Thanks To My Editor ( N.D.)

As we near the end of the year I need to confess that I have a partner in this blog venture and it is time to give thanks to the person who most supports my writing. My "editor" is always willing to read through any drafts or embryonic potential publishing matter and the invaluable guidance I receive is what enables my thoughts to make their way to the 'publish post' option. There are many opportunities for my editor not to be able to opine due to the fact that it can often be a time consuming affair yet no matter how busy, my editor is always there with advice and often a necessary nudge; sometimes even a push! With stories galore to share my editor chooses to remain in the background and focusses on my blog. I would love to edit for my editor and so while I say a formal 'thank you' here, I offer the same selfless services whenever my editor decides to become the 'writer'; no I did not submit this draft for editing.........

Don't Go Changing (S. V.)

We are raised to stick to our guns, stand by our convictions and not to give up when we KNOW we are right...for US!!!! If we listen well, we let these 'orders' guide us and then suddenly we are the adults with newlings to raise and form. We clearly cannot foist our belief and/or value systems on anyone, not even on our children, but we can demonstrate through our actions so they can get the gist of who we are. Hopefully, they will find at least a few things to emulate and then to incorporate into their own set of values and the ways which they think are right for them. As we get older, if we are in tune, we may recognize that we need not stagnate or mark time. How fortuitous that there really are options available; we can stay on the narrow road and continue to be inflexible, we can hang on tightly in order not to cede control, or we can step back, become more mellow and be open to what in the past might have seemed too scary. Sometimes the mere mention of the word 'change' is enough to strike great fear in the hearts of many. I believe that the key to overcoming the panic that thought of change provokes, is to be vigilant and not to change the you that is at your very core who you truly are 'au fond'. All the other components should be like Lego, easy to connect once you've learned how to play so that you really can connect. You may be lucky enough to get to a point where you can let someone in; let them see who you really are without all the protective barriers that you have so painstakingly erected and which have been intact for most of your adult life. If you choose to let yourself be truly visble, then you choose to allow yourself to be vulnerable and with that choice you forefit any guarantee that you will be safely protected. For this reason, you must be careful in your choices because the wrong person will not be able to see you. the wrong person will be lost in their past and on a plane so far below yours that it will be impossible for them to make the shift that you have made. At the end of the day you will be much stronger than you ever thought possible as you leave the old carapace behind and become the butterfly you never thought you could be. Just don't go changing the things that have always made you the individual that you are.

The House Party With A Twist

You have decided to spend a long weekend up north with friends and from the time you arrive it feels as if you have entered a small town pre-Christmas house party zone. One on Thursday, one on Friday and tonight you have yet another. Although you feel partied out you have no readily acceptable excuses available so you console yourself by plotting to put in a brief appearance and then make an early getaway to prepare for your return trip home in the morning. The glow from the brightly lit home shines through the large bay windows reflecting off the newly fallen white snow in the front and the small river at the back. The cars drive slowly down the small street and dislodge the guests who gingerly make their way up the path to the front door. Then it is your turn and the large wooden doors open. You step in from the cold, hang your coats and as your eyes adjust to the light you see the other guests; some seated some standing all with drinks in their hands all in party conversation mode. You join a small group and wonder only for a moment why the conversational tones are hushed, but only for a moment because that is when you hear it. The soft background music that gently wafts into the foyer and seems to settle like a melodious cloud over everyone. No piped in Christmas carols here, but instead, the brilliant sounds that can only come from a live musical instrument. You find yourselves drifting towards the piano as if under a spell. Then you see her, the pianist, tucked away in the corner by the fireplace. Your eyes are drawn to her magical hands and for a long moment you are unable to take your eyes off the perfectly formed fingers that glide effortlessly across the keyboard. Ice cubes tinkle in glasses as people wander in and out of open rooms and somehow, as soft and unintrusive as it is, the music is everywhere. The pianist has created the perfect background pallet for the rainbow of colour that her music seems to paint. This house party is perfect and you know that you will be staying a lot longer than you'd originally planned.

Family Holiday

As we enter the Christmas holiday season it seems that the buzz centers once again on family holiday plans. Much is said about the package deals available which will transport your family unit far from your snowy wonderland to a tropical beach with plenty of sand and sun. If your group is hale and hearty a winter vacation is the way to go and depending on your particular family preferences, you get to choose anything from the 5 star with the hot tub getaway to the esthetically challenging quincee {sp? } hut that you get to carve out of the snow (no not an igloo)all by yourselves. The choices you make will obviously impact the amount of luggage and 'things' you must bring along, not to mention the utensils and/or chains, ice picks etc. for the drive away holiday and/or the size of the limo to the airport which again depends upon the number of family members and the volume of bathing suits, towels and 'just in case' hurricane/tornado/tropical storm apparel. The dilemma of which way to go has been passed down through the ages for as long as there have been Christmas holiday celebrations and it is believed that this quandry is at the root of that old lament; "decisions decisions decisions." Our family happily has another take on holidays and we seem to celebrate whenever we are lucky enough to be together. We need no luggage or "things" and we do perfectly well just bringing ourselves. Our destinations are sometimes wont to change at the last minute and this never wreaks havoc with our flexibility quotient. We get to"holiday' as a family whenever the fates are kind. With the exception of one small black bag that sometimes comes along, we are seasoned travellers who look forward to each and every trip; location notwithstanding.

Shareholders Meeting

The biannual coming together of workers and the uber bosses they rarely see during the course of their work days is usually a time fraught with anxiety. The workers must be prepared to be unceremoniously dumped on for any number of reasons, most ironically having nothing to do with the actual job they have been hired to do. It is perhaps possible that the shareholders are having a bad spell at home and they bring this negative aura to the meeting where they take out their misery via many cutting and critical remarks all made under the guise of "I only have your best interest" etc. etc. etc. The shareholder could be suffering from a bi-polar type of illness but in honour of this meeting he/she has forsaken all meds and again the worker is trounced, only verbally we hope. The boss who is usually supportive, turns into a raging "yes" man/woman who all but forgets workers names in a desperate attempt to curry favour with the omnipotent. Essentially the worker bee is left to stand alone at the mercy of the basic character of the shareholder because it is evident that it matters little whether or not the worker is doing the greatest job on earth, the only thing that matters is the perception the shareholder has, of the worker, not the work he/she does. Normally I would not personally endorse any particular product through this forum but after hearing so many horror stories I feel that it is now time to put in a plug for a recently published workers guide which has many helpful suggestions to alleviate worker stress around these meetings. One of the most helpful hints I read in this must have book is as follows: "Do not let anyone talk down to you no matter their status because this is bullying in the adult arena" I agree with this and further suggest that you either walk away if someone speaks to you inappropriately or cup your hand to your ear as you smile and calmly say; "are you speaking to me? I can't seem to decode speech when it is at high do". Another hint addresses heresay which comes into play when a shareholder tells a worker how his/her co-workers have been polled and 'all agree etc. etc' At this point the worker might like to set the record straight by reminding the shareholder of the inaccuracy of polling results but he/she is better advised to casually mention that idle gossip is never the way to go, and then maybe casually drop the name of a well known lawyer who everyone knows is just the perfect person to look into launching a pro bono defamation of character suit on behalf of the persecuted worker.

This guide has numerous scenarios culled from various workplaces and I predict that in a very short time frame it will become a #1 bestseller. The book is called A User Friendly "Green" Guide on How to Become the Mouse That Roars No Matter Who The Cat Is.


Author: B. Poisson





ISBN62da

Long Underwear

The cold weather is back and the onus is on me to prove that I do in fact prefer the rigors of staying warm in the bitter cold to the thankless task of staying cool when the temperatures are in my opinion, way too high. As a connaisseur of "layering' although I fit quite well into this group, I have chosen to break away from the mainstream to found my own wee niche called 'attractive' layering. The rebel in me rises to the challenge of disproving the heretofore synonymity of the words layering and unattractive. I have decided to forsake the heavily padded snowflake infested pastels of old and go for the wafer thin and delicate slinky black that has only recently become an option. Every good layerer knows that it is futile to waste any thought on what goes underneath the underneath but in my new role as a maverick layerer I have come up with a myriad of choices to replace the same old same old. These range in various styles of decolletage and 'interesting "T"s in a rainbow of muted hues with nary a white or beige cotton blend in sight. Once the ensemble is complete and to my liking I might finish it off with a cashmere layer of socks (black of course) and voila! Long underwear a la haute couture.

Sleeping In

For years I have felt myself to be sleep deprived and to counterbalance what I perceive to be at least a bit of a problem, I make promises to myself throughout any given week. My promises are either to take a cat nap after work, to go to bed earlier than usual or to catch up on all the hours missed by having two sleep in days each weekend. This is all in an effort to be proactive but by the time Friday rolls around and I have fulfilled neither of the first two, I plan for the big sleep in. I stay up really late because I know I can sleep in. I turn off all the telephone ringers and then the funniest thing happens. My inner body alarm clock goes off anywhere between 6:00 and 7:00am and no matter how few zzzzzs I've had, I am fully awake. I fool myself into thinking that I can drift off again but with the sun reaching its long fingers of light under my window shades, this becomes mission impossible. My head begins to fill with the endless possibilities that a brand new day offers and then suddenly everything becomes crystal clear. No matter how little sleep I've had or how much sleep I know I need, the bottom line is that I cannot possibly donate another moment of a precious new day to my bed and my lost sleep. I have finally decided to focus less on my grown up nocturnal challenges and more on the philosophy of my younger days, 'Carpe Deim'!!