Filed under: On a Quest for Something GREAT, Repatriation | Tags: Blogging, Chicken Soup, Motivational Books, Success, Success Principles
I’ve been reading a book by Jack Canfield (The Chicken Soup for the Soul guy) and it’s titled “The Success Principles”. Again, I hate to write, and worse yet, I hate to read. I get my daily dose of vocab vitamins by subscribing to the dictionary.com word of the day – today’s word is “abulia” which will come in quite handy in the future. But the book is a very good read, especially for slower readers like myself. You need to read it slowly so that you soak up all the good life-altering stuff. And sorry, there’s no hot steamy sex snippet that you can easily flip to in the middle of the book.
The good thing about this book, is that I read it whenever I need a foot in my ass. You see, the reason I blog so much…and this is my fourth time for today…is that I have to start my social life from scratch. My boyfriend, whom I had mentioned earlier is in Florida. Now I’m no sucker for long distance relationships, but I think he deserves a fair shot : ). So that being said, with no social life, I have to put my own foot up my ass. Or put the book up my ass. Whichever is more appropriate. I know I made this point in a somewhat unclear and disjointed manner, but I’m sure you get the main idea.
The GREAT thing about this book is that it doesn’t focus on some get-rich-quick crap, given some once-in-a-blue-moon scenario. As you read along, you find that the author equates success to happiness. Typing that actually gave me the warm and fuzzies. So there’s a more realistic approach to being successful, including risk and return, as well as what I refer to as the DIYFS (Do It Your F***ing Self) principle.
I guess a few valuable things I’ve picked out of this book are:
1. Nobody comes by success without failure
2. If you can’t you must, and if you must, you can
3. It takes courage to ask for the things you want
Filed under: Repatriation
So…I’m here again. I can’t seem to get enough of this blogging thing. It’s soooo addictive. Maybe blogging will be my new crack, or caffeine. By the way, I hate writing, but getting back to that freedom of speech thing – When you don’t think that ANYONE wants to hear you rant, because you’re afraid that they might think that you’re either a whiner or just plain crazy….OR THAT YOU’RE SO DAMN TIRED OF CENSORSHIP…….Blogging suffices. Maybe blogging is the new Jesus, here to save us all…even the Jews. I know, I know…a little over the top.
Getting to the meat of the matter. I keep giving little snippets of myself in each entry, so I guess I’m a little cryptic. I’m a web / graphic designer / fine artist / Jill of all creative trades , in Jamaica, looking for a jobbywobby 
how cute…but not really.
Today, I downloaded a loooooong repetitive list of ad agencies in Jamaica so that I could start my job hunt cold-calling. I think that having to quit my job has left me a little beaten down. But I’m sure everything happens for a reason, and someday I’ll rise up like the Phoenix and bite somebody’s butt. It’s always good to have visions of grandeur you know. Besides, I think that I’m fasting, but I’m not sure I know how to fast.
Anyway…I digress yet again. So I called all these ad agencies…and thus far I’ve had so-so results. THIS… is a learning experience.
I think cold-calling is quite rudimentary…you just have to be cold. I’ve convinced myself of two things over the past two days:
1. You can’t get anything done without asking.
2. You can’t get much done without asking again, and again.
Filed under: Repatriation | Tags: Agriculture, Jamaica, Parliament, Politics, Urban Back Yard
This one should be rather brief.
I pride myself on being one of those people who invest just about enough effort in being informed. By informed, I mean to the degree that if the world around me was turning into mush, I’d know about it. I try to stay away from discussing politics, but I’m always down to listen to the mindless babble of politicians.
DISCLAIMER: I believe in freedom of speech but I don’t believe that speech is free.
Yesterday I was listening to the Minister of Agriculture’s delivery on the food crisis that Jamaica is facing . Forgive me, I was listening in intervals. However, in his satirical hem and hawing, what struck my attention was his suggestion of the implementation of an “Urban Backyard Programme”. Awwwww. Here’s an excerpt form today’s Gleaner:
Another initiative to boost agricultural production is an Urban Backyard Garden Programme, which will be implemented immediately within 400 households in Portmore and Spanish Town, St Catherine.
Initially, selected residents within these communities will be given free of cost a backyard garden kit, developed by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority.
Tufton said that, by planting two cycles of tomato, cucumber, sweet pepper and pak choi, the average household would save some $12,000 annually.
“This Government believes that we must return to the days when householders grew a little something for themselves in their backyards,” said Tufton
If I had been present I would be cheering him on, giving him the “Black Power Fist”. If I were American, I would vote for Obama – who wouldn’t? The KKK loves him! And if pigs could fly, the world would be perfect and there would be no more suffering and WE WOULD ALL GET ALONG. Sigh*. Face it, most Jamaican’s aren’t tree-huggers, and most of us don’t have a green thumb…except when it comes to a “certain” crop.
What the Gleaner failed to mention was that Tufton stated that politicians themselves would be participating in this Urban Backyard shindig. YEAH RIGHT. Maybe they can pay someone to do it, or better yet, get their pictures taken in someone else’s Urban Backyard. I’m sorry, but I think that Dr. Tufton might alse end up being lumped in with that bunch of non-participants.
That being said, his intentions are noble and we really do need to take steps towards creating a self-sufficient society. I’m not being a naysayer so I guess I wish him, I MEAN, US the best of luck with that. Maybe they can throw in two chickens and a cow per household as well.
Filed under: Uncategorized
C&WJ have proven themselves 5% worthy of the term “efficient”. Some may beg to differ.
That was just an aside, quite some time ago I came across this Reuter’s article. They have these odd “Oddly enough” articles. Ha! How fitting. I guess the article spoke to my fear, or rather mistrust of the mail – SNAIL MAIL as we know it.
WARSAW (Reuters) – It’s official. Postal delivery is as slow as snails, at least in Poland.
An IT worker, after receiving a letter on January 3 that was sent on December 20 as priority mail, calculated that a snail would have made it even faster to his home than the letter.
Daily Gazeta Wyborcza said Michal Szybalski calculated that it took 294 hours for the letter to arrive at his home. He also said the distance between his home and the sender was 11.1 kilometers.
Given the distance and the time, the speed of the letter was 0.03775 kilometers per hour. Szybalski calculated that a garden snail travels at around 0.048 kilometers per hour.
(Writing by Karolina Slowikowska; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)
Filed under: Repatriation | Tags: Being in Jamaica, culture shock, return to Jamaica, Reverse culture shock
I had been living in the great U.S. of A for the past six years and finally returned home to Jamaica a mere two weeks ago. Interestingly enough, I figured that I needed to document all the happenings, changes and processes that I’ve experienced on my return and hopefully, anyone who reads this might find such information useful.
It’s good to be home although culture shock is getting the better of me. However, I can say this much, readjusting to driving on the left has never been an issue for me. I just figured that if I never thought about it, I wouldn’t have a problem. The changes that have been more than just apparent to me include the slowness of things around here. And perhaps I’m so accustomed to the slave-driver-lightspeed-nation that I can’t seem to appreciate that here in Jamaica, everyone stops to smell the roses or the oh so familiar stench of corruption brewing in some manhole. Either way, people like to take their time here. Sigh*
It’s kind of ironic that nothing has changed, besides the price of food and gas, and yet still I’m having this issue with readjustment. I wonder if this happens to everyone? I wonder if, although I’ve visited Jamaica quite often during my stint in America, the fact that I’m here to stay brings a discouraging and hapless new meaning to life? I could wonder some more, but that doesn’t change the fact that I need a job and I’m WAY too old to be living with my parents…AND YES I’VE BEEN HERE FOR ONLY TWO WEEKS. hmmmm… maybe I should give this more thought.
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