A month ago I took off “suddenly.” The thing to know about me, is I never actually do anything suddenly. Having been alone for most of my life I plan things out with great detail in my head, so when I act it looks very sudden.
The visit was months of discussion, months of persuasion and me resisting. Actually I had planned to go since April, but things didn’t work. Yet this new factor was both a temptation and a reason to resist. One resistance was budget in nature, but I will explain that later.
On July 3rd a classmate came to town from Las Cruces for a family wedding. A third classmate joined us, and we went out to eat around the corner from her hotel. Soon we were joined by her husband. He had already eaten so he stayed for a drink and left, then her brother showed up, a friend on facebook.
The 5 of us soon went out to a club, her brother and I danced the night away at the Mambo Club. We laughed and acted like we were a couple (see the image above). So the next week, I asked my classmate about him. She didn’t say much, but a few weeks later she said to talk to him.
The conversations were few, but comfortable. Often with him encouraging me to visit his sister and him in New Mexico. Finally in November, my resistance broke, and I am glad it did. Yes, it was nice to get away from home. But truth is I had a lot of fun, and all we did was hang out, like a first date (that lasted 2 days) Well, I guess it was… and soon we will try a 4 day second date.
Unfortunately for him, I have dated more than a few jerks, so he’s got a mountain to climb. Which really isn’t fair to him; but, something tells me he’s up to the task. 
Course this is going to be a bit weird if he reads my posts… although he’ll probably laugh.
Now drifting back to the first resistance and the related. Part of the disillusionment with taxes and bookkeeping is the pay has not gone up while the bosses have gotten progressively meaner. In my 20s I shopped for designer labels on sale, although I could buy them full price. My savings was nice.
In my 30s after a bad business deal, the business partner made off nice 
. Followed by a period when no one would hire me, my savings disappeared, debts appeared, in droves. A few years of work helped, but when I was laid off in April, I decided to quit in July (long story). It was time to follow a 30+ year dream of being a writer, but the starving artist is NOT part of the dream.
I want to able to pay bills, even better to buy things again, without worry. But after New Mexico, my urge and urgency has grown. My debts need to be paid off, the sooner the better.
So what’s the plan o’ action? First are goals, $1500 to raise before the end of the year, $5000 by February 1st. That will be great forward progress.
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Sell my Wendi Friesen and Joe Vitale stuff on eBay to raise money ASAP (see if there is more stuff I can sell) http://bit.ly/6oBTJQ
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Promote my products more on http://RockstarGuideBooks.com,
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Produce new products.
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Find JV partners.
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Write articles.
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Do more graphics. I do graphics for fun but it’s a little bit of income.
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Offer ghost writing
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Make the ex-boyfriend pay his debt to me.
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Believe.
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BELIEVE. (worth repeating)
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Make it so… (Star Trek: TNG)
So if you need to learn something in particular, have ideas to raise some funds, ideas of what I can sell, please leave some comments. If you know (or even better are) a potential JV partner, please leave a comment.
MJ Schrader
Movie Monday
People have asked me both what is Movie Monday and how to play it… So here’s the quick story.
So many people do not like Monday so I thought I would add some “spice” by creating “Movie Monday.” This is a fun game to make people smile.
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* HINT
Each Monday my Facebook Status will be a quotes from a popular movie.* I will post one hint which is direct link to the movie on IMDB. IMDB does not put the title of the movie in the link, which is great for those who want to figure out what movie I am quoting, or if you want to guess. If you click the link you can check it out. If scroll all the way down to the bottom you can click quotes to get more quotes Yes, that’s where I get the actual quote so it should be right.
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* RULES
But the rules of the game are simple.
Comment with other quotes from the movie.
I try to pick positive quotes from whatever movie. Last month I decided to start quoting only one movie on Monday. Why? Because people would ask me later in the week, “what movie did you quote?” So let’s do a quick poll… stick with one movie with a couple status changes? Or do a couple movies on Monday?
* POLL
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* Re: Popular movie I am a bit of a sci-fi nut, but know people like romance so I will try to choose popular movies. Also if you want me to quote a particular movie, please feel free to comment below
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* MY RADIO STATION
AND on another note check out my favorite radio station, it’s online. Mostly undiscovered artists, but it’s beautiful music and a wide variety. I listen all day and choose what type of music I want to hear that day. Some days I listen to friends’ radio stations to find new artists. Http://TheSixtyOne.com/MJSchrader
MJ Schrader
Posted by MJ Schrader under
fun
Yes, another week in Lent brings another “Let’s Eliminate Negative Thinking” blog post. Special thanks to Joan Adams and Lynette Patterson who inspired “Celebrate Moments.” This series ends April 11th, as Lent ends, then just 4 days later my job ends. While it would be easy for me to say I am thinking nothing but positive thoughts about this, that would be a lie.
Work has not been as busy as I need it to be. There have been incidents that make me realize this is not where I need to be. I have had times when I wish this season was already over, yet that leaves me wondering what to do afterwards. The plan is to have a book finished, but it is still not done. Then the question of will enough copies sell to support me over the summer, and grow enough to make a living. Add into the mix my ex-boyfriend owes me money and whines with each minimal payment. Cross country and some shorter trips over the summer are in my plans, which require both time and money. All of these stress my physical and mental health.
Yet, there are numerous blessings, albeit some disquised. There have been some wonderful repeat clients, whom make me want to stay. Work being slower has given me more time to write. While I am not done, I have never gotten this far in writing a book. With the end of season pay and the book finished, I can have time to write another book, or find my way to pay bills. I reunited with someone online who intriques me, although I haven’t yet told him I’d like to meet him again. He lives cross country, so it will surprise him. Not having traveled much, these cross country trips are exciting.
Life is like that. It’s a mixed bag, no life is 100% bad, yet it’s easy to get focused on all the bad things and forget about the good. Then negative thinking multiplies allowing you to focus on more negative. But there are inspirations and great things everywhere, and in the things you do. Inspire yourself, by looking for the good.
Celebrate something large or small that you did that was great. You made a client smile. You finished a project. You helped someone. Give yourself a present, 10 minutes on a video game, 10 minutes of reading for pleasure. “Let’s Eliminate Negative Thinking” by finding someway or something to make you think positive. Whisper to someone, even if you have to stare into your own eyes in the mirror, “I love you.” Then Celebrate the beauty in life, reward yourself for the good you bring!
I LOVE YOU!
~ MJ
