Another Day

So yesterday I took a day off. Having problems with my computer and having problems with my brain; not sure which of the two is in more danger of crashing. The computer has a spastic cursor jumping from word to word, line to line which as you can imagine can be quite annoying. I currently have a Dell, but believe the time is here to take the leap to a Mac. The brain, well it is jumping and spastic as well!

In my earnest desire to obtain employment, I set off yesterday again, for the filling out of applications process, but one the way contracted a headache similar to the grand finale of a Broadway musical resonating throughout the caverns of my brain. It is amazing to me that three years after closing Full of Soup, I am still filling out job applications, not that I have been unemployed that long, thank god. First and foremost on each job application I must decide whether or not to mention I was a business owner. It is my experience once owning a successful business for fourteen years is more of a detriment than an asset. If I have to hear one more potential employer tell me I am over qualified or I do not want the job I think I will scream. Do they honestly think if I did not want the job I would be there in the first place? So I keep two applications handy, the truth and the slightly twisted, the one where I am the owner and the one where just in case I will be too over qualified, I am the manager. As the owner of a food business I hired and fired the servers, cashiers and chef, yet prospective employers say I am not experienced enough to work as either. As the owner of a food business I managed 25 employees, dealt with all city agencies such as License and Inspections and the health department, unemployment compensation, sales tax, purchased all equipment, was responsible for the repair and maintenance of all equipment, negotiated all leasing contracts, implemented the menus along with the chef, was responsible for profit and loss and cost analysis ....... yet my prospective employers say I do not have the experience necessary to be a manager or even an assistant manager; why ....because they need to interview and hire the prospect who most closely resembles their job qualifications. Now what exactly do we think that means??

I can't help but wonder is there a patented formula for these jobs? Wanted assistant manager:, must have worked in a food establishment for 1.5 years, must have been buss person for first 6 months, must have graduated to server for 1 year, must have college degree in food/restaurant hospitality from a university that specializes in such ,and must have a burning desire, but not too much desire, must have a 6.5 score on the desire scale, anything above too ambitious, anything below too lackadaisical. Must be like a cow and walk in a line to slaughter. And what makes the person doing the judging correct. Is there a formula for that as well?

This brings me to my favorite slogan "lets think out of the box", how are we thinking out of the box, we just talk about it, do we really do it? Maybe, just maybe if an employer sees someone a little different, a little out of the ordinary, they may just want to give that person a chance. Perhaps different can be good, it can be inspirational, it can be intelligent and witty, different can still be dependable and reliable; but most of all different needs to be investigated rather than dismissed; because lets face it different has changed the world; just look at Einstein. Now there was a man who thought out of the box!

The Daily Grind ~ Focusing

So in my earnest dedication to focus, write and make this blog a productive entity of cyberspace, I take type to screen in day two of my attempt at focus. Now that I am unemployed I spend most of my days looking for a job that I am not sure I necessarily want but need and pursuing the things that I love most; first and foremost photography, and second writing. Between the two, it does seem easier to me to focus on the art of photography. As a person who looks at almost every visual stimuli through the eyes of thoughts and questions - almost everything I set my eyes upon becomes a focus for a photographic lesson and challenge.

After I lost my job of two years on May 30, 2009, which was after I lost my business of fourteen years in 2006 I had some major focusing issues. First as most people are I became obsessed focusing on the basics of living, how to pay the mortgage, car, insurance, food, etc. all of these entrapment's we become encased in. Life as I knew it was falling apart, and after a rather lengthy time of torment, self-doubt, anguish, and depression I was forced to follow what has always been my usual path of salvation during difficult times and that was to jump quickly in to something that I had an interest in, but never had the time to pursue and I signed myself up for a photography class. This has given me the help I need to not only take my mind off of the daily monetary grind, the arduous and daunting task of looking for that job that never seems to knock on the door or ring the cell phone, but has given me a burning passion to get out of bed with a constantly changing look and optimism toward a new day. For just as photography is a visual reflection of life that can be savored and played with and toyed with and changed, so too is life a reflection of your soul that can be played with and toyed with and changed.

So as I end today's post ~ my thought is - in times of stress, doubt and depression, especially in today's economy think of something you have loved for years and have never had the opportunity to pursue; take a leap of faith and go do it; it will open a world of possibilities. Even if you don't see them yet, they are on their way; they have to be; I must believe!! :o)

Missing You!

It has been so long since my last post I didn't know if Google would allow me to log on; but when I put in my user name and password and hit enter up came my blog; my blog that is always there, always there for me no matter what, and what a comfort that is, a small sense of comfort in my current otherwise unstable life. It seems a very long time now that things have been uncertain. I closed a business in 2006 that I had owned and operated for over fourteen years, got a job that I lost due to downsizing, was forced to leave my house due to changes in economic conditions and an inability to sell in a challenging real estate market, moved, lost many friends along the way due to logistics of the situation and now am forced with the daunting task of finding a new job, which seems nothing less than an impossibility in this deteriorated job market.

As has always been my motto, when the going gets tough just dig in an work harder; there never seemed to me there wasn't another path to go, or another road to travel and always I just knew with blinding certainty that there was something so magical and wonderful along that new
road. Things seem a little more challenging now though. Could be I'm not 21 any longer, could be I'm missing my business, my life's' challenge, the entity that I jumped out of bed each day to greet like a new lover, could be I'm missing my friends of old, those from the business, those from college, those that have moved away; but whatever it is I simply must continue to find challenge and excitement along this new road or run the risk of being run over on life's highway.

So after feeling blue and uninspired and ignoring the written word for so long, inspiration set in. The same inspiration that blows from the crispness of a fall breeze, a breeze that accompanies the comfort yet trepidation that sneaks in when you realise yet another season has ended, and a new is beginning; and time passes quickly, and you wonder will you ever catch up. After a long slumber my inspiration stirred after a friend took me to see the movie Julie and Julia.

I'm sure the reason I was so inspired and captivated by Julie and Julia was because the movie centered on cooking, which was the basis of my business, having owned a food retail establishment, and as I mentioned earlier was my life's passion; but more than that it forced me to look at other talents, not necessarily those that I have ignored, nor did not know existed, but those that perhaps need like the soil and the flower to be cultivated, watered and fed. It also reinforced the old adage try, try and try again and you will never succeed unless you stick to it ...
So here I am, putting to the written word, as Julie did, my dedication. I do solemnly swear and promise to my readers, whoever you may be and if there are any of you out there that I will write at least something, long or short, fiction or fact and that I will have a focus at some point in the very near future, and I will finish the short story written earlier in the blog and dear God I will find some sort of creative way to earn a living whether it comes from my creative being or from some future employer. These things I do solemnly swear!!!