There are a couple of things I have NOT done that I want to talk about, this time around. One is a good thing: I have NOT had my relationship with GEDF diminish as I feared it might do. His fears of inadequacy threatened to choke off some of the natural progression of our relationship, (at least, as I saw it) but we have talked it through, been honest about our fears and opened our hearts more deeply to each other, and are now stronger together than we were before. I have gone from being very sad to very happy, so much so that it feels kind of like whiplash, but it's a whiplash I'm happy to suffer. So, that's one.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
We have split up the publishing duties, but we welcome everyone in IAN to do daily diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news! If you would like to write a diary, let us know in a comment.
Ok, we have a current diary schedule. If you would like to fill in, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMom a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FSNMom is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.
Monday: BadKitties
Tuesday: bigjacbigjacbigjac
Wednesday: Caedy
Thursday: weck
Friday: FloridaSNMOM
Saturday:broths
Sunday: loggersbrat
If you'd like to be part of the Itzl Alert Network, please leave a comment asking to join, or send us a message asking to join. We'd love to have you. The bigger our network, the less likely someone will be stranded all alone.
The other is a class I signed up for, having to do with career development. I suppose it might seem odd for someone of my span of years, near enough to retirement age, and, given this economic environment we live in these days, not a lot of possibilities out there, to be thinking about career development. I have not, however, resigned myself yet to a meager existence eked out from my late husband's survivor benefits and a minuscule annuity from one of his past jobs, supplemented by sporadic distributions (doled out by one of my younger sisters, who is trustee) from the family trust my father set up before he died, and later, when I reach the age of 70, my own social security benefit, which at that point will surpass the survivor benefit, though not by very much. I have to admit to so much distaste for what the "labor market" has become, and the hoops it demands people jump through, that I really don't want to have much of anything to do with it. There's that, and the fact that I'm still a recovering widow, even if I have found a new love. My energy is not what it was before, and my concentration suffers at times, too. But, I felt I should at least make an effort toward trying to negotiate the process of finding paid employment to supplement my limited resources, even if I don't need a full-time career, nor do I think I could handle that, except on a temporary, short-term basis, at this life juncture.
I was supposed to attend the class on Saturday, late morning to early afternoon, but I did not end up making it there, and at this point, I will probably withdraw from the class, since I really don't need the one whole credit it carries. (Actually, I have now formally withdrawn, since I originally wrote this.) I'm also taking three other non-credit classes and finishing up a fourth one, and all of those are more interesting and feel more relevant to what I want to be doing, which is writing. (Except for the gardening one, the one that's almost done; actually, it's completed now.) I do hope I can eventually earn a little money that way, and I think the classes I'm taking will help me get to that point. So, I'm choosing to put my energies there, and set the other, the career development one, aside, since it appears that I'm just not quite in the right frame of mind, or sufficiently desperate, to negotiate that one at this time. The instructor has been kind enough to agree to forward me the materials for the class, as if I were auditing it, so I can work through them on my own, later on. (I keep trying to do that "one day at a time, keep putting one foot in front of the other" thing, even though some days it feels like it's about all I can do to just get out of bed!)
As with my previous episode of "Things I have NOT done," I welcome comments and suggestions about writing and/or editing for income, people's experiences with career changes, especially later in life, or anything else that might strike one's fancy.