2012 Has Come and Gone....

Nollaig Shona Dhaoibh! (Happy Christmas to you all!)

It’s that time of year again. This is likely my last blog for the year, so I might as well make it part Nollag litir (Christmas letter). We’ve loaded the CD player with Christmas CD’s-some 51 of of them. (We decided it was better than letting some commercial station play off the wall Christmas stuff all the time.) Our tree is up, and the Christmas cards are all sent. A candle is in the window, and I have decided to take a few minutes to reflect on the last year. That reflection starts off with a question: Where the heck has 2012 gone?!? I mean, come on! I know I’ve been busy. I didn’t think I was that busy...until I sat down to write this. 

I’ve been writing, working, and singing. A lot of free time has been spent writing books in the Cosantóirí Chronicles series; the first five books are done and in epub format. Book six should be done by the end of the month, if all goes well; then I am editing all six books for iBook format. (There is part of an outline for a potential book seven, but that outline won’t even get finished until the others are edited and in iBook format.) You can check out what they’re about here: http://cosantoiri.wordpress.com. I’m also transcribing some old travels to the digital age; I have a few Hawai’i trips, some visits to Canada, a trip to Ireland, and if I can find them, a missions trip to Mexico. Then I’ll add some band and choir tours, and maybe a little Drum Corps and Barbershop stuff. It’s a long term project.

I also finished all the work for my third doctorate. All I have to do is pay the final bill (which isn't cheap) and they’ll send me the diploma. It’s a Ph.D in interdisciplinary studies; I’m done taking classes for right now. I’m busy both teaching and grading courses for Master’s International School of Divinity, and when I’m not writing on the fiction side I’m busy developing a course on a Celtic View of the Spiritual Disciplines. I am also developing a course on the writings of C.S. Lewis. Both of these should be done early next year if all goes well. C.S. Lewis will be done first; I’m still reading books for the other class-and enjoying them immensely. As a result of the fiction writing and the one course, I’ve been teaching myself Gaeilge (Irish Gaelic). It’s an interesting language-and easier than Japanese, Greek or Hebrew was. For fun and to clear my head I've also picked up the feadóg stáin, or tin whistle. I can play three songs on the thing already, and I've only had it a month or so.

Deena and I have traveled quite a bit this year. She competed with the Pride of Portland Sweet Adeline Chorus in Denver the first week of November; they took eighth in the world. Not too shabby! I taught Music and Performance VP for the Evergreen District’s Western Regional Leadership in Langley, BC a few weeks later. There have been a few trips to see Mom, and we all spent a week with 6,000 of our closest friends at the Barbershop Harmony Society’s International Convention held in Portland over the 4th of July week. We did a little camping, and I even managed to get in my first baseball game at AT&T park. (There’s more travels, but I’m not gonna go there right now.) Then there was this two week period at the beginning of August where it felt like everything stopped for the Summer Olympic games. Don’t tell me some of you weren’t up until midnight-or at least 11:00-watching some of that....

Speaking of activities, I’m still the assistant director for Eugene-Springfield’s “Cascade Chorus,” but resigned as the Music and Performance VP this fall due to health reasons...most of which are stress related.  After the Division IV competition in Medford the quartet I sang in-“It’s About Time”-stopped singing together. It wasn’t due to anyone or anything...we just decided enough was enough. We’re all still good friends and laugh about stuff at chapter meetings. And I’m continuing my work as Director of Education for the Evergreen District of the BHS-for now, at least. I’ve kept busy with our local church, Ebbert Memorial UMC; I’m involved on the Congregational Leadership Team. I also update their website every so often, as time allows. I dropped off the Worship Planning team and the Wednesday night dinner crew for the same reason: stress. I have had to learn I can’t cram eighty hours of work, volunteering, writing, and so forth into a forty hour week and not have it impact my health. Being epileptic does place limits on the output of energy I have, and frankly I don’t have the same energy at nearly 48 as I did at 33. As a result I don’t handle stress as well any more, and so have needed to reduce my stress levels. 

And oh, yes...we’re cleaning up around the place, sorting through stuff, and getting rid of things. That is both of us; I’ve been going through all kinds of stuff a little bit every day-old files in the filing cabinet, stuff in the storage bin, stuff in storage at Deena’s folks. It’s time; I have stuff I want to put up and haven’t been able to. For example, I don’t really need my class notes from TEDS and Moody any more. (I haven’t looked at them in years.) The notes from TEDS got sorted today, for example. I pulled the syllabi and tossed the rest. Yesterday, another piece from my collection of Royal Tara china went up: A china cat. (It sits next to the Waterford crystal panda Deena got for me years ago.)

Like I said-I’ve been a little busy, maybe too busy. So why am I telling you all this?

Because I haven’t been blogging much of late. And I felt you all deserved a reasonable explanation as to why. Unlike certain other bloggers, I have a little something called a life. And life gets in the way of blogging sometimes. My goal for next year on the blog is roughly fifteen articles; at the very least I’m aiming for one a month. (Heck, even if I only put up ten, that’s twice as many as this year.) Another part of the reason for not blogging: It’s too easy to get into matters political-and I didn’t want to go there. Not this year. Not ever, if I can avoid it.

And so I want to leave you all with this thought. 2012 is over, effectively. Instead of complaining about what is, work to change what you can-and try to make peace with what you can’t. Better yet, to paraphrase Adam Savage: Reject the current reality and substitute your own. No, you can’t become deity, or replace the President. But you should do what you can to make your little corner of the world a better place. That’s part of having a whole new year to play with, after all. And it is also the Christmas message: hope. Hope for a better eternity, hope of new life, in Jesus-who we celebrate the birth of this time of year.

Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Daoibh! (Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to you all!) 

Now in search of some work…period!

I wish I could still say I'm looking for extra work.

Sadly, this is no longer the case. I am now seeking fulltime employment.

I still love my job; I love mine and wish I could still make a go of it. But I have taken a 60% pay cut, as the institution I work for has hit the same hard times everyone has. (For that matter, so has three other people at the same place, and a fourth has simply been cut.) The painful reality is I now need to make up about $1500-$1600 a month to cover things like rent. And food. Plus bills, seizure meds (I don't think I've mentioned I'm epileptic), and everything else I'm supposed to cover.

See, the missus and I have moved into a cuuuuuuute little two room apartment. I've been making things happen for now, but I can't rearrange $956 into $2500. (Dang it, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a mutual fund manager!)

So, now I’m looking at any reasonable work, preferably fulltime but can look at the right part time job.

The problem is still that I have a lot of education, and am working on more, and the fact that I’m 43 really isn’t helping me. (Who needs a 43 year old with 2 doctorates and working on a third to come in and try to take everything over? After all, the more education, the more top brass is likely to promote you.) I admit to reducing some of what is on my resume--at the advice of the folks at one of my temp agencies. They flat out told me that (a) it isn't lying; I'm just not telling everyone ALL of my accomplishments, and (b) I stand a better chance of getting my foot in the door somewhere if I look somewhat teachable and not quite so expensive.

**sighs**

Look, folks, all I want is to find work. (Or, barring that, a winning lottery ticket. Or about $25, 500, to pay off enough debt so I won’t need to worry about working outside my other job for now, which I really do like and would love to see go back to what it was.) I'm not afraid of hard work, nor am I afraid to work an entry level position. (I can always learn new skills.)

I'd also love to see the missus get hired on someplace soon as well. ONE of us working fulltime at a steady job would help ease my tension level a tad.

I’ll let you all know—all 45-odd of you who now actually read my blog—how it’s going.

Please keep us both in your thoughts and prayers. I hope to have some good news soon!

Enough for now.
(posted 8/15/08)

In search of some extra work…

I’m looking for extra work.

Not a replacement job; I love mine. Nor is this a blatant attempt to get my boss to give me a raise. Far from it—he has said if he could, he would. Simple truth is that I make an Indiana paycheck, but live in Oregon…and Oregon is simply more expensive. The sad reality is I need about $500-$600 more a month, to cover things like rent. And food.

See, the missus and I have been living with her folks since we moved from Indiana some 3½ years ago. Now, they’re looking at wanting to fix the place up and sell it, so they can move into something smaller with less gardening to do. I can’t blame them, though I think their timing’s juuuuuust a bit off. However…it’s their house. And right now, a mortgage isn’t looking too appealing. Something about an unstable economy.

So, I’m looking at retail work, about 16-20 hours a week. At Oregon’s minimum wage.

The problem is, I have a lot of education, and am working on more, and the fact that I’m 43 isn’t helping. (One company asked the question about extra-curricular activities while in high school. For a guy who’s looking at his 25 year high school reunion this year, that’s a bit silly to be asking, I think.) I know what many retailers are looking for: bright, good looking 20somethings that won’t argue with a manager 8 years my junior who has a BA in Political Science who is frustrated that some kid wants her job and might just get it because the Regional super, who started with the company as a clerk in high school and never went to college (or dropped out), would be willing to give it to him because he (the 20something) is a guy and she’s not. Who needs a 43 year old with 2 doctorates and working on a third to come in and try to take everything over? After all, the more education, the more top brass is likely to promote you.

Which, like I said, is not what I want. I already have a job I like.

All I want is 16-20 hours a week at Oregon’s minimum wage…$7.95 an hour. (Or, barring that, a winning lottery ticket. Or about $16,500, to pay off enough debt so I won’t need to work outside my other job, which I really do like.)

**sighs**

I’ll let you all know—all 30-odd of you who actually read my blog—how it’s going.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

Enough for now.

(posted 3/24/08)