Looking Glass

 An old high school bud and I had reconnected on facebook last year. She and I had an occasion to get together and enjoy a cup of java together at a local coffee shop. She joined me at a Toastmasters meting and ended up joining the club. She participated for a couple of months, but has taken an absence. I emailed her a couple of times to do a well check. She was just very busy with life in general, and working early meant Tuesdays was putting in a 13 hour day by the time the club meetings adjourned. We earmarked trying to catch up over coffee again.  I believe in one of my emails to her, I noted I was still job searching and had to move because of landlord's circumstances. She nicely told me, if I needed a place to stay for awhile, she had an extra room. How sweet! She called one evening a week ago, and we ended up having a very long discussion. She had a proposition for me. As life has overwhelmed her with physical problems and some bouts of depression, she decided she'd lik...

 I have been learning  a lot of information from my advocacy training for SafePlace, Olympia. I have learned about society myths surrounding the crimes of rape, assault and domestic violence. My work as an advocate for my former employer was different than this traumatic work. Here, you believe the caller or visitor reporting the assault to you, without hesitation. Formerly, I had to complete fact finding missions when a client or employee reported an allegation. I still have tendencies to ask questions while role playing, and that is taboo. We do not want to make the victim feel, for one second, they aren't believed. Only a small percentage of these crimes are reported anyway. It's horrible the shame that society has burdened victims with. Especially children and men;straight or gay. Remember the sagas of the Catholic Priests molesting and sexually assaulting so many boys? We have discussed that topic on more than one occasion. The imp...

 I took a break from my "to do list," earlier and was scanning my Twitter page. I ran across a young gent who told a story about his hard knock life and endeavors to keep going through personal hardship in order to become a writer. Of course, some points may be enhanced to catch reader's eyes and like his website and all, but something about his smart ass ways caught my eye. He is Craig Stone and his Twitter handle is @robolollycop. He has written at least two books now, and his third is in the works. His second book is called "Life Knocks,", his first was called, "The Squirrel That Dreamt of Madness."  I will have to see about reading them, as I don't have a kindle and I cannot tell the price from Amazon. I didn't look too hard yet, either. He also lives in England or such. He was interviewed for a BBC station and an audio clip is linked to his page of this interview. Quite interesting, really.  http://thoughtscratchings.com/the-method-behind-...

 My brain really is getting fried and tired of all these job applications I am filling out. I have even dropped off some application packets in person, which didn't help a bit. The three temp agencies I am registered with have not called me once. I called them, and they basically put you off by saying, "We'll call you when a job is posted that fits your skills."  I did have an interview on Monday with a local mom and pops roofing company in need of an office assistant. I feel the interview went well, but I am not hanging my hat on hope, either. The co-owner told me she was concerned I was overqualified and they couldn't offer me a pay even close to my old salary and they cannot offer benefits. I did my best to dis sway that opinion in a proper fashion.  I started looking at Craig's List again for a room to rent and so many of them want a roommate ASAP. I will reboot my search this weekend.  I have been attending a mandatory training for SafePlace, Olympia ...

 After the disappointing career fair, I schlepped my way back to the car and gently held Gia, in an attempt to make amends. I punched in my son's address, took a sigh and drove off from which I came. Now, I have noticed that Gia is slow on the rebound often, and again, she waits until the last minute informing me of my next turn. This time I listed the directions to see advance steps, which helped to a degree. Eventually, I purposely did not take a turn...or two...to avoid her putting me back on I-5 interstate. I hate the congestion despite my leisurely attitude in reaching my destination. Messing with her mind was not a big concern for me at this point. I wanted her to "recalculate route," to avoid that freeway. Which she did.  Gia did get her revenge. (laugh here.) When I followed her directions to continue LEFT on Market street, as I crawled up the hill, I saw that Market St. went right, not left. But trust me, I challenged her when I turned into a driveway, did a thr...

  I eventually did find the destination of which I had been searching. Of course, Gia landed me on a corner of the mega-plex not even close to the northwest rooms. I didn't know this until I hustled my way through this vast expanse of cement and structures, now walking as fast as possible to find these obscure rooms before time ran out. I couldn't miss my chance on finding a potential employer, ya know.  After aimlessly wandering through this park like area in search of the fair, I had to stop several people and show them my printed directions in hope of their deliverance of accurate directions to the rooms. Some of the Center's site staff didn't even know where they were. All of the maps of the Center did not have one building or spot marked with "northwest rooms." After another half hour of schlepping my way around, I found the building with one small banner naming it, northwest rooms. Not one sandwich board, sign or balloon hung anywhere in this sea of fa...

 Yep, you heard me right, schlepping. I was schlepping in Seattle yesterday with nothing but good intentions of making a positive turn with my life. I had connected with an online resource bragging of a Career Fair in Seattle. I armed myself with hard copies of my resume, general cover letters, five different reference letters, plus, I put them all on a thumb drive should that need arise of someone wanting to email my credentials to someone of importance...like Bill Gates. I had registered in advance for the fair, copied directions, imagined what I would wear and even practiced interview techniques. I felt solid and confident. The event was slated from 11am-2pm. I left my house at 10:30am, which ETA in Seattle would be around 11:30 or 11:45 am. Me and my little Honda propelled down a familiar path towards Seattle, via the I-5 freeway.  To play into this day, it is important to note, that a couple of months ago, I decided to upload a navigator system onto my cell phone, for a...