Thank YOU

July 6, 2017

Dear You,

Yes, you. Reading this. I’m talking to you. I want to say thank you.

I have no way of knowing who you are, but I can promise you your impact has not gone unnoticed. Even if you are a friend of a friend of a step-family member of my cousin who found this blog by some twist of fate, thank you. You are reading this blog and supporting my passion of writing. You are listening to my words and you are telling me, through page views, that you care what I say. That the world cares about me and cares about what I say to the world around me.

Happy Planner Week of June 26 - July 2

This is good because....

July 2, 2017

I am currently reading (okay, listening to on audiobook) the self-help book titled “You are a Badass”. I absolutely love it, and I highly recommend reading it or listening to it via Audible. It has fantastic positive thinking tips, and regularly intersperses exercises for you to practice what you are learning in the book. One of the exercises I have been trying recently is focused on shifting your mindset and seeing the good in difficult situations.

For this exercise, take a challenging and difficult situation, and reframe it by telling yourself: “This is good because…”

For example, I came down to the cruise ship café on deck 5 for a semi-quiet morning of writing time and maybe some knitting. The café happens to share the same space as the main piazza, which quite unexpectedly and for an unknown reason offered a circus act this morning.

This unexpected and confusing distraction was good because it gave me a really good story to blog about, once the leotard lady descended from the giant metal sphere and the piazza returned to its normal hum. Yes, I got pictures.

What does it take to survive? (Thoughts from Vietnam)

June 23, 2017

Ho Chu Minh City (Phu My), Vietnam

Note: Potentially upsetting topics such as mental illness and war are discussed in this piece. 

I always joke that in a horror movie, I would be the first to die. I would be the first to die by choice. As soon as I became aware of what was going on, I would walk right out and demand the evil spirit take me early on. I am not going through all the running and screaming and two-hour movie when the ending will be the same. Just kill me now please and thank you.

Horror movies are different from reality, of course. I started reading the Hunger Games series last summer (I’m starting the third book now), and I wondered if my logic would be the same. In the Hunger Games, I would most likely die, and early on I’ll bet. Would I fight for my life in this fictional world?

Or, a more disturbing question: would I survive a war time, like that of the Vietnam war?

Thoughts from the Lido Deck

June 18, 2017

The Majestic Princess Cruise Ship

We have settled in on the brand new Majestic Princess cruise ship. It is quite large and all-inclusive, and incredibly exciting to be on its maiden voyage. And now, it’s time for my current scattered thoughts and opinions. (I think I should come up with a series where I give my unsolicited opinion about what’s going on. Working out the title for my new segment.)

What’s on my mind:

Photos from Singapore

Photo Credit to Marci's Facebook

Get out of the photo Stan!

Flat Stanley quit photobombing our vacation photos please and thank you.