Author: K

29 Thought-Provoking Life Questions You Should Constantly Ask Yourself

~ K ~ 2 Comments

Andy at My Story to You… posted 30 Thought-Provoking Life Questions You Should Constantly Ask Yourself. (I deleted the last one because it was a repeat of #25.) I don’t know if I’d constantly ask myself these questions, but it’s a good one-shot post. 🙂

1) What great thing would you attempt if you knew you couldn’t fail?

I’d begin an editing business. First, I’d solely take on editing projects by myself to establish a reputation. If more requests came in and I could afford to pay another editor to take on a project, I’d hire someone else. I would like this editing business to grow so that the editing business becomes a network of freelance editors.

2) What would you do if you were 10 times bolder in your relationships, work, family, and spiritual life?

If I were 10 times bolder in relationships including family, I’d be completely honest about my struggles. In work, I would do things and risk suffering the consequences of my actions later. In my spiritual life, I’d believe in God boldly and His ability to do amazing things in my life and the lives of those I know.

3) What would you be doing if you had all the money in the world?

Honestly? Spending it on myself selfishly lol. I’d get voice lessons for fun. I’d spend some on missionaries and charitable organizations my husband and I support. I’d also put it toward my editing business to make that dream come true sooner that I hoped! I’d buy things for friends and be less stingy with gift-giving.

4) If you could teach something, what would you want to teach?

English or History.

5) If you left this life tomorrow, what message would you leave behind for the next seven generations?

Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless. So fear God, eat, drink, and be merry! Continue reading “29 Thought-Provoking Life Questions You Should Constantly Ask Yourself” →

Bible Verses of the Week

~ K ~ Leave a comment
Image from alex-diaz.com

I “randomly” turned to Psalm 103 in my devotions yesterday, and it was full of quote-worthy verses. Here’s a passage that stood out to me:

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. (v. 8)

Oddly enough, a few days ago, I read in Joel 2:

Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil. (v. 13)

I like these verses because they are reminders of God’s attributes. In the midst of my pain, stress, and anxiety, I don’t feel a God who is any of these things. (Well, maybe the slow to anger part because I haven’t been smited yet.)

But God is gracious: I have three, going on four, part-time jobs in a down economy.

God is compassionate: I am earning money to pay bills and start a freelancing business.

God is slow to anger: In all the stupid ways I’ve disobeyed him and blasphemed, he still loves me.

God is abounding in lovingkindness: He has surrounded me with supportive friends and family.

God is relenting of evil: Oh, the punishment I deserve for being a rebellious child and having my heart set against him!

Satan has really set some attacks against me so that I destroy myself. But I am thankful that God’s truths are reiterated in different ways.

 

Blogging: I Love It and Hate It + Assorted Rambling

~ K ~ 6 Comments

Building traffic and revving up my SEO marketing sounds nice in theory, but I don’t have time for it. While I love writing, I am daunted by a blog’s need for content. It is always hungry, never satiated, always wanting more.

I don’t blog every day because, frankly, I have nothing of value to add each day. I don’t want this blog to become “I had a good day today because my family was here!” or “I had a horrible day today. Worst day EVAR!!!” I want this blog to be somewhat smart and interesting. I want to tackle topics that are important to me that other people don’t talk about. (Well, I could talk about poop but moms of newborns have that covered.) Okay, maybe I’ll tackle politics this year.

I have several blogs, each focused on a different topic: Pop! Goes the Music focuses on pop music but I’ll probably only post to that when I feel like it rather than trying to establish a regular posting schedule. I’ve been upfront on depression introspection that the site is rarely updated and mainly offered as a resource. I also have a professional blog about the dynamics of the American English language.

Posting to This Journey Is My Own is still fun. I don’t do it often, much of my posts are scheduled (thanks to prompts), and I blog when I want to rather than feeling like I need to (as with my professional blog). I also like that my readership is moderate despite that wacky 992 e-mail subscriber number. Continue reading “Blogging: I Love It and Hate It + Assorted Rambling” →

2012 Goals

~ K ~ 3 Comments

Happy New Year! Since it’s the first of the year, it’s time to post this year’s goals! I’ve set reminders so that I can do a mid-year and end-of-year check-in. Nothing special here; just a straightforward list of my goals.

1. Schedule a blog post for each week
2. Go to the gym on Tuesdays for at least 15 minutes
3. Strength train Mondays and Thursdays a week for at least 15 minutes
4. Put aside $25 per paycheck ($50/month) for website redesign in March 2012 (before website expiration in April)
5. Combat discontent by listing 3 things every day that I’m grateful for
6. Relax 2 times a month on the Sabbath (a day off, not necessarily Sunday) by reading, listening to music, dancing, napping, meditating, watching a movie (something fun) for most of the day
7. Read a book for at least 15 minutes 3 times a week
8. Read 36 books (3 books a month) by December 31
9. Complete half of manuscript rewrite by June 2012 (Work on 10 pages once a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Saturdays for 2 hours)
10. Complete rewrite of manuscript by December 2012
11. Edit for 1 new client this year

Helpful tools assisting me this year:

Blogging: WordPress

Gym of choice: Planet Fitness

Strength training guru: Personal Training with Jackie Warner: Power Circuit Training

Saving money: PNC’s Virtual Wallet

Tracking habits-in-the-making: Health Month

Reading books: Goodreads

Organizing novel structure: Scrivener

Tracking time, cost, and billing of clients: Time Master + Billing

Random, stream-of-consciousness post

~ K ~ 3 Comments
Because kittens are pure cute evil. Image from theonion.com.

I am sitting at work where it’s very slow. So I’m typing a post because I really have nothing else to do. Problem is, I’m so exhausted that I don’t really have anything to say. So here’s a stream-of-consciousness post that I’ll type and hope that somehow, parts of it make sense.

What’s on my mind?

The 2012 GOP primary: I really don’t want Newt Gingrich to be the nominee.

The 2012 presidential election: I prefer Romney over Obama.

Unemployment numbers dropping: Unemployment numbers are dropping because people are working part-time and don’t qualify for unemployment or have stopped looking for work because they’ve maxed out unemployment benefits.

Holiday parties: I’m holiday partied out.

Lifehacker and the Gawker family: I still hate their layout.

Facebook Timeline: Why should I adopt it? They’re just going to change it in the next few months anyway.

PMS: Sucks.

Social skills: I wish I were more social. I mean, I need to take a class on how to hold a conversation with people I don’t know. Or rather a class on how to care about people you don’t know and probably will never meet again. Who’s with me on a class for that?

My hair: I have an afro. I love it and hate it.

My jobs: I work a lot.

Rest: I can haz it?

My birthday party: I fear it will be a disaster.

Editing my client’s book: I don’t trust myself to edit a single thing today.

I’ll probably add more as I think of it.

Do you prefer to write notes on paper or on an electronic device?

~ K ~ 2 Comments

I do both. I have:

a ruled Moleskine notebook

Image from papyrusonline.com

 

and use Appigo’s ToDo app on my iPhone and ToDo online to have complete connectivity between my mobile device and computer.

Image from appigo.com/todo

2011 Resolutions… Goals… Targets… Year’s End Evaluation

~ K ~ 2 Comments

It’s December 4, and this is my final evaluation of my 2011 resolutions. You can read my original 2011 resolutions here and my mid-year resolution evaluation here.

The problem with New Year’s resolutions is often that people think of them as fixed goals. People are more likely to succeed when they think of their goals as fluid, having the ability to change based on circumstances. For example, a person with a broken leg for the first half of the year probably isn’t going to be able to run a marathon in April. It’s not a failed goal; it just needs to be changed to later in the year. Then it can become a successful, attainable goal.

You might have heard this mnemonic before, but I’ll introduce it anyway. All set goals need to be SMART. Let’s continue with the broken leg example.

Specific: Answers who (you), what (the goal), why (are you doing this?), where (if applicable as in Philadelphia for a marathon), and which problems (current leg injury).
Measurable: Answers how (how much will you train? how many miles will you run? how will you know if you’ve met your time goal?)
Attainable: Is this goal doable? What specific practices do you need to implement in order to meet the goal?
Realistic: Can you realistically do this? Are there any/will there be any constraints that will keep you from meeting your goal?
Time-bound: Answers when (the goal must be met). Break down the when into smaller increments (eg, training every day but Sunday for the next 12 weeks). Again, evaluate whether this is realistic.

—

The following is the year-end evaluation of my goals revised in June:

2011 Goals

  1. Land an agent for my young adult novel. Build up clientele for book editing. I haven’t had a chance to tackle this yet due to financial and time constraints, but I do have a plan to implement this that will likely launch in 2012. And it won’t be just book editing. I also need to evaluate how I’m going to measure this goal, eg, “Obtain 2 clients for editing work by September.”
  2. Exercise for at least 15 minutes 4 times a week. Exercise for at least 20 minutes 2 times a week. Exercise is my biggest challenge. I haven’t been able to even keep to this schedule. A more realistic goal would simply be to go to the gym once a week and exercise for 15 minutes.
  3. Lose 25 lbs. Lose and keep off 10 lbs. I’ve actually gained 10 lbs rather than lost in the past year. I have joined Weight Watchers to rectify that.
  4. Eat more salads and vegetables. As a result of joining Weight Watchers, it has forced me to eat more salads, fruits, and vegetables. A better defined goal would have been, “Eat salads, fruits, and vegetables at least twice a day five times a week.”
  5. Complete the reading of 80 books. I have read less than 60 books this year because my life was so busy. Next year, 60 books is a more reasonable goal.
  6. Relax on the Sabbath (Sunday). This is still a difficult one for me as I don’t know how to simply settle down and relax. It’ll continue to be a goal for 2012, however, I need to make it more specific as to how I can evaluate how I’ve successfully met this goal. It’s currently too broad.
  7. Attend CCEF’s October conference in Louisville. I attended four weddings in New York and Florida this year prior to the conference. I wasn’t expecting that when I set this goal. As a result, I was tapped out for spending money.
  8. Learn to be content with what I have and who I am. This is an ongoing process that God is still working on me. This goal needs to be more specific in how I can measure what it means for me to be content.
  9. Spend more time Focus on building discipline with God through prayer and Bible reading. This also is an ongoing process. My husband and I have been good about prayer at night recently but I’ve failed at personal prayer and Bible reading. I need to make this goal a bit more measurable.
  10. Attend morning church services at my home church at least twice a month. This is a goal that I’ve managed to attain ever since I began attending another church—praise God!
  11. Write a post (nearly) every day once a week on different aspects of enjoying something that God is teaching/has taught me. I haven’t kept to this goal, mostly because I forgot about it or I just didn’t know what to write about. It was a good goal to reach for but in the end, my memory failed me.
  12. Cut down on sweets aka be less addicted to sugar. Designate specific days for dessert and stick to it. I’ve failed at this and miserably. However, this goal will disappear thanks to Weight Watchers.
  13. Read through three of the seven books in Chronicles of Narnia. Fail. I haven’t touched the Narnia books this year.
  14. Hold scheduled write-ins at the library through the month of November for NaNoWriMo. Complete the rewrite of my novel before December 31. Fail. I hope to just begin working on the rewrite again before year’s end.

Resolutions, goals, target, etc. aren’t bad things to set at the beginning of the year, and they are not necessarily recipes for disaster or failure. It’s possible to create successful New Year’s resolutions, as long as they are:

  • SMART
  • Seen regularly (post them up on a wall with regular visibility)
  • Evaluated periodically (revise biannually or quarterly)

I have a funny feeling 2012 is going to be a more successful year in regard to my goals.

Trusting God

~ K ~ 1 Comment

“I can’t trust God right now.” — a 7-year-old I know

How many times have I wanted to say this? How many times have I even thought it but was too afraid to speak it?

I am reading A Praying Life by Paul Miller in which he encourages his readers to pray like little children, blurting out whatever’s on their minds—unpolished and unvarnished. There’s no double-speak like the Pharisees. God would rather hear from me, “I can’t trust You right now” than “Lord, I am trusting You” when it’s really not true. Of course, it’s always good to follow up “I can’t trust You right now; help me to trust You” like the man prayed in Mark 9:24 “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!”

I am in a time in my life where things aren’t exactly how I planned them. I planned:

  • To be married at 25
  • Have kids at 30
  • Have a thriving career in the newspaper/magazine industry

I got married at 23, almost 30 without kids, and ZERO career in the industry of choice.

The career thing often bothers me most, in some ways, more so than dealing with infertility. There should be a support group for people mourning the careers they never had or could’ve had.

My career is on the fringe as a proofreader for an ad agency and a manuscript editor. Yes, I get to do more than some people do, but at the same time, the income is unsteady. There are many fits and starts. I don’t know if and when the next job will come through. I work at the library to support these goals, but I know God is telling me to be patient, to trust Him in these uncertain times. To trust that He will provide the next job if and when he does so. It’s a scary thing to know that if your husband dies, you may not be able to support yourself.

I can’t trust God right now. But I hope He will give me grace and strength to trust in Him anyway.

William & Kate: It Isn’t About the Monarchy; It’s About the Fairytale

~ K ~ Leave a comment

All right, guys (and a bunch of you gals too, I know you’re out there). This one is for the Americans. The Americans that are calling other Americans “traitors” and pissing and whining about how Americans shouldn’t be celebrating this because their heir ancestors fought a hard war to free themselves from the tyranny of the British monarchy.

We’ve come a long way from 1776, baby.

For most American women (okay, and some American dudes), the wedding between Prince William & Kate was not about British monarchy or tyranny. It’s about the fairytale.

But the fact that American revolutionaries succeeded in liberating Americans from the monarchy makes the revelry in the current state of British royalty that much sweeter—it allows Americans to enjoy all the benefits of being English-speaking without worrying about how the royal family will impact their lives and tax dollars.

Should Americans care about the royal family? No. And on a daily basis, 99 percent of us don’t give them a thought unless they’re in the news. But that’s what’s so great about being an American: unlike the British and its territories, we can choose whether we want to or not.

None of us paid our hard-earned tax dollars to see William & Kate married. The British did. It’s like they’re parents of the couple and we’re just the wedding attendees who needed to show up. We didn’t even need to buy gifts if we didn’t want to. It’s awesome.

What a lot of guys fail to realize is that most girls grew up with the idea of one day becoming a princess. This is pretty basic stuff. We often refer to the future-but-as-yet-unknown “right man” as Prince Charming. Stories of princesses like Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White regaled us. Cinderella, a low commoner, gets to marry a prince in the end.

So no, it’s not about the monarchy; it’s all about the real-life fairytale. And despite the fact that Prince William is seriously balding, he’s still way more of a looker than his father ever was.

Girls my age (including me) dreamed of growing up to marry Prince William. (I’m several months older than him and so is his bride.) We’d have no problem relinquishing our Americanness to achieve our childhood dreams of marrying a prince!

Of course, if you want to get down to reality, we all know that being part of the royal family is not a fairytale nor is it easy: it’s hard work to effortlessly be graceful among all that pomp and circumstance. Politics (I mean that in the negative sense of the word) are involved. Most women would balk and drop like flies at the public scrutiny they’d have to constantly face. There’s a reason why William & Kate waited nearly a decade before tying the knot.

But on the royal wedding day, we put such thoughts aside.

You can pay my bills, you can pay my automobills…

~ K ~ Leave a comment

Brandon Heath: You Decide

Decisions, decisions, decisions. I have decisions all around me. My head is teeming, swarming with decisions and different directions, and I am standing in the middle of a busy New York City intersection (conveniently ignoring the “DON’T BLOCK THE BOX!” sign), having no idea which way to go, hoping that a car will just hit me and everything will be over and done with.

I am not good when it comes to making decisions. Someone must remind me of this in case I ever get the dim idea to go for a managerial position. I cannot. Make. Decisions. (Repetition is good; it reinforces what you’re learning.)