50 questions to help you find your passion:

1. What is working well for you in your current life --- what do you find fulfilling, meaningful, enjoyable, and important?

I still have my independence, a place to work which I have been re-creating to get rid of clutter. I find those to be enjoyable and important.

2. What isn't working well for you in your current life --- what drains you, makes you stressed and anxious, or wastes your time?

Conflict and stress over conflicts drains me.

3. If you were financially secure and didn't need a paycheck, how would you spend your time?

I would still do much of what I do now. More travel and photographing old places. I'd have a space that was more my own, no other tenants for sure.

4. What are some childhood dreams or interests you never were able to fully explore but still find intriguing?

Costume design.

5. If you could be remembered for three things after you die, what would they be?

I'd like to be remembered as someone who people could talk to and leave feeling better about themselves. I don't need to be remembered but I would have liked to have made a difference, in a positive way, for the people I care about especially. They will be the ones still here after all, not me.

6. Who is someone in your life or in history whose life and work inspires and excites you? Why?

Lots of people. Shirley Jackson, the writer. Joan, the ASCII artist. Zack Brown, my nephew just stepping out into the world on his own. Most people can inspire or stimulate you with new ideas if you pay attention.

7. What skills do you possess that you really enjoy and love to do?

Photography, writing and text (ASCII) art. Sewing too. Also, seem to often find a way to manage or figure something out, inventive or ingenuity I guess.

8. What skills do you possess that you dislike but feel you must do anyway?

Anger. Being angry, controlling it, ignoring it, dealing with anger takes a lot of energy and drains me.

9. What specific activities have you done in a past or current job that you really enjoy and find engaging?

Organizing information. I think I liked feeling something was accomplished, also, I was able to find my own way to manage the organization and get it done.

10. What specific activities have you done in a past or current job that you dislike and never want to do again?

Sales!

11. How much of your time during an average week are spent doing things you dislike or that you feel waste your time?

I don't really like sleeping. But, like sleeping, most of the things I dislike are not going away, necessary or serve some purpose.

12. What are your top 5 most deeply held core values?

• You find what you are looking for.
• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
• Revenge (and anger) is a dish best served cold.
• Whether negative or positive, what you put out there into the world becomes who you are, how you are seen and changes the world around you.
• Keeping an open mind doesn't mean you are gullible but it is more important than most people think. There is a magic in the world for people who aren't closed off to it.

13. How does your life and work currently support or reflect those values?

I try to remain honest with everyone, even when it isn't so easy. I try to curb my impulsive actions and words unless they are directed in a positive and creative way.

14. Which of your top values are you ignoring or not giving enough attention?

Probably revenge and anger because I usually do nothing which leaves me with a lot of built up feelings and highly stressed out at times.

15. How are you living outside of your integrity?

I don't think I am. Other than not standing up for myself and pushing more for my own interests and needs.

16. What lies are you telling yourself and others about who you are and what's important to you?

Whatever lies I tell myself are too ingrained at this point to pick out.

17. What do you fear most when it comes to finding your passion?

Realizing that I had it all wrong or I missed something important and none of it was good at all.

18. What limiting beliefs do you hold about yourself and your ability to succeed at living your passion?

See above.

19. How have your fears and limiting beliefs held you back from finding or pursuing your passion in the past?

I have to push or trick myself into getting started and I don't usually finish the learning or creative process for the things which are most important to me.

20. What solid evidence do you have that your fears and limiting beliefs are true?

I'm turning 50 this year and this is not where I thought or feel I should be.

21. If there's some small amount of evidence that your fears or limiting beliefs might come to pass, is the risk big enough to prevent you from going after your passion?

So far it seems to be. If you have your final confirmation that you suck there isn't a great way to recover and try again from there.

22. Can you tolerate some risk and uncertainty around finding your passion? How much?

I've risked living on the poverty level most of my life. I'm not destitute but at some point the future is going to smack me upside the head.

23. What trumps finding and living your passion? Your current income? Your job? Your current lifestyle? Your home or the city you live in? The opinion of others? How you spend your time?

Mostly just myself.

24. What is the linchpin fear keeping you from going after your passion?

Running out of options. If you fall off a cliff you can't just jump back up again.

25. Specifically, what actions can you take to lessen and manage your fear?

I try to trick myself and work around it. Not highly successfully.

26. Are there any people in your life preventing you from pursuing your passion? Who are they and how are they holding you back?

My family are supportive and yet they can take the wind out of my sails too.

27. What could you do to communicate with this person (people) to enlist their support or get them to step out of your way?

You can't live in a fairy tale, things don't work that way.

28. Are you willing to disengage entirely from people undermining your passion pursuit? If not, why?

I'd love to live in the world by myself. But, then there would be no reason to do anything because there would be no one else there to see it or be a part of it.

29. Do any people close to you have legitimate concerns or worries about your passion ideas? How can you address or overcome these?

Of course they have legitimate concerns. I can't address them because I can't guarantee the success of my ideas.

30. What interests or hobbies have you had in the past few years that intrigue you and might hold the potential for a life passion?

Travel writing would be a nice combination of interests.

31. Are you willing to spend time engaging with these interests to learn more --- by volunteering, part-time work, interning, finding a mentor, etc.?

Willing, yes. But it is not practical to travel at this time. Without the travel part the writing will just be rehashing what is already out there - using photographs I wasn't there to take and writing about places I have only read about.

32. If you think you know what your passion might be, what specific work have you done to learn more about it and really experience it? What are you willing to do?

I took Corporate Communications in college. That was great for learning how to write in plain and sensible English. But, that was quite awhile ago.  I'm currently writing for other sites and several of my own. It's an easy form of progress.

33. Do you have enough savings to allow you to live for 6 months during a job transition or while you search for your passion?

No. I don't have any savings and I don't want to fall into the trap of living on credit again.

34. What can you do to create a cushion of savings if you don't have any?

Sell my blood to a hungry vampire. More practically, I could write and try to get published at places that pay better.

35. What is the minimal salary you can live with?

Pretty minimal so far, less than this doesn't work out so well.

36. Would you be willing to downsize your lifestyle in order to live your passion?

I don't own anything other than my computer, a lot of books and the typical clothes, flotsam and jetsam. I've already downsized.

37. What is the very worst thing that could happen if you decided to pursue your passion? Could you live with that?

The worst thing would be failure. It wouldn't kill me but what would be left to keep me going if I lose.

38. What is the actual likelihood of this worst thing happening?

At least 50/50.

39. What would your ideal day look like? Describe it in detail from morning until bedtime.

A sunny, quiet morning with snow outside. My man servant brings me coffee and fresh fruit salad. I get dressed and all that stuff. Then I sit in my home office to write for a few hours. I take a break and the man and I go out into town for some errands, a latte, a stop at the bookstore or somewhere special. Maybe we go for a drive and find an abandoned mansion to photograph and end up staying overnight in a grand hotel.

40. What is something (or several things) you'd really like to achieve before you die?

I don't really have a bucket list. I would have liked to travel and see more of the world and the old places. Maybe give Loch Ness a visit to see if I get a lucky photograph of Nessie.  Marriage and kids are too far out of the picture at this point. I would like to be a smaller size, I'm working on that.

41. What have you done toward making those happen?

See above.

42. Would you be willing to work in a less-than-passionate job in order to live your passion outside of work or as a part-time job?

I've done that a few times over. You really do feel you have hit the bottom when you work at telemarketing, not just once but a few times over the years.

43. If you woke up nearly every day feeling content, fulfilled, and happy about your life and work, how would that impact you physically, mentally, emotionally, in your relationships, and in your self-confidence?

I'd might work less at pleasing other people and yet, I still would like to see other people feel positive and good and bring that out into the world with them.

44. How has living a less-than-passionate life impacted you? Give specific examples.

I've been stuck in the same rut, spinning wheels for a long time.  I don't sink but I don't have the success I would feel good about either.

45. What would make you feel proud of yourself?

I feel proud of myself when I finish things which were hard.

46. How are you living, acting, or talking that isn't really you?

I'm second guessing myself and playing a chameleon.

47. If you could start fresh all over again with your life and career, what would you do differently?

When I was 16 and had quit school to work full time I would have found a way to stick with that. Even though the woman I was renting the apartment from made it a bad place to be - could have moved elsewhere rather than returning to try again with school and living at home. I was having trouble keeping up at work but I liked the job. My boss would have helped if I had not been too timid about asking. But, you can't know all these things when you see them from your view point then. Now, looking back I can see it differently.

48. Can you go back for a "re-do" on any of these things? If you answer "no," are you absolutely sure?

I'm sure I don't have a time machine.

49. If you live to age 90, how many days do you have left to live? (90 minus your current age times 365)

I'm not answering that.

50. How many of those days are you willing to live disliking your life, your work, your relationships, or yourself?

That's a very leading question.

via - Find Your Passion By Answering These 50 Questions | Barrie Davenport | The Life Passion Coach.

Found on Twitter: #ApartmentLife

Most of us have lived in an apartment at some time in our lives. I have, a few times and places. It is a good experience in spite of small things like limited space, smells from other people living in the same building, old buildings which could use more TLC and so on. My only real problem with apartment living was knowing it was all temporary, eventually I would be moving again. I came to need the feeling of having roots in one place and knowing I had some say in what happened with the place I hung my hat.

Have some fun on Twitter (or just make a few up without posting them) and come up with thoughts on your own difficulties with #ApartmentLife.

This was one of my favourite movies in the 1980′s. It didn’t make a big splash for many others but for me it was fun, light and memorable. I can still recreate the music in my head even though I haven’t seen the movie in years. (See below for some of the music and songs from the movie).

The Pirate Movie was not the only pirate movie out at that time. It had been based on the Gilbert and Sullivan opera: The Pirates of Penzance. Unfortunately, this was the movie everyone seems to still think is the worst. A shame because it is so much fun, so much a happy ending, feel good and yet silly movie. I enjoy the music, the romance and the fantasy. The costumes are wonderful and the feeling of being back in time is not technically perfect but it feels and looks good.

The stars of The Pirate Movie were Kristy McNichol and Christopher Atkins, If you are a fan of 80′s movies you will know Christopher Atkins from The Blue Lagoon with Brooke Shields. But, do you remember Kristy McNichol?

The Story of The Pirate Movie

The movie was filmed in Australia, so as you are watching the beach, the waves and the sand and thinking now great it all looks – you know where you can find it.

Kristy McNichol is Mabel, a kind of nerdy girl who wishes she was pretty and popular. Mabel goes to a pirate festival where she watches a handsome young man in a swordplay demonstration. He invites her to a party on his boat. Mabel misses the launch but tries to catch up. A storm comes up and she ends up washed overboard and lands on a beach where her dream of pirates becomes the movie.

Frederic is the young man in her dream. Frederic and Mabel have adventures underwater, over water and around water with singing and romance, teasing and laughter. Frederic is a pirate who wants to leave but because he was born on a Leap Year the pirates say he can’t leave until his 21st actual birthday and just being 21 years old isn’t enough. The Pirate King has a great song at this point, it’s one of my favourites from the movie: I Am the Pirate King!

Frederic is cast adrift but notices a group of young women on an island and he manages to land there. In a twist, Mabel is now the leader of the group (rather than the quiet nerd from reality) and her sisters are all conservative, prim and proper. Of course, Frederic and Mabel fall in love. But, she can’t marry until all of her sisters have married. She can’t just run away because her Father is the very important Major-General and an orphan… which means the pirates (when they come ashore and spy all those prim and proper young women in their white lace dresses) can’t harm. They are all orphans!

So the Pirate King leaves in peace and the Major-General and his daughters are safe. But, Mabel wants Frederic and she doesn’t want to wait until the last of her (several) older sisters marries first. She Mabel and Frederic dive for treasure which was stolen by the pirates from her family. This is where the song Pumping and Blowing comes in. It’s sexual but it all happens while Frederic is in an old diving suit underwater and Mabel is keeping the air supply going from the rowboat above. If you need a great song to exercise to this one would work.

By the end of the movie Frederic and Mabel have exchanged rings but the Pirate King is back and wants to take the treasure, orphans or not. The Major-General and his daughters are all expecting the worst. Frederic and Mabel are about to be killed and then… Mabel wants a happy ending! It is her dream after all. This happy ending scene is fabulous. I especially like the words to the song they sing.

The Pirate Movie ends with Mabel waking up from her dream and there is the young man from the pirate festival. He helps her up, she asks if his name happens to be Frederic. He says no. But Mabel notices she is now wearing the ring Frederic gave her in the dream.

This movie is so under rated it is sad. I thought it was so wonderful and still get a laugh from watching it. Maybe the reviewers just took it all too seriously. It’s not meant to be serious, it’s all about a happy ending.

Now and then my fingers stray around on the computer keyboard and I end up clicking a few wrong buttons in a row. Most often this just gives me typos - but, now and then I get my keyboard messed up. It types the wrong characters. I can't type things like @ or ? and other stuff comes up instead. I'm typing the characters which show up in blue on my keyboard, alternate characters, instead.

This is not something which needs to drive you crazy. The fix is simple!

press hold left ctrl+shift and tap right shift key

via How do I turn off the alternate BLUE keys on my HP keyboard - HP Support Forum - 1426059.

This works! I don't remember how I fixed the blue character keyboard problem the last two times I've had it happen. But, it was something simple like this. It did not involve changing the keyboard language - but that is the tech support advice which comes up most when you search for help.

I am adding this here hoping it will help someone else. Maybe even me the next time it happens.

I know about custard and fish fingers but what else does the Doctor eat? In between all that running he must need something to refuel. But, we seldom see him eat anything. I was curious about a Doctor Who cookbook when I found this one. What does he like to eat and when does he get around to actually cooking himself a dinner, or even just a light snack?

Would you eat with The Doctor?

This book has been created from the new Doctor Who series, 2005 and onwards. Chris-Rachael Oseland, the author, has spent a year watching and re-watching the Doctor Who series to pick out recipes and recipe ideas. Taking inspiration from the past shows she has given Doctor Who fans (Whovians) recipes to explore whether they are great cooks and bakers, or prefer simple fare. If you want to host a Doctor Who dinner party, take a few pages from the book (not literally, that would be dangerous – think of spacesuits and the Library!).

What would you offer the Doctor if he showed up on your doorstep one day? Only a small chance it would actually be your doorstep of course, It could be the shopping mall, just as much as any other place in time and space.

Which companions would you hope to drop in with him? Donna Noble is my first pick. Donna is my favourite companion plus, she isn’t likely to pass up a good conversation and a great coffee. Maybe a slim slice of cheesecake too.

One thing I would not be serving is angel food cake. You just can’t trust those things!

What are his table manners like? He made a mess in Amy Pond’s kitchen. Maybe you should put newspaper down before dining with The Doctor.