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It is amazing how dependent we have become on technology and when things don’t work our (meaning me) frustration level rises to the highest levels. Recently, my Internet connection has been cutting out on me at the most inopportune times. I like to work late at night. It is quieter all around me. Being a night owl, I have my best thoughts in the wee hours. So I sat down at my computer and – zippo – no Internet connection. True, I could still type in WORD, but what about research and the emails I needed to do? Then there is the problem of printing. I have a wireless printer – so no WiFi, no printer. No ability to print what I had carefully typed out – on a deadline for a meeting – well, I’m sure you can understand my frustration.

Copying out everything by hand, sounded very unappealing and time consuming. So the next step is to call my carrier and try to troubleshoot the problem.

Oh for the days you could call a helpline, and get a real person! I wasted a good quarter hour yelling into the phone, repeatedly telling the robot voices my phone number and what type of connection I have. When they asked for the name of the router I had, they would not recognize the name I gave them (Probably the original router they installed many years ago.). Of course, in between those delightful exchanges, I was told: I could troubleshoot most problems by disconnecting the modem’s power sources then reconnecting it (Which I had done ten times already); and that if I just went to the website, I could troubleshoot there (Well if I could get to a website, I wouldn’t be calling, would I?).

At last, I am routed to a real person with a suspiciously strong accent. Just as we are getting started, my printer miraculously starts working, and I realize the everything is working again. However, she says she has done nothing to fix it. After another 45 minutes of struggling to understand what she is saying, she has concluded that the problem of it cutting on and off is from the outside lines. “Have you had any heavy rains lately?” she asks. Ah – so she is in a foriegn country. Otherwise, she would have known we had a terrible storm yesterday evening. The conversation ends with the promise of a technician coming out to check the outside wiring. Hopefully, the technician is local and not coming from another foreign country.

In the meantime, I quickly print out my necessary papers and hope I get to my meeting on time. Always something.

Sigh, just as I was about to publish this – my Internet access was gone again. It may be tomorrow before I get this published. Sorry.

How do you deal with technical problems that get in the way of your work?

The New Year approaches faster than a bullet. It is that time to think about New Year’s Resolutions. To me it is daunting to make a commitment for a whole year, but yet, it is helpful to have some goals to focus on too. As a retiree, I find goals are harder and harder to think about as you have lived so much of life you pretty much know how to do it to your satisfaction! Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t focus on things that will make your life better and improve yourself

In the last month, I have read several articles about dividing up your goals into segments –  some suggestions were: 12-week goals, quarterly goals, or dividing the year into two-month sections. However, the idea that appealed to me the most was setting a goal monthly and working just on that one goal for a month. Once the month was over – you move on and see if you can improve in another area. Focussing on a goal for a month seemed a doable proposal.

I made a list of things that I would like to work on, and they fell into four areas: writing, diet, exercising and organizing. Then I prioritized those goals – a better diet and exercise appeared to be on top, followed by writing and organizing. But I knew if I tried to lump these all the goals in one category into a three-month time frame, I would fail.  I thought about several ways of dividing these goals into monthly chunks. I hit upon working on one goal each month: one goal in the diet category, followed by the next month an exercise goal, and so forth. Every quarter I would then switch back to the second diet goal, followed by the exercise goal, etc.

It looks like this:                  

Jan – Diet goal one:  cut out extra sugar in my diet (Cookies, candy, cocoa, deserts,etc.)

Feb – Exercise goal one: walk for 10 minutes each day

March – Writing goal one: Submit at least one short story to a magazine

April –  Organizing goal one: Organize my bedroom closet

 

May – Diet goal two: Eat three servings of fruit each day

June – Exercise goal two: Do five upper extremity exercises (Two sets each) with stretchy bands four days a week

July – Writing goal two: Pursue self-publishing a book of my poetry

August – Organizing goal two: Organize my desk (again). It should need a good cleaning by then!

 

September – Diet goal three: Eat four servings of vegetables a day

October – Exercise goal three: Do chair exercise tape exercises three days a week

November – Writing goal three: take and finish the NaNoWriMo challenge

December – Organizing goal three – Organize the Christmas boxes and boxes and boxes of Christmas ‘stuff.’

 

 

What do you think? I surely will be able to keep at least a few of those month’s goals, and if I don’t succeed one month, then I will just go on to a new month’s goal. I also, hereby give myself some leeway to cheat if I absolutely need to!

Comments?

I want to share some poems with you for Christmas. I hope you enjoy them.

 

The Colors of Christmas

     By Marie Staight

The colors of Christmas

Fill my heart with joy.

In the darkness of December’s showy business,

They comfort every girl and boy.

 

The greens speak of everlasting rebirth –

Entwined in wreaths with no beginning or end.

A reminder of the event of childbirth,

A miracle of the Great God-send.

 

Royal purple welcomes the King.

Blanketing the baby’s nativity.

Its richness adding to our worshiping,

Symbolizing the baby’s majesty.

 

The red bows and mistletoe berries

Bear the sign of blood to come.

Passion and courage, red carries

A rhythm like a drum.

 

White is my favorite Christmas color.

The angels donned in white –

Sing to the shepherds – of the babe to be discovered

In a manger simple and right.

 

The Christmas twinkling lights all multicolored.

Show us the rainbow of love –

Promising renewed days unencumbered

With Blessings showered from above.

 

So sing of the Christmas colors,

Of merriness, blessings and great joy.

Come celebrate in Technicolor,

Ringing the silver bells for the Baby Boy!

 

Oh Where Has Christmas Gone?

  By Marie Staight

Oh, where has Christmas gone?

Amid the bustle and blaring horns?

Has the reverence for the day withdrawn?

Hiding the fact of the princely newborn?

 

The trees, the bells, the singing, all

Are meant to celebrate the birth.

But they hide in our conscious like a ball

Of fluff, buried in potter’s earth.

 

The Nativity story told so true

Should shine and thrill us every time.

No room in the Inn for the two

That bright star shining in the night time.

 

The shepherds hearing Angels Sing

Of a miracle child born in a manger.

Three Wise men traveling to bring

Presents to the babe, a stranger.

 

Oh, where has the Christmas Spirit hidden?

Can I find it under the tree?

Will the music that I listen

Bring fresh meaning to the highest degree?

 

It is the Babe in Bethlehem

The miracle so blessed

That we must adore again

Singing praises to the Lord God’s best.

 

Oh, where has Christmas gone?

It snuggles in our hearts.

Praises to the Holy Babe,

That Christmastime imparts.

 

Merry Christmas to All!

Comments welcome.

Yesterday real-life got in my way of writing this blog. The rush of Christmas activities and obligations ate into my writing time. It didn’t help that my WiFi suddenly went offline for an entire evening and early morning – just the times I prefer to write. Of course, I had good intentions to sit down to have a productive session writing, but then again I had no firm idea as to what I should write about. All that mulling around in my head different ideas and soon the Christmas cards needed addressing; the cookies needed to be put into tins; and oh my, it was time to go to the nursing home for my weekly visit. Where does time go?

So the blog did not get written. I had good intentions to get it done, but are good intentions good enough? Does it take you off the hook for not writing? Is interference by real-life a valid reason for not writing? I think it is. After all one has to manage one’s life, as well as indulge in your passions. Balance is the key to a satisfactory life is it not? Or am I just making excuses for being disorganized and lazy?

It is the bane of a writer’s life to think that if they just did a little more, sacrificed more, wrote more – their written words would be brilliant. I am not so sure that this isn’t an excuse either. One just has to do what you can do. Sure there may be regrets, but other parts of your life should be paid attention to along the way, because no matter what –  you will have regrets about something.

Writing, for me, is a reflection of life. So how can you write about the foibles of life if all you do is push words upon a paper and have no experience behind those words? Taking part in life’s experiences whether getting out my Christmas cards, cleaning the dishes, visiting a friend – all of these things make me a more balanced person. So it’s the time of year to enjoy oneself and take a bit of a break from the weekly hassle of deadlines. Permit yourself to take a break. Happy Holidays Everyone!

Comments are always welcome.

Hello Dear Santa,

It’s me – Marie?  The one who had my roof fixed last year so the reindeer wouldn’t fall through the roof when you came. Remember me? I hope you are well and all ready to make your long pilgrimage this year. Rest up, because as I have learned as I age, you need all those little naps to get through the hard days.

I have to say I did enjoy all the presents you brought me last year especially the shirt with the peacock on it. That was a nice ‘tip of the hat’ to my one published endeavor. Thank you for all the movie tickets and of course, the candy and cookies were wonderful too.

This year I have been a very good girl. Writing a blog post every week; writing various poems and stories for my writer’s group, and even posting on Facebook so all my friends could see what I had been doing.  I’ve been reading too and studying about the craft of writing.

For Christmas this year I would like peace on earth, a new President, some surprises, and most of all – this year I have a special request, Dear Santa.  I’d really, really would like a great idea that would stick in my mind. An idea that I could fashion into a fabulous story – maybe even novel length? I promise I will do the work. Outline the plot, build the characters, work out clever scenes that progress the story. I’ll show not tell. I promise I will edit it so that the story will be brilliant.  One last request concerning this Christmas wish – Please, this time when I send out query letters, let one of those agents recognize that the story shines and that it is worthy of being published.

I would ask Dear Santa that you also bless all my writer friends with bright ideas and ease of writing about those ideas.  I know they all struggle as I do, and it would be wonderful if they too could have success with their writing.

Belle has been a very good dog this year too; she asks me to ask you for some good treats for her.

Thank you, Santa for all the wonderful Christmas presents I have enjoyed over the years. I know I will appreciate any of the presents that you bring this year.

Merry Christmas, Santa!

Love,

Marie

P.S. I’ll leave out some cookies for you and some carrots for your reindeer.

P.P.S. I’ll make sure Belle doesn’t eat the carrots – she loves them too!