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 |  Out of her head and into the world...the real, the scarcastic, introspective? |
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** You have just entered the OLIVIA zone! From the far reaches of her wonderful, creative mind come thoughts and expressions that cover every spectrum! Anyway, enjoy my blog.... It's me.... When I get here to dump in it! Cheers! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Member Blogging Groups |
** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Day #14: Your best friend is a brilliant scientist who just invented a time machine. He's given you the opportunity to go back in time and witness (but not interact with) any significant moment/event in history. Which moment/event would you choose to see first-hand and why? Well, I would have loved to have seen the days that Julia and Paul Child spent working out how to produce a “live cooking show” where real cooking was going on. Most people do not know that she was the Mother of all cooking shows. She and Paul created the staging process that all cooking shows use today. I would love to see that. If not that, then I would love to spend time at the Poilane Boulangerie in Paris prior to Lionel Poilane died so that I could watch and listen to his brilliance when it came to creating artisan bread. Yeah, I could abuse the hell out of a time machine enjoying food history. *********************** I am tired today…Scary tired. I wish I were not. I need to rewrite my resume to fit a job that I am interested in landing. THEN rewrite it again to send it to another company with a different potential position. AND write something other than this blog for the day. BUT, I just want to go back to my room, lay down, and go back to sleep. I wonder if I just took my laptop back there, piled up my pillows, and took the pressure off my body, I would feel any better and be able to create. The pollen count for Mountain Cedar was 7299 grains per square millimeter this morning an allergen that can potentially give me big problems. Even my Pit Bull/English Mastiff, Luna is having issues. I have never seen her skin so dry and flaky. My hands are incredibly dry and stiff today; making me wonder which of my “intensive therapy” lotions to try to work into my hands now! LoL! Gold Bond? Hempz Triple Cream? Anyway, I am working on a food blog starting with dishes that I am making for dinner currently. I have a great fresh crafted Sloppy Joe recipe that isn’t swimming in a cloyingly sweet brown sugar ketchup sauce reminiscent of Grandma’s Meatloaf Ketchup Glaze. Back in December, I found a recipe for Beef Stroganoff made in the crockpot, which I thought, was pretty genius to get the meat tender enough for a teenager with a permanent retainer and an elderly parent with dental issues of his own. I tried it the other night and really, really was not impressed. My diners with dental issues were not either. Eight hours on low (as directed) was NOT enough to cook the meat until tender. The onion was not even translucent when I was ready to finish the sauce. Additionally, the 8 ounces of cream cheese and half a cup of sour cream was just weird. Maybe if it had about three times the amount of sour cream it might have begun to taste the way a Beef Stroganoff should taste. THEN, there were no herbs. Stroganoff has fresh dill in it and you want it to be fresh, not dried. In culinary school, I did a Southwestern Beef Stroganoff out of some tenderloin trim for a lunch special one day. The taste was so amazing! Instead of fresh dill, we folded fresh, lightly chopped cilantro at the end prior to putting it over the fresh egg noodles. Tonight it was Tempura Fried Pork chops with Fresh-crafted Sweet and Sour Sauce, Stir-Fried Veggies, and Rice. I made four dozen Ritz Cracker Cookies last night for Chefbaby’s Winter formal (this Saturday night) as well. Most of them were Nutella filled, but a few were with Peanut Butter. I am sure her friends will be delighted. Maybe I will get to the Dark Chocolate dipped pretzel twists tomorrow. sigh… Well, it’s getting late. I guess it’s time to let go for the day. Until we write again,  Liv |
| Day #13: What song do you absolutely hate, and why do you hate it so much? NEWSONG: “The Christmas Shoes.” This song was created to remind us all that some people do not get to have merry Christmases, and that Christmas will forever be connected with a tragic, unfair event. In this case, a poor child is trying to buy a beautiful pair of shoes for his dying mother. The song does not only make tears trickle down my face. It makes me bawl; which really is not safe while I am driving and seems to be the only time I hear the song. Inevitably it calls to mind every crappy thing that I have endured in my life and picks at it like a scab that just cannot seem to be left alone to heal properly. The radio gets turned off. Period. Between January and Thanksgiving week, we all struggle with life and the realities of that. Taking some time to focus on kinder, gentler things during Christmas is something that I strive to do. While I know that pain and suffering never takes a holiday, I certainly do not need any more reminders of how disparate [and yes, I used the correct word for the idea I am conveying] life is. One cannot even watch a Dickens movie marathon of all the different versions of A Christmas Carol that have been created over the years without being reminded of homeless pets suffering in their circumstances, children dying of malnutrition and disease in third-world countries, and our own babies and children fighting cancer here in the states. The whole thing offends me deeply. All of the above were also suffering on Hanukkah, Kwanza, the third Monday in January, Good Friday, May 5th, Earth Day, June 19th…Get the picture? America is already the most charitable nation in the world. Give it a rest. What’s wrong with just enjoying a few songs about snow, chestnuts, and fictitious deer with abnormally colored noses? It only lasts a couple of weeks. Torture us with crap that makes us feel like we're a bunch of heartless assholes the other 48 weeks of the year. Until we write again, Liv ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Day #12: What is your learning style? Do you learn and process things best by listening (auditory), watching (visual), or doing (kinesthetic)? Are you strongly one way or a mix of two or even all three? If you are weak at a particular type, how does that affect your everyday life? According to the Felder & Solomon Learning Styles and Strategies Inventory (North Carolina State University) taken in July of 2011, I am fairly well balanced between Active and Reflective, Sensing and Intuitive, Visual and Verbal, but stronger in Global learning rather than Sequential learning. Leave it to me to be a “non-linear learner”  .Therefore, regarding the question of the day, I am (at least at this stage in the game) a well-balanced learner. At the ripe old age of 40, I went back and picked up my Bachelor’s degree to finish my Psychology degree and continue on to graduate school. I enrolled in an online university accredited by the same system that extends accreditation to most of the state and private universities in the state of Texas. Presently I am holding a close to perfect GPA and have been enjoying the benefit of the Accelerate into Master’s Program by taking master’s level classes for all of my upper level electives. I am looking forward to completing the MS so I can sit for the LPC exam so I can get my license and do meaningful work with people who need help. Then, while that is going on, I can work on my PhD. LOL! Maybe I’ll finally get lucky and not be in debt all of my life…But then, Hey! I could die still trying to pay off my student loans! Guess it is better to die trying than to sit on the sidelines feeling like a loser all of my life. Until we write again, Liv** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Day #11: If you could develop any superpower, what would it be and why? If it came with a significant downside or the inability to fully hone/control it (e.g. telepathy that you couldn't turn off, flying but you'd sometimes float in your sleep, invisibility but you had to concentrate to become visible), would that affect the superpower you'd choose? Would you choose to have none at all? Well, if the things we have learned between physics and neuropsychology are true, then with self-awareness and practice, the ability to (at least) be an empath is not out of the realm of possibility. I firmly believe that people are born with more abilities than actually develop through their lifetime because children adopt the beliefs of their influencers. That is why keeping a young child limited in exposure to media and technology until the age of about 10 to 12 is very important to the development of imagination. Toys such as blocks and Legos, Tinker Toys, crayons, pencils, paper, and dolls or action figures should be available in abundance to develop the mind and imagination. As someone who was born with strong empathic abilities, the truth is that it is frightening; especially in a world where the average person believes this ability is just fiction. Due to the fact that it is poo-pooed on, there is typically no one around to help him/her understand what they are “hearing” or perceiving. Being inundated with that many negative thoughts, feelings, and emotions when you are a small child and do not have the ability to even understand your own emotions yet is very overwhelming and can be devastating if there is no place quiet to escape it. Sooner or later, most empathic children convince themselves that the world is right, they are wrong, and they “shut out” this ability. From personal experience, I believe this is one of the reasons why childhood depression is on the rise, and some individuals never escape it. With the concentration of people that exist in day cares and most school settings, young children are powerless to escape the mental “noise” going on in their heads so that they can concentrate on just who they are and what they believe. Developing friendships is very hard. When I grew into early adulthood and became intimately involved with the opposite sex, the ability came creeping back. Being very relaxed I could hear whole ideas as if they had been spoken to me, and I would answer back verbally. It creeped many people out, but oh how handy it can be! I have a very strong connection to my Dad. Sometimes if he is in the kitchen watching television while I am cooking (which is very relaxing for me), I can hear his thoughts as if he has said something to me and I have responded verbally. It shocked him at first and he’d say: “Why did you say that?” I would respond, “Well didn’t you just say ___________?” He would get this weird look on his face and say “I didn’t think I said that out loud.” I also had an incredibly strong connection to the guy that I was affianced to for a little while a couple of years ago. He could be taking a nap in Dallas, and I could be driving two hours away and I could hear him talking to me. When he woke up, he would call me and tell me that he had a “dream” that he was talking to me about a particular topic and it was “so real.” He could even give me an accurate synopsis of how I had responded. I was a little surprised with this one. I had never entertained the idea of distance communication. When it comes to empath skills and falling in love, the unfortunate part is that passion does, and will muddle better judgment and getting physically involved with someone too soon is very dangerous to the heart and good judgement. Maybe that is why he ultimately decided that I was “evil.” That and most all of the women in his family had ever done anything productive with their lives and let his alcoholic grandfather rule their lives. Great male influence…That and his sperm donor was involved in the mob in Dallas in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Hmmm… Interesting how both my ex-husband and that man said that they wanted to be better men than their parents had been…. Wanting to be… But not working or striving to be. As I have continued to mature, I have read A Course in Miracles and several other texts including some of the Gnostic gospels that have helped me understand that it is neither impossible nor improbable if you are prepared to believe. Any ability that we are born with has been given to us for a reason. “Free Will” means that we are born with the choice to believe, or not to believe…To seek out our purpose and develop it, or float through this life like the proverbial feather in Forrest Gump. Although I met someone who taught me how to control my ability so that simple things like going to a crowded mall, sporting event, or concert are not so overwhelming anymore, it is still something that requires a lot of responsibility. Things like this do not “turn off,” it is more like shifting where or what is being focused on, or perceived at a time. People who are super, super relaxed, or experiencing an extreme emotion (such as anger) are the easiest to “hear” or “read,” and there is so much energy infused with anger and other extreme emotions, that often they seep through regardless Working in restaurants, the “gift” is often a true gift. It also has its up sides while teaching. Even with my last consulting job, it did have benefits. The down side is the necessity of balance between “leaving a channel open” at work and having to shield against the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of nearly 1000 people in a virtually windowless space with that many CPUs in it as well. There were days that I would come home exhausted from “the dance.” I look forward to finally being able to sit for my Licensed Professional Counselor license in another 18 to 24 months so that I can have a great job helping people and have better control of how many energetic thought processes other than my own (and my family’s) that I must come in contact with in a day. With all of that said, I guess in a way I already have a small “superpower” and I know what it is like to have to live with it. It defines your life. Due to that fact, I do not know that I would really like to have a superpower like flying. I mean really, could you imagine trying to have pleasurable sex if you had to concentrate just to stay grounded to walk, skip, or run like a regular person? Just think about it… Until we write again, Liv ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
Day #10: Do your friends and family follow your blog? If so, do you tailor your posts accordingly? If not, and you suddenly found out that your friends and family read your blog regularly, would you be okay with it or would it make you nervous? Why?  Which one???Juust Kidding!!!  Last year I started this blog: http://lightquestlifecoaching.wordpress.com/ and I would link the entries to my corresponding Facebook page; ergo my friends and family were exposed to these thoughts. In retrospect, I can most assuredly say that where my self-esteem level was at the time, I probably curbed some of my thoughts and opinions to not hurt or offend any loved one who chose to read it (mostly my mother I am sure). Recently I have thought about breaking up my blogging to several different professional topics in hopes of landing some writing jobs…Or just a job period: • Management and Training • Psychology and Self-Improvement • Food Wine and Cooking • Christianity and Spirituality • Fictional Short Stories Writing Along with that goes the thought process: “Perhaps if you actually hung out on my blogs once in a while, you might get to know who I really am.” Because I am an introvert, people often mistakenly perceive my quiet, contemplative demeanor in ways that intimidate them. It is hysterical that some people are afraid of me because I do not find it necessary to run my mouth just for the sake of attracting attention. Some people are completely shocked that I have a sense of humor. Often, someone who believes that I am their friend and they are mine superimpose very interesting ideas of who they believe I am, and how I think because they are so obsessed with having someone hear them that they forget to ask about me, my life, and my interests. I have learned this because when I get tired of one-way “friendships” and start shutting things down, they try starting arguments with me and start accusing me of such outlandish things that it’s obvious that they need to stop watching daytime and nighttime dramas and hanging out on Facebook and get some real-time relationships going again. My Writing.com blog is only for my writing colleagues here. Sometimes I copy some of my outside entries to my WDC blog, but I do not believe I have ever reversed that process. I do not quite know how to explain it all other than I hold my WDC contemporaries more capable of being complete adults than many people who hang out on Facebook. Either that or essentially, I have taken the stance “If you don’t like it…Read on. Elsewhere.” Actually, I think I would be more nervous about some of my family and closer friends knowing that I wrote Erotica and Romantica than what goes on inside my head.  Until next we write, Liv ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Day #9: Guilty pleasures. What are three movies, books, television shows, music artists, and/or games you're afraid to admit to other people that you actually really enjoy? Why do they appeal to you? Eeek! Guilty pleasures??? Okay, okay… Let’s see here… Beef Stroganoff… Zingers (the Raspberry ones)… Aaaand………… Root Beer Floats with Chocolate Sauce!!!! Wrong Topic???  Okay…okay… Blazing Saddles:  Mel Brooks is a genius comedian. There may be a ton of innuendo and stereotyping, but it is fairly clean comedy and if we cannot laugh at ourselves and the way people used to think (lessons learned), then we may as well go ahead and cash in out chips right now.A Rose In Winter by Katherine E. Woodwiss:  This was probably one of the first romances that I ever read… And probably much too young to be considered “appropriate.” My maternal grandmother bought it at the big family department store in town, read it, and it passed to my great-aunt and mother respectively. I am sure that it with many of the other books I read during that phase of my life found on her bookshelf, offering me respite from the three network television stations and singular public television station that could be received on Grandmother’s living room television. Somehow even after all these years, I love that book; literally reading the cover right off of it! It is much, much more than romance of course. There is intrigue, deception, and murder. It is still a comfort read to this day and I do have a Kindle copy so that it is even accessible on my phone should I find myself in need of a comfortable read away from home.HGTV:  I love conceiving the remodeling of houses. I’m just horrible at the actual work techniques involved. If I won a major Powerball jackpot, (or probably even a minor one) I would probably put it all into annuities that would ration out the money, but use a lot of that money to buy old houses, remodel them (employing my cousin who is an interior decorator) and flip them. It would entertain me, and make a name for my cousin (who deserves it) and make a living for both of us. It would be nice to take care of our children without the struggle of panic attacks while sitting in rush hour traffic, or sleepless nights worrying about how the bills are going to get paid and our children educated properly (since that does not happen easily these days). Another HGTV show that is a guilty pleasure is watching Hawaii Life and dreaming of living there on, or overlooking the ocean at least 3 months out of the year with my daughter, parents, and friends that I can enjoy spending extended periods of time with [without wearing on each other].There you have it folks! My private guilty pleasures. Until we write again, Liv ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Day #8: Write about a time where you overheard or saw something you weren't meant to. What was it, and - in retrospect - are you better off or worse off for having overheard/witnessed it? I went to culinary school in 1992 at the young, naïve age of 20. Although I lived in a small rural community that did have a drug scene, I had personally never witnessed the consumption of anything stronger than alcohol. Admittedly, I even bought beer for my friends at the beer shack several times. The night clerk was half blind, and any curvy young thing in tight jeans could get away with nearly anything. When I got up to the northeast, things changed. BiG time! About the second week of the first rotation (which was an over-night class), I had to go to the ladies room. I could not find my Chef Instructor to ask to be excused, so I just went. When I pushed open the door of the Ladies Lounge, the Chef in question was down on his knees by the glass coffee table. He looked up, we locked eyes, and I was so horrified that there was a man in the Ladies room that it did not occur to me what I had seen. Actually, I did not learn until about two months later that what I had seen was the Chef doing lines of cocaine. By that time, I had learned that many people in the culinary business have addictions that I had never realized before. He almost doggedly stalked and harassed me for the next two years, which I could not quite understand at first. As far as I was concerned, once I completed his class, I could not give a crap about him or his personal issues. Sadly, my (then) boyfriend and one of our best friends had to explain to me that what I knew about him could actually ruin his professional teaching career. It was really hurtful knowing that I really didn’t care what he was doing that was destroying his life, but he was so bent on trying to find a reason to destroy my culinary career before it even got started. About 15 years ago his name came up in conversation when I was visiting with the Vice-President of Student Affairs and I learned that he had to retire. He had several major lower respiratory infections and it was found that he needed to retire from baking because of the buildup of “paste balls” in his lungs. Funny… All the pastry chefs I have known in the years following culinary school and very few had any bronchial issues at all. Knowing Chef’s “dirty little secret” did make the remaining time during culinary school uncomfortable, and miserable at times, but I do not know whether (in the long run) I was better or worse off for the knowledge. It is definitely part of my interesting life history. Until we write again, Liv ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Day #7: What's your opinion of reality TV? Love it, hate it, indifferent to it? Why? My favorite reality TV is The Voice. Since I enjoy the artistry of music and singing, I enjoy that type of programming. Since I grew up watching The Lawrence Welk Show, Hee Haw, and The Sonny and Cher Show, I love watching and listening to the hopefuls on that program. I enjoy anticipating who has that “it” that may get them all the way to the finale and falling in love with a favorite along the way. I guess part of it is the chemistry of the coaches; not only with each other, but also with their team. Interestingly, most seasons of American Idol bore me. I watched the season that Candice Glover won. She was my favorite all the way through and I even pre-purchased her album through iTunes; which was a mistake. When it did not come out (I guess) Apple sent me about 5/10ths of a second of air for the other 9 songs that they owed me (and yes, that’s another story). Most reality TV is just ugly and encourages bad behavior in their viewers, so the watching of such ridiculousness is prohibited in our house. Sadly, that includes many of the Disney shows that are currently in their line-up of programming. One of my prescriptions for increasing happiness and avoiding depression in my life and the lives of my close family members is avoiding the ridiculously dramatic shows like soap operas and reality television like Real Housewives and Big Brother. Often without any fault of our own, life is dramatic enough without getting involved in other drama that really does not exist. So, that’s my take. Until we write again, Liv ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Day #6: If you could live in any fictional world (novel, movie, television show, comic book, etc.) which world would you want to live in and why? Fictional world… It would have to be the world of Regency England either as Jane Austin wrote it, or as Stephanie Laurens writes it in her novels. I could SO be either Elizabeth Bennett or one of Mrs. Lauren’s heroines especially the ladies from the Bastion Club series. There is just no mistaking it. I never thought much of reincarnation until I experienced several things and met several people in this lifetime (that I had never met before) who knew my name and very intimate details about my likes and dislikes. Due to these experiences, I have become more aware of periods of history and ideas that I become more keenly interested in, and seem to instinctively know about. Let’s face it, although electricity and indoor plumbing had not been invented yet, neither had the telephone or the automobile and it was harder for people to nose around in one’s private affairs. Having a large house, on an enormous amount of acreage with farm animals of every description, flower, vegetable, and herb gardens to over-see the care of is my kind of deal. Plenty to do, plenty to enjoy, plus the dresses, jewels, literature, music, and just enough occasional entertaining and entertainments so that there is some social contact, but not so much that it overwhelms a body. Like the 5th trip to the grocery store in as many days. Where Elizabeth probably had a relatively serene life after she married Darcy, the gals in the Bastion Club Novels had a bit of adventure to spice things up being married to ex-secret operatives for the Crown. Those couples really knew how to live and be true partners in spite of the era they lived in. In those places, I would have ridden a horse every single day of my life since an early age and be such an excellent equestrian that I (hopefully) would not have the permanent injuries that I have in real life from equine exploits I have experienced in this life! OH! In addition, imagine foxhunting! Eh…Well, maybe not. Jumping a horse while riding side-saddle seems a little too crazy for my taste and real ladies could not risk being seen riding astride in mixed company. Yet, let’s return for a moment to the clothes! Oh yes! The clothes! Dresses for every occasion and for every occasion a dress! Beautiful colors, divine fabrics, and lots of them! Plus, women could wear beautiful fur lined cloaks without some bleeding heart animal rights activist getting all worked up about some poor animal losing its life. Sounds lovely to me! Until we write again, Liv ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
| Day #5: Even though there's no legal/copyright protection for ideas themselves, do you think it's morally acceptable to take another writer's idea and write your own version of it without permission or giving them credit? Would you find it more or less acceptable if that person weren't a writer or artist themselves? Why? To me, it all boils down to this scenario: “There are 5 people standing in a straight line, facing forward, at the corner intersection of a busy street. A serious and possibly fatal car wreck occurs right in front of them. When each gives their statement to investigating officials, will they, or will they not relate the same story?” The answer is “no.” Why? Everyone has their own perception of not only life, but also how things occur in this life. Therefore, while the basics of the account may be similar, the details may be very different. I believe it would be completely morally acceptable. Presently I have an idea to write a fictitious “memoire” based on the experiences I have had in my latest job from my point of view as a very private, introverted person. Some of my closer colleagues and I have discussed creating a comedy about our time with the organization. Both are ideas to write about a central topic. The avenue taken is much different. While both are potentially funnier than a rubber crutch, they will certainly be humorous in vastly different ways. We all have different perceptions of life, and avenues of imagination. Nobody has the exclusive right to the story on how a number two yellow pencil became lodged in a jar of Knudson’s Seedless Blackberry Jam (for instance). Further, nobody needs the exclusive right to anything like that. For that reason, nobody can copyright ideas, recipes, or jewelry designs. To do so would be ridiculous. I believe that if it were someone I knew to be a fellow writer and was serious about writing on a topic, I would probably extend professional courtesy. I knew that a person was not a writer, I might mention them in acknowledgements for sparking the idea, but I would not feel it the slightest bit necessary for obtaining permission. Most people these days say many things and claim to have sundry intentions, but do not have the drive to either initiate or complete many of the ideas that they have. Granted, it all comes down to what they value most. Where one woman may say she wants to write a series of epic novels, her reality is that she would rather spend two hours an evening at the gym. Real value to her is running but going nowhere, and lifting objects with various parts of her body for no reason so that she might buy clothes that take very little material and look as disproportionate as a Barbie doll because the media has convinced her that she will not be beautiful unless she does so. To me, bodies will die, but books and stories have the potential to live forever. Until next write, Liv ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
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