July 14, 2011

  • Let's Hope We Aren't The Only Ones

    My apologies, but I'm going to vent. Here and now.

    Hubz & I were watching "normal" tv tonight. By "normal", I mean network TV, over the air for free, no money. One of the things we noticed was that no matter what, all the kids on this show were still getting "gold stars" for their performances. You know, the automatic "atta boys/girls" "you are an amazing person" etc etc., while saying whether they liked their performance or not. Even if the judges weren't feeling the performances… "you are awesome"

    Hubz looked at me and said "Someone needs to do a skit based around if Hitler had a kid in today's current 'supportive' system. I wonder if anyone would get it."

    Imagine:
    Hitler's kid just gets finished doing something in the school yard, like tries to skin a squirrel or trip the little physically challenged kid. He comes back into the classroom and the teacher says, "That was really heinous little Dieter, but you get a gold star for playing today and coming back inside in a quiet and orderly fashion." Two things that the kid should have done anyway if taught well by his parents, with no real mention or focus on correcting the inappropriate acts the kid did while he was out in the yard.

    Maybe hubz & I are being too critical, but maybe, just maybe we aren't the only ones who see this trend of "everyone gets a gold star" which is now affecting our current generation of kids entering the work force? A strange sense of entitlement and wanting to get kudos for everything they do, good or bad, so as not to crush their spirits or stunt their emotional growth. 

    I see basics like kids in middle school who are touted as being so smart and beyond their classes learning, yet they can't write OR even spell common words and that's okay and allowed and not counted against them on tests or papers, "as long as they get their point across." Or those who don't understand that a lot is two words. it always has been and it always will be unless you decide to give a portion or allot something to someone, but it's never alot. Spell check is not your friend in the end if you couldn't spell the word to begin with or even make an educated attempt at spelling the word.

    I keep hearing more and more horror stories from people who are now encountering this generation of kids in the workforce… thinking that they should automatically get a raise after (3) three months because it's been (3) three months, not because they are good workers. Or some kids who demand they get special treatment now based on their future potential as soon as they finish college. People who are our age (my hubz & mine) having to go thru worker sensitivity training to learn how to DEAL with these kids entering the workforce and how to speak to them…Really?

    Retraining people who have been in the workforce for 25-30 years on how to deal with this new sense of indulgence so as not to crush their spirits when they discover that the world is not going to hand them a gold star for missing a major deadline, for example? Can you imagine the dialogue? 

    How many clients of yours would be forgiving if you came back to them with "Sorry we missed getting your product/service to you by the time you needed it, but little Jimmy/Jenny didn't feel comfortable doing the work in the timeline we set, so we told them it was okay and we'll let you know when they are ready. Oh and we're giving them a raise because they tried as hard as they could." or even better, "I know your contract said you'd get a 50% discount, but little Jimmy/Jenny didn't realize how that math really worked and it was only supposed to be a 15% discount, so we're going to have to charge you more for this order, okay? Thanks."

    I would hazard a guess and say your business wouldn't do so well and your clients wouldn't be giving your company many gold stars for that kind of support or result.

    I have been let go because of poor work performance back when I was younger and I knew it. Was I crushed? A bit. Did I let it keep me down and go running home to mommy & daddy? No. I went on, got another job and never looked back. It was part of what I was expected to do. Go out work my butt off and get rewarded for my ability to complete my work and my overall growth and performance as I went on. If I wanted to move up, I couldn't just expect or demand a promotion/raise just because I felt it was due me, I had to have solid proof of my ability.

    Don't' want to burst anyone's bubble, or hurt their feelings, but dang nab it! To quote RuPaul "You gotta work!"

    I'm off my soap box for this evening.

June 26, 2011

  • In answer to a question from @JosephRanseth

    The question was in regards to profound lyrics.... my answer to him this week:

    03_Out_of_Reach.m4p Listen on Posterous

    Out of Reach by Cities of Foam

     

    My arms flail open to the sky

    Waiting for the heavy dream 

    Of you and I

    To consolidate this space

     

    This no man's land is here

    For your war games by and by

    Attack retreat, hide and seek

    Pinch and poke

     

    Guess what I spy, love

    I spy love

     

    Your hand's been dealt unfairly one more time

    Figurines go floating by just out of reach

    Not yours to play with

    Who's yours to play with?

     

    Little men

    With their toys and their games

    Building blocks for the damned

    Soon turn true

    Drinking dreams growing old 

    Making aspirations drown

     

    Little Queens

    With their fallen crowns and scruffy dowdy dress

    Broken heels

    Staying/stealing in, stealing time

    Cleaning up Prince Charming's mess

     

June 25, 2011

  • I hope you've been practicing....

    ...your French, because here's another one!

    In keeping with the fun, goofy, French yet not songs that I love to sing.... Here's a great song by one of my fav local bands : Pink Martini.  If you have never had the pleasure of seeing them, then may I suggest you remedy that as soon as possible?

     

    Sympathique - by Pink Martini

     

    (en FRANCAIS)

    Ma chambre a la forme d'une cage

    Le soleil passe son bras pas la fenetre

    Les chasseurs a ma porte

    comme les petits soldats

    que veulent me prendre

     

    Je ne veux pas travailler

    Je ne veux pas dejeuner

    Je veux seulement oblier

    et puis je fume

     

    Deja j'ai connu le parfum de l'amour

    Un million de roses

    n'embaumerai pas autant

    Maintenant une seule fleur

    dans mes entourages

    me rend malade

     

    Chorus

     

    Je ne suis pas fier de ca

    vie qui vuet me tuer

    C'est manifique

    etre sympathique

    Mais je ne le connais jamais

     

    Chorus

    (In ENGLISH)

    My room is a cage

    The sun streams through the window

    The bellhops are at my door

    like those little soldiers

    who want to take me away

     

    I don't want to work

    I don't want to lunch

    I want only to forget

    and so I smoke

     

    Long ago I knew the smell of love

    A million roses

    didn't smell as sweet

    Now a single flower

    in my way

    makes me sick

     

    Chorus

     

    I am not proud of this

    life that wants to kill me

    It is magnificent

    to be sympatico

    But I have never known this

     

    chorus

     

June 24, 2011

  • I'm in one of those moods today.

    Don't ask me why, except that it seems to be just one of those strange, goofy days.

    In honor of that, I'm posting one of my fav silly songs to sing around the house by one of my fav female vocalists, Bette Midler.

    When I was little, I always wanted to be able to sing like her or of course, Barbra Streisand, so I would warble along to the best of my abilities when no one was around.  I still do.

    I'm including the lyrics so you too can sing along with me... in your house...at the top of your lungs, even...without a care in the world!  

    Happy Friday!

    Samedi_et_Vendredi.mp3 Listen on Posterous

    Samedi et Vendredi

     

    Samedi et vendredi et lundi et dimanche. 

    Anouilh, Belmondo, Fernandel et Bardot, 

    Montalban, Ricardo, la la la. 

     

    Sandra Dee, Dame May Whitty sont ici egalement. 

    Henry et Nancy et Vaslav Ninjinsky et 

    Lucy et Desi et la la la. 

     

    J'aime tous les gens dont je parle, vous savez. 

    Parce qu'ils viennet me voir quand je dors. 

    Je chante de petites chansons pour eux, tu sais,Je danse plaisante, veux etre morte. 

     

    Pacino et Tricia et Spiro 

    Jackson Cinq et Simone Signoret 

    Zizi Jeanmarie, Mamie Eisenhower, Ursula Andress, 

    Carmen McRae, Farouk, Aimee Anouk. 

     

    Samedi et vendredi et lundi et dimanche. 

    Larry, Curly, et Moe. 

    Dylan et DeNiro. 

    Debonair Marcello, la la la. 

     

    Ils sont ici dans mes cauchemars. 

    Et savez-vous pourquoi? 

    Parce que je mange. 

    Je mange de saucisson. 

    Je mange de saucisson, la la la. 

     

    Bienvenus a mes cauchemars. 

    Bienvenus a mes cauchemars. 

    Bienvenus a mes cauchemars. 

    Bienvenus a mes cauchemars. 

    Bienvenus a mes cauchemars. 

    Bienvenus a mes cauchemars. 

    Bienvenus a mes cauchemars. 

    Bienvenus a mes cauchemars . . . 

     

    English Translation 

     

    Saturday and Friday and Monday and Sunday. 

    Anouilh, Belmondo, Fernandel and Bardot, Montalban, Ricardo, la la la. 

    Sandra Dee, Dame May Whitty are equally here. 

    Henry and Nancy and Vaslav Ninjinsky and Lucy and Desi and la la la. 

    I love all the people I am speaking about, you know. 

    Because they come visit me while I sleep I sing little songs for them, you know. 

    I dance to please those who have died. 

    Pacino and Tricia and Spiro Jackson Five and Simone Signoret Zizi Jeanmarie 

    Mamie Eisenhower, Ursula Andress, Carmen McRae, Farouk, Aimee Anouk. 

    Saturday and Friday and Monday and Sunday Larry, Curly, and Moe. 

    Dylan and DeNiro. Debonair Marcello, la la la. They are here in my nightmares. 

    And do you know why ? Because I eat. I eat sausage. I eat sausage, la la la. 

    Welcome to my nightmares. Welcome to my nightmares. 

    Welcome to my nightmares. Welcome to my nightmares. 

    Welcome to my nightmares. Welcome to my nightmares. 

    Welcome to my nightmares . . .

     

June 18, 2011

May 30, 2011

  • Old School skills...

    I have noticed over the decades the fall of the art of typography.  It used to be that artists and designers were required to learn hand lettering, because there was no such thing as fonts in a computer readily available.  Then, with the advent of Prestype, whoo hoo!  Look out world, it was party time.  You then went and got items typeset from a reprographics vendor so you could cut & paste paragraphs and copy it into place.  Along with a little amberlith or rubylith and you were set.

    Now, with the advent of computers & fonts, any Tom, Dick or Harry can "create" a font, tweak a font and go nuts.  The last font book I bought for my reference, so I could have a place to even remotely begin if a client came in and said "Match this font.  I don't know wht they used.", has over 250,000 fonts in it, with probably 1/3 of them unusable for any serious commercial purpose.  I still have my Letraset & Chartpak "bibles" as a primary go to... 

    What on earth elicited this post from me today?  Well, a convo with one of my Tweeps reminded me of this and how it's an otpional class for desingers and artists nowadays.  

    I thought I'd show you part what my mother made for my 2nd birthday, a book of original illustraitons for me to color and painted pages for me to read.... she went to Burnely Art Instititute back in the 60's, which used to be on the corner of Broadway and Pine in that white haunted building and was required to learn hand lettering as part of her studies.  She later became a designer for some of the major sign companies in town as well as in her own right as an independant business owner.

    I wish I could do this, but alas, I too am limited to computers now, but my prestype collection is in the hands of my 10yo niece if I really feel inspired.  The nice thing is that even after 40 years, most of this book has remained intact and is still in my possesion.

    Enjoy.

     

     

May 19, 2011

  • Is this the response YOU would give?

    Me: I just went & knocked on your door to let ***** know that I did not enter the unit and to not worry about it for the rest of the day, but he wouldn't answer the door after I knocked & waited three times. 3:34 PM

    Tenant: He could be showering? But we did set up a camera system last month in the unit so Im sure he knows that!! No worries! Thanks for texting me and letting me know! :)  3:36 PM

    Me: okey dokey. ;)  3:37 PM
    -------------
    So, a little backstory..... the tenant is in the process of being evicted.  They ignored the 3 day vacate notice and now are illegally occupying the unit and have been, since they have not paid rent this month and were late with rent ever since they moved in in February.  The person ***** is living there, but not on the lease, which is a breach of contract.....

    Would YOU give that answer to your landlord's agent knowing you were going to get evicted?

February 24, 2011

February 23, 2011