Flap Your Lips Friday
Posted by Michelle Moquin on July 31st, 2009
I told you I liked this title. You might not only be flapping your lips but hopefully they will be opening wide and letting out some laughter too. I think a little political humor is apropos this morning….I mean it is Friday…the beginning of the weekend. And what better way to get it going than with a little laughter.
My sense of humor could use a little help lately. I’m not a big fan of Colbert but I did get a few chuckles from his commentary ‘defending’ the conspiracy theorists, this crazy new-to-me group called ‘Birthers’. Heard of them? If you haven’t, you’re in for a little surprise.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Womb Raiders – The Fight for the Truth Behind Obama’s Birth | ||||
|
||||
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Womb Raiders – Orly Taitz | ||||
|
||||
Cali: I am sorry about your comment getting pushed around. Not sure what was going on. I will just let you know that I did find your comment in ‘awaiting moderation’. The reason it ended up there was because it had more than one url in the body of your comment. If in the future it you can just put in one url, and still accomplish what you are trying to do then it will not go into ’awaiting moderation’. If your comment requires more than one url it will still get posted but not until I am able to get to my computer and ‘approve’ the comment.
Thanks for your patience on this and for posting a very important article for my readers. We can not say or do enough, fast enough, to get health care reform active now.
Readers: I hope that all of you are doing your part and contacting your Representatives and Senators. Thanks.
That’s all the time I have this morning. Enjoy the beginning of a fabulous weekend!
Peacin’ out…
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor
For archives dated before January 17, 2008 click on my Blogroll:
or click here: “A Day in the life of…”
All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2009
sonal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"
July 31st, 2009 at 9:24 am
Secrets of Becoming a Late Bloomer
Connie Goldman
We generally think of late bloomers as people who were not successful until late in their lives. In fact, most late bloomers had fulfilling careers before taking their lives in new directions. Groucho Marx, for instance, was a famous movie actor whose career had ground to a halt when, at age 60, he began hosting a new type of TV show. When Winston Churchill was around the same age, many thought that he was washed up as a politician. Soon afterward, he became prime minister of Great Britain. And even Grandma Moses — who was nearly 80 when she began creating her now-famous paintings — had been long known among her friends as an expert embroiderer.
Most late bloomers, of course, never make headlines, though they also move forward in new and fulfilling ways…
Natalie was age 67 when she joined the Peace Corps, learned Spanish and became a schoolteacher in Peru.
Martha was 71 when she used her experience in stamp collecting to start a successful mail-order business.
Robert, an attorney, was 65 when he began caring for his ailing wife and mother-in-law. After attending to those obligations, he started a new career as a teacher at a local college. Now 80, Robert is still teaching.
OVERCOMING HURDLES
As we grow older, most of us become so wrapped up in old routines that we don’t consider striking out in new directions.
Trap: Many of us spend our later years moping around because we never fulfilled the biggest dreams of our youths, such as skippering a sailboat around the world or becoming a professional ballet dancer.
Better: Keep in touch with your dreams, but make them more realistic. Instead of ruminating about sailing around the world, for instance, think now about buying a small sailboat and taking less ambitious trips. Or, if you aspired to be a ballet dancer in your youth, now consider volunteering at the local ballet company. What’s important is that the activity you choose is personally rewarding.
STRATEGIES THAT WORK
Each late bloomer moves forward in his/her own way, and the first step is often difficult. Strategies…
Keep a journal for a week or two. Write down your daily activities as well as the goals that you would like to pursue. Keeping a journal of this type is an easy way to spot the activities that are now unnecessary, usually because they’ve been part of your routine for many years.
Example: Socializing regularly with friends whose company you no longer truly enjoy.
Written words are powerful. Once we see our goals written down, we’re far more likely to take them seriously.
Discuss your goals with others. Many older people have struck out in new directions, and how they did it can be both instructive and inspiring. Some friends are likely to encourage you, but others may point out drawbacks that you hadn’t thought about.
By talking with a friend who went back to school late in life, you may discover that the process is easier than you imagined. Someone else, on the other hand, may point out that starting a consulting business may take far more time than you thought.
Exploit your creativity. History shows that becoming a late bloomer nearly always involves using creativity that may have been neglected for many years. There’s creativity in everyone, whether it’s in managing a company, coaching a sports team, inventing new recipes or even arranging flowers. If you have any doubts about your creativity, jot down in your journal what you most enjoy doing. What you’ll see is a list of ways to be creative.
Some late bloomers make use of their neglected creativity to start a new and profitable career. Many more use their creativity to help friends and/or family members. Regardless of which path you choose, using your creativity leads to more enjoyment in life and the building of self-confidence.
Learn something new. Take a course in a subject that’s always interested you — a foreign language, painting or computer programming, for instance. Classes at local colleges and adult education centers can also be great places to make new friends. Don’t feel obliged, however, to finish a course you don’t like.
Going on trips and joining book clubs can also be enjoyable ways to increase your knowledge. Or you can ask friends to teach you something that you always wanted to learn.
Learning also has an advantage that’s not always appreciated — it makes you more open to new experiences.
Laugh more often. No one knows why humor helps us deal with problems, but it usually does. And when you strike out in new directions, problems will almost certainly occur. You might, for example, sign up for the wrong course at a local college. By laughing about the mistake, you won’t let it discourage you from enrolling later in the right course. In fact, laughing at your mistakes is a well-known way to build self-confidence.
Give it a try. Early in life, changing directions can be risky. That’s because we’re on a career path and may also have family obligations. Later in life, the risk is usually lower. Take advantage of the opportunity. If you say, “I can’t do that,” you’ll never really know if you could.
In fact, nearly all late bloomers have one thing in common — their willingness to take a chance. If you have any doubts, look at the originality of a Grandma Moses painting or read one of Churchill’s defiant wartime speeches.
Bottom Line/Retirement interviewed Connie Goldman, a former host of National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and the author of several books, including Secrets of Becoming a Late Bloomer (Fairview). She lives in Hudson, Wisconsin.
July 31st, 2009 at 5:05 pm
I was outraged when I saw this incident on the News. A Police officer must have a Warrant or Court Order in order to enter anyone’s HOME without permission, even to verify identity. Sgt. Crowley should have waited at the door while Mr. Gates produced evidence of Identification. We have rights as Citizens.
This was a blatant show of racism and Racial Profiling the Police use daily. They break our Constitutional Laws whenever they please because they wear a badge and carry a gun. They feel above the law of Man and do what they please. Police are trained to tolerate foul language from suspects. They are here to serve us, not beat us up. “Sticks and stones will break my bones . . . but names will never harm me”.
This Sgt. Crowley abused his privilege and used Racial Profiling — Plain and simple. That is why warrants are served and Police procedures must be followed to the letter of the law.
I am a white man and have been roughed up by Police for sitting at a bus stop waiting for a Bus to transfer to in a ‘Bad’ neighborhood. They threw me on the ground and searched me for no apparent reason and accused me of not belonging in “This Neighborhood”. I was returning from the Food Stamps Office.
I had no choice but to be there because it was a transfer point for my bus ride and they had no right to assault me. When they finished intimidating me, they just drove off and I was shaken and scared. They Laughed.
I am not an OTW, yet the Police took the law into their own hands and assumed that I didn’t belong in that area.
As an American, I should be allowed to sit at a bus Stop and wait for a Bus without being harassed by the Police, who simply laughed and threatened to arrest me for ‘trespassing, loitering or prowling’. They said this was Florida Law and they had every right to harass me.
I feel the Police are a bunch of corrupt individuals who think they are better than everyone else and can harass anyone they please and find a reason after the fact just because they carry a badge and gun. They should ‘Protect and Serve’ the public, not make us fear them.
HOWIE
July 31st, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Howie, you called it. It all went awry when the cop followed him into the house. No warrant, no entry, end of story. I’m sorry to hear about your situations though. I can tell you that as a cops’ kid I received special treatment as soon as my last name was read on my license. Quite the oppoosite of your story and any OTW story involving cops that is for sure. I couldve gotten away with murder, literally, that’s pretty bad. On iPhone and on the run so caio for now.
Hi Mischa : ) hi Alfonso!
- Zen Lill
July 31st, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Michelle,
My mother used to warn me about flapping my lips. She warned that they might get stuck and not ever stop flapping. She did not mention Fridays.
Or was she talking about crossing my eyes, it has been a while.
I’ll take the risk for Sgt Crowley.
You commit a heinous act of bigotry and get invited to the Whitehouse to have a beer with the President.
Do not think for a minute that you have not been profiled by an entire nation as a police officer who abuses his authority by commiting racist acts, and is now despised by the entire country.
I can imagine how proud you must feel, dumbass.
Al
July 31st, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Oh, Hi Zen Lill
July 31st, 2009 at 9:01 pm
nice Al!
July 31st, 2009 at 11:04 pm
that’s our culture Al, rewarding bad behavior with a 15 minute fame moment, another pet peeve of mine : ) that people like that cop get rewarded with ‘beer summits’ with the President for acting like a racist a-hole. He and his idiot email buddy should be having a long ‘unpaid vacation’ instead of a national spotlight highlighting the ‘learning’ they’ve gotten in police academy. – ZL