If I show up for work dressed in an outfit that is a bit wacky, it never raises eyebrows. In fact, people expect that a storyteller would dress in a way that is “out of the norm.” I’m an artist, after all, and I have to meet the expectations of my audience. All I have to do to “dress for success” in my job is grab something offbeat from my closet … which is not a difficult task!

I don’t even own a business suit. Because I don’t work in the “real” world, I don’t have to “apply” for my jobs, and never face a formal job interview. With luck folks will continue to hire me as a storyteller and I never will have to apply for a job in the corporate world again. If that did come to pass I’d be in trouble. I’d have to go shopping for clothes that would be appropriate in the eyes of the business world.

I’d probably be able to afford to do that (I have magic plastic cards that would allow it), but there are women all over the world who can’t. They want a better job, but to get one, they have to dress properly. To afford the proper clothes, they need a better job so they can buy them! It’s one of those “Catch-22″ situations.

Can you imagine being in the position of facing a job interview without having access to clothing that is appropriate for the event? Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are judged by our appearance, especially when applying for a job. You might have the best qualifications for the job, but if you don’t look the part you might not get hired. If you don’t look the part, it could shatter your confidence, too.

On National Public Radio this week, I heard about an non-profit organization that seemed appropriate for an Only The Good Friday. It’s called Dress For Success.

The mission of Dress for Success is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.

Most people who are familiar with the program know it as “the place who gives suits to women,” but it does a lot more. The organization proclaims that “finding work is only one step in a woman’s journey towards economic independence; remaining employed and building a rewarding career are essential if a woman is to become self-sufficient.” They offer support and information to help women navigate as they work toward bettering their lives.

With a referral from a participating agency, and a job interview scheduled, a woman can get a suit that has been donated to one of the Dress for Success Affiliates. Once she gets the job, she can come back and get other clothing to help build the foundation of a professional wardrobe.

Have y’all sorted through your closets lately? Dress for Success sounds like a perfect opportunity to “go green” by recycling that lovely business suit that is just a bit snug on you … or the one that is too large now that you lost weight. You can be environmentally conscious, de-clutter your closet, AND empower some woman out there all at the same time. That sounds pretty good to me.

I wonder if Dress for Success ever helps out any storytellers? I’d be happy to send clothing to them, but I doubt that my wild garb would be much use. The best I can do is tell you about it and hope that you can help.

Y’all have a delightful day out there, and if you get a chance please visit some of my friends who also try to post “the good.”

RV Poetry; Candid Karina; All My Great, or Not So Great Adventures; Inside Mo’s Mind; Thorne’s World; Down River Drivel; Duward Discussion; Ramblings of an Unstable Mind; Insightful Nana; Newbie Lifeline; Everyday Tarot; West of Mars; Life’s Journey; Round Circle; Barbara’s Travels; Blog of Revelation; Desert Diva; Blogjem My Life As It Is

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Post tags: Only The Good Friday, optimism

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If you have a Twitter account, you’d better hope that nothing goes wrong with it, because you will be flying on your own. It all works great until you have a problem. Then you will find that Twitter support seems to be totally unreachable. Perhaps I shouldn’t complain, since the Twitter social networking “service” is free, which is a darned good thing, because I wouldn’t pay for this headache.

To be fair, I think it is a small staff at Twitter who are dealing with all of the problems from the rest of us twits out there. The only way I can get attention is to squawk about it, and I’m hoping that some folks from the Twitter staff will see this post and flock to my rescue. I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

Here’s my problem (and if you know how to repair it — please share!). It’s all about “hashtags.” On Twitter, you can tweet with the “pound symbol” before a word that interests you (for instance, #photos). At that point, you should show up in a public timeline, where other people with the same interest can find you and visit you. All they have to do is search for #photos … and Voila! There you are.

That once worked for me. But, now I don’t show up in any public timelines. I have NOT changed any of my account settings … I’m not doing anything differently … I’m just not on the radar anymore. This, of course, happens just as I need it! I’m wanting to participate Family Connections, a forum about digital parenting, that BlogHer created, and want to use the following hashtag: #momspotting. I’ll tell you more about it when I’m not sitting in a hotel room in Houston.

Twitter refuses to let me be a part of anything.

I’ve gone to the Twitter home page which gives no opportunity to directly contact a human. They won’t let me contact them at all! Every link they have comes right back to that same page, which has no answers. I’ve spent hours wandering around in that page, following links and ending back where I started.

After several days of that, I did a search on Google to find how to contact Twitter and found this WikiAnswer, which said:

To contact the Twitter staff, just go to the main home page on twitter. At the bottom, there will be several links. Just click on the on that says “Contact”. On that page, it tells you how to get in contact with the Twitter staff. The related link below is the page where you can submit a support ticket.

Here is the related link to Twitter support. I was finally able to submit a help request. However, it doesn’t show up in their “known issues” list, so I’m not sure they heard me.

Perhaps I just have to start a new Twitter account and hope it works? But, why? It will break and once again I will be up a creek without a pot to pee in. I wish I were a big name blogger. I bet Twitter pays attention when they start to squawk.

I’m not happy with my Twitter account right now. There is very little I can do about it but complain. If you know any Twitter gurus, can you send them my way? Right now, my wings are clipped and I can’t fly. I think I’ll go eat some worms!

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Post tags: All Things "Blogging", rant

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Holidays are around the corner, and I’ve noticed that people open their hearts to others this time of year. Especially I see that knitters and crocheters all over the internet keep their hands busy creating items to give away. But, you don’t have to be crafty to give … just creative. You can purchase handmade items from someone on Etsy, or talk a friend into making a handmade gift and you pay the shipping!

That’s what I’m told at Sharing Our Gifts. They have a special program going on right now, and the deadline is almost upon us, to make hats and mittens for women and children at the Lee Shore Center in Kenai, Alaska, which provides a safe haven for women and children escaping from domestic abuse and sexual assault. That sounds like a place that could use the warmth of our love.

The project in Alaska is the second project in an ambitious goal of 50 projects for 50 states. My friend Barbara, who was one of the main participants in Share A Square two years ago, is collecting these and needs them by November 25th.

No, I didn’t give you a lot of time on this one, but if you are crafty I bet you make the time. Or, you can buy a handmade gift from a crafter … you know they would be happy to make a sale. That’s my “good” for this Only The Good Friday.

What’s yours?

I hope y’all have a wonderful weekend. Please join these other fine folks who occasionally post their “good.”
RV Poetry; Candid Karina; All My Great, or Not So Great Adventures; Inside Mo’s Mind; Thorne’s World; Down River Drivel; Duward Discussion; Ramblings of an Unstable Mind; Insightful Nana; Newbie Lifeline; Everyday Tarot; West of Mars; Life’s Journey; Round Circle; Barbara’s Travels; Blog of Revelation; Desert Diva; Blogjem My Life As It Is

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Post tags: Artsy Fartsy Stuff, Give From The Heart, Only The Good Friday

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My husband and I were remembering our respective childhoods, when I asked him what posters he had on his wall as a teenager. Every teenager has posters on their wall … and probably have since the first cave teens existed. Didn’t you have posters tacked to the walls, and taped to the doors? Sure you did.

My spousal unit told me about the Beatles poster he had on his wall, and the unfinished self-portrait that his brother had drawn … not my husband’s self … his brother drew his own picture, and my husband thought it was cool. So, he put it on his wall.

Trust me, I wouldn’t have had a picture of my sister on my wall when I was 16. He sounded pretty tame to me. I had expected that he had pictures of guitars … and motorcycles … and Rock and Roll bands. You know, “bad boy” stuff.

I didn’t have pictures of Rock and Roll bands, either. I didn’t even have pinups of the teen heartthrobs of those days. I’m so dorky that I thought Bobby Goldsboro was adorable. And, I had a crush on Andy Williams! What in Thunder was wrong with me?

Anyway, what I had on my bedroom walls was either extremely silly or it was poetic stuff, because I was all into being “artsy fartsy.” I fancied myself a “bohemian.” I didn’t fancy myself a “hippie.” At least, not out loud because my daddy would have gone ballistic.

I did get away with having a marvelous, psychedelic picture of Scrooge McDuck. He was dressed in an “Uncle Sam” costume with his top hat in a parody of those posters that were so popular during the VietNam War. Are you old enough to remember? Uncle Sam was pointing, and the poster read, “I want YOU to join the Army!”

Scrooge McDuck was pointing, but the poster read, “Quack!”

I dunno, for some reason I thought that was funny. It loses something in the translation, but I wish I still had that doggone thing.

I also thought, for some odd reason, that the logo for Frito Lay was funny. I enjoyed the humor of W. C. Fields, and W. C. Frito just struck my fancy. When Daddy brought home a poster of him, I confiscated it for my walls. Looking back on that now, I guess I still think he is funny, but neither he nor Scrooge McDuck fit with the “theme” I was trying to achieve.

Maybe I was trying to lighten the mood, because the posters that had words were what we called, “Heavy, man.”

I had a poster of a lone figure walking on the seashore, with a quote from Henry David Thoreau that read:

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

Trust me, I have always heard a “different drummer.”

But, the poster that I remember most held the words that follow:

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrman

(c) Max Ehrman 1926

I kept all those posters for many years, but sometime in my late twenties I threw them all away. For some reason, I was embarrassed about who I had been as a youth. As I enter that home stretch, I’m not so mortified by myself anymore. My choices of wall art were much more palatable to me than some of the things my children tacked to the walls.

Though I don’t have any posters on my walls these days, I think I wouldn’t mind so much having the Thoreau poster or the copy of Desiderata on my walls. I probably wouldn’t mind W. C. Frito or Scrooge McDuck, either.

Y’all remember that for me, and you can help plaster the walls of the nursing home when I get there, OK? What posters do you want me to find for you?

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Post tags: Artsy Fartsy Stuff, humor, Memories

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Supposedly, ginseng has been proven as a memory booster for laboratory mice. This information has driven me to drink — ginseng tea. It’s not because ginseng is my favorite flavor, by any means. And, it’s not because I consider myself mousy. Where was I going with this? Oh, yeah. My memory is shot to heck.

This is not good for a woman who makes her living telling stories! More than once recently, I have forgotten where the storyline leads while I am smack dab in the middle of telling it in front of an audience. Oh, I dance around it very well … and by just changing directions with the story I’ve made up some killer new tales on the spot. However, as soon as I step off the stage, I forget them. The good news is that when I flub up in front of an audience, I can’t remember it the next day. The bad news is that the audience will!

I’m starting to be a bit concerned. My memory loss is not a natural part of the aging process. Though there are those who would claim that I am “demented,” I do not have clinical dementia. I also went to the doctor to determine that my thyroid medication was correct, so it’s not something as simple as taking a pill. I think the problem is stress … and I can’t figure out how in Thunder to get past that. This time of year is hectic for storytellers, with lots of work. Work is good, but it means that I get so overwhelmed that I don’t always keep myself organized.

Last night, I returned from a gig that required me to work both day and evening at a school far away. My drive in the morning to get to that town takes me at least two hours in heavy traffic (I can get home in half the time). I was gone from 5:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night.

When I walked in the door, I was relieved because I expected that Wednesday would be a day off for me before I drove back to that same town for gigs on Thursday and Friday. Then, I looked at my calendar and saw that I had scheduled for Wednesday not Thursday! My heart stopped.

In a panic, I went straight to bed to force myself to sleep so that I could get up at 4:30 the next morning. Have y’all ever tried to “force” yourself to sleep? It doesn’t work. All I could do was toss and turn thinking, “How did I do this to myself? Why would I schedule this back-to-back?”

This morning, I sprang out of bed at 4:30, showered, slapped makeup on my face, and got dressed. Satisfied that I had a few minutes to check my e-mail, I read a note from the patron I would be seeing for the day. She said, “We look forward to seeing you on Thursday.”

Wait a minute … I was ready to drive out the door, and I wasn’t due there until tomorrow! I didn’t schedule the gigs back-to-back — I wrote it on the calendar wrong! Thank Heavens I discovered it before I battled the Fort Worth rush hour. At 5:30 in the morning I was all dressed up with nowhere to go.

I thought about going to my coffee house and getting a cup of mocha, but they wouldn’t recognize me if I wasn’t wearing pajamas. They would think that Shelly had a doppelgänger. That thought was too frightening to force upon those fine folks. Instead, I plowed my face back into the pillows.

With a little more sleep, I feel almost normal. I’m on my fifth cup of ginseng tea, and I think I remember my name. Ginseng may not be my answer. If you want to play “Dr. Mom,” I’m happy to listen to any suggestions for how to improve my memory, however I won’t promise that I’ll remember them tomorrow.

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Post tags: advice, humor, organizing

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When I started my series of posts called “my neck of the woods,” I didn’t want to talk about the Alamo, because that’s what every tourist knows. However, one cannot be in “The Alamo City” without snapping a picture of it.

Alamo at night

For those of you who don’t know The Alamo City, bless your hearts, that would be San Antonio. The clutter you see in front of it is the sound system from the pep rally held there by “The Fighting Irish.” Notre Dame had a football game scheduled the next day.

I was in San Antonio telling stories and hanging out with my friend Judy. We had planned on ghost hunting at The Menger Hotel and got the added bonus of the pep rally and a parade. I wanted to show you the hotel, but I tried for fifteen minutes to take a picture of the moon hanging over the Menger. I was unsuccessful. So far, I haven’t mastered taking pictures at night. I wasn’t organized enough to carry a tripod with me, and had that “camera shake” thing going. I wish I could have shown you that image, because the moon looked like a big old grapefruit hanging in the sky. It was lovely!

Most of my pictures from that night just didn’t turn out, but I did get one I liked of the parade. Pretend that the blur is not from “camera shake.” That girl was doing all the shaking!

Shake that thang!

We also enjoyed the “fountain” at Pat O’Briens. Fire and water didn’t mix, but they mingled.

Fiery Fountain

If you are in my neck of the woods, San Antonio at night is a delight! Just take your tripod so you can get decent pictures!

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Post tags: parade, photos, San Antonio Texas, South Texas Plains, The Alamo

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Euphoria overwhelmed me yesterday as I finished my day of work. I had painted most of a closet and had my accounting paperwork close to orderly. My blog post of the day had been one for Mimi’s BlogBlast for Peace. In unison with thousands of other bloggers across the world, I had voiced a desire for peace … and it filled me with hope. I even knew what I wanted to write today for Only The Good Friday.

Then, I watched the evening news.

I sat in stunned silence as the television bombarded me with news of the violence at Fort Hood. “How could that have happened?” I wondered. As most of you know, a troubled soldier (Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan) opened fire on his comrades in arms on that military base yesterday, shooting more than 31 people. I’m devastated for the victims and their families, and I echo the words of one military wife who said, “I wish his name was ‘Smith’.”

“Perky” and “optimistic” are difficult attitudes to assume this morning, so I’ll save the post I had in mind for another day. As I am one of those “mother hen” types, who wants to bring everyone under her wing for protection, I want to help. But, I don’t know how.

I cannot go and give blood, because my blood is wonky. Maybe you can go give blood? If they don’t use it at Fort Hood, there is somebody out there that you can help. Giving blood is always good.

Since I don’t know what else to do, I’ll crochet squares for the Handmade Afghan Project, which blankets our wounded soldiers and their families with our love. I told you about HAP almost a year ago. I can crochet … and pray.

Y’all have a peaceful and beautiful weekend.

Join these other fine folks who occasionally post their “good.”
RV Poetry; Candid Karina; All My Great, or Not So Great Adventures; Inside Mo’s Mind; Thorne’s World; Down River Drivel; Duward Discussion; Ramblings of an Unstable Mind; Insightful Nana; Newbie Lifeline; Everyday Tarot; West of Mars; Life’s Journey; Round Circle; Barbara’s Travels; Blog of Revelation; Desert Diva; Blogjem My Life As It Is

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Post tags: Handmade Afghan Project, Only The Good Friday, optimism, Talkin' 'bout Texas

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