Day 328. New Rules?

Live forever? What an intriguing idea. I wouldn’t mind, would you? There are so many things I’d like to do, so many trips I’d like to take, so many opportunities yet to be seized, I always say there’s not nearly enough time for me to get it all done. It frustrates me, to be honest. Guess that’s why I was so drawn to yesterday’s WordPress Daily Prompt:

“You’ve imbibed a special potion that makes you immortal. Now that you’ve got forever, what changes will you make in your life? How will you live life differently, knowing you’ll always be around to be accountable for your actions?”

Like I said, “interesting”. At first my mind just boggled with all the possibilities.

In my head, I’ve got some thoughts about two books. In addition to the one I’m writing. I’d have plenty of time to write them all; and then some. I’d get to Australia and New Zealand and Tahiti and Fiji and Bali and

Day 327. Life Lesson

Life teaches us many lessons.  A lot of the time it’s our mistakes we learn from, but not always.  Sometimes it’s the things we do right.  And, in the process, if we’re lucky we also find out about ourselves, at the same time.  When we decided to close our agency, it was a very tough decision.  But that was just the beginning.

There were a lot of very difficult conversations that had to be had; and they all fell on me.  First, with the man who ran our parent company.  And then with our staff, with our clients, with our suppliers and alliances and with the industry, in general.  To say it was challenging and intense would be an understatement.

The biggest revelation was what I discovered about myself:  I was much more of a grown up than I thought I was.  I didn’t hide. I didn’t cower.  I accepted responsibility.  I faced it.

I did what had to be done.  I told who had to be told, despite the butterflies in my stomach, the nausea, the

Day 326. Not Surprising

Have you ever tried to figure out why you are the way you are?  Yes, DNA definitely has something to do with it.  Your parents influence you, to some degree.  Where you live, how you live, with whom you live certainly all have an effect.  Life, itself, is a factor.

But there are some characteristics each of us has, the ones we think are unique to us, that sometimes make me wonder.

In recent posts I’ve talked about myself a lot.  My feelings about feminism.  My moral code.  My standards.  My approach to friendship and love and work and life.  And there seems to be a common thread that runs through all of it.

I have strong convictions.  I stand up for what I believe in, regardless of the consequences.  I am an independent thinker; and doer.  I am not easily influenced by the opinions of others.  Even as a young child I

Day 325. Star Light …

When you were a kid did you always make a wish before you blew out the candles on your birthday cake?  Maybe I should re-phrase that?  Do you remember your childhood?  Oh, come on, don’t pout.  I’m only joking.  My own feels like it was a million years ago.

Do you remember what you wished for?

Did you wish for a baby sister or brother?  Or for the sibling you already had to magically disappear?  Did you wish for a particular toy you wanted really badly, but your parents said you couldn’t have?  Or a shiny, new bike?  Or a pair of figure skates?  Or for your mother to let you eat chocolate cake and french fries for breakfast?

And what about when you got older?

Were your wishes more grown-up versions of your childhood requests?  A baby of your own?  A shiny, new

Day 324. Right? Wrong?

I think a lot of people associate the notion of “morals” with sex.  Maybe not so much anymore, but there was a time.  And not just in the Victorian era, either.  Life sure is different these days.

Lindsay Lohan declines to wear underwear; and for some reason, we have to know about it.  Everyone from Rob Lowe to Kim Kardashian has gotten their thrills by sharing their sex tapes with us (ugh!!!).  Presidents have screwed around publicly.  Prime Ministers have had sex with underage prostitutes.  And right in our own backyards teachers are having sex with students, and on and on it goes.

Looks to me like our moral fibre is unravelling pretty rapidly.  We’re on a downward spiral.

But, of course, morality isn’t confined to sex.  It comes into play with just about every decision we make.  Or don’t make, as the case may be.  It’s got to do with our standards.  Our conscience.  Our ability to differentiate

Day 323. Finding Love

Yesterday’s WordPress Weekly Writing Challenge, “Love in the 21st Century” has taken me on a little trip down memory lane. My mother died six years ago. That night several of my friends and I sat around my dining room table, drinking, snacking and sharing stories about my mother. They all had their own relationships with her. She loved each and every one of them; and considered them to be her friends, as well as mine.

At some point, we started talking about other things. We were all single and I guess my mother’s death had made us wonder who’d be there for us, when it was our time.

That was when one of my friends announced, casually, that she was online dating. The rest of us sat there, stunned. Our mouths hanging open. Eyes bugged. Staring at her. It was a relatively new phenomenon back then. And it was mostly guys and gals in their very late teens and twenties who were daring enough to try it.

Women our age didn’t date online.

Day 322. No Goodbye

Yesterday Kate over at Views & Mews By Coffee Kat wrote an interesting post.  It’s about how she misses the friends she’s made here, on WordPress, who no longer blog.  Fellow bloggers who became followers of hers and vice versa.  It made me think of similar experiences I’ve had.

This is a funny, interesting little world we inhabit, for as many hours a week as we spend on our own blogs, and those of others.  We get to know each other quite well, when you consider we don’t ever see each other in the traditional ways.  We don’t go for coffee or lunch or dinner.  We don’t talk on the phone or go for walks or go shopping together.

Not that we wouldn’t if we lived in the same cities.  In fact, I’m sure we would.  But we live all over the place.  Different cities.  And even different continents.  I have met a fellow blogger for coffee twice, because we both

Day 321. Don’t Settle

MEDIOCRE. I abhor the word and everything it stands for: Moderate to inferior quality, not very good. Not satisfactory. Ordinary.

Certainly nothing to aspire to. At least as far as I’m concerned. But to some degree, we all settle for it everyday. Why am I bringing it up? Because of yesterday’s WordPress Daily Prompt: “If you could permanently ban a word from general usage, which one would it be? Why?”

So yes. “Mediocre” would be my word.

Maybe you’re thinking it’s a bit of a strange choice. Maybe you’re wondering why I didn’t pick “hate”. Or “war”. Or “hunger”. Or “poverty”. Or “cancer”. Or “abuse”. Or “Kardashian”.

Well, just so you know, I did think of them. And several more. But I kept coming back to this one. To “mediocre”.

Here’s why. To me, mediocrity is a serious malaise. It can destroy our potential. As individuals. As corporations. As governments. As nations. Mediocrity is the opposite of everything the American dream stands for. Even worse, it’s insidious. It takes a while before you can see its effects. And by then it’s too late.

There’s another reason I chose it, though. An even better reason. Of all the words I could have picked instead, this is one we have the power to do something about. We can make it go away. We can ensure it doesn’t get the better of us. We can make

Day 320. Wise Words

There’s been a fair bit of talk about feminism on WordPress blogs recently. The first one I read, “Is Quiet Feminism an Oxymoron”, can be found at The Green Study. It is an interesting essay. One in which Michelle, who authors the blog, examines her own ‘relationship’ with feminism; and whether or not she’s doing enough for the cause.

The problem I sometimes have with ’causes’ in general is, they seem to go hand in hand with anger. It’s not necessarily true, but it is how it often ‘feels’. The perception. The image I have in my mind, and often see on television, is of people screaming and shouting. Waving fists. Pointing fingers. Being aggressive. Argumentative. Red-faced. Hot under the collar. Throwing placards. Fighting. Scuffling with police.

This is not a criticism. It’s not that I’ve never reacted, or over-reacted. I most certainly have. It’s not that I’m

Day 319. Random Acts

I write about my trip to India a lot.  I was there for a month at the end of 2008.  And it was an extraordinary experience.  Despite everything going on in that country these days, I loved every minute of my trip.  Yesterday’s WordPress Daily Prompt “Moment of Kindness”, took me right back there, to one of our many road trips.

“Describe a moment of kindness, between you and someone else — loved one or complete stranger.”

This family came immediately to my mind.  But before I get into the story, there are a few things I have to explain.

Getting from “A” to “B” in India is never easy.  If you fly, expect lots of delays.  And crowds of people like you’ve never seen.  And don’t expect your choice of restaurants, bookstores, boutiques, and spas where you can while away a few hours.  There’s nothing to do, and there’s nowhere to go in India’s airports.  Count yourself lucky if you find somewhere to sit, while you wait.

So we didn’t fly very often.  Just a few times, when there was no other choice.

Train travel is something else again.  We took the train from Delhi to Agra.  Not because we had to.  Because we wanted the experience.  OMG!!  OMG!!  I don’t even know how to describe it to you.  Old, bare, dirty, stations.  Archaic, really. People