Autonomy, Boundaries, what is that all about?

Autonomy, what is it really all about? Do we even care anymore who is peeping in our windows? Think about this in terms of the cyber-revolution. There once was a time when we regarded our own personal space, as a personal space. No one really knew what went on behind closed doors. There was a reason for that. It kept us all in check. Shrouded were the mysteries of the individual and contained in a place that only few, if any held a code, a password to...the rest of the story www.talkwithme2.com/soapblogging or http://talkwithme2.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/autonomy-boundaries-what-is-that-all-about/

Have a great day!

changing with the tide, grabbing hold of a soap bubble and riding the wave

SoapBlogging, the intentional soap boxing arena that allows for the individual writer, in this case ME, to write freely, not caring one iota as to whether or not anyone reads the banter of one who has so much to say! Today I am reminded of how haphazard the world really is, and unpredictable too. Recently I was forced into yet another career change. I would love to blame myself, my lack of attention, inability to communicate, undesirable appearance, lack of insight into the needs and wants of the world around me, lack of fighting spirit, and the list could go on and on. But, after a second thought, (and believe me it takes little to no time to come to this conclusion) I embrace this reality…jobs, career, friends, family, are much like marriage. Sometimes you just come to the conclusion that there is a lack of cohesiveness, continuity, personality conflict, in short, “it just don’t work!” Now that is not to remove blame, as many times there is just downright evil at work! If you are intentionally cheating, lying, stealing, philandering whether in a marriage, or even with another co-worker, (I will fill you in later) then, well, a negative begets a negative!

So here is ME, back to the drawing board, starting over. This time, will I get it right, so…just Kottke shared in today’s blog http://www.kottke.org/08/01/imperfectly-interesting It is my fondest wish that my lack of perfection, my degree of imperfection, will actually be my “ace in the hole” my signature mark. It is today that I start anew and truly endeavor to become the SoapBlogging queen of 2008, the writer extraordinaire, the guiding light to all those lost souls on the internet seeking some degree of value in the written word. It is through our dialogue, our discourse that we will come together in the “third place.”

It is with a strange degree of sadness and relief that I forge into this phase of my life with a whole lot of knowledge regarding the disparity, the condemnable reality of the health care crisis, with an emphasis on hospital’s role in the pillaging of the uninsured and a lack of understanding that asks, so now what do I do with this insight? Stay tuned, you will probably find out!

Mary Caroline Link, "let her cry for she's a lady, let her dream for she's a child..."

Mary Caroline Link

Her curly red hair was hard to control, almost as hard to control as her desire to love and be loved. Her green eyes would flash. It is strange today as I was reminiscing about her, I wondered if I really remember ever seeing her cry. Her face would become strained, the pain embedded deep within each of the lines on her face, an aging that came fare too soon for a 1940’s starlet beauty, but I do not remember tears. for the rest of the story go to...

www.talkwithme2.com/soapblogging

Medical Credit Scores and You!

Medical Credit Scores a new way to discriminate against the uninsured and those with chronic medical issues!

Can you imagine walking into an Emergency Room and being told to go somewhere else because your medical credit score is not high enough? Will there be a security deposit prior to a hospital stay? Are we watching a new form of discrimination unfold? Can you imagine being told that you or your loved one cannot have open heart surgery until you pay for it first? Is that plausible? What purpose could there be to have medical credit reporting if it is not going to be used? Is there any way that the purpose is to benefit the poor, the uninsured? Do not kid yourself into believing that Federal Law protects the American people. The fine for refusing treatment is so small and many hospitals trust that they will not be "found out". It is more cost effective run the risk of a slap on the hand then to deliver treatment. Now understand not all hospitals will do this. But the reality that there is even one hospital out there that would be allowed to is enough. Tenet Healthcare Corporation has many hospitals Tenet is funding the mediFICO, in the amount of 10 million dollars, one third of the cost to get this up and running by May of this year. http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=49618

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-wed_medfico_0102jan02,0,4105866.story

Just a thought

“You may never know what results come from our action. But doing nothing, there will be no results” M. Gandhi

Often times I pray to my Father that He show me the paths to take, to show me the deepest parts of myself, “who am I, I plead!” I realized today that I cannot fully, completely understand me, until I understand Him who made me, who knew me before I was conceived and grew in my mother’s womb.

As I was in my morning reflections today I was brought to the idea of reaching up to the Lord with outstretched hands, reaching up to the heavens and asking Him to show me who He is. Let me know you more. As that thought came to my heart, not just my mind, but my heart as I was reminded of something that the Holy Spirit spoke to me the other night, just before I went to sleep.

I was reclining in bed asking for guidance. My job situation was not going well, (still is not) and I said, “I do not even know what to pray for, what favor or blessing to ask for, you know me, you know my needs, show me in which direction I should go.” I felt the Spirit respond that I should pray for Him! I thought, wait one minute, me, lowly, insignificant me, pray for the Lord our God? Then like a wash of warmth, a fire, that lasted for about 10 seconds came over me, and I realized then, that all I can do is simply, ask “what can I do for You?” That is it, what can I do to bring Glory to the one who knows me best? To ask the Lord to show me the path that I should take, I first need to ask Him to show me His path, once I see that, then I can see the path that He desires for me.

I read today in one of my reflections that no one seeks God naturally, our sinful inclinations prohibit that, that it is our natural tendency to hide when we are in a place that is not worthy of our understanding of what God is. The disciples of Jesus did not immediately understand, they had to go through a few years of basic training before they even got to the point, and even then on His last night, they had a hard to staying awake! They were human and so am I. The good news is that God will honor my response, your response to His leading by teaching me/you more about Himself. “For those who are led by the Spirit of God, are children of God…” Romans 8:14

Romans 8

The Lord called his chosen to be adopted brothers and sister of Him that would set free His own from the bonds of sinfulness, death, darkness. We often go through life believing as Christians, or those who seek Christ-like existence that we must have done something, we ask "why is this happening to me?" When we look deep into the Word, and we say that we are lovers of the Lord, lovers of God, it is best to say "this is happening for me!" For the Word holds many truths, and the one that I hold near to my heart today is this...all good things come from the Lord and is given unto those that love Him who called us into adoption through the Spirit. So I call out from the deepest place in my heart Abba Father, you are the Potter and I am the clay, I am a broken chipped, weathered pot and through your Gracious Hands, I can be made a piece of art, to be viewed through Your eyes, my hands become Yours, my ears, my eyes, my heart, all are yours, Lord what can I do for you today?

Ditka's pot roast nachos - 2 forks and a spoon up!

I must admit having a weakness for choosing "super" nachos, when available. I've just gotta know. To some degree, it's that I live my today's as though they might be my last chance at nachos.

This particular instantiation is pretty special. It's the best of what you might usually expect (chips, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, etc.), but with a fabulous barbecue pot roast meat. It'll spin your sombrero.

Chicago was great.

But while I'm admitting menu weakness, I may as well admit I'm one of the few people who truly believes there's no place like home. I'm a big time homey. There's no deal like being happy at home, for this muchacho. And I'm lucky enough to know it always, and even when confronted with the most tantalizingly convincing advertising for elsewheres. There's no elsewhere advertising strong enough to convince me I should leave home. I'm totally immune, and generally have to be carted off in a straight-jacket, kicking and screaming helter skelter. Inwardly, at least. Obviously I don't want to be too big a baby about it outwardly, otherwise nobody wants to be my friend. But that doesn't mean I don't long for home the minute I leave it for some allegedly utterly mind-bogglingly amazing elsewhere.

priceline, The Tremont Hotel, and Chicago!

The Tremont Hotel located in the heart of the Magnificent Mile houses the famed Ditka's Restaurant. Right off of Michigan Avenue nestled a block west on Chestnut Street was a hidden treasure for me and the gang this past weekend. Only a hop, skip and a jump from Rush Street, and a room's eye view from the John Hancock Building, it was a jewel in the crown of our Festivus weekend. On my modest budget I was able to afford a weekend of fun, family, friend, and fellowship.

Thanks to www.Priceline.com I was able to get the room for a steal! Seriously, I ended up with 3 rooms for 2 nights for the same standard price of one room. Now hear this my avid readers, this is not the first time this has happened. I have stayed in Washington D.C. in October, upstate New York in December, and in Chicago-land area 4 times since Thanksgiving of this year and have paid no more than the cost of a quality meal at a local steak house each night! I highly recommend Priceline, they do deliver!

Now as far as the Tremont Hotel goes, it was sweet. The people made the place for me. Their down home hospitality was the selling point for me. The old world charm reminded me of a larger Bed and Breakfast. The down side is that I had to look too hard for coffee. The Starbucks right across the street was nice, but the temperatures were sub-zero and the idea of walking across the street before I was fully awake was not appealing at all! I am a coffee addict, sadly, so for me a cup of coffee or 2, or 3, before I really get moving is sublime. There was no room service, so that wasn't a solution. There were no cute little coffee-makers in the room, so that didn't do. There was coffee downstairs tucked away in a beautiful dark wood cabinet surrounded by an oversized leather couch, comfy chairs and a baby-grand piano, that was nice, but not real accommodating. My girls and I did find it warm and cozy to take the coffee back to one of their rooms and curl up to some morning girl talk before heading out to shopping!

Our day began with brunch at Ditka's. A word to the wise,...go for the Pot Roast Nachos! Steve is still talking about the "best nachos he has ever had!" Following brunch, we hit, H&M and found some great buys, then it was out the door to the right and up the escalator to Filene's for yet another shopping bag or two of outstanding purchases, all things I really needed...; )! Then across the street to Water Tower Place for a nice leisurely wait in the mezzanine with Intelligensia Coffee in hand, served by the Mario, this barista definitely takes coffee to the level of decadence! The shopping day was topped off with a make-over at MAC cosmetics in Macy's, compliments of Amanda and Steven.

Along with our fun shopping day we dined at Pizano's on State Street, the pizza was delicious, and left us all satisfied; of course we also enjoyed angel hair pasta with marinara and meatballs that actually passed the Steve test! The Melting Pot provided for a 3 hour indulgence that left us all feeling quite content. The Excalibur for dancing afterwards was a nice way to go "Old School" as we stayed on the main level and danced. It reminded us of how much fun it is to have fun and let your hair down.

So again, thank you Priceline for making it possible for me to take the gang for a family festivus, and make memories that will keep us warm through these long Midwest winters! Next stop...well, who knows? That is up to my friend priceline

one, two, unbuckle my cocoon

And what's my side of the metapolymorphic story? Chopped blogger?

Being quintessentially ADD do I look back to beginnings that blur and drip and likely strike the love of my life as evidence I was scarcely there. And while I didn't have a good explanation for it when I began this paragraph, somewhere in the midst of replacing the word 'proof' with the word 'evidence' did I remember that I was in the midst of real life fathering, something I've done only 3 weeks a year in the last 8 years. So it taxes me like Uncle Sam on Republican steroids. And George Mitchell can take that to the Major League Bank and toke it.

What I do remember is overdosing on my favorite emotion: fascination. Holy whoa'ly, this girl's got not only "it", but several elements and qualities - and maybe even an aura (for those who believe in such a "thing") - that I ain't never had the privilege of encountering up close and personal... is what I was feeling. And still am, even more so now than then.

Girl can't help it. She's ME, eternally uppercase.

Get to know her here, people, and feel a little of my a lot.

Metamorphosis, Beatles 101 and life taking on wings!

“and then on August 24th of 2007, the sky suddenly parted”

Yes, I know that sounds a bit extreme, but that is what the guy wrote! Yes, you see, I came across his profile, his amazing brown eyes flashed at me, his serious, smile-less face was looking write through me. I had to know him. I had seen him months earlier, but it was not a situation that I could reach out and communicate. I wasn’t ready.

I came across him again, in the most unusual of places, I will not tell the story as it is reserved for my grand-kids when they are post-25! Anyway, it isn’t that big of a deal, but then again, it is huge! I went on one of those social-network sites for the purposes of grabbing glances into my daughter’s lives, as well as some of my family members. I was detached, out there on my own you might say. Starting a new phase in my life, and I was missing out on so many stories that I heard them sharing. So, I broke down and joined. I found it to be cathartic, enlightening, fun, I stretched my minimal techno skills from a level 1, to a level 2.5! Now, I am desiring to be the blogging queen, through my “soapblogging” endeavors, maybe I will discover the writer within.

It is also a desire to become an “Indie” producers of sorts. Through my writing and my singing, something creative should transpire. Time will tell. Oh, the guy that claimed the sky parted…well, I fell in love. I did not think it was possible, I thought those days were over. I was going to be the strong-willed, independent type that would forge on alone, determined to make it without the love of a man. I vowed friends and only friends with men for all eternity. Well, I was wrong, again. Now, I am forging a life with an amazing man, friend, buddy, singing partner, I really like this human being, really! Can you believe he insist on doing the dishes! He won’t let me help! I get to cook, and he enjoys the gastronomic endeavors of this culinary queen, little writer, wanna be ~~there is also another trade-off~~ I have to go through my Beatle’s lessons, Woody Allen, 101…listen to him sing and play the guitar and piano…struggle as I learn how to play, cribbage…just to name a few… and laugh every step of the way!

The Steve and Mary Show is off and running. Not long after the 24^th of August and the sky suddenly parted, so did the pathway down to pick up luggage at the airport terminal. LaGuardia hasn’t been the same since this curly blonde haired piece of fluff showed up in red ballet slippers and a Charlie Brown t-shirt, scared out of her wits, but knowing with every step towards the amazing smile, brown eyes laughing, strong physique adorned, proud, in the favored orange man that life would never be the same and chances passed up for decorum were not going to be lost on this girlie girl. Some moments in time are meant to not be passed by! Thank you Lord for going with me…~~As he hugged me, NO, cocooned me, I indeed went through a metamorphosis…now this butterfly is ready to fly and dance, dance a dance that all princesses should dance at least one time in their lives. My new mantra, which is actually an old mantra, but a new mantra, as it is a new year….”BRING IT ON!”

Blessings!

oh, to be standing in line when the contributor invitations are handed out!

It's a great honor to be invited to this blog, and even more so into the author's life. Tune in regularly for sincere banter and reflection upon a pair of humble attempts at living for more than one's self. And please forgive us if and when we fail therein.

We don't know more than you. We just like typing more.

As much as I like the sound of that, I obviously don't know your heart well enough to know that last part for sure. But I do know that of all my education, the only course I took beyond the foundational triple-R's which ever saw much practical application was that semester of typing in high school. While I do miss the exercise of a manual typewriter (not to mention the peace of mind of the absence of a text buffer), typing remains for me what I imagine dancing must mean to those with both a left and a right foot.

Anyway, it's better than good to be here.

Newest Happenings in the Life of Talkwithme2

I began this explosion of blogging back in December of this year. Now, do not get me wrong, I have been writing almost daily on myspace.com/mezzomoon since June of 2007. I did a little bit before when I was into posting my poetry on poetrywars.com
Now my interest have become more of a blended, advocacy, independent producer, ie Indie, to a poet, creator, entrepreneur, etc. You can find some of my additional work on www.talkwithme2.com as that is my home website. There you will find my soapblogging defined, some of my poetry, and my creative sensitive side. On my bloglines.com site where my blog is called soapblogging2 and my name there is also talkwithme2.
It is not so much that I am stroking my ego, it is more that I believe that I like everyone else has something to share.
I am relatively pragmatic in my approach to many things. I hope to be able to share, stimulate, enlighten, and personally grow as I extend my word weaving into the cyber-world.
If you are looking for a little entertainment check out some of my musical endeavors. thesteveandmaryshow.blip.tv or youtube.com/jethrick
That is all for now, have a blessed, miraculous day and realize that even in your worst state of mind and place you are better off than most, but then again it is all relative! Blessings!