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EVERYONE is welcome and please join us each morning at 7:30 AM PACIFIC
to tell us what you're working on, share your show & tell, vent, whatever you want...
...this is an open thread. Nothing is off topic.
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Ever get out of a sticky situation?
Have you ever worked hard to get someplace only to find it was not where you wanted to be?
In response to yesterday's dairy) some folks asked me to explain how my career as a "fixer" for wealthy students came to an end a decade ago. So, leaving out most of the personal angst in the interest of brevity, here it is.
(Continued from yesterday)>
At the behest of the woman I worked for I moved to Boston and set up an office there. My wife and I had recently separated. I brought two old friends along to run the office while I was at meetings with people during the day. Every seven days I would fly back home to visit my son. After five months I received notice from his teacher that he was having trouble focusing at school. That was a deal breaker for me. I decided to return home and manage the Boston projects long-distance-leaving my two friends behind to attend meetings. That plan actually worked for a few years, but it was still a black mark against me that I had "abandoned" multiple projects for family reasons.
A little over a year later disaster overtook my career as I was coming back from a trip to Venezuela. I was on a flight across the US when the pilot announced that he had been informed by the NSA that we'd be shot down if we didn't land immediately. Panic swept through the plane. I thought we were going to die, and I focused my thoughts on my son. That was Sept 11, 2001. We were only half way across the country at the time and landed in Texas. Took me 2 more days in a rental car to reach my house.
I left "Norma Desmond" alone with
her schemes and empire-building.
By the time I got back home most of my clients had already been flown back to their country. My career had just been largely washed down the drain. One student remained, and I kept meeting with him until the buildup to the invasion of Iraq. Then even he was gone. Before he left, we had often discussed the days following 9/11 and their impact.
He had had friends in Boston and used to fly back and forth monthly-before 9/11. One time he asked me, "What would've happened if I'd have been on one of those flights 9/11 travelling when the planes were hi-jacked? Would my body have been ID'd as a terrorist?"
I expected him to be interviewed by at least one agency at some point. He never was. I expected the same for the "lady" I worked for. She never was-or so she insisted. I thought I'd get a knock on my door. I never did. No one seemed to care who might know who.
Still, I no longer felt comfortable. I wanted out. Then a series of coincidences made the choice for me. I got poison oak and had a very exaggerated and prolonged reaction. I mostly could no longer drive or go anywhere with a shirt on. Nor could I sleep. When I did, I'd awake in great pain with a thousand razors cutting deep into my flesh. I was told symptoms would reside in a couple of weeks, and so rescheduled everything accordingly. Two weeks came and went without any lessening of my conditions. Then a month. Then two months. In the interim I had made-and broken-too many promises. After the third month I could travel again, but still with inconvenience and pain.
I was no longer considered reliable by the lady I worked for, and I knew it. Yet I was offered another project. I knew if I turned it down I would be through. It involved flying to Zurick as an errand boy carrying documents. Compensation was a pittance compared to past assignments. The post 9/11 paranoia was still flying high. I had severe...apprehensions. I turned it down explaining I wanted to go back to Mexico and write on unrelated topics. I never looked back. After that, I never called looking for more assignments and I was never called.
Unlike Joe Gillis, I left without having to be pulled out of a swimming pool.
I've left out many details. Too many. I left out cockeyed plans for me to head a new department at a university here involving helping foreign students transition. I also left out cancelled plans to go to Iraq to "help" rebuild the education system there post-invasion. I was cut out of the loop on those things and do not know if they ever came to fruition, but I doubt it. Then again, who knows.
I do not know what happened to the "lady" I worked for. I'll probably never know. I'm okay with that. I don't have to know everything in the world. In fact, following my mother's example in a much nobler cause, I've made it my business to forget many things I used to know. In the decade since I've been very successful in that. And not looking over your shoulder everyday is a very good way to live. Not lucrative, but good. I've long since lost all desire to work for the 1%, much less strive to be one.
So in the end it was the luck of illness and the consequences of military disasters more than personal will that got me out. The money had been too easy and too much-and the hubris of feeling invulnerable and unstoppable too deep for just will power to have done it alone.
Anyways, that's how I got out of a rather sticky situation. What about you? You must've had to dig yourself out of some messes in your life at some point. How did you do it? Did you have a support network, or did you have to do it alone?
Latest Updates on Kossack Regional Meet-Up News Below the New Day sunrise cloud
:: COMMUNITY BUILDING UPDATES ::
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Let's build communities!
Every region needs a meatspace community like SFKossacks.
We take care of each other in real life.
I urge YOU to take the lead and organize one in your region.
Please tell us about it if you do and we're here for advice.
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THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY
>>>Instructions on HOW TO FORM A NEW DAILY KOS GROUP
NEW GROUPS IN THE PROCESS OF ORGANIZING:
Send a Kosmail to the organizers and ask for an invitation to the group.
• Northern Indiana Area: Kosmail Tim Delaney
• Long Island: Kosmail grannycarol
• Northern Michigan: Kosmail JillS
• Nebraska: Kosmail Nebraska68847Dem
• Westburbia Chicago Kossacks: Kosmail Majordomo
• Caprock Kossacks (Panhandle/Caprock/Lubbock/Amarillo area) : Kosmail shesaid
• West Texas Kossacks (including Big Bend Region and El Paso) : Kosmail Yo Bubba
• Las Vegas Kossacks: Kosmail miracle11
• Vermont Kossacks: Kosmail 4Freedom
Note to the above new leaders: Feel free to leave a comment any day reminding readers about your new group. Also, tell us about your progress in gathering members. Kosmail me when you've chosen a good name for your group and have created a the group. Then I'll move you to the NEW GROUPS LIST. When you've planned a date for your first event I'll make a banner for you to highlight your event in our diaries and your diaries.
These are the groups that have started since * NEW DAY * began. Please Kosmail navajo if you have started a group before that.
NEW GROUPS LIST:
• California Central Valley Kossacks - Formed: Jul 29, 2012, Organizer: tgypsy
• New England Kossacks - Formed: Aug 6, 2012, Organizers:
Clytemnestra for Lower New England (Conneticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island)
nhox42 for Upper New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont)
• Houston Area Kossacks - Formed: Aug 7, 2012, Organizer: Chrislove
• Kossacks in India - Formed: Aug 14, 2012, Organizer: chandu
• CenTex Kossacks - Formed: Sep 9, 2012, Organizer: papa monzano
• Central Ohio Kossacks - Formed: Sep 26, 2012, Organizer: VetGrl
• Kansas City Kossacks - Formed Oct 15, 2012, Organizer: [Founder stepped down]
• Phoenix Kossacks - Formed Oct 16, 2012, Organizer: arizonablue
• Chicago Kossacks - Formed: Oct 31, 2012, Organizer: figbash
• Koscadia the Pacific Northwest coast from Northern California to Alaska
- Formed Oct 17, 2012, Oganizer: Horace Boothroyd III based in Portland, OR
• Boston Kossacks - Formed: Nov 7, 2012, Organizer: GreyHawk
• Motor City Kossacks South East Michigan (Detroit) Area - Formed: Nov 10, 2012, Organizer: peregrine kate
• Pittsburgh Area Kossacks - Formed: Nov 12, 2012, Organizer: dweb8231
• Salt Lake City Kossacks - Formed: Nov 17, 2012, Organizer: War on Error
• Twin Cities Kossacks - Formed: Nov 17, 2012, Organizer: imonlylurking
• Dallas Kossacks North Texas - Formed: Nov 21, 2012, Admins: Catte Nappe and dalfireplug. Please contact them to join the group. An Event Organizer needed.
• The Southern California Inland Empire Kossacks - Formed: Dec 3, 2012, Organizer: SoCaliana
• Los Angeles Kossacks - Formed: Dec 17, 2012, Organizer: Dave in Northridge
• Northeast Ohio Kossacks - Formed: Jan 16, 2013, Organizer: GenXangster
• Kansas & Missouri Kossacks - Formed: Jan 17, 2013, Organizer: tmservo433
• I-77 Carolina Kossacks who live from Columbia, SC to north of Winston-Salem, NC. - Formed: Jan 30, 2013, Organizers: gulfgal98 and eeff
• Indianapolis Kossacks - Formed: Feb 6, 2013, Organizer: CityLightsLover
• Southwest Ohio Kossacks - Formed: May 10, 2013, Organizer: Dr Erich Bloodaxe RN
• Northern Arizona Kossacks - Formed: Jul 5, 2013, Organizer: Sam Sara
• Mexican Kossacks - Formed: Apr 14, 2013, Organizer: roberb7
• New York Hudson Valley Kossacks - Formed: Oct 27, 2012, Organizer: boran2
• North Carolina Triangle Kosmopolitans - Formed: Aug 2, 2013, Organizer: highacidity
• Silicon Valley Kossacks - Formed: Oct 31, 2013, Organizer: Glen The Plumber
ESTABLISHED GROUPS LIST: (List will grow as we discover them)
• SFKossacks Founded by navajo, Formed: May 2, 2005
• Maryland Kos Founded by timmyc, Formed: Feb 23, 2011. Contact: JamieG from Md for a group invite.
• New York City Founded by Eddie C - Contact the group organizer for meet-up events: sidnora
• Baja Arizona Kossacks, Event Organizer: Azazello
• Three Star Kossacks Tennessee, Founded by maryKK, Formed: Apr 8, 2011
• Nashville KosKats, Founded by ZenTrainer Formed: Jan 30, 2012
• Virginia Kos Founded by JamieG from Md, Formed: May 3, 2011
• Kos Georgia Founded by pat208, Formed: Feb 13, 2011
• Colorado COmmunity Founded by Leftcandid, Formed: Feb 13, 2011
• New Mexico Kossaks Founded by claude
• Philly Kos Founded by mconvente Formed: Aug 29, 2011
• DKos Florida Founded by ThirstyGator, Formed: Feb 14, 2011, Currently organizing: Kosmail Vetwife to be included in next event.
• Oklahoma Roundup Founded by BigOkie, Formed: Feb 13, 2011, Currently organizing: Kosmail peacearena to be included.
• DKos Asheville Founded by davehouck, Formed: Feb 13, 2011 - Organizing Assist by: randallt
• San Diego Kossacks Founded by La Gitane, Formed: Nov 18, 2011
• Massachusetts Kosmopolitans Founded by mem from somerville, Formed: Feb 13, 2011
by ColoTim ♥ for COLORADO COMMUNITY
Seven Kossacks from the Denver area got together to enjoy each other's company. Casual conversation included: "...various past elections, various upcoming elections, interactions people have had with elected and/or government officials, discussions of various parts of the Denver metro area, showing some pictures of [ColoTim's] new woozle, past and future gatherings, food and drink and fantasy football."
Good times in Colorado!
L-R: ACPA, ColoTim, whoknu, RockyMtnLib, Leftcandid & Phoenix Rising
Please visit ColoTim's diary for obligatory food shots. Enjoy, there's pie! You can join COLORADO COMMUNITY by sending a Kosmail to ColoTim.
by Dave in Northridge ♥ for Los Angeles Kossacks
Nice turnout for the lastest gathering:
L-R, Front: jakedog42, flowingone, deniserobb, mvanier and son,
San FernandoValleyMom, MugWumpBlues, Dave in Northridge,
susans, joemarkowitz, optimistic pizza.
Rear: Shockwave, Gay CA Democrat, otoelbc, Lisa, Richard (Mr. Lisa)
~Photo Courtesy of SanFernandoValleyMom
Please visit Dave in Northridge's diary for MORE photos! Enjoy! You can join Los Angeles Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to Dave in Northridge.
by CityLightsLover ♥ for Indianapolis Kossacks
CityLightsLover pulled together another Indianapolis Kossack event. This time at a Mexican restaurant complete with her orangey Daily Kos tablescapes and schwag she produced herself.
Here's their group photo:
Lol. ONLY THE SHADOW KNOWS... Use your imagination and guess what these Kossacks really look like. L-R: maryabein, MKDAWUSS, Tim DeLaney, CityLightsLover, im2004Lurker, Mrs. Mokurai, Furbabies2013, Dragon5616, Mokurai and MITHRA666
Please visit CityLightsLover's diary for many MORE photos of those Daily Kos tablescapes and food pr0n! Enjoy! You can join Indianapolis Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to CityLightsLover.
by randallt ♥ for DKos Asheville
Asheville, NC gets out the vote!
The following is a brief roundup of the DKos Asheville Voter Registration Project's fifth outing. We've been setting up every Tuesday for the last five weeks at Earth Fare, a natural food store at Westgate Shopping Center in Asheville. We have a nice spot on the patio outside the store. This week with no icy wind and much more moderate temps. Oh it was cold alright, just not stupid cold. Back to having three of us was great. LamontCranston, David and Myself received many thumbs up and "thank you's" from passers by and shoppers and more than a few questions as to why we were doing this now. "Didn't we just have an election?". We officially re-registered one voter and took advantage of the interaction to do some Daily Kos evangelism. And here is a tease for next week. It involves llamas!
LamontCranston, our new Salvation Army bell ringer friend, randallt and davehouck
You can join DKos Asheville by sending a Kosmail to randallt.
by tmservo433 ♥ for Kansas & Missouri Kossacks
Organizer tmservo433
~Photo Courtesy of Michael Bersin
tmservo433 delivered a great event. Almost 30 people attended what tmservo433 calls the first session of the evening that lasted until 11:30 P.M. The second session of the evening included about ten more people lurking outside the door and some working as hotel staff inside the room. So after the meet-up ended, on-lookers from the hall and hotel service people wanted to talk about what they overheard coming out of the ballroom. For example, the round table discussion about the importance of increasing the minimum wage resonated with the waitstaff and they chimed in about that with strong opinons. A ballroom dancing couple applauded the progressive discussion they could hear on the other side of the partition. This event united progressives within its reach!
Please visit tmservo433's diary for written details on this terrific event! You can join Kansas & Missouri Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to tmservo433.
by tmservo433 ♥ for Kansas & Missouri Kossacks
L-R: Some where in this photo are Kossacks Glitterscale, Man Oh Man and tmservo433.
Please visit tmservo433's diary for a description of the rest of the attendees which were mostly non-Kossacks, but folks who should be there, such as, State Legislator John Wright. tmservo433 gathered a great group of Progressives and hopefully we can get a few more of them to join us at DKos. Kudos to tmservo433 for reaching out and uniting like-minded folk in Missouri!
You can join Kansas & Missouri Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to tmservo433.
by navajo ♥ for SFKossacks
L-R: SFKossacks meeting at the home of Andrew McGuire in the Wine Country
You can join the SFKossacks by sending a Kosmail to navajo.
:: Events Currently on the Books for ALL Kossacks ::
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Date Moving to January 2014
Connecticut Kossacks Meet-up!
TIME: TBD
LOCATION: The Shamrock Pub & Grill
210 Meadow St. • Waterbury
The Shamrock is a short walk from the MTA Metro North Station. If anyone wants to take Amtrak, thankgodforairamerica can pick you up in Meriden and drive you to the event.
ORGANIZER: Send thankgodforairamerica a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. thankgodforairamerica
2. gchaucer2
3.
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Maybees:
annieli
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Latest diary: [Waiting for linked diary]
Sunday, January 26th
SFKossacks Welcome matching mole to San Francisco!
TIME: TBD, daytime car trip to the Delta for birding with lineatus
LOCATION: Grizzly Island Wildlife Area
2548 Grizzly Island Road • Suisun City
ORGANIZER: Send lineatus a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. lineatus
2. matching mole
3. navajo
4.
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Maybees: |
TIME: TBD, evening event for city folk and to celebrate dharmasyd's and kimoconnor's birthdays!
LOCATION: TBD
[Address] • [City]
ORGANIZER: Send lineatus a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. lineatus
2. matching mole
3. navajo
4. dharmasyd
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Maybees: |
Latest diary: [Waiting for linked diary]
Send navajo a kosmail if you post a diary about an event so we can update our round-up.
Okay. Floor's open.
Tell us what you are doing on this NEW DAY?