Category: Things to prepare for

Workplace Romances?

Posted on by misspoobles

I get it that the dating scene is hard. Finding someone to have a relationship requires being in the right place at the right time and finding a certain chemistry. I know you have put yourself out there only to be shot down and it soured you and I get it.

I put myself out there several times back in the day. Liking someone who does not feel the same is a tough pill to swallow. The one thing I have learned over the years is this:

Never ever, ever pursue a person you work with.

Just don’t.

I cannot stress it enough. This is a headache you do not want in your life. I don’t care if she gives all the signals that she wants to go out with you. Just make it a policy not to date anyone you work with. If she asks you out, politely decline with the understanding that you do not date people you work with directly. You can tell her that if she should leave the company or you do, then ask again.

The climate is so iffy in terms of harassment and gestures which appear to be flirtatious to you, but can be interpreted as unwelcome advances to them.

A hug in the workplace? Nope. Don’t.

Someone wants a shoulder massage? Tell them to make an appointment with their local spa. Do not engage.

New hot someone wants to go out to lunch with you? Invite witnesses along to keep it professional.

Flirtatious talk? Just pretend you did not hear it and do not reply. Something you say could be considered offensive to those around you or even the instigator and you could be reported to human resources.

What happens when dating occurs in the workplace? Nothing bad at first except those you work with may be uncomfortable knowing you two are a thing. That can be construed as a hostile work environment for the bystanders. They could complain.

If you are both in competing roles, it could be uncomfortable for the both of you if one gets a promotion over the other.

And if you break up, let me tell you that is a load of discomfort having to face them day in and day out if you harbor ill will over the breakup.

Some workplaces have a no dating policy and it is for good reason. To keep the HR issue count low. They do not want the drama and neither should you.

What happens if you meet “the one” and you really want to pursue the relationship but you work with them? Ask yourself, are you willing to leave your job for a new one so you can ask them out?

Can you transfer out of the environment to still work at the company but just distant enough that the relationship will not be direct? Different office/division/district?

The only reason your Dad and I worked was because he worked in an office in another building in another part of town. We worked for the same company, just not together where our relationship was public. There was no constant day in and day out interaction. I think that is the only way that a workplace relationship would work if there wasn’t a “no fraternizing” policy.

Educating for an Educator

Posted on by misspoobles

Teachers are in the middle of the conversation on racial injustice, poverty, bias. I encourage you as you enter the field to consume every bit of the conversations going on today. Every video, every tweet, every post, article, film and book on the subject.

And when you are done with that, then go to your friends and listen to their fears and concerns. Really listen to them. Do not just take it in; but put yourself virtually in their shoes and think of how that might make you feel if it happened to you.

Lessons from Auntie Rona

Posted on by misspoobles

I would be less stressed from this predicament the world is facing right now if human beings showed some semblance of humanity. Compassion, generosity and selflessness was really all this virus demands of us and yet here we are.

All of the world’s ills are flagrantly dancing before our eyes like the golden calf scene from “The Ten Commandments”

This is no different from what I am seeing on the world’s beaches for those countries with the worst infection/mortality rates. Those same countries have deniers, affluent who believe that others would be willing to die for their ability to live comfortably and the terrorists using this very vulnerable world state to advance their hate crimes.

I just read a post in social media about the studies proving that the drug touted by a certain orange dictator poses severe risk of heart damage or death if used to battle the infection. And yet there are people who deny the science behind the studies and the mortalities from it as some liberal propaganda.

The Lancet is a medical journal produced for doctors to learn of the latest advances and studies in medicine. There is no rational excuse to believe that it is propaganda.

I know and absolutely espouse that science is not exact as it is ever evolving based on what we know at the time and what evidence presents itself with further testing to either prove or disprove a thesis. Just because the studies say that there is a high risk of death or further organ compromise of this drug and the data is sound, I do not believe we should tilt our tinfoil hats and decide the science is completely wrong. This is what we know now and we should act on what we know to be true now while continuing to test.

The thing I see is that no one is willing to test. Not surprising in my 30 year history in the testing arena. No one likes the testing portion of any development activity. Testing is necessary, early and often.

Period.

We cannot fully understand the impact of this pandemic or even qualify it as a pandemic without testing both the ill and the healthy to understand the whole environment and measure from there.

That is to have everyone take a baseline test to be sure at that moment in time they either had it or didn’t and then shelter in place the healthy who were not essential workers while those that did quarantined so they could let it run the course. With only essential workers out and about to support the infrastructure of those SIP and those on the lines. The essentials being tested every day while the otherwise sheltered or infirm are kept in isolation.

But hardly anyone was willing to take it to that level.

This is a simple and effective model. And for some countries, they put that in play and they saw the least impact of the virus for the great sacrifice they had to make. Hats off to you, New Zealand. You are superstars.

Never in my life have I seen such simpering, whimpering, insolence from so many about simple considerations for their fellow human.

  • I’ve seen people hoarding basic supplies to make it difficult for their neighbors to shelter in place.
  • I’ve seen assaults like punching, coughing and spitting at others when asked to show some consideration by wearing a mask.
  • I’ve seen people using this compromised situation to behave like bigots against the asian population.
  • I’ve seen people attempt to murder another for being asked to leave premises until they have properly worn PPE.
  • I’ve seen people of affluence and power abuse the rules they put in place to protect from spread and then lie about it when the public questions their actions.
  • I’ve seen people furloughed start protests to get their jobs back at the risk of contracting the virus rather than taking a remote work opportunity in the interim to keep everyone safe. One woman’s justification was “Why would I take a job I do not like for this period? When they can open the door at my previous job which I do like?”
  • I’ve seen white supremacists use this time to assault/murder people of color because they feel they can.
  • I’ve seen an increase in shooting victims in my own town because people do not know how to handle staying put.
  • I’ve seen one politician claim that his parents would be willing to die to keep the stock market from tanking.

What the ever loving fuck is wrong with these people?

Don’t worry, this is a rhetorical question. I know what is wrong. People have not been raised to be generous, kind or compassionate. Their egos are what drives them and that is why this virus will kill far more people than it should.

I am well past weeping for this society.

Believe me, I know there are people who are generous, kind and compassionate through all of this and they are the ultimately the victims of the masses who are persisting the virus through their own avarice.

The overworked essential workers who are fighting fatigue and emotional stressors while new cases arrive keeping them in this situation. They do not need daily claps. They need hazard pay, steady stream of nourishment and PPE, and they need our full cooperation.

It’s ALL a Gamble

Posted on by misspoobles

I have friends/family on both sides of the fence regarding the virus. Some that feel economy should come first and others who feel that lives should come first.

I’m not a gambler with lives. I’m not willing to spread this virus. Hell I wasn’t cool about people coming to work with “ahem” allergies.

We all knew it wasn’t allergies, Bob. You were sick and should have called in and worked from home or just took the fucking day.

I also know that I’m part of the demographic who would not survive it anyway. My blood clotting has always been an issue and my heart struggles to pump blood through my body to oxygenate and keep circulation at its best, as it is. But even if I was healthy and had a good chance to survive it; I know I would not gamble with others’ chances if I was an asymptomatic carrier.

What I’m having a problem with (a real moral conundrum here) is listening to the political rhetoric of money over lives — that money is somehow more important than preserving life. Texas politician announcing that some lives have to be lost for the economy. Another southern politician saying that his grandparents would gladly take the fall for preserving the economy.

Are you sure about that, Bucky?

I saw government leaders changing policy to allow people back to work on their dime to be sure people who are most vulnerable are fed. You see, we can adapt while staying isolated. An entire auto manufacturing plant refactored their core business to make necessary PPE for their country needing it. Why can’t we adopt a new model for food distribution? 

None of these plants and farms need to waste it. They are trying to take the stance of a overly dramatic child because they can’t “do it as they have always done.” Look to your local communities, and see how crops need to shift to allow for serving the local. 

I know that not every zone can grow avocados… but therein lies the issue. We don’t necessarily need to have avocados. (Gasps!) 

People would certainly relax and take a deep sigh of relief if they knew that they could get their produce locally (order online and doorstep delivery for dairy, produce…etc). If they knew during this time, their bills would be suspended until they could get back out from quarantine. Maybe people would stay home.

And honestly, what does it say about a person who simply cannot be happy in their own home and take some downtime and focus on their families? 

In war time, people had ration books to handle the day to day food and grocery needs. No hoarding necessary and people learned to live leanly and sensibly in the crisis. If this is a war, then why are we not doing this? Because as Mr. Monebags grasps his murse and Mrs. Moneybags clutches her pearls, they stand in front of a situation screaming for a new way to live;  they don’t want to lose their advantage and privilege. They cannot design a method for living that figures out how to survive this without killing people needlessly, and still retain wealth.

Peter Politician: There is another way to handle this other than protecting your mountainous piles of investments.  Why can’t you serve the all of the people like you swore you would?

The world watches the countries who haven’t got their shit together and claim they are “for the people” whilst shoving those same people under the bus.  And speaking of people, what is wrong with people who cannot see past the end of their own noses? 

A child’s school function, graduation is postponed or cancelled for the sake of the safety of all. And yet their parents continually whine over it. What does that do?

Would you be crying over this if you knew that they would not survive if infected?

For them I wish to say: “Get a grip. people. This is a gamble. For many youths who die because of this, they are someone’s child. Their parents wanted more for them too. They are crying for a good reason. Just hug your graduate, athlete and take heart they are safe. Is the pomp and circumstance worth losing grandma over? How about Dad?”

I absolutely hate that you are classified as an essential worker. I am inside and out beside myself with worry for you. Your whole life is ahead of you and I would be destroyed knowing that if you got this you would not survive it. It is a gamble. Though I do not know how you would live with yourself if you chose to quit for your own safety. You are that kind of person. 

I wrestle with this daily. Do I demand that you quit to protect you? Or do I let you work and risk it?  

Recording the Symptoms

Posted on by misspoobles

Just in case what is stealing the years from me is in fact the LBD and I inherited this, I will describe my symptoms.

At age 32 I had issues with the twitching uncontrollable digits (toes) and eyelid. Passed it off as a deficiency due to pregnancy. Had heart issue but had no idea it was a heart issue.

Around my 40s I developed a problem with not being able to turn my head from side to side very fast without getting quite disoriented and dizzy with nausea.  Late into the 40s I dropped weight for no reason at all and the lightheadedness began. Also strange rushes of adrenaline like being on a roller coaster and feeling that strange rush just as you are heading down really fast on the incline. 

My mid 40s was a sense of feeling like I hadn’t much time left and the desire to get real living in before it was through motivated me to take trips I hadn’t, speak out more and pursue relationships I hadn’t ever considered. For fear that time was not on my side. This was also the time when my libido went haywire. 

If I peered through window mini blinds my neck would shake like I had Parkinson’s. Still cannot peer without that shake (holding my head at a certain angle that is)

Somewhere in my late 40s, I began to have trouble with my ability to concentrate on tasks and remember things which are recent. I began to write notes to myself and set reminders. 

The numbness of my left leg was a problem in the first part of age 51. The swelling of that same leg and the sensation of feeling like the floor was moving beneath me giving me a wholly unsteady feeling. I really thought I was going to die. I did my best to walk to try to get circulation going. I somehow recovered a bit. 

End of age 51 I had burning mouth syndrome. Still off and on with the inability to stay hydrated. Worst in the middle of the night waking me with extreme thirst. This is when the inability to sleep through the night began.

Last summer that swelling in my leg returned as well as a pain in my lower abdomen which mimicked the feeling of urgency to defecate/urinate. Loss of continence off and on and when the pain got so bad it was a struggle to empty my bladder. I started also to have angina like pain and all out gastro intestinal distress. Like my body was forgetting how to autonomically function. I had brain fog most days probably due to lack of sleep as I was up most nights with pain, urgency and the inability to relax. 

My ability to type well without typos started and my handwriting has been iffy –  like I form letters but the pen is not going where I want  – so signing my name is a gamble. Some days are better than others. I cannot rely on learning new things as nothing is sticking. I have to write handy guides as I am shown things because I cannot pull it up in short term. 

Reading stories are difficult now. I used to be able to read and concentrate on my reading but now I cannot maintain concentration on the act of reading for very long. I can only read a page or two at a time.  And it is hard to retain the things I have read. Do not ask me about films or movies either. I can watch a season of a show and then in a month, if you ask me about the details of it, I will not recall a thing.

What I am noticing now with the extreme dives into dehydration is the drying of my eyes! Like they are covered in sand. I purposely try to see something to make me cry when it is at it’s worst. I do not think I have chronic dry eyes but I think it is related to the dehydration. Also the bags under my eyes are really pronounced now. Before it was a coming and going thing. Now it seems it is permanent.

The amount of water I drink in a day is more than the average person. And if I don’t? Debilitating headaches, angina and lightheadedness. 

Are these all early signs of LBD? I do not know. I just know Mom was restless at night, had the same abdominal pain, Are any of these other things related? Mom had issues with constipation and if I do not maintain a high fiber diet I do too. It is my worst fear that I have the same and I passed it onto you. 

 

 

 

 

Self Identification

Posted on by misspoobles

The world is more complicated now than when I was your age. Sexual orientation/gender identity was not something we needed to go around flashing like a business card. I knew at an early age who I was and that I was not like people around me. I didn’t fit in to the binary definition of gender. I suspect neither do you.

Sure, I was assigned a gender at birth as you were; but deep down, what am I? I still do not know for certain. What I do know is that it does not matter to anyone else but me. I do not need to tell people what my orientation is or what my self identified gender is. Never in the workplace, or in a social setting. It is personal to me.

That said, some people have to disclose because their identity is so different from their assignment that it makes it hard to get along in a binary-centric world. Imagine identifying as female in a gender assigned male body having to shower with cis-males in a gym. Feeling wholly uncomfortable. I could seriously empathize. Being forced to live along a gender stereotype they just did not align? When all they want to do is be who they know themselves to be without criticism, condemnations or harassments.

I hated my first year at college, because I neither identified as male or female and felt really out of place and crawl-out-of-my-skin uncomfortable when having to shower in the women’s dormitory where it was a large open space with a bunch of shower heads lining the perimeter. I would wait until the weirdest time of day to shower so I could do so in peace. I simply never felt aligned with other women. But I never felt all the way male either. If there was a gender in between, I could see that’s where I fell. I think I was fluid, though I thought I might be genderless in High School. Depending on the day I could tap into a feminine or masculine sensibility, but I never felt that I needed to pick a side. Except that society expected it of me.

We now live in an age where that expectation is being confronted with the words

Why?
Not anymore.

I am excited for the time when gender identity does not have to be part of the conversation. That people are accepted no matter how they identify or what their orientation is. There is no difficult decision in a changing room, or restroom, gym or dormitory setting as to what door to enter. That people are not discriminated against for living their truth. Nor are they excluded, disowned, attacked, murdered because an ignorant fuck feels threatened. That they don’t have to decide to exit this earth to get relief from a persecuted life.

That just because I marry a man does not mean I am turning in my queer card. It just means that I loved him enough to want to spend the rest of my life with him and bear his child because my body is wired to do so.  If I had met a woman who I fell for in the same way I would have married her. That I should not have to justify who I am or my choices to any group. And finally, that I need not grab a label to slap on my chest to inform everyone else what/who I am. I don’t care to share my pronouns because they are mine and not yours. And I am not offended if you choose to use a pronoun that matches my physical gender because you don’t know.

I recognize that the journey to this freedom has been paved by warriors and martyrs alike who paid difficult prices to get to that extraordinary time in the future. I know and respect that they need these pronouns to teach tolerance and acceptance.

Some day I will be able to go into a clothing store and not see a segregation by blue or pink and cringe. That I will see a time where restrooms are private and inclusive for all to use without pausing to look at signage to decide how to proceed.

If this happens to you

Posted on by misspoobles

Since this happened to my great grandmother, her son and his daughter (my mom) , it could very well be happening to me and god forbid, then happen to you.

My great grandmother Nellie was a nice lady. And man could she cook! Her afternoon roast suppers were a thing to behold. Home made sweet dinner rolls brushed with butter, cooked fresh from the garden green beans, roast beef so tender you didn’t need to chew and a rich, savory, dark beef gravy that sounded like Barry White serenading you as it was poured over mashed potatoes.

Something began to happen to her the forgetfulness and the falling while she was living in the house on the river alone. Grace would find her. Then her cooking was done for. She was burning everything. They decided to move her out of her home and into ours so we could look after her.

She had no idea why and often tried to leave on her own to get back to hers. Though she had no mode of transportation she packed a bag and tried to walk there. (16 hour drive back to hers, imagine walking) Her mind was highly suggestible to the will of others which explained how her sister convinced her to leave everything she owned to her, and the ministry of televangelists.

She lost continence, often. And your Aunt and I were left to clean up after it. She was a big woman (like my mother) and bathing her was hard for two teen aged girls with no experience helping the elderly in and out of a tub.

After a bit it got too much and we had to send her off to a nursing home facility. She eventually died there and for the life of me I cannot recall the exact reason because the doctors only gave a non-specific notation on the death certificate.

Fast forward to her son, my grandfather began his journey with essential tremors, and the memory lapses with some issues speaking to be understood, and then the falling began in which he broke his hip and they put him in a nursing home to recover but he did not last long, he lost the ability to swallow and then died shortly thereafter.

Before all of this he was a great gardener. He was a great cook like his mother. In fact he had a hand in teaching me to cook. He was a builder and a general handyman and mechanic. There is nothing he could not fix. He made miniature furniture as a hobby. So losing him to this disease is heartbreaking. He was not a man of many words, but when he did speak he made it count.

My mother started with hallucinations, dizziness, constipation, issues with memory and the essential tremors, dehydration and then the falls. While I was there in that summer to help organize her house for a transition to the nursing home, she suspected she was having incontinence issues and she had the pain in her groin like I am having now and they gave her exercises to try to stretch out the muscle that was giving her trouble. Turned out she had a bad UTI that caused sepsis. I will never forgive her doctors for not checking that out.

When she was transitioned into the nursing home her ability to complete a thought went right out the window and she became non verbal shortly after. She went like her father with the inability to swallow and ultimately died.

Now, I have minor memory issues, but I am having some numbness/ neuropathy which is so fucking random that each day is like a roulette wheel of which area of my body is going to be the trouble spot. So far no essential tremors.

Thank christ.

But my muscles are randomly seizing while I sleep which gives me the pain I often complain about and I have the dizzy spells my mom had, though I have not fallen. I have come close but I have caught myself.

I am often severely dehydrated and the dry mouth and eyes are something which make me nervous to think that I have Sjongren’s syndrome. With the pain in my groin, I worry that I have a UTI but the doctors tell me it is not. With that is a bit of urinary incontinence.

The thing I have that I do not recall my great grandmother, grandfather or my mother having was being able to poop logs long as tree branches daily to the point where there is an urgency to release it several times per day.

So the reason I am telling you this is to keep track of the progression. This is a generational thing. And I am so sorry if I pass it onto you. I had no idea this was a thing. After three people getting it I can only guess that I am carrying it and I may have passed it onto you.

What I can say you have 30 to 50 good years ahead before it is something that could arise. Live it to the fucking fullest. Do everything you’ve ever wanted to do. Don’t think later will be better. It may not. Do everything while you are able.

Tire Swing

Posted on by misspoobles

There’s a lyric to my favorite song which I thought really did capture who I was.

“If I stay in one place I lose my mind. I’m a pretty impossible lady to be with.”

Tire Swing – Kimya Dawson


Usually, when there is a problem I look inward to see what of my failings caused this issue. Because I do know I am a hard person to live with.

Though this situation – your complete ambivalence to your family is not of my making. These are your choices and your failings. Not mine. I taught you better. I showed you better. And yet, you *choose* to be less.

We had a talk about this when you decided the most important person in the house was yourself at 12:30 am on a week day. I recall specifically that I said your actions speak louder than your words. And that if you didn’t like the rule we had in this house you could do as your peers at the age of 20 and move out on your own.

That was an invitation that you chose not to accept, thereby communicating that you were willing to abide by the house rules. Which you have set out to break at least one more time since the brouhaha over the breadwinners need for sleep.

So here we are again but this time it is a brouhaha over being a decent fucking human being with a kind enough heart to make a person’s birthday not about you.

Tell me again why you want to be a teacher?

Because I have lost all point of why. I know most teachers to be kind, generous, models of upstanding behavior. They are not selfish. They’re not stingy. And they don’t hold petty grudges because of some past hurt they experienced by people decades ago. Just because you were bullied does not give you license to be a bully or to shut out any shred of kindness to your family or a fellow human being.

When you become a teacher, you not only teach the subject, but also you parent. Like it or not. These kids are now your kids too. You are teaching them the subject matter, but also life’s little lessons. The phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child” is entirely accurate. You are part of the village, my boy.

You influence the children you teach by your behavior. If you are rude to them, you teach them it is okay to be rude to others. If you are kind and generous, you show them it is model behavior. You get what you give. You become a people maker.

Your influence is power. Regardless if you think you are making an impression you are. And believe me, there will be kids who will try your patience and test your commitment to the job. They will be awful – mind bogglingly so. It will leave you wondering what kind of parents allow this kid to behave in this manner. And it will be your challenge to teach this child, through your persistent influence how to do and be better.

Which leads me to my question, how is it that I am recognized as an influence in your work ethic but none of my attention to kind acts and traditions over holidays and birthdays have made any impression at all?

How is that possible? Why is that possible?

Look deep within for the answer, what choices have you made to lead you to ignore or abandon that influence. If you begin to answer by pointing a finger at someone else then start over with your internal inventory. Dig deeper.

Asking yourself:

What kind of person fails to remember a birthday of a loved one?
Is that person so self involved that they cannot celebrate the fact that the human who contributed in giving them life should have a special day commemorating their trip around the sun?

Even if the birthday boy/girl is mean, does that justify those around them to be mean as well? Or can they rise above and be a better person and show an element of kindness which grows past the hurt and resentment?

There is a larger lesson here and I need to stress it. You inability to show kindness will eventually shut you out of opportunities for love, a sense of belonging and feeling fulfilled. It will be a long road of loneliness, resentments and bitterness. The more people you hurt, the more alone you will become in this world and it will only be by your actions and yours alone.

I thought I would never have to whip this one out of my arsenal of things to try to snap you out of it but here goes, courtesy of my grandmother, Mimi:

“I may have to love you, but I don’t have to like you.“

If your knee jerk response is “I know, and I don’t have to care.”
I can show how to pack your bags and you can show yourself out. Leave the keys on the table when you go.

On Superficiality and Excuses

Posted on by misspoobles

I think it was my mom who said, “Do you know what people find most attractive? Self confidence.”

It might have been my grandmother who said it. It has been so long ago. But at the time, I was a gawky, albeit chubby, bookish nerd with self-esteem issues surrounding my height, lack of beauty, and physical maturity; so what was said was like the muted trumpets in a Peanuts cartoon.

When I hear you go on about how women will not find you attractive because you are not the “ideal” height, I think back on that statement said so many decades ago and hold my tongue. Because I know if I deliver that same line, you are going to brush it off as I did when it was delivered to me.

Though in my years of experience, it is true. Those exuding confidence, really, are the ones toward which other flock.

One has to be truly happy in their own skin before accepting the affections of another. (Like a happily put “take me or leave me, I can manage on my own” mentality.) If you are not there and are still fixated on comparisons with others who have qualities you feel you lack, do not expect to embark on a successful relationship.

Your superficial hangups will get in the way.

But please do not confuse confidence with arrogance. No one likes an arrogant cunt. You can be confident in yourself as in: how you look, your sense of style, personal values, etc., but the moment you begin to feel superiority over others, that’s when it turns into arrogance. And it is a put off.

I saw a meme this weekend that stated in so many words “Whether you know it or not, someone out there secretly finds you attractive.”

Another truth. It could be someone you work with who cannot muster the courage to let it be known. Or maybe someone at school who are letting you know in such subtle ways that you are oblivious to it.

Sure, on the surface, that meme sentiment seems stalky and creepy; but understand, people do have secret crushes that either they keep secret due to pride, insecurity or straight out fear of rejection.

A friend of mine told me that back in college there were a number of young men in my life who held a torch for me and I was not aware. My reaction was exasperation. I wanted to find romance and a good relationship but none of them said a word. Though I reckon if they had I might never have met your father and you wouldn’t be here.

So there’s that.

Remember this: Miss Right May not be right now.

Keep that always in the back of your mind even when the infatuation is high and finally reciprocated — she still may not be the one.

On Adaptability

Posted on by misspoobles

One of my favorite shows of all time was a short lived series on NBC entitled “The Pretender”. To give you a synopsis of the series, a young man who had been held captive since childhood for his savant-like genius is on the run from his captors and uses his natural abilities to quickly learn new skillsets in order to impersonate any profession so that he may assimilate into the current location without raising any suspicion. It was based on a real life serial imposter – Ferdinand Waldo Demara.

I think what made this a favorite series for me was the fact that the character, Jarod, demonstrated that one could be anything if they took the time to invest in learning. He adapted in order to stay on the run and in hiding.

This goes back to my grandmother’s tenet –
“You do what you have to do to survive.”

I cannot stress that enough. Adaptability is key to making it in this world. I know full well that routine is comfortable. Maybe even preferred. However, change is all around us; some predictable – others unpredictable.

In the years I have been put on this earth I have learned a variety of skills:

  • Teaching
  • Psychology – Experimental Design and Counseling
  • Visual Arts – (Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking, Silkscreen, Ceramics, Sculpture, Glasswork)
  • Art History
  • Art Framing – Gallery work
  • Basic Food preservation – jams, marmalades and jellies
  • Textile Arts – (Crochet, Knitting, Basic needlework, felting)
  • Software Testing and Programming
  • Database administration
  • Basic Plumbing Home repair
  • Cooking/Baking
  • Household upkeep skills
  • CPR and First Aid
  • Basic conversational Spanish
  • Website building – HTML Markup
  • Sight reading music – Percussion
  • Gardening

Overall, it seems like a short list for my 52 years compared to what Jarod achieves in just 4 seasons of the show. But the point is: If we give the time, we can learn and master a number of skills to the point of becoming what my High School English teacher referred to as a “true renaissance man/woman”. This is one who has amassed knowledge in a variety of skills for practical application – they are highly adaptable to any challenge. They can pick up a new skill with ease.

These are the people who survive, those who can do anything. They see learning as a vehicle toward problem solving or keeping mobile.

I think you said to me once that you will eventually “learn to cook” via youtube. I reckon you have to have your back pressed against the wall in order to get there. But know that curiosity, in addition to interest and necessity, is key to ongoing learning.

Be nosey, ask questions, find out why. Don’t accept the current situation as is and believe you have no influence in the path or outcome of the situation.