Two-s - Day - I'd like to have...

 I'd like to have...


1- a complete collection of Dr. Seuss Books


2- a complete set of WJJZ's annual jazz CDs

What I want...

1. I want to be Happy:
 I want to be optimistic about my life, my plans and my future.

2. I want to have financial security: (by July 2015)
 I want a job in DC/MD area that pays enough so that I do not have to work a second job (by September 2012)
 I want at least 75 thousand dollars annually as this amount will allow me to live a comfortable life (This can be through employment and/or a business opportunity)
 I want my monthly income to allow me to live debt-free, to travel, and to provide for any and all long term care needs

3. I want to travel: (by July 2015)
 I want to see my mom (before the end of the year) and friends regularly
 I want to travel to Africa in 24 months-by summer 2014 —specifically West Africa for one month
 I want to travel to Israel by 2016 for two weeks to one month
 I want to travel Mexico, and various parts of the United States
 I want to go to James Island bi-annually
 I want to cruise

4. I want tasks that provide a meaningful use of my time
 I want supportive, empowering helping tasks (this can be achieved through the job I acquire this year and/or through volunteer work)
 I want to work into my call

I want to be an Optimist...

According to Winston Churchill, "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Tonight, I was searching the Internet for a quote I saw on a card yesterday about happiness. It was written by Alfred D'Souza and he describes happiness as a journey and not a destination. And while I don't disagree, all I know is that I want to be happy, really and sincerely happy whether journey or destination. 

Someone suggested that what I wanted was "joy" - describing it as something so deep and heartfelt that even when things are not so great we are "joy filled". I'm not sure I can do "joy" yet, but I can do optimism. For me, optimism equals happy and so I want happiness as Churchill describes it.  I want to be happy enough to see the opportunity in every difficulty ...or at least most! (smile)

He's getting so tall!

July 2012

Wiser on Wednesday - KIVA

 Good Morning!

  I wanted to let you know about Kiva (www.kiva.org), which is a non-profit that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur anywhere in the world! (the internet is soooo amazing!)

  The Kiva system allows you to choose who to lend to - whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq - and as they repay their loan, you get your money back. It's a powerful and sustainable way to empower someone right now to lift themselves out of poverty.   Check it out! and then pass it on!

Please post a comment (now or later) if and/or when you participate. I'm excited about this and would like to know. -thanks! Here's my choice - http://www.kiva.org/invitedby/ryuwji9919/for/436338

Power Full

      On Friday, June 29, 2012, a storm whipped up seemingly out of nowhere and for about an hour that evening, it grew pretty violent and had a temper tantrum across the sky. There was thunder and lightning and lots and lots of rain and then nothing. Nothing as in darkness and void. The air conditioner shuddered, the washing machine shook, the TV winked and the lights blinked. That kind of nothing. I told my visiting niece to stay put and proceeded to gather my basket of tea lights, candles, lighters, matches and yes the flashlight from the book shelf.

    From Friday, June 29, 2012 until Wednesday, July 4, 2012, there was no power. As the hours passed, the house became warmer - read HOT, the ice tried to ward off a liquid death and the food... well, I just didn't realize how many items instruct us to "refrigerate after opening".

    I felt bad throwing it all away, but I emptied, carried, soaked and cleaned the refrigerator (you know the only time I've seen a refrigerator look better was in the Sears show room!)

   So the power returned this morning with clicks, flashes and low droning. My brain, before six in the morning, didn't initially grasp meaning of  the subtle racket. Then my brain cleared and I remembered. It was the POWER! The lights! Yes! Yes! Let there be lights! (pardon my paraphrase of Genesis) I got power! It was back! It was on!

    So what (you might want to know) did I do this Independence Day? I stayed in and reveled in the freedom of:

• flipping a switch and getting a response
• putting dirty clothes in the washing machine and clean clothes in the dryer
• turning on the shower and having warm water cascade from my woolly head to my tired toes
• having plenty to do and the "power" to do it

Wiser on Wednesday - The Art of Risking

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. This person [he] may avoid suffering and sorrow but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love ... live.
Chained by his attitudes, he is a slave; he has forfeited freedom, the freedom of being all that he can be.

For you see, only if you are willing to risk are you really free. 
 - not known