Thursday, January 1, 2015

So, we put up a new calendar? Big Deal... My Skewed View Year In Review

Is it me, or why is it that when you get older the holidays and a new year come around too damned fast?
If it does for you, let me know I'm not going crazy. (Well, that could be debated, really.)

Two end of year posts I want to recommend here are Speak of the Devil, and The Three Rs. William Kendall and Norma Beishir both have some good points to make. I agree with Norma on all points in this post of hers of top ten rants of the last year. She didn't have a 10th one. I can think of a few myself, but the public toilet thing really is an eye-roller. I happen to drive a bus, and have to use public toilets. Finding that people have not only NOT flushed their mess, once someone had peed everywhere and all they did was put toilet paper across the seat. REALLY? Were you, or your parents born in a barn?

About the ads on TV.

Okay, this is the thing. Remember when ads on TV were mostly about dish detergents, toilet paper, shampoo, and soft drinks? What are they now? Car dealers, expensive drugs (that have bad, dangerous side affects), and lawyers who want to sue them for you when you've gotten bad results. I don't know about you, but none of those drugs will be taken by me. The old saying the cure might kill you is apt here. They say "Ask your doctor." Ask your doctor what? If you'd be better off without the drug because what ever your ailment, it isn't making you bleed internally, or making your tongue swell, or giving you suicidal thoughts?

Another are TV and Internet ads. First let's think about FREE TV. Remember when you just had an antenna or "rabbit ears"? Well, thank goodness someone somewhere made it illegal for the government to take away all free TV from us. We, my husband and I, use "rabbit ears". I'm not going to pay for channels I don't want to watch, or on which there isn't anything I'd watch. (Really, there are no shows, let alone 4 that I would want to re-wind and play back. I don't have time for it, for one thing.) For about $20 you can get "rabbit ears" connect to your adapter (whatever it's called that the government gave us for when this whole thing went digital), and watch TV without paying anyone. I don't think a lot of people know this. I guess, though it's all about what you want to watch.

The Baby Boomer Generation: described as the "postwar craze for making babies from 1946 to 1964
AARP calls the first ten years "The Hippie Vanguard" (1946-1950). The second was  "Watergate Kids" (1951 - 1955),  but I'd rather refer to myself as the "Beatles Era"--much happier memory) (Oh, and Bewitched, and a few other shows that didn't need sex to be popular). The third is called "Dazed and Confuse" (1956-1960). My husband is in this category. The "Last Boomers" are from 1961-9164-the "yuppies".

I'm in the second decade . We Boomers are considered "iconic", the article says. Whatever. I don't always follow the crowd. I remember being at a party when I was--I don't know, maybe 19--when someone offered me a joint. "Ah, no thanks. Gee, look at the time! I've gotta get home." And I left.

Yeah. I don't like being thrown into the group known as those who "experimented" with drugs, because I didn't. I said "no" to drugs. My sister, however, who belonged to the first group (Hippy), didn't say "no". She now has various health issues.

In the old days...
I must say, things were more simple back then. I'm not going to say that everything was hunky-dory by any means, but we didn't have people going into classrooms and shooting everyone they hated. There was no "cyber bullying", or people stealing your personal information off the Internet (the reason why I don't buy anything via the Internet. Sorry, that includes books.)

Getting Better and enjoying my age
I'm not sure when I quit being naive. Maybe when I turned 40? I quit apologizing (about who or what I am) by age 50. At 60, I'm just going for broke. Someone doesn't like me, or what I do/write, eff em. I'm sick of pleasing people.

Writing, or hell with it and doing something else

I've posted before about struggling as a writer trying to bust through to publish. I finally got a publisher (itty-bitty, side-business), and it ended quickly. I went back to being "indie" Still don't make any money. Well, the up side of it I don't have to pay any taxes on that once-a-year check from Amazon.

And in the past year I've taken up crocheting, and toyed with the idea of going back into crafts--making a little money from it again. It basically pays for the materials, and I don't really make enough to pay any bills, but the fun is in the making, being creative, not the money.

Stuff
I've been working on getting #5 book in series done. But yesterday, I just sat and watched TV with my husband. We've been off for a 2-week hiatus from (transit) bus driving. I've really enjoyed just doing what I wanted all day long, and not worrying about going anywhere, being with people--ugh! I keep on thinking of the dream-day of retirement. I don't know when that will be, since we aren't making much money at what we're doing (the company who owns us at Huskie, are your typical billionaires who won't give us a decent wage. And they think by changing their name from "Veolia" to "Transdev" will, I don't know, hide all their badness. Yeah. I make a little over $11.00/hour. They are dragging their feet with working on our next contract (we turned down the first one). Once they do, and we vote on it--or turn it down again--they'll owe us back pay, but they don't want to give us more than a measly 3% raise. You begin thinking they must think a monkey can drive these things safely AND be pleasant when someone calls you a bitch for not stopping at a non-stop in the route. Transit drivers in Chicago make $35/hour. DeKalb may not be Chicago, but we have to deal with Chicago people who have attitude, and think they can dictate to us how we are to do our route. (Not that the supervisor disagrees with us, it's just that you have to deal with it all day long.) Oh, the day I can walk away from this job--I'll do it in a heartbeat, if only I could.

Today, I thought I'd write this. It takes me a couple of hours to get it written. A lot of others put up a post with fast internet. Don't got that. So, it takes me a while. It also takes forever to get certain other posts in. I might get a portion of one that has a lot of photos in. But I try to get to my favorites, when I have time, but I can only do this once a week.

I think that about covers most everything I have to say, today.

When I get ready to get the next book out, I'll be back. Or before, if I have something to say.
Have a good New Year.


5 comments:

  1. Bravo, Lorelei!

    Re: public toilets--I've seen worse than that in the floor. What I couldn't figure out at first is how women miss the toilet. Men, yes, but women? We have to sit!

    I realized, after an especially infuriating experience at a local Jack in the Box, that it all comes down to hovering. The older woman who used the bathroom ahead of me (and since I'm 61, older means OLD) was well-dressed and not having any mobility problems. She had to have been hovering to keep her wrinkled little tushie from touching a toilet touched by--horror!--other tushies. She missed and left a big mess, unconcerned about who might have to clean up after her.

    When I took on TV ads, I forgot about the one by a lawyer/surgeon. This guy could sue himself for malpractice!

    Indie publishing can be frustrating, I know--it takes a long time to build a career. But traditional publishing doesn't allow that much time. You get one month in the stores, and if nothing happens, the books are off to the remainder table (or shredders, in the case of paperbacks). As for royalties, when I was with my two traditional publishers, I got royalties every six months. One check might be big (the biggest one I got was $35,000) or skimpy (I think the smallest was $12). I don't make as much with indie publishing, but I'm still much happier. I can write what I want and not worry about not being able to stick to a deadline anymore. It's a tradeoff. Stick with it. You'll get there.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, thank you, Norma. I'm gonna stick with it as long as I can, here. I'm just not going to make myself crazy over it.
    Traditional publishing used to be that golden hoop we all went after. Not any more. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole now.
    Thanks for stopping by, neighbor! Ready for the snow?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm never ready for snow.

      I agree. I wouldn't go back to traditional publishing now for any amount of money.

      Delete
  3. It occurs to me that on Canadian television, we rarely, if ever, see ads for drugs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, you're lucky in that respect, William.

    ReplyDelete

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