As a former choir girl I love to hear ochestral arrangements to pop songs I love. I thought I'd share this lovely tune with all of you because I wanted to brighten your Monday morning. Can you guess who he is? And for bonus points, can you identify the song he's playing before the video ends?

[H/T Tuning Spork of Blather Review]

Posted by: Michele at 08:43 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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This week's blog prompt is courtesy of carinc, which I found via Tink:

Do you find it easier to "be yourself" when communicating online with people you've never met? And without being specific, do you belong to or visit many online communities, or just this one?

For me, itÂ’s always been easier to be myself online, thereÂ’s no risk involved. IÂ’m nice to everyone and theyÂ’re nice to me. Oh thereÂ’s been a few who crossed the line with me, but I banned them and that took care of them.

I have had to make 2 phone calls in the last 2 years to apologize because I felt I had offended 2 bloggers with some commentary. In both instances, thankfully, I was told my fears were unfounded. Still I was relieved to know all was okay and we were able to resume blogging.

I find I do better online because my job requires me to meet lots of new people daily. That is very draining for me, so dealing with people online is such a pleasurable low stress experience that I enjoy it.

IÂ’m very glad that my first blogger encounter was w/Eric, who was so experienced with meeting bloggers that he made me feel at ease. I was definitely nervous and had a horrendous day prior to meeting him, but he was funny and charming and made the whole experience fun, so it helped me look forward to other blogging events.

In looking back I owe Eric big time for making it so easy for me. Next time he comes to NY lunch is on me and weÂ’ll be heading downtown to Little India, a one block stretch where all youÂ’ll find is a string of Indian restaurants on after another.

Posted by: Michele at 10:39 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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One of the reasons people think I'm so efficient is because I'm a planner. I like to plan way in advance for everything: I finalize my vacation plans in February and by the end of September I'm done with Christmas shopping. In doing that I then have time to enjoy my holidays. This year I've made a sudden change that will definitely baffle my family members and will definitely excite my son. I decided that just this morning after waking up with the idea in my head and checking my bank account. A long weekend away from everything and everyone. A weekend surrounded by woods and nature, and good simple christian folk. I don't have any details or research all I have is a desire to unplug from this concrete steel hard city and plug into the warmth and hearth of spirit and love of nature and God.

In the summer of 2001, my friends and I had, as usual, planned our entire winter. After running and completing the grueling 26 mile run of the NYC Marathon we would celebrate together by giving thanks during a long Thanksgiving weeked at an Amish inn that was also a working farm.

As you know they never made it, and till now I haven't either. But for some reason I woke up this morning hoping to do something special that weekend for my son and me. So, hopefully it'll come to be.

But for today, I'll point you to where you can find a bit of fun & silliness.

Posted by: Michele at 12:41 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Now that the weather has turned colder, and IÂ’m spending more time indoors, IÂ’ve been wanting to cook a lot. Now I donÂ’t post all that I cook because I donÂ’t want: (a) to make people jelaous, and (b) to seem more of an over-achiever than I really am, unlike other folks ; )

But this time I will, if only to help a blog-bro out. In his latest post, Gebiv, tells how disappointed he was in the Kung Po chicken he was given at his favorite Chinese restaurant that is under new mgt. Well, if youÂ’d really like to give it a try itÂ’s not really that difficult. I think youÂ’ll have a tougher time finding all the ingredients in your local supermarket than making this dish.

A little history though, before I start. This dish in China is really called “Gong Bao”. In the U.S. you can find this dish under the name of: Kung Po, Kung Pao and Kung Pow. You can make this dish with beef, shrimp or with Chicken. I’ve included the Chicken recipe and have cut it down from the 8 servings I used to make for my friends to 2. I’ve also indicated some alternative ingredients in the list.

Now, I know that when you at the list of ingredients youÂ’ll probably say to yourself thatÂ’s an awful lot of stuff to buy for one dish. Well, the good news is that IÂ’ll begin posting some of the Asian recipes that I learned to cook while living overseas so that you can use up those ingredients, because they are the staples of Asian cooking.

A word to the lazy and calorie conscious (I'm not linking you 'cause you know who you are) out there (lol!), this dish takes from prep to finished product about 45 min. and it is NOT low cal. If you tried doing that with dish youÂ’d eliminate the flavor so donÂ’t even try it.
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Posted by: Michele at 11:25 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Who's Got My Back by Creed

Run hide
All that was sacred to us
Sacred to us
See the signs
The covenant has been broken
By mankind
Leaving us with no shoulder...with no shoulder
To rest our head on
To rest our head on
To rest our head on

Who's got my back now?
When all we have left is deceptive
So disconnected
what is the truth now?

(what is the truth?)

There's still time
All that has been devastated
Can be recreated
Realize
We pick up the broken pieces
Of our lives
Giving ourselves to each other..ourselves to each other
To rest our head on
To rest our head on
To rest our head on
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Posted by: Michele at 12:51 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Don't believe me? Go here and read! Don't even bother reading the rest of my blog - GO SEE for yourself!

Posted by: Michele at 11:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I donÂ’t know why I ever thought that I could and should participate in this writing project because the truth of the matter is I canÂ’t. It was the single biggest stumbling block in finishing my masters program. Since I could not write on command like the others, I edited other's work and I encouraged and inpired. I did that so well that I was hired by 3 different professors to edit their books for publishing. I didnÂ’t get paid on those projects because my aim was to having some representative work for my portfolio when I applied to work in publishing. I can also claim to my credit 2 entries to an academic literary encyclopedia, but that's academic work. NOw, ask me to write fiction or poetry with a deadline or to put 1,666 words on paper per day over 30 days and I get jammed up so tight I cant find my way out of a document.

Of course it doesn't help that in the past year I have seen 12 bloggers who have managed to publish their blogs. Yes, that's write, including one of a woman who took a job as a cab driver because she wasn't motivated to do anything else to make money and needed something to write about. Another of those published bloggers is on their 3rd concept book.

I have to tell you though, I AM happy for them because I did enjoy their blogs (well, except the cab driver's) and in fact linked to them. Still, that doesnÂ’t take away from my own frustration over seeing others writing away and managing to come up with something substantial to write about. For me, the writing experience is incredibly different. I have be drawn, almost compelled to write over everything else in order for me to produce something... even something decent. I have to be sent to the page from my inner being, otherwise I can just sit there and bat stuff around for hours.

In this case, if I continue to write about not being able to write IÂ’ll only manage to implode the little writing esteem I have managed to develop since starting this blog, so IÂ’ll stop while I have a few shreds of esteem left.

Believe me itÂ’s not for lack of ideasÂ… I have them. As proof I put the 3 best story ideas that I attempted today in the extended entry. The truth is I didnÂ’t feel them. They felt so hollow. And since they lacked the emotional essence that drives my writing I just couldnÂ’t continue. The last thing I want when I write is to feel that IÂ’m forcing it. So to those of you participating in this novel writing project I wish you much passion and drive so you may complete your work.

Good luck!
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Posted by: Michele at 01:41 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 Wow. You can write.

Posted by: vw bug at November 02, 2006 07:58 AM (NoCe/)

2 I felt this way all summer. I didn't write anything. No short stories, hardly any blog entries. I think I had to recharge a little since I write so much during the school year. I also alternate between "I can't put three words together and have them make sense" and "I'm the next Faulkner, I'm such a damn genius!" It's all part of the self-torture we call writing. I know how much it sucks to see other people being recognized while you're not. It makes you feel like they're more worthy than you. Most of the time, though, it's that they're in the direct line of sight and you're not. I'm a firm believer in the idea that anyone can be anything they want, despite what my classmates say about class oppression (a la Marx) and limited opportunities, etc... It's just a matter of will-power and paying your dues. The thing that's helped my writing the most in the last year has been reading. I have a steady of diet of only the best writing I can get my hands on. Most of it is NOT contemporary. I know some defend post-modernists and say that there's a lot of good writers out there now. I agree there are SOME, but not A LOT. Go back about 40 years and start backwards from there. For me, the '20s and '30s were the highpoint of truly American literature. It seems like you also have to develop an ear for deleting what's unnecessary. About 30% of the words I use in my first draft are completely superfluous. To prove my point: Thirty percent of my first draft is superfluous. A lot of editing is personal preference, too. What some consider too verbose, others feel is "color". For example, in your last paragraph, I might reword the sentence to: "Clara thought Millie was a goldmine of self-deprecating entertainment." Then I would delete the last sentence, except for maybe "Clara giggled," and something about the torture (but drop "dying day", too cliche). Others would disagree. I just have cultivated this sensitivity to an internal tuning fork that either rings true when the sentence is working, or rattles in discord when the words aren't right. I just have had to train myself to listen to it. Sometimes it rings quieter, sometimes louder. But every time it rings out of tune on a sentence and I leave that sentence in, in workshop, someone mentions what I had already felt. I've come to think that most of writing is actually editing, not the initial creating. It's the refining, smoothing, and sometimes re-sculpting that happens after you've figured who says what to whom and who does (or does not do) what to whom. Editing is what makes good writing great, IMHO.

Posted by: Jon Brisbin at November 02, 2006 10:31 AM (W6Sge)

3 For me it's more of a project to see if I can do it. The fact that I'm not writing for an audience is a bonus in that I'm not anxiety stricken over whether or not I'm doing good work. *grin* I know there are people who are born writers. They MUST write, they start when they are young and nothing stops them, even if they are never published. Then there are people who want to write, but don't have the compelling urge within them to put the words on paper. Then there are people like me... readers who envy those with the imagination to create. I've never ever tried to write anything more than a class writing assignment back in the days of high school English. Even then, the fact that the teacher would be reading it was enough to stop me from letting out with the extra oomph... what if it sounded stupid? I do hold back from the overblown verbiage which is really necessary to write a great novel. I'm trying to see if I can actually put some of that out in my story if I think of it as something that's just for me. LOL. We'll see.

Posted by: Teresa at November 02, 2006 10:42 AM (o4pJS)

4 I'm closer to Teresa on this one. I think I can't write, but I don't know it. I have written tons and tons of words for academic papers. To me, that's incredibly simple. I can literally write a 10- or 20-page paper in a day if it's about the academics of computers. As for the creative writing, I really want to be good at it, but I fear I'm not. I have trouble coming up with ideas, but when I do, I can run with them. I've written and submitted dozens and dozens of short stories (Fantasy and SF) to magazines and journals -- I've never been published once. Now, with the NaNoWriMo, indeed, I can write it knowing that no one will care what it is. I'll go ahead and post it online, but mostly for my own enjoyment and a sense of accomplishment. In addition, one of the points of writing so much so fast is that it's NOT edited! Once I write the words, that's done, I'm on to the next words. There's ZERO proofreading (which if often painfully obvious) -- and I, too, will have lots of useless stuff added to the text. Your three attempts are good. But if you can't let it flow, there is not point in forcing it. I'm stumbling so far this year because the story isn't coming. Last year, I had a story and I really knew where it was supposed to go before I started. I have NO idea where this one is going, so it's wandering A LOT. But sometimes it's fun because surprises appear that even I didn't see coming! Thanks for the well-wishes, and you can certainly start planning what you might write in time for next year!

Posted by: Ogre at November 02, 2006 02:33 PM (oifEm)

5 Do what's best for you. (And just for the record, you can *too* write!)

Posted by: Richmond at November 02, 2006 06:53 PM (e8QFP)

6 .. dang... if I had to stop writing about having nothing to write about, I'd be doomed!...

Posted by: Eric at November 03, 2006 09:59 AM (NlzwQ)

7 This might be helpful, or at least comforting: http://badexample.mu.nu/archives/091570.php

Posted by: Harvey at November 09, 2006 11:59 AM (L7a63)

8 Good wishes also.

Posted by: Bruce at November 13, 2006 09:02 PM (o+0N8)

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Dear AWTM:

Tammi and I were discussing how competitive and vindictive some women can be. I see that doesn’t stop at the workplace. I have seen your picture and you are a very beautiful woman, so in my estimation the only motivation for her to say that was to injure you where it hurts women most – our self-image.

My guess is that she did that out of anger and seething jealously. She is so unhappy with her small unproductive life, that she resorted to mean childish behavior.

Earlier this week my female boss removed me off a project saying I lacked the sophistication, polished image and experience to organize the event. At every turn when she’s done similar things in front of others she has looked awful in their eyes. Today, we were to meet a couple of ‘full birds’ of high rank to do a run-through for the upcoming event my firm is hosting. In the meeting she belittled me in front of these men and my peers, while simultaneously batting eyelashes and acting like a desperate school girl towards them (all men). I said nothing, instead I left her to her fate.

Well, Fate came walking through the door not 15 min. later in the form of our Chief Operating Officer (who remembers me from when we worked in DC) claiming his conference room. She tried to exert her alpha pseudo male authority, not only by cutting him off before he was finished, but also by inferring it was an accumulation of my errors that probably led to the roomÂ’s double booking.

As he walked over to stand behind me, he said to her with a smile “That’s not possible...” and placing his hand gently on my shoulder, continued, “Michele is one of the most efficient people I know… she even puts me to shame.”

Ahhhhh, the taste of retribution is even sweeter when things take care of themselves!

So I suspect Fate will take care of that womanÂ’s nastiness for you. You keep being the very witty, incredible woman that you are, while she sits at home in her narrow existence, not being published, not being sought for commentary and not being admired the way you are, for the love and hard work you put into your family. While you continue to inspire she will continue to repels. I have nothing but pity for the people in her life!

Posted by: Michele at 12:09 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Yep, Tammi's a PRO! Don't let her southern charm fool you. She came, she conquered and she left us a little empty for having had the pleasure of the Tammi experience.

Though I was too sick to go out and play, we got the oppty to talk. And talk we did... about NYC, what doing business here is like, managing to succeed in business in a predominantly man's world, cubicle life (yep, Tammi got a good dose and whiff of what that's like), blogging and what's up ahead for her. Throughout it all we managed to laugh and I managed to not throw up due to my flu. She kept my mind going which kept me not thinking about how I was feeling. Tammi, thanks for the phone calls!

Don't let her posts fool you, she truly aced NY and I say we're the better for her having been here.

My only regret was not being able to meet up with her and exchange warm hugs. Darn! Yet another blogger I don't get to meet. Yep, my record for meeting up with bloggers is non-existent. I think I'm just going to have to go out of town just so I can meet up with Tammi, Laughing Wolf, Teresa, Eric, and myriad of other bloggers in the midwest.

Anyway, Tammi, though your time here was brief, you will be missed. I'll be working from home most of the day and will venture out for just 1 mtg. Oh, and at the mtg. you won't be able to miss me. I'll be the woman in the back with the lovely skin color of pale gray to green, with a garbage pail next to me.

Posted by: Michele at 09:23 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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"Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint."

-- Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No. 15)

Posted by: Michele at 08:21 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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