Moments of Reflection through Quest and Challenge and Humor

At the beginning of 2013, I was drowning in the emotional tsunami of economic loss.  I was a victim to the housing crisis.   From the wealth of a full-time financially sustaining consulting career,  to the poverty of a part-time,  barely above minimum wage,  temp staffer assignment, I was mentally and financially imploding.

picture credits to
YourEventToGo

I challenged social media to acknowledge my state of loss.  I sought crowdfunding through a GoFundMe account with tragic and disappointing results.

In humored retrospect, I have learned that desperation is not a plausible enticement for soliciting public funding. More interestingly I learned, that my intuitive instincts for survival and independence are formidable and unshakable.

I learned that generosity is a virtue that cannot be extorted.  Many individuals and family members extended their kindness in gestures of both monetary and charitable gifts.  Through genuine acts of kindness, I received welcome donations with earnest and humble gratitude.

But I also realized, my professionally photographed glam shot picture for my GoFundMe appeal was an ideological contradiction. Lol!.. If I were in a state of poverty,  why did my posing picture seem to look so rich?  I was my own funding saboteur. HaHaHa!

In the months of my 2013 seasons of question and introspection,  I exercised my mental muscles in the fields of social media.  In Blogger, I wrote about my bliss, my agony, my intrigue and my curiosity.  As of December, my 33 blogs have garnered over 6800 views. Through writing, I have stretched my public outreach and have opened windows of promising opportunities.

In Yahoo Contributor Networks, several of my article submissions have been published. I am tweaking and streamlining the authority, authenticity, and tone of my writer's voice. OMG! I Am 60 Years, Well Almost, was my first published Yahoo article. My enthusiasm is noted in the opening paragraph with these words:

When life throws you a lemon, you got to add some sugar and make it lemonade. Looking at the coming of age, as an adventure. Humor in life is healthy. Be thankful for the opportunities. Often they come disguised as disappointments.In the adventure of social media, there are numerous platforms to navigate.  In the Google domain, I have expanded my circles of engagement.   I have reached an allocated 5000 count to my circles and now there are new niche inroads to map out. There is  creative stimulus for artistic demonstration in the Youtube landscape. In addition to the written scripts, my stories also include picture presentations displayed in photography and video productions.

The event of my class Reunion in Trinidad and Tobago in October 2013,  was both real and cosmic.  The months leading to the reunion date were filled with expectation and anticipation.  In spite of every wall of denial, impossibility, financial detour, and emotional roadblock,  I became the accidental tourist.

With a gift from my son, the bounty of the kindness of family, and the generosity of lifetime friends, I experienced abundance during my holiday visit.  In social media, I celebrated moments in pictures and videos.  My field of exploration in video app development technology widened and blossomed.

A most celebrated moment of the Reunion was a tribute to our teacher Jovita Lee. The privilege of being in this moment is shared in this blog So How Do You Thank Someone who has taken You from Crayons to Perfume. The revelry and joy of being with classmates after 41 years are shared in this Youtube video 60s are the new 40s.
Disappointments and trials have been exhaustive,  but!.. another year begins every year on December 31.


In commemoration and tribute to Nelson Mandela and to his life contribution, I have themed the following message of victories won.

One gains success by conviction, not by trial.

These words in the last refrain of the poem Invictus,  champion resilience:

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,                        

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul

 (This is a Poem 'Invictus' (Unconquered,Undefeated) by William Henley. Great South African Leader Nelson Mandela(Madiba)  was inspired by the poem, and had it written on a scrap of paperon his prison cell while he was incarcerated for 27 years on Robben Island )

These words ignite my resolve to remain steadfast in conviction and to be inspired in optimism.

As I captain my approach to new territories of consciousness in the coming years, I will continue to practice optimism rather than defeat.

My task is not to design new resolutions for the coming years.  I can look over the past year and find hidden treasures of discovery, new accomplishments, recognition by acknowledgments, and fulfillment in worthy achievements.

I can now prospect my capabilities and competencies on the merits of my work, my experience and my talents. My video blog is the latest career tool that I will use to promote and enlist the consideration of prospective employers.  

In a recent post to social media, I stated without reservation, that my practice of social engagement is not about me.  I have been nourished, nurtured, schooled, and charmed by the many people including family, friends, loved ones, and circles of associates, whose lives and stories continue to impact and impress me.

There are many other people whose life situations have made them soldier on against greater odds than my circumstantial occurrences. I am empowered because of  all who have shared their stories and have demonstrated success despite personal setbacks.

The journey of quest and challenge is our universal common road map.  Victories Won, Defeats Surrendered, but Resilience Triumphs and Optimism Prevails are my signature guidelines for yesterday, today, and with each new year.

Achieving Abundance is my ultimate goal of self-expression and expectation. To this end, my optimism prevails.

In all of this, I am eternally grateful.

Initiate Thought, Provoke Discussion, Create Reason and Response and Call it a Blog

Blog writers initiate discussion that elicits thought, reason and response. At its nucleus, effective bloggers  write with artistic creativity. The staging process of a blog begins with the visualization of concept, context and theme.  Similar to the eye of an artist, the scripted ideas and thoughts of a blogger are paintings colored with words and text.

With social media,  the demand for bloggers has generated a powerful and growing industry of creative writer enthusiasts.   Bloggers and the artform of writing are flourishing.  Rather than specialty occupations in journalism, communications, public relations, marketing  and media relations, there is an overwhelming demand for blogger contributions beyond all business and social boundaries.

In observation, the merits of blogging,  and the value contribution to world societies in the artform of blogging is reason for study and researched understanding. With curiosity and fascination, I have been observing the glut of writers in social media engagement.  The profusion of writers about every topic imaginable is now radically viral.

In the industry of bloggers, the hills of writer's dreams and published aspirations are filled with interruptions, such as,  writer block, impasse and restructure in the climb to the top.  Blogger reflection and introspection ensue as I engage in the art of writing.  From early adolescence,  I wanted to be impressive as a writer.  In my uninformed style, I would use words bigger than my own imagination to make a simple statement, exhaustive and compound.  Luckily, my teachers, were quick to correct and admonish me for over excessive usage of "big words".  KISS, keep it simple stupid was my regular dose of writing medicine reality.  I uncover and recover and recreate art thoughts and posit them into words.  I continue to learn and gain perspective in social media examination.

Social media is invitation to craft thoughts, share with others and commune in circles.   Social media technology and all of its peripheral advantages  are driving innovation and creativity throughout the landscape of  written communications.  The art of writing has exploded exponentially.  In a convergence of the science of technology and the need to explain the theories and reasoning  for technologies, the rise of literary encyclopedia is rocketing beyond the unlimited, in social media blogosphere.

Prior to the 1990s, the term Blogger was non existent.  Diaries, journals, individual essays were the common products associated with writing.  As the web spread its spiral outreach to worldwide corners of the globe, the weblog of created articles were the original blogs. With multitudes of creative writer opportunities among the numerous social media platforms,  building and  growing connections, followers and communities are the return on investment (ROI)  for the career bloggers.

In  real time space and proximity of world communities, distance is merely  geographic location.  Instantaneous is as immediate as the blink of an eye.  In the marriage to technology advancement and the common sharing of a blogger, portals of  virtual exchange have been opened,  which have otherwise been non existent.   Transcontinental information travel is occurring with virtual speed of lightning.  The carriers are the many networked  web connections that provide links to indefinite realms of  opportunities.

In the course of becoming an avid and thriving blogger, I am always apprehensive about whether or not my content is authoritative and rich in marketability.  I am fielding and researching the value of adwords, and what text makes any adsense. With intentional humor,  my entry as a new blogger to the bloggersphere world, is filled with uncertainty and awkward deference.

The dilemma a new blogger faces is quite challenging.  Writing content and interaction must appeal to social media engagement audiences.  Whether to  blog about  personal life, social interests, career pursuits , fashion, cooking, photography, one must carve a niche market to win followers.    Followers become  communities.   Activity generated by comments  and  the number of reshares build the capital of  the writer's wealth in outreach.   Without the knowledge of  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) codes  and technology nuances, target audience appeal is limited.  Additionally,  content must also be recognized for word value.  The words that capture the  thread, stream, backlink are recognized in computer linguistics as a series of analytics that help increase content recognition.

 In order to thrive and stay relevant bloggers write without ceasing.    As a blogger contributor, ideas must be constructed and developed at a pace of constant and consistent delivery.    Topic titles are screened and evaluated on  keyword content through SEO and computer backlinks.  With all these requisites and attributes for successful blogging,  most  new bloggers face challenging  uphill odds.

A plethora of sites are crawling all over the internet, to invite writers to blog.  The blogger fantasy is that the topic that they share will automatically attract and generate booming results in readership and income returns.      Among the many blogger invitations to share are the sites promising fortunes for recruiting, enlisting and resharing of blogs.  In its appeal to targeted audiences, blogger entrepreneurship is now the most prolific enticement to generate bounty.

Bloggers are the prey  for the newest pyramid schemes.  The names of celebrity professionals, such as  Wayne Dyer,  Marianne Williamson, Oprah, Maya Angelou,  Louise Hay  are listed in title headings to entice and invite entrepreneur bloggers.   Their quotes are intentionally posted within the first sentences of text, which in turn generates volume readership.  Winning customers through social media baiting is another creative writing artform.

Social media is a frontier of many hills and valleys.  As seen in the Blogger Life Cycle illustration depicted at the top,  from thoughts and ideas, to frustration, to writers block to halo rise at the top, there is emotional commitment and enduring perseverance to "Call it a Blog".   In the halls of academia, where the fears that the soft studies would be trampled by the software and technology driven crusades, Writing Studies departments have been revived.   Technology in all of its most abstract and computer generated analytics have fueled demand for functional writing in communications.

In the midst of the gropes of technology, where every person on the internet is traceable, and information is always public, there is now a burgeoning boom of writing enthusiasts.  The art of blogging is an extension of the brain banks of multitudes of individual thinkers and thought leaders,

In the paintbrush of the artist a canvass reflects the indelible pictures in the portals of the mind.  In social media, the blogger creates a repository of ideas and words that paint and reflect, theme, thought, response and invitation.

For those in pursuit of the blogger mecca, put on your thinking caps.  Initiate Thought, Provoke Discussion, Create Reason and Response,  Write!  Share! Comment! Follow!   and Call it a Blog!

Our personalities in social media

Social Media is about Relationship Social Media is about People Based on #1 International Best Selling Socialnomics by Erik Qualman

For the sake of public knowledge I am as guilty of and equally suspect as any and all suggested characterizations that I illustrate in my social media personalities virtual chronicles.

Before all the domains in the virtual landscape of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google, LinkedIn , Blogger, just to name a few,were live, connected, and instantaneously accessible tools of communication, we were much like the tortoise enclosed in protective worlds and moseying along to our safe place of habitat and protected dwellings.

I was especially disdainful to the growing advances of internet technology. It was to me a further separation of societies and a defining division of those with available access and those without.

But I straddled tenuously into the territory of my virtual explorations and with comrades of all ages, locations, interests, perspectives, have found wisdom, insights. amusement and a most colorful assortment of interests and idiosyncrasies from the likes of fellow traversers in virtual reality.

The characters below are based on my own distorted concepts. It is no direct intention to "out" any identity. So if you are inclined to think its you and are honored by mention, please take a bow. If the humor of my musings makes you suspect an offense to you, please take a more salutary bow.

I delight in sharing pictures. Pictures from whence to now. Pictures of me, my immediate family, loved ones friends. Until I understood that everyone is not interested in every picture or video or last place visited, and whether it was sunny cold, or my dog is a pitbull or a "chiwawa" that I enthusiastically share, I began to build my online repository of content.with personal enjoyment.

Some of the most laughable moments online are shared in honest humor and brutal rancor by friends having children episodes, or discussing their weight gain/ loss and describing some of the side effects of digestive malfunctions.  Sometimes private voyeurism is embarrassingly posted,  hmmmnn!! quite accidentally??

What happens on Facebook does not stay on Facebook. Just by an investigating curiosity of some perverted postings, you, me and all who have no need to know about our social proclivities have shared incriminating evidence of our no longer secret follies. Busted!!

Tweens and the under 30 generations are best found Twittering and Instagramming since they have discovered that most of their parents and friends are just discovering social media. While we are having daily postings, sharing jokes, and chatting, tweens and 30 somethingers have migrated to the next techno frontier.

Occasionally they might share a posting to get a Like.  Birthday wishes or events that are neutral and get Likes are their miserly facebook offerings.
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We have all become marketers. If we can get enough people to Like our pages we can grow our business. If we need to solicit clientele for funding and we need a new audience to buy our services or products we post, we pin and we link.

Some people use the medium as a sounding board to intellectually cuss out their leadership. Some people post their bigotry, their insensitivity , their political posturing and their biased judgements.

For a former diplomat at an international convention in Geneva whose most illustrious career speech detailing her "wining" prowess as part of her official dossier, went viral on social media, it was her unplanned best exit strategy. She was quickly relieved of her post and returned to her home country.

Some people play games and use their work hours for beating the ratings challenges. And after their idle googlings and doodlings, most of all their connections see their games activity on public share. And they invite others to join.  Unknowingly..I suppose.

People with their clandestine agendas are usually unfriended. One friend was quick to exit friend status when seeing activities that the "friend's" nocturnal interests were more exclusive to others.

When I first saw my son's Facebook page under his page pseudonym I quickly sent an inbox note with motherly warning. Please remember public is not private and the wall of information you share can help you or hurt you.!!!!

I follow Atheist, Agnostic, Buddhist and Christian, Judaic, Islamic postings. The most militant subscribers in their doctrines are also those whose fervor for contention is their greatest passion.

I have found new friends, I have discovered people and places. There are the  sharers, posters and those who are quiet choristers. And there are also the ignorers.

Many also share their reasons for not being on social media.

They typically argue that they prefer to maintain a professional persona on sites like LinkedIn . They usually seem to have concerns about private information being public. This is an example of too much info (TMI).   An ex partner is lurking on facebook and  discovers what happened in Vegas is now public info.  This is cause for the claim that 1 of 5 divorces occur because of facebook.

Some of us indulge the adventure of social media to enjoy the magic of virtual exploration. For me discoveries are exciting, amusing, illuminating, and engrossing as I survey this human constellation in the social media virtual space galaxy.

Within this landscape we are all the artists. We are a colony of thoughts, ideas, dreams and fantasies. We are posting and sharing and nonetheless entertaining with our palette of varied substance.

So delicious are the tastings, that there is always plentiful and bountiful artistry to relish and savor.