What are my financial goals?

I need to make $1200 a month plain and simple. The not so simple part is finding a way to make that every month without working a dreadful 40+ hours a week. I am just not made for that kind of work, mentally or physically. First and foremost I am a writer, no other possible job, hobby or career matters more than writing.  If I can write and sell one 500 word article a day for 6 days a week, then I would have my $1200. The problem is migraines and people never leave me in peace long enough to focus. It takes me a minimum of three hours to write one article. That is one hour of research, one hour to write, and one hour to type. Each time my focus fades or is interrupted another hour is added on to that time. Every day it seems like there is never enough time to finish my work as well as what everyone else wants me to do. With each bill that must be paid, I realize that my time and my money are quickly fading away. I know what needs to be done but without money I don’t see any way of getting it. My time matters to me. My writing matters to me. My writing and my time matter much more to me than money. I may never be rich. I may spend my entire life in a camper, writing but at least I would be happy.

Travel & Exercise

Quotes and inspiration from Travel, There’s nothing like a little fresh Air By Nancy Trejos (@nancytrejos) USA Today Tuesday November 13, 2012

Sadly I have not been able to fly much, but I have still traveled quite a bit. Whether I travel by plane or car, over the last few years I have always traveled with only a carry-on bag.

“Chris McGinnis travels with just a carry-on bag, which leaves little room for running shoes. When he wants to exercise during a trip, he takes long walks.”

When I went to the convention in New Orleans this past March, I did quite a bit of walking. I had to, I didn’t have a car and some streets were too narrow for one anyways. When I travel by car I don’t walk nearly as much as I should.  I have never been to what you would call a “walking friendly” hotel. I didn’t even know such a thing existed until I read this article by Nancy Trejos. I have been missing out.

“The Hotel Wolcott in Midtown Manhattan provides pedometers and walking maps at the front desk.”

I wonder if you get to keep the pedometer after your stay is over?

“Affinia Hotels, which has properties in New York and Washington D.C., offers guests a Walking Tour Kit that contains an Ipod Shuffle or Nano loaded with Affinia Walking Tours and workout playlists, a City Walks deck of cards, a city guidebook, a map pedometer and towel.”

Even with all that I don’t think I would be walking around New York or D.C. in the middle of winter.

“The Hotel Palomar San Diego has a “Walk this Way” package. In addition to a deluxe room, guests get a pedometer, bottled water, power bar and foot lotion. Those who walk more than 10,000 steps the day they check in get 50% off a room if they return to the Palomar San Diego or Palomar Los Angeles by the end of this year.”

Too bad I won’t have the money for a plane ticket anytime soon.

Taj Mahal

My life in recap.

I think it is time for a quick recap of what has happened lately in my life.

I failed classes in both the fall and spring semesters at Thomas More College in northern Kentucky. I was having too many migraines and just was not able to focus. So I decided to take the fall 2012 semester off. My plan was to work at the museum and work on getting better.

September 23^rd was my last day working at the Speed Art Museum.   They closed for three years to renovate.  During my last month working at the Museum, I looked for jobs in between all the migraines. I didn’t find anything but then again, I didn’t expect to. Who is going to hire someone who can’t get out of bed two to three days a week?

I applied for unemployment and went home to wait. By that point I was really starting to like the time I had and the idea of being a full time writer, though I knew I needed more discipline. My days were spent enjoying breakfast with my dad while we watched Anderson Cooper Live, taking my dad were he wanted to go that morning, and having the afternoons free to work on my to-do list or whatever else I wanted to do. I loved it and I still do.

My health got worse when I developed serve acid reflex and chest pain as a side effect of a medicine I was and still am on. My system will not accept even on day without this medicine.  I realized that there was no way I could ever find a job to support myself with my health like it is.  So I applied for SSI and Section 8.

Two days before I was to get my first unemployment check, I received a phone call from a very rude man, telling me that I would not be getting even the $30 per week I was expecting. The reason? I was not applying for full time work.

Now I am beginning into a new life as a full time writer who suffers from migraines. My parents know I want to write but I have not completely spelled out my desire to not work a part time job while I write. Somehow I am managing to live fairly well on only a $19 a month income from where my truck was stolen in June of 2011.   

Shiva and his Wife

What is Aum?

Boxes of love

Quote of the Day

Don’t judge any man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins

Quote of the Day

A smile you sent, will always return

Quote of the Day

  Life is not a continuum of pleasant choices, but of inevitable problems that call for strength, determination, and hard work

Quote of the day

Work gets completed by efforts, not by thinking only.
Deer do not enter into the mouth of sleeping lion.
He has to actively hunt them.

Quote of the day

  Where women are worshipped, goddesses dwell.
Where they are not worshipped, all actions are fruitless.

Another Story to Inspire You

quote of the day

Where love reigns the impossible may be attained

The Uncertainty Principle

Toe Rings are one of the five signs of Marriage for a Woman in India

There is Nothing like the Relationship you have with a Good Friend

Learning to not fear Chemotherapy

Why Do I write?

One of the blogs I follow, The Write Practice, has fifteen minutes writing exercises on almost all their posts. The latest blog post I read was called Do You Want to Make Money at Writing?” At the end of the post there is a fifteen minute writing exercise where you spend some time free writing.  The paragraph below is the result of 15 minutes of free writing inspired by the blog post, with some editing of course.

I have to admit that there is most likely to always going to be a small part of me that writes for money. As time goes along I can feel that part of me getting smaller and smaller until one day it will be barely noticeable. As I get closer to finishing my bachelor’s degree my confidence in myself, my skills and my complex budgeting system grows. I have been able to catch a plane to New Orleans for a four day English convention when all logical people looking at my account would be wondering how I paid for the gas to drive back home to Louisville. I keep track of every penny that goes in or comes out. Somehow I have managed, by the grace of God, to do amazing things with very little money.  My friends ask me over and over again how I do it but I can’t tell them anymore then I can tell you.  The simple fact is that I do not have the slightest clue how I do it. Please forgive me for that. The only thing I can tell you is that I value my time much more then I value my money. If I learn more I will let you know. 

If you are a writer, fiction, nonfiction or poetry you should read the blog post.

Do you write for money or for yourself?

A glimpse at the sixty-four arts in action

Who is Joseph Kony and how can we stop him?

Every voice counts!

Why I work at the Speed?

I have worked at the speed art museum for over 2 years now. It was my first job. They work with me about letting me work during the summers and breaks when I am back in town from my college. They know I have migraines and won't ever think I am faking it. They put me in quiet places so there is not too much noise. I feel like I can ask for more or less hours as needed. I can ask off for vacations and not feel like they are mad at me for it. I also get lots of exercise walking around.

Living with Migraines

In order to live your life to the fullest when you have chronic headaches, it's important to be fully present whenever possible.

Where is she?

I think of her now and where she could be,
hidden in shadow as darkness enfolds her.
She'll always be a mystery to me,
her taste for blood as she whispers, "Sir."

Poem by Mr. Iago

What is Love?

Who really knows what love is or where it comes from. That is because it is everything and everywhere. Anyone can fall in love with anyone, which is the beauty of it. Love unlike people does not judge. Love does not see race, religion or even gender. I know it is nearly impossible but we should all at least be accepting of others and their love. You would want the same thing when you find your love. None of us get to chose it just happens, so accept it in others as well as yourself.

The Little Match Girl

The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen is about a very poor girl who is trying to sell matches one cold winter day. She has no shoes and her feet are blue from the cold. She has not sold any matches and no one has given her any money, not even a penny. She does not want to go home for fear of being beaten, so she finds a corner and sits down with her feet tucked under her. She decides to light one match to warm her hands a little. When she does, she starts seeing beautiful things in the fire light, food and warm fires. Then she lights another match and sees her dead grandmother. When the match went out her grandmother went away. The girl lights a whole bunch of matches and cries for her grandmother to take her along. The girl sees herself go to heaven with her grandmother and dies.
One motif in this story is fairy godmothers. The girl’s grandmother is like her fairy godmother because she takes the girl away from a world of pain and fear. It is also unusual that while most fairy god mothers only give gifts, like with Cinderella, yet the little girl’s grandmother gave her the gift of a life free of pain and full of love.
One unusual feature of this story is the beautiful things the girl sees in the fire light. It is as if she is going to the light at the end of the tunnel. Instead of seeing her life flash before her eyes, the girl sees what she wishes her life was like, warm and full of food.
I think the topics of this story are poverty and the triumph of the poor. The little girl lived in extreme poverty but she triumphed over that when her grandmother took her to heaven.
I think the theme is sometimes it is better to die. The little girl was is so much pain and fear that she wanted to die. She wanted to go with her grandmother. I think this story is saying that if you really need him god will know and come to help, even if that means taking you from this life.

Monsters of our day

o    Once upon a time monsters lived under the bed or in the dark closet in the corner. But as children grow up these imaginary creatures of the night are replaced by very real terrors. The Big Bad Wolf no longer is restricted to the forest but is now the serial killer who may be living next door. War, disease, famine, and death ride our nightmares with apocalyptic abandon. The realities of poverty and personal tragedies are the new demons haunting our dreams. Our culture projects its own collective cinematic nightmares on movie screens with visions of zombies and the end of the world.

The monsters of childhood were defeated with the light of growing up. The new monsters of our adult lives are all too real and not so easily dismissed. They don't come from some inner imagination or dark shadow in the hall, but from the real world around us. To defeat them will require more than simple courage. These mosaic monsters are born of problems too great for any single person to conquer. Overcoming these real new horrors will require we work together. Only through caring and enlightenment can we aspire to bring light to the darkness created by our darker selves.

The Big Bad Wolf is real

Writen by Mr. Iago

Learning more about myself everyday

I learn sometime new every day. I have learned what type of person I am well at least when it comes to love and relationships. I knew this somewhat already but I accept it now, before I was ashamed and afraid of it. I was letting it get to me and bring me down. Now I have learned that is just the way I am and it's ok. I am me. I should not hide who I to make others happy. I will continue to learn more about myself as life goes on but I Don't think I will ever stop learning.

For the Love of Water

I have always had a strong love for the water which is quite ironic considering that I live in the land locked state of Kentucky.  I did not always live so far from the ocean, I was born in Florida.  Well actually it was a small little island in Tampa Bay. Even though I was born on the island and I am quite sure I have water in my veins I did not live out my childhood by the ocean.  My family moved up to Kentucky before I had even turned two years old.  My family has been going back to the island for one week every year for as long as I can remember.  I spent my childhood mostly in Kentucky with one bless it week a year on my island. Every year I would count down the months until it was time to go back to my island. I make do with whatever rivers, lakes, and creeks I can find.  Some people would tell me to buy a pool but to me it is not the same. I crave the beauty of the natural waters of this wide world.  I love the ocean but I also love lakes and rivers. I would rather swim for hours on end in a river then for just one hour in a pool.   If my friends or family can’t find me they head for the closest body of water, knowing that is where they will find me.  Weather it is a river, lake or the ocean itself I can always be found there, wading in the water or sitting on the bank journal in hand writing about the beauty of the water.  My family and friends might think I am crazy but I really would not think twice about jumping into the ocean or a river with all my clothes on.  I am at home and at peace in the water.  I hope to find myself in such peace again soon.

My little Cabin

One thing I have always wanted was to get ten or more acres of lands in the country. I wanted to make sure there was a creek on the property that runs all year round. My little stone cottage would have two bed rooms and a loft above the main room. The kitchen, living room, and dining room areas would all be one big room with a fireplace. Each of the two bedrooms will have a fireplace as well. I was going to have running water but no electricity but I think I will change that for the other people. I know I want a fenced in garden. I don't know what will happen but I know that I what a lot of land.

My Life and My Freedom

My life as I wish it

waiting just out of reach

those who should want me happy hold me back

but only for a time

one day I shall have what I want

I shall be happy

will they be happy with me

or will they be in my dust

thinking what have we done

she is gone

Migraines are not headaches

I live with this pain, this god awful pain that lives in my head with the sole purpose of tearing me apart. I live with this pain every day.

People tell me "Well I know how you feel I had a headache yesterday. I just took a Tylenol and then I was fine, you so do that." They don't go thought this every day. They don't understand how much pain I am in everyday of my life.

My Life in Ten Words

my life is full of love, pain, music and work.

Happiness is when you like yourself

Happiness is when you like yourself

Untill you can love yourself and be proud that you are you.

Only then can you be happy, peaceful and loving with yourself and others

Turn Your Eyes

turn your eyes to the earth
turn your eyes to the night
turn your eyes to the moon
turn your eyes to the darkness
you can try to
turn your eyes to the child of the night
you can try to
turn your eyes to
the shadow in the night
the shadow is in her home
the shadow is in the night

To All the People Who....

To all the people who told me I could never make my dreams happen thank you because you made me work just that much harder.
To all the people who told me no thank you because I have worked had to get a yes.
To all the people who said mean things thank you because I learned to make that anger into the energy to do what I must.
To all the people who never gave me anything thank you because I now work hard to get what I have.
To all the people who tried to hold me back Thank you because when I wanted to give up I thought about you and told myself that I will make it if only to prove you wrong.
To all the people who by making life hard made me who I am today THANK YOU.

Child of the Night

I am a child of the night
I was born of darkness
with the moon watching over me
the wind warps itself around me
the forest calls me
into the darkness deep within
the night desires me
I shall always desire the night
I am of the night
I am a shadow in the night

What I have learned of love

I have learned a valuable lesson that has freed my soul, well at least a little more than it was.

Love is something that I thought you find one time and keep till death takes it away and then you never find love again. I believed that there is one true love for everyone and only one. I also thought that if they stop loving you then it was never true love. I have learned this is not really the truth.

One can fall in and out of love many times and all that love is true. I have loved one who stopped loving me and even turned mean but it was still love. I have also learned that it is possible to love more than one at a time. I hurt one because I thought that my love for another was the only real love.

The point is that you can find love and have it be true but people change. You can love more than once.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ONE TRUE LOVE FOR EVERYBODY AND ONLY ONE. THAT IS A MYTH.

Loves Season

Love, like a spring night

calming wind blowing through trees

promised potential

Love, a summer night

sultry, enchanting sense's

your fire at night

Love, a autumn night

leaves colorful air blows cool

secrets now unfold

Love, a winter night

snow falls beautifully bright

wrapped together