New Year, New Start

2012 is finally here. This year, I'm hoping to find more focus in my life since focus has always been a big problem for me. This year, I will be turning 40 and I want to start living in accordance with my values and interests. Instead of waiting for things to happen, I would like to make them happen. I want to write more and really delve into photography. I would love to make a living by writing about different subjects and publishing nature photos. Travel would be fun too, if that's where that road leads me.

During the last two months of 2011, I've written and published two poems as a Yahoo! Contributor. The first is a short haiku, which was a popular form in 17th century Japan. My haiku is called Ruby in the Snow. My second poem is a sestina entitled The Winter Journey Home. Uncommonly seen today, sestinas were invented during the 12th century High Middle Ages in what is today the southern section of France. With 6 stanzas of 6 lines and a two line envoi using words repeated throughout the poem, it is the longest and most challenging form of poetry I've ever written, but the finished product was very satisfying.

I've also been thinking of applying for a position as a Guide on about.com for Word Processing. With my professional background in that subject, I think that I might stand a fair chance of writing for that topic. It would help me break into professional writing and I would be able to share my word processing knowledge with others.

Classic is the Best

I have been using Yahoo! Mail for a long time and through the years, Yahoo! made changes designed to improve and enhance the user experience. When it first came out, it seemed like a good idea so I switched from my tried and true Classic Yahoo! to the new fangled version. What was simple and intuitive turned into a bloated and slow interface. I hated it and switched back. Over the past few months, Yahoo! seem to have become a bit more aggressive in switching users over to "the dark side." For months, I could not log into my account without being harassed by a message about Terms of Service. Clicking on the wrong button in the message would initiate the new Yahoo! Mail. After months of carefully dancing around the Accept button, in my haste one day, I accidentally hit the dreaded Accept button. I resigned myself to using the new version for several weeks since there seemed to be no obvious way to revert to Classic, but today I finally had enough of it. What was once a simple act of opening and reading my e-mail, turned into an aggravating ordeal today. During several incidences of trying to open and read my e-mail, I received a message from Yahoo! stating that there was a problem with the mail and that I should check my network connections. I know that there is definitely nothing wrong with my connection. Going through Yahoo!'s Help pages to find out how to switch back to Yahoo! Classic was not at all helpful. It seemed that the instructions for reverting back to Classic didn't exist. They must be trying to convert everyone to stay with the new interface for some reason. Fortunately, after what seemed like a long time researching the solution on Google, I was able to find the answer on Yahoo! Answers. I'm posing the link to the fix here so that anyone who has trouble switching back might be able to do so. The topic reads "Upgrading to the new Yahoo! Mail, but in the middle of the article, there is a section titled "What if I don't want to upgrade to the newest version of Yahoo! Mail?" with a link to bring you back to Classic:

http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/ymail/context/migrationv2.html

Good luck!

Another Chapter Closed

Tomorrow will be my last day at work. I put in my resignation two weeks ago. I am sad that it didn't work out and sad to leave the friends and connections I had made during my time there. I finally had my own desk in my own private space, but it wasn't enough. Work at an accounting firm is very hectic during the busy tax season. It was stressful, but the stress was exacerbated by a boss who was emotional, domineering and unclear with her directions. I have had bad managers in the past and experience told me that I would be happier if I should leave. It got to a point where I had to weigh whether it was worse to stay or to leave. Hopefully I made the right choice. It was a difficult decision which I tossed about in my head for months. I finally got so tired of thinking about it that I decided to take action.

In a way, maybe it is a good move. My skills as a word processor were not being fully utilized there. What they really need is a typist and not a word processor. A word processor types, that is obvious, but the two are not synonymous. Word processors, in general, possess more advanced skills than typists. They know how to properly format a document so that it works efficiently and looks consistent. Not everyone knows how to do this, although most people think they do, just because they use Word. Before I was a word processor, I thought that I knew how to use Word too... until I got a job as a professional word processor.

I want to try to become a professional freelance word processor/presentation specialist. If I could do that, pay off my debts, have a family and one day return to school for a more advanced degree, that would be great. For now, I have a lot of work ahead of me before I can even think of going back. On the bright side, I can get a head start by reading as much as I can about medieval art and history so that by the time I go back, I will be well prepared.

I would like to keep writing, but it's getting late and time for bed. Wouldn't want to be late on my last day of work!