30 Days of Lists 20

Oops.
Vacation.
Work.
Didn't post last week...

Things I'd rather be doing right now...

1. Reading
2. Watching a movie
3. Vacationing
4. Eating
5. Shopping
6. Scrapping
7. Playing Candy Crush
8. Looking at my Instagram feed
9. Relaxing by the lake
10. Reading to the kids at school
11. Taking a class:  How to spend my lottery winnings
12. Going out to dinner
13. Losing weight rather than gaining it - thanks, vacation...
14. Learning to knit better, crochet better, sew better
15. Taking a trip to my alma mater (UD) to see the campus (Go, Fightin' Blue Hens, Go!)
16. Touring the Harry Potter Theme Park
17. Relaxing

Hmmm, thought I'd come up with a few more but really, this sort of says it all...

Oh,

  18. Not working

LEARN 21

Yesterday I LEARNed that my company laid off another large number of key employees.

These people are well-known in the company, in the industry.  They take with them a huge amount of industrial knowledge, and that makes me sad.  They will take relationships when they go, people they know, history they remember...  all things that can't be replaced as we grow and expand and recreate our business.  Who will I call when I need to know about something that happened 20 years ago in our company?

I'm aware that things change.

Things need to change.

But I don't have to like it...

And I don't.

I find it more difficult in some ways to deal with change as I get older, and at the same time, I feel as though in some ways, I adapt more easily.  Yes, that's as 180 degrees opposite as you can get, but it's me, folks, it's all about me...

Seriously, it is hard for me to accept change, whether it's a new employee (or hundreds of new employees), or something as minute as a change in my flight schedule...

Which brings me to LEARNing patience...

I'm patient, y'all, I really am.  I can wait, I can hold out for the longest time...  But when there's no reason on God's green earth to put me off about something, NO, I DON'T deal well with that at all... 

And I've LEARNed, too, that I have WAY less tolerance than I used to have.  I was much more accepting when I was younger.  I've LEARNed as I get older, there's less time to fix things, so why break them in the first place?  Why risk a relationship?  Why hurt someone's feelings?  Why do anything negative at all?

I find myself very irritated when someone does something thoughtless or inconsiderate.  I find it hard to forgive and forget.  I don't think I'm at the holding-a-grudge point yet, but I know that's right around the corner...  I feel it coming...

I need to LEARN to be more patient, more accepting, more forgiving.  I'm not blind to my faults - I know there are things and people I'll have a hard time forgetting, but all those little things (road rage, anger when I can't control or manage something so it turns out the right way/my way...), those little things - I need to LEARN to let go.  I need to LEARN to accept.  I need to LEARN to deal.

There's still a lot to LEARN out there, in that big ole' world...

Quotation of the Day - Gaiman: 'Nothing Matches a Good Indie'

From Shelf Awareness Pro, Thursday | June 12, 2014 | Volume 2 | Issue 2273

"I don't think that anything actually matches the experience of actually going into a good independent bookshop."

--Neil Gaiman in a Salon interview entitled "I'm Obviously Pissed at Amazon"

This whole Amazon/Hachette thing...  I admit to not having a 100% grasp of the whole scenario, and I can even admit that I can see both sides, to a degree.  But I work for a publisher.

Amazon has ceased to sell Hachette books.  They're claiming Hachette inventory levels are delaying shipments to 2-4 weeks.  They've removed the preorder buttons from not-yet-published Hachette titles. 
 
Why?  Amazon wants to make more money.  They seem to feel that all e-books, regardless of who published them, how much it cost to publisher, all should sell/cost almost the same price.  Well, it's not their call.  If it cost a publisher $1million to buy a book from author #1, and $100,000 to buy it from author #2, and author #3's cost $200,000 but requires all sorts of graphics or photos, etc., how can they all cost the same?  Let's not talk about the potential market for each of those books being different:  will a colonoscopy text book sell the same as a Harry Potter book?  Why don't the Kia, Mercedes and Lamborhini vehicles all cost the same?

It's America.  We all want to make more money.  But it's not up to Amazon to set the pricing for a book an author wrote, a publisher published and a printer printed.  If they want to do that, they should become a publisher themselves.

Oh, wait, they ARE a publisher now, too!  Well then, go ahead, set your own book costs/selling prices as low as you want, but you can't tell ME what to price MY product at, Amazon!  Sure, you can choose to not sell it, but as a customer, I guess I'll go where I need to go (Hello, B&N!) to get what I want!

Foyles of London moves from one location to another...

Watch this awesome time lapse video!

LEARN 20

I watched a beautiful interview today, with Tara McCallan.  Tara's daughter, Pip, was born with Down's Syndrome. 

Tara celebrates her daughter's beauty on her blog Happy Soul Project.

My cousin Todd had Down's Syndrome.  He had his own special place in my heart and when he died in May, 2008, I really didn't know how to deal with it.  I got up and gave a speech at his funeral, crying, no, SOBBING the entire time.  I couldn't catch my breath.  I had no idea I was going to do it until all of a sudden I found myself standing up, crying.  I struggled to put into words how absolutely wonderful he was, what he brought into my life...

This post is supposed to be about what I've LEARNed, but I want to take a different direction today.

I want you to watch Tara's interview, see that beautiful baby girl, and LEARN to celebrate every different kind of beauty, every unique difference that makes us each so very special and loved by God.  I'd love to see her billboard on the side of Route 3, or on Route 80, while I'm speeding through life...  a small reminder that beauty looks different on everyone.

My heart broke when Tara mentioned a day she went to pick her son up at day care and another little child there saw Pip with her eye bandaged up (she had had some surgery)  and said that Pip was a "gross baby," that she was "broken."  [His/her parents have a lot of teaching to do...]

My God.  When I think of Todd I remember how utterly filled with joy his life was.  How his spirit was simply and truly "love."  He was always happy.  I can joke about how he never had to worry about taxes, or politics, etc., but the truth is he just wrung complete joy out of every minute of his life.

We should all LEARN from him.  Miss you, Todd!  And thanks, Tara and Pip!

30 Days of Lists 19

On My Wishlist... (stream of consciousness style)

Health and happiness for my family and friends... a trip to Alaska... a trip to Paris... retirement... a lottery win big enough to help everyone I want to help (see 30 Days of Lists 18)... time enough to visit the library regularly... learning Photoshop (Elements)... seeing a movie every weekend... an eternity band... getting my wedding band and engagement ring resized (I can get them on and off during the day but my hands swell terribly at night)... a 6' or 8' folding table for the lake... an Apple laptop... losing weight (definitely achievable if only I'd diet)... a love letter from my husband... a bi-weekly or weekly housekeeper (my husband is TOTALLY against this, but I feel if I were home, there'd be no need, but as long as he's making me work for a living...)... a personal chef... a cruise... a bigger library in my home... more bookshelves at the lakehouse... more time at the lakehouse... more company at the lakehouse... grandchildren (don't tell my daughter!)...absolutely impossible but I really wish my dad were here to know my husband and his grandchildren and my stepchildren and spend time with us at the lakehouse... my sister P living closer to us... my best friend C living closer to us (although his son is relocating to NYC so hopefully I'll be seeing C more than once every 10 years!)... an iPad... a DSLR... photography classes... a trip to Poland, Italy, England... a trip to Harry Potter World in Florida (and we're going this year, so this is one wish that will be coming true!)... flowers for no reason... a Lotus Esprit Turbo (yellow with a black interior)... a new winter coat... a trip to the University of Delaware to visit my alma mater... a visit from my cousin at the lakehouse...

Just off the top of my head...