On Writing - For Me Anyway

I highly recommend writing as a hobby! It gives a feeling of accomplishment. It is good exercise for your brain and yes, it is possible to make a living at it. I'm passing a lot of days here at home with only books, an internet connection and time. When I write, it does not feel like days lost. I've also started keeping a personal journal. I write down my accomplishments for the day, my step count and around Sunday, goals for the week. It has only been a month or so and I'm mainly interested in seeing what changes over longer periods of time. If you don't have a computer, all you need is a notebook and a pen to start. I still have an old notebook with stories I wrote not long after high school. Start writing! Enjoy the benefits of wandering around in your own limitless imagination and stay sane at the same time.          
   
No, I'm not one of those suffering artists having words  bleed out of me onto the page (or computer screen??). It happens when it happens. Sometimes I go many months only writing a log-in or a comment or two. My last completed book, Seeds of The Utopia Times Unite, was mostly done on Saturdays, many Saturdays. College and NFL football are cool and all. They do nothing towards long term goals. They are great time wasters when that's what you need. Sometimes we all need a break. I find I write because I want to and when I want to. I don't seek validation or a big pay day with a movie deal. I share it with others because I find value in it and want to share. It you don't like it or laugh at my silly errors, that's cool. Find stuff you do like and I'll keep working on getting better.  

Now I find myself with too much time on my hands mostly here at home. What to do? There is Youtube which takes time wasting to a whole new level. There are video games. I never really got into them and that's probably for the best. Then there are books. I have hundreds here in the house and a whole library full via my Kindle (My most used birthday gift ever! Thank you Carol and Dad). I read a serious book then one or two just for fun. They say want to write, then read! I agree. Writing is not an easy thing to do. It takes energy and time both. I have slowly built the habit of writing every day. It may be just a few lines, doing a little editing on older stuff or a whole page or two. The days I skip, I feel funny, like something is missing. Zero days for me are when little to nothing gets accomplished. It is okay to have them from time to time. Pain, tiredness and laziness sometimes win. I just try to keep them to a minimum.

Live better than Louis XIV? You bet!

The King

and I

Count your many blessings!

 .

King Louis XIV lived an amazing life for sure. For his time, I'd say he maxed out on how good a life a life could be. He had the longest reign in European history, had the Versailles Palace built and kept the nobility and army in check. The link will give you some more information. No, I'm not saying I'm better than the king, far from it. I'm just one among billions. What I am going to talk about is how far we have come in just a few hundred years.

Being King, Louis would have had medical care from the best doctors in France. He had a very long life. Sounds good, right? I still like my doc better. She understands germ theory and applies it when treating me for a cold or flu. If I have a more serious problem, she has access to things like X-Rays, MRI scans, and lab tests. I have more than one hospital I can go to if needed and a good EMS service to get me there in a crunch. I can have professional medical help here at my house in five or ten minutes. It's one of those things you don't want to use but good to know you can. So safe to say I have better health care. But he has / had a much bigger house.

King Louis lived in Versailles while I live in a small house, in a small city, in a fairly poor state. But living in 2019 (as of this writing) has advantages. I control the temperature with the press of a button (most of the time). I have a refrigerator and freezer that keeps my food safe to eat. I have running water that's safe to drink. He may have had something similar but I'll stick with my flushing toilet. I'm sure Versailles looks spectacular, even at night, even more so with all the well to do types running around. The king kicks my ass in the fashion department. But I bet he would dig my electric lights, especially when I had funky colored light bulbs! I think he would marvel at my old TV until he watched a few shows. I'd rather watch live plays at his place too. The internet would totally trip him out. I'd never get my computer back! Sorry sir, no absolute rule here (no matter what The Donald may think).          

Say something bad about King Louis and he could have you imprisoned, tortured or executed or all three. There was no process or get out of jail free cards. Meanwhile, I can criticize Emperor Donald all I want, join radical groups and rage against the machine until the cows come home without fear of imprisonment, torture or execution at least for now anyway. Unlike having a king, my government has accountability. We can vote them out which is a lot easier and cleaner than violent, bloody revolutions. I'll take the win for living in a more free society.

So yeah, I want to learn more about Louis XIV but not trade places with him.    
    

Transition Update: Finding Ways Forward.

Hello Party people!

Old picture.

So I've not been working for a little over two months now... What have I been up to?

Counting ceiling tiles? No, none here.
Pacing the house? Yeah, sort of. I can get on my power chair and roam the house like a ghost cyborg. I've not done that in awhile.
Extra naps? No. Not many anyway.
Eating for something to do while staring blankly at a digital clock? Not so far.
Endless daytime TV? No. But I can kill some serious time on you tube (more on this later).
Video games? A little.
Surrendered to alcoholism and or recreational drugs? Not yet.

There are better ways forward.
I've been reading a lot more. I read one serious book followed by one for entertainment. That's a good positive way to pass time. I decided to trade my Netflix subscription for an Adobe Creative Suite subscription. Episodes of Stranger Things can only get me so far in life. Learning graphic design and web stuff seems like a better way to spend hours. There are tons of free tutorials on you tube as well. Look for more digital art work soon! I'm slowly getting back into working on my books; Seeds of  Utopia. Rebellion and The Arroyo. It is a matter of building a daily habit. If you have a lot of alone time, writing is a good way to go. Write about anything, just write. I'm now looking forward to where this may go. But remember God has a sick sense of humor sometimes.

I may or may not return to work. I'm trying to lose some weight to see if that will help my joints and back any. I'm not like massively overweight just a little heavier than I need to be. Still, that will not replace missing cartage in the joints in question that make getting around such a chore. Will it help me sleep better? Who knows? A full forty hour a week thing seems unlikely as of this writing but perhaps I can do other stuff on my own time and a schedule of my choosing. On more painful days, I can vege in front of You Tube. That's not today. Meanwhile I got Ankius, Xerces and Vallari stuck on a frozen nomadic planet far from any star and they are wondering where the hell I am. I better go help them out.

Thanks for reading and keep moving forward!             
   

Transition- Job to Disability?

It was a good run at work. I did a shade under twenty years with the State of North Carolina working with people transitioning jobs and careers. I did a few years during that time just doing Unemployment Insurance only. I've thought about writing a book about it- True Confessions of a State Employee. I've met a cast of characters (both people I've worked with and served alike) you could meet in no other place than a sate unemployment office; business executives, money men, sales people, technicians, pilots, mechanics, veterans (with and without the 1,000 meter stare), nurses, CNA's forklift drivers, dock people, truck drivers and others who were indeed their own category- dreamers and inventors. Greensboro, NC was and still is a home to refugees and immigrants from the world over. I think there are over one hundred nationalities here and most have passed through our office doors at some point or other. I've met an Olympian from Bulgaria, a surgeon from Cuba, another doctor from The Sudan as well as many who could not read nor write from some of the poorest countries on Earth. Yeah, there are several books worth of characters no doubt. But all things come to an end or do they?

Well, we will see. But for now I'm out making the transition to disability. Time will tell if this is a permanent deal or not. I still have some work in me but I doubt it will be the forty hour a week grind kind. I'll keep my medical issues to myself and Uncle Sam, thanks. Basically, time is catching up to me. It does to all of us sooner or later. So if you are reading this as a healthy person, plan ahead. Set aside funds and develop good fall back skills you can do with your brain. There is no guarantee on tomorrow. I think the best kind of work for people with disabilities is self employment in one form or another. It is about controlling your schedule and workload. It is also important to always have goals, a reason to get up in the morning. There is more to life than a job. I do have things I want to do still- travel more, write more and always read. I'd be bullshitting you if I said I'm fearless. So let me face my fears. Walk with me.

My fears in all of this are being forgotten, out of work out of mind if you will. Will my brain turn to mush watching Youtube, Netflix and the NFL for hours and hours on in? Will my weight explode bringing on further health complications?  Another big worry is losing more of my health and leaving home for a rest home type of deal watching days slip into weeks, months, years until I get the golden toe (cadaver) tag. And the food? Pee smell? Activities? I, too, become that stinky old person no one wants to go see. Will I become someone stuck in the past using data from twenty years ago to argue positions no longer even relevant? All of this is possible but nah. I refuse. I'll do better.

I'll do my part to stay in touch with coworkers, friends and family in meaningful ways. I limit my Youtube and Netflix to two hours a day or less. I can only handle one football game a week. I'll control my diet and continue making exercise a part of the daily routine. My money goes much further overseas. I'll either live out my days with my Vietnamese family in Vietnam or set off for sunny Costa Rica teaching English for fun and profit. Dying among family or new friends sounds better than enriching some rest home conglomeration. That's a no brainier. I'll stay up to date with changing issues and times. It is too important not too. But first things first. Get income.

Thanks to scammers, deadbeats and callous politicians getting disability is a long tedious process and I'm just starting. I hope to avoid lawyers (AKA middlemen) in this process but who knows? It now seems too subjective to me. People who never met me get to decide if I'm "disabled" enough to get anything. Everything Federal takes time. Out of work a few weeks now and I already feel better. I'm seeing friends more, exercising more, writing more and reading more. Not too far down the road I see more travel and fun ahead. For now a loose daily routine is settling in that passes the days filled with progress and meaning. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.            

Mainstream III

Work-Able

I now think the best employment for people with physical disabilities is self-employment. This way, you have control over your own schedule. Sure, it depends on what you are doing. But  you are not going to be fired if you need to take a break for a few days. Build what you do according to your abilities without having to over do it. So, where to begin?   

The internet provides a ton of opportunities that did not exist only a generation ago. Here is a post from one of my other blogs,  Jobs for the Rest of Us.   Look it over and see what you think. Check your local area for help starting a business. The library or Chamber of Commerce are good starting points. Not sure what you would like? Here is a list of career assessment tools to get some ideas.   

If self employment is not for you, Uncle Sam is always looking for people. Here is a link for Information for Persons With Disabilities.

Mainstream II

Getting Paid

Just based on my experience... Results may vary.

So what did the education get me? Well, the guy who hired me for my first full time job told me he figured if I could earn a bachelor's degree, I could most likely be successful working for him. Yes, I worked for a pay day lending company. I did collections. I ran branches and I trained new employees. Not a bad gig but after getting robbed a gun point twice I decided to look for a safer career choice. I did a little time more or less self employed but the income was non existent to erratic for paying rent and car payments. I then spent a little time in call center purgatory (I had done this before going to work full time). That was truly awful, even worse then stick-up men. I fumbled around adrift and out of a job for a year or so. But I got by. At last I had a chance encounter.

I ran into an old hippie friend from college, Christine, one sunny summer afternoon. She told me she worked at the Employment Security Commission (unemployment office) and to come see her. I did. Right away she helped me find a part time job grading school papers. It was cool but I was not going to get rich. So I still came to see her every so often. She helped me get an interview where she worked for another part time job. Months went by and I had given up on it and found another job in customer service head set hell. I still needed to eat and the paper grading was seasonal. Then "Hire the Handicapped Week" rolled around. The Employment Security Commission called me in for another interview. Sure, why not? It was a short interview and when I got home there was a job offer on my voicemail. "Hire the Handicapped Week?" I'll take it! After a year or two I became a full time state employee, A Made Guy! That was almost twenty years ago.

It has been a good ride so far. Early on, I was instructed to put together job fairs with 15-20 employers once a month. It was kind of like head set hell all over but easier. It was making show time! That made it fun. My role has mostly been helping people find jobs. But I learned about Unemployment Benefits as well. I got a new role. One day my Supervisor told me, "Paul, go in that room full of random people and tell them all they need to know about Unemployment Insurance." I got over any fear of speaking in front of groups real fast. That's a good skill to have. Later on I took Unemployment claims; in state, interstate, federal and military. It was always changing. It seemed for every rule there was one odd exception. A few years ago they centralized Unemployment to one main location and I went back to mostly helping people find jobs. I could populate a book with characters (both customers and co-workers) I've met over the years. And I'm still there as of this writing.

I've got one more thing to discuss about having a disability and working. Self-employment. That will be the last in this series.                       

Mainstream

Children with physical disabilities need to be mainstreamed as much as possible.

I'll use myself as an example. I started off in a school for children with physical and developmental disabilities. My Dad, David "The Bear" LaVack, realized I was not learning anything. He talked my Mom and Grandmother into letting me try the regular public schools. This was a different time way back in the mid 1970's. I still remember my first day of first grade with all the other kids looking at me. I thought it was because I was the new kid. We were all new kids. Things quickly changed. Soon, I was just another student making my way through the school year. To my knowledge this was long before IEP's and "certificates of completion." I did the same homework, school work and cut up as much as anyone. For the most part, I had little to no trouble with bully types. One time going to the bus another kid started to make fun of me. I had barely caught on to the fact he was making fun of me before another older kid I dd not know left the bus he was already on and proceeded to beat his ass. I never has another incident at that school.

I did go through one phase of being bullied. I did everything wrong (and no I'm not blaming myself for the bad behavior of others). Hear me out. It was the only time I was isolated and friendless and I looked different. My family relocated and I went from a rural school to an inner-city school. It was a different culture. I did not try to tell anyone what was going on. I was picked on pretty bad on a daily basis (never physically).  But hell, I survived. Here is where you learn from my mistakes. Make friends. Later on I helped other kids with homework and got them out of class early to help me carry books. I was (and still) attracted to the misfits and yoyos. There are always some. So I was never alone. A funny thing happened in high school. I soon realized I could get along with kids from any group, pot heads, preps jocks, goths and punks. In time I had friends in each group. A smile and the occasional "S'up man" in the hall goes a long way. I'd make eye contact and nod (acknowledge) everyone I could. I had no bully drama in high school.

After ruling out an NFL or NBA career, I realized I better start using my brain. K-11 I was always your basic C student. My last year I decided to see how well I could do. I got up to A's and B's (Except math and I still suck at math). Sadly, my math teachers passed me anyway. I went on to community college and the local university. I'm now a recovering English Major with a Master's Degree in Conflict Resolution. Both are useful and timeless degrees. English Majors will still be reading Shakespeare and learning to think critically 100 years from now.                      

I'll do a part II to this soon.