Try Again

It’s Just Not an Option to Give Up

There is one thing we don’t give up on, and that is breathing. It might be labored or wheezy, but we keep breathing until we can’t anymore. I think that has to be, hands down, the only thing none of us give up on. Ever. Well, until the end, anyway.

Over the years, I have heard people say, “Take a deep breath”. If you think about it, that same deep breath can feel like a sigh. I sigh when I give up. I sigh when it is time to give it another try. I sigh in relief. I sigh sometimes when I need a moment. I sigh when I step off the roller coaster of my thought mill.

A sigh or a deep breath can almost feel like a new beginning.

This early in January for me to be thinking about re-starting sounds a little ominous, even for me. I have plans for this year. I want to self-publish some books. I’d also like to earn something from the endeavor. Which means I need to get the social media side of things moving. I need to relearn WordPress because my current website is languishing, and I need to get my author’s website up and running.

Those are the things I need to do. Here are some more:

I need to clean up my study so that if I want to start being a YouTuber or a Tik Tok person, or maybe an Instagramer, it looks presentable. Or I could put a screen behind me so nobody can see the mess. I should probably cut my hair. It’s more noticeable now, but I didn’t get it even the last time I cut it. The left side is definitely longer than the right side. Maybe that’s why Dennis doesn’t want me to cut it. But the ends are out of control. So are my eyebrows. Presentation is everything. I could wear a mask, or get some sparkly things that bounce around on a headband. You know what? I’m going to think about that later.

At least I can get dressed.

Today I am going to bring the laptop back to the study. It needs to be here working simultaneously with my desktop while I do our 2022 finances. I estimate it will take me two months, but if I give it 4 hours a day, I think I could be done by mid-February in time to get it all to the lady who does our taxes. I also need to get odometer readings on our cars. I probably can take 20 miles off of my car and maybe 50 miles off of Dennis’ car.

I’m sharing my old beat-up Ford Focus right now with our neighbor downstairs. She was in an accident a few weeks ago. I rarely use my own car, so I told her to drive it. Yesterday I did drive to the doctor’s for an annual visit that I have put off for three years. Other than that, she is welcome to it. She gassed it up for me and bought a new steering wheel cover. The cover has little bear ears and is a soft fur.

I also want to bake a couple of loaves of bread today. That should be easy.

I took a break from this article to do some research on background screens. Hey, if I don’t clean up the study, I can at least hide it.

What I discovered is an Amazon influencer named Steven Healey. He was doing a live presentation on Amazon with the very blue/green screen I wanted to investigate. Putting a plug in for him, I was thrilled. This guy is on YouTube, Facebook, etc. He was such a lovely old guy and proceeded to talk about all the stuff he uses for videos and live streaming. I’m old too, so I appreciate old guys.

In this instance, it was a case of something I wanted and the universe providing. I need to know about this stuff, and he was there to talk about how the cameras, the lights, and the screens operate together. He talked about the online programming he uses. It was like a course bringing in all the bits and pieces so I could get a handle on the whole picture.

P.S. Well, I burned the bread. I had a kitchen timer around my neck and didn’t hear it go off. So, for $14 and change, I purchased a kitchen timer that has a strobe light and a siren on it. Next time the bread won’t burn.

P.S.S. I made a bunch of nice bread crumbs from the middle of the loaves, so all was not lost.