Monday, December 5, 2011

December 5th, 2011 - Yahoo Voices; Giving Thanks - Relationships; Odds n Ends

I’m happy to say that today I am still riding the wave of a high that’s been with me now for almost a week. For whatever reason, perhaps bolstered by my birthday last week, nothing has been getting to me lately. Not that anything has changed in my life; I just realized that from all the love I got last week, I have a pretty darned good life and I shouldn’t let things get me down.

I found a post the other day on Facebook that I shared on my own wall:

Always believe that something wonderful is about to happen.

It’s a good quote, don’t you think? Anyway, for whatever reason I’ve been keeping a positive attitude about my life these days, and I just hope it sticks around for awhile. It’s been too long since I’ve really posted a real blog post here, and there’s a lot to talk about…


Source: webpronews

Yahoo Voices

I mentioned the other day that the Yahoo Contributor Network has a new name…and a new attitude! It’s really a shame, but ever since Yahoo took over the former Associated Content, things have definitely gone by the wayside for many writers, including myself. Many of my fellow writers have gone off to other sites permanently leaving the old AC for greener pastures and though I still keep in touch with them, it’s not the same.

I can understand why they’ve left, especially with this newest incarnation. Though I knew of a couple of changes happening the other day, most namely the look of the articles (all on one page now!), I hadn’t realized a major change until I experienced it yesterday. After hours of penning a review of Rihanna’s hot new album, “Talk That Talk,” I realized that the ability to publish articles immediately was taken away. All pieces must now be reviewed before publishing and from my own experiences that can take days. That was one of the best things about Y!CN, and now it’s gone!

This latest change invariably caused another one of my best writing buds, Michele Starkey, to decide to quit altogether. She leaves with other old favorites such as Abby Greenhill, Nancy Canfield, and a whole host of others who left the site within the past year. It’s starting to feel a lil’ lonely over there, for sure. I don’t know, but I’ve been with the site for more than four years now and even though it’s changed so much and I’m making less and less money over there, I just can’t seem to break away completely. Call me sentimental, but I’m gonna hang for a little!

Oh, and they did publish my “Rihanna’s ‘Talk That Talk’: A Track by Track Review,” which you can check out here.


Source: Nights of Tra

Clubbing

This weekend was kind of a clubbing bust for me. I had been asked to go to Ritz on Friday for a birthday drink with my pal Ivan (they were having a special Kylie event, too!), but I had my work Christmas party that night so I couldn’t make it. I ended up hitting the Eagle once again, this time with my pals Blanche and Dita. It was fun, but after a long week of being out every night I was tired, and it definitely carried through to Saturday.

I had planned on hitting Splash and Ritz on Saturday nights, which I did, but stopping by my pal Bessie’s for a visit beforehand like I did a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, she had to cancel at a late notice and I found myself in the city before ten. I had told my friend Paul I’d give him a ride home later on otherwise I would’ve headed home right then and there. I was still tired and feeling like I was coming down with something, but I went.

Splash was okay and the Ritz was packed, and before long I was ready to head home, but I hadn’t yet met up with Paul. He was going to try a new place, Club 57, before Ritz and we were supposed to meet up there. I guess he was having a good time because he never answered my text until after I had left the city until around 2AM. It turned out alright, though, because he had a place to crash for the night. He told me the next day how great Club 57 was, so it looks like I’ll be trying out a new place soon!

Giving Thanks

Well, I’ve really gotten behind on giving thanks for the things in my life. Even though Thanksgiving is long behind us now, I’ve still got 8 more Thanksgiving Thanks to share and here’s one more for today:

My Relationships

For someone my age, I guess I haven’t been in too many relationships to date. Of course since I am single today I can say that none of them ended on a good note, well that’s because they ended, lol. But I do want to give thanks for the good memories associated with them, of which there were many. Aside from a few not too meaningful relationships in my life, there are two that I am especially thankful for, and those are my last two.



Joe

I met Joe on June 4th, 1987, and we ended up being together for over twenty years. For the longest time since our breakup, I spent a lot of time regretting our time together, which I now realize was foolish all along. Joe and I shared many happy memories together, too many to recount, and as I’ve looked through a lot of old pictures these past few weeks, many of them gave me smiles thinking about them. Joe is a special guy with a good heart, and he was a great partner in my life for twenty-plus years. I am grateful to have had him in my life!



Him

I feel really silly saying ‘him,’ but I haven’t used his name here to date and since we don’t speak often I don’t feel right sharing it here now without any kind of warning. The ‘him’ I’m talking about is, of course, the last meaningful relationship I had which ended earlier this year. He came along in my life when I least expected it, and he brought back those great feelings you get when you’re in a new relationship with someone. For a few weeks there, I was as happy as I’d ever been.

Things didn’t go the way I had hoped with him, and a lot of the hurt I felt over it was painful, but I realize that perhaps I was a little selfish about a very adult decision he had made with his heart and that it had nothing to do with me. Last Tuesday night, right around midnight, he’d sent me a happy birthday message on Facebook. Though we’ve had contact here and there since the summer, it was the first time he made me smile in a very long time. His message presented with it a personal gift, and It just reminded me of how special a person he still is. Even though it still hurts sometimes to think back on that time, I can remember the sunshine he brought into my life even for a little while and be content in the knowledge that I got to experience it, and for that I am grateful.

Odds n Ends

It’s getting late…way past my bedtime, but there are a couple of things I still wanted to share:

There’s a lot of Madonna news out there today. Besides a new song being leaked today (“Masterpiece”), it was confirmed that she will in fact be playing at the Super Bowl Halftime Show this year. My sometimes sick friend Dita has been all over the story, finding a strange enjoyment in the equally strange commentary on it. Check it out here.


Montmorency Falls, Quebec, Canada

I got some exciting news earlier today. It looks like the French club in school will be making another trip to Canada this February and guess who just may be chaperoning? I went to Quebec with the group two years ago and it was awesome! I’ll be posting some pieces I wrote on that trip in this week’s "Writing Wednesday."

Well, it’s been real! As always, thanks for reading and have a great Tuesday!

No comments:

Post a Comment