m currently soaking beans to make into a lovely bean soup tomorrow!

–Chunky knitting–I cast on a new project today for a (possible) future pattern for a chunky infinity scarf.  These are really hot right now and I have been dying to make one, so after all that head-splitting of writing my pattern, I cast this chunky scarf on.  It’s looking lovely and knitting up super fast.  What fun!

–Returning a book–I returned one of the books I bought last week today because my Mom remembered that she already had a copy of it.  She mailed it to me (yay for old books with character, yellowed pages, and marginalia!  I’m not being facetious.  I really do love old books.  They have character!)  and I got $12.41 credited back to my credit card.  Not a ton, but it’s something!

–Relaxed library strolling–I went to the library today to stroll around and look for a certain book recommended to me by a friend, found it, and then proceeded to just wander around the library for a while and take pictures.  I love the feel, smell, look, etc. of libraries.  I can’t describe it.  Even when I have no desire whatsoever to pick up a book and read, just walking around libraries always gives me this sense of mystery, calm, and intrigue.  Just being in the presence of so many books makes me feel calmer, smarter, and happier.  So I took a LOT of pictures of things that embody the marvelousness of libraries to me, including comfy chairs, kitsch decorations, funny book titles, and the contrast between the “actual” art hanging on the walls and the inherent artisticness (in my opinion) of same-colored books grouped together in an interesting way.

–Friends and coffee–I met a friend from school today at a cute little coffee shop to chat.  She is so great and so encouraging to me!  Thanks for brightening my day!

Finally,

–I got a job!  It’s not necessarily a great job and may or may not last a while, but I finally have a source of income, the ability to tell nay-sayers that I have a job, and it sounds like it might be really fun.  To make matters even cooler, I start Tuesday!

Did you have a good day?  List off anything you did today that made you happy, no matter how big or small.

(And now your moment of zen:

)

[Via http://artohline.wordpress.com]

Top 10 Ways to get Yourself Fired

It’s Top 10 time once again, and I’ll be counting down the Top 10 Ways to get Yourself Fired.

10. Don’t actually do any work

It’s the easiest way but it’s also the least creative way which is why this is number 10.

9. Sleep with your boss’ wife

A way to get fired while also getting some sex, all win.

8. Call in sick and tweet

Why not call in sick and then tweet about how much fun you had on your day off on your company’s Twitter account. Sure to piss off the boss.

7. Put your pants in the microwave

A perfect choice for the winter; Pop a pair of your pants (even better if they’re stained) into the microwave, and when someone questions you just claim you were making them nice and toasty.

6. Hitler moustache

A controversial yet effective solution is to come into work with a Hitler moustache and start spouting German words at every opportunity.

5. Spike the water cooler with Jagermeister

An option that can produce some hilarious situations when all your co-workers are absolutely wankered.

4. Sleep with a co-worker and put up naked photos of her

Why not redecorate the workplace with naked photos of a co-worker? It’ll soon gain her slag status within the office and will also ensure that you’re forced to leave.

3. Look at animal porn on your work computer

Convince your co-workers you have zoophilia by browsing some animal porn at work. They’ll soon stop talking to you and you’ll soon be out the door to freedom.

2. Come to work naked

For the brave out there, come into work in the buff. You’ll be carted out of there quicker than you can say “like what you see?”.

1. Poop on your boss’ desk

Inspired by Eric Cartman. Go into your boss’ office, get on his desk, pull down your trousers and lay a huge steaming fudge pie. 100% desperate and 100% effective.

Hope you picked up some tips and have fun at the job centre!

[Via http://mrkoldfire.wordpress.com]

Work 8 Marriage 0

Last night I sat on the phone with Dustin and for the first time in 8 months we talked about our marriage.  Yes, 8 months.  Usually our talks end up with me crying and not getting anything out and he might as well be sitting there with his fingers in his ears singing LAALLALA.  So I did what every person should do and I cornered him because this cannot continued to be ignored.

We talked about working it out.  WHAT!? Yea, I know.  I brought this up because there is about 10% of me that feels the need to make sure I’m walking away having given it my all.  It may be delaying the inevitable but I will then never doubt that we made the right decision.  I figure the next few months of trying is nothing compared to the next 50 or 60 years of my life.  It shouldn’t seem like much to ask of your spouse.

We both agree that we failed at this marriage and that the biggest problem has been communication.  I’m pretty sure they teach you that in Marriage 101 but I guess he never got that memo.  He admits that he turned away my attempts at communication because, to put it simply, he hates to do it.  He hates to talk things out, or feel anything or admit the obvious.

We also talked a lot about the big problem that started everything- his work addiction. I could go on and on about what we talked about.  You may ask if you have a specific question but I’m just going to tell you the conclusion.  The conclusion of our marriage goes like this.  I said I would be wiling to full on try.  He says work is more important to him and he doesn’t want to give it up.  Not one bit.  He says giving work 100% dedication is more important, and has been more important, than our marriage. FAIL. See what drives a person away? Yea, that.

By the end of the night I hung up the phone and felt relief.  I tried.  I finally got all the words out I needed too.  I got him to hear my reasoning and whether or not he takes anything away from that is up to him.  I know he hung up the phone rattled.  He hates dealing with anything and I made him deal with it, head on.  I made him answer my questions and look at it from a different view.  Most importantly I hung up and realized I’m finally getting to the point where I forgive myself for what I did.  For being the dirty mistress.  For hurting my husband and my marriage. 

I’m looking at today and forward.  I can’t continue to carry around the heavy burden of my marriage on my shoulders especially if he doesn’t see our marriage as anything but a road block to work and a bigger pay check.  I fought as far as I can go as a spouse on my own in this.  If he isn’t willing to meet me halfway, then that will lay on his shoulders. 

Last night, for the first time since Dustin moved out, I didn’t worry about the boogie man or the noises, I didn’t reach for Bill’s hand or see him in my dreams.  Instead I slept like a freakin rock.

[Via http://lovedyoumore.wordpress.com]

Your Limiting Beliefs Determine Your Success

Sounds crazy, buy your limiting beliefs will determine your success. I am not talking about you religious beliefs. I am talking about your inner most, deepest and possibly very secret limiting beliefs. Everyone has a set of beliefs that runs their life. Like an operating system in a computer. These limiting beliefs have been learned and picked up from any number of sources throughout our lives. Some of these limiting beliefs could have been a part of you since childhood. Maybe a grandparent or some other special person in your life told you something that they thought would help you in your life and you have held on to that in the form of a limiting belief. You may have gotten limiting beliefs from parents, friends, relatives, employers, television, books or you created your own limiting beliefs.

Limiting Beliefs Are Holding You Back

My grandfather that I was very close to died many years ago, but I always held on to something he used to say “you can’t depend on anyone but yourself for a job or income”. That was a very powerful statement to young man at the time. Today it seems to ring true, in regards to a job and security. That statement had become one of my limiting beliefs. The meaning of that belief can be analyzed in a couple different ways. For one I have had to work hard on being able to delegate anything over the years, I felt that I had to do everything to get the job done, or at least to get it done properly. On the another hand it may have been what brought out my entrepreneurial spirit. Seems to have been a double edge sword. After examining that limiting belief years later and making the changes I needed to make, I learned to delegate and hold people accountable so I could make the best use of my time. This is just one limiting belief that had an impact on my life and success. Everyone has limiting beliefs that impacts their life and their success mindset.

What Are Your Limiting Beliefs?

Do you have limiting beliefs like these? I am not smart enough! I am too young! I am too old! I can’t do that! I can’t make that much money! I have to work more hours to make more money! I don’t know how to do that! I don’t have a degree! I have heard so many more from people in all walks of life. Do your thoughts consist of positive thinking and those that support a mindset for success? Examine your beliefs and determine how they are limiting you!

Click here to see how I make money online from home.

Click here to see the original post.

[Via http://chasingwealth.wordpress.com]

Bible in a Year--Day 13

Initially, I was excited about today’s reading because 13 has been my lucky number (I know, “lucky numbers” aren’t exactly biblical) since my first cheerleader tryouts, but then I realized what section of scripture we were studying and I got even more excited. At the heart of today’s reading is one of my favorite verses:

How great is God–beyond our understanding! (Job 36:26, NIV)

Therefore, my entire thought process for today’s journaling revolve around God’s glorious majesty and how beyond us He truly is.

Today’s scripture reading: Job, chapters 35-37

You and I are but human; Job and his friends were merely human. We all have human pride, human will, human sin, and purely human nature. We are not God. We attempt to play “God” at times, but we don’t even come close to understanding what or who we are trying to imitate.

We spend today, again, with Elihu:
If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
or what does he receive from your hand?
Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself,
and your righteousness only the sons of men. (35:7-8, NIV)

If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment.
But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge. (36:11-12, NIV)

These go to back to our discussion a few days ago, “The fear of the Lord–that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding” (28:28, NIV). We just don’t get it. We just don’t have it. All you and I can do is fear God, our Maker, the Lord, our Father, and shun evil; in return, the Bible tells me that I will gain whatever level of understanding of God that I can comprehend. All I have, then, is my absolute reverence for God. But, you know what, that’s good enough for me! I don’t want to play God and I don’t have a desire to know all there is to know about Him.

At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place. (37:1, NIV)

The way I see it, knowing all of the secrets ruins the surprise of it all. In some areas of my life, I just want to have that childlike faith that Jesus will teach us about much later in the year (we are reading chronologically, after all, and we’re barely out of Creation now).

God is exalted in his power.
Who is a teacher like him?
Who has prescribed his ways for him,
or said to him, ‘You have done wrong’?
Remember to extol his work,
which men have praised in song.
All mankind has seen it;
men gaze on it from afar.
How great is God–
beyond our understanding!

He is beyond our understanding! There have been times that I have felt so close to Him, that I actually (in my very human, prideful stupidity) have felt that I had some glimpse of understanding Him, in all of His glory. But truly, friends, we can’t even come close.

I imagine Elihu speaking to me as well as to Job here,
“Listen to this, Job;
stop and consider God’s wonders.
Do you know how God controls the clouds
and makes his lightning flash?
Do you know how the clouds hand poised,
those wonders of him who is perfect in knowledge?”
(37:14-16, NIV)

“When his voice resounds,
he holds nothing back.
God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;
he does great things beyond our understanding.”
(37:4-5, NIV)

When I stop and consider that literally every breath I take, every hair on my head, every beat of my heart are counted and preordained by Him, it humbles me. In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind (12:10, NIV). He is truly awesome!

As a young girl, I remember always wanting to know what certain people I respected would ask God when they got to heaven. I have this great picture in my mind’s eye of all of His children huddled at His holy feet, like an aged grandfather with his brood of grand kids gathered on the front porch, listening to stories of the good old days. We, God’s children, have a natural curiosity. We wonder of him who is perfect in knowledge (37:16, NIV). Wonder and curiosity about our Maker are healthy, as they bring us to this place we are today, in His Word, studying His inspired writing and learning more about Him, our foundation. He is our guiding light, our shining star, and our leader through life everlasting; all honor and glory are His alone.

Out of the north he comes in golden splendor;
God comes in awesome majesty.
The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;
in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.
Therefore, men revere him,
for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart? (37:22-24, NIV)

My Bible has an interesting footnote pertaining to this last line of scripture, an alternate translation:
Therefore, men revere him
for he does not have regard for any who think they are wise

Friends, let us be inspired by Him, and live in reverence of His awesome majesty! Let us, in all of our human ignorance, not think more of ourselves than we ought (which we’ll also find later in the book of Romans), or think we are wise in the eyes of God. Let us, instead, live our lives to serve Him and others, and to build upon this foundation in honor of Him.

Make it a great day,
Marilyn

Dear God, Thank You for every breath I take, every hair on my head, and every beat of my heart. Thank You for this day and all of the days to come that You are granting me so that I can work my hardest to help in furthering Your kingdom. Lord, do your work here and bring everyone in the world to Your throne of righteousness. Lord, whether someone reads about You here in my writing or in any other form, I pray for souls to be saved in Your name around the world and throughout existence. I am in awe of you, Lord. Amen.

[Via http://marilynrh.wordpress.com]

Finance and Career Highlights

Finance and Career Highlights (January 11, 2009)

Today in the LifeSpace Community we are focusing on helping you get a better job, and what better place to start than your resume? We’ve provided a great step by step template on improving your resume, as well as articles with great advice on making a successful career change, tips for your next interview, and mistakes that you should avoid on your resume.

Recommended Goal Templates:

Finance

Improve My Resume

This is a step-by-step guide to improving your resume (or creating a new one). We have attached several great articles to support this process. The template is set to be completed in a week, but there is no reason you can’t get it done in a day or two.

Ideas, Articles and Resources:

Career Change – Steps to Making a Successful Career Change

If you are considering a career change here’s advice to help you make a successful career change

10 General Interview Tips

The majority of interviewees go to an interview without much preparation, but these ten interview tips will help you go through an interview with a breeze!

 

7 Mistakes To Avoid On Your Next Job Application

Having a great job application is crucial to getting the interview. Here are 7 common mistakes found on applications that are harming your chances.

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