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Thoughts on Afghan Situation

https://anchor.fm/beemill/embed/episodes/Thoughts-on-Afghanistan-Issues-e161ti4

Alright guys. I ended up strictly recording my thoughts on this whole situation because I didn’t know how to just put the words down here. There is so much to consider and question. I will link the audio recording here in this post, and maybe (perhaps) I’ll get to the recording of the previous postings. As I type I have more thoughts but I’ll just let them settle for now.

Changes in progress here at the Mill.. but mentally dealing with the fall out of the Afghan situation.

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A new Quest

That sounds kind of funny, but it is pretty on par with the range of my interests.

Anyway, what it means is tha in addition to everything else going on here at the Mill, I have made another commitment.

The difference in this one is that it isn’t prompted by procrastination. One of the young ladies in my life (along with her siblings) started school this week. Even though she is the oldest, she was having the most trouble with nerves. Its a new year, with new teachers, new classmates, new set up on the schedule. The very idea of the unknown, and she found out that her best friend wasn’t going to that school this year. She was feeling a bit meh in these last few weeks bout the idea of going back to school. Sunday was just anxiety.

And this is where the life lessons come from people. She is right to be a little bit anxious. It is a normal reaction to the unknown, and very much in line with some traits of her mostly introverted personality. But, while we were doing our last pool day of the Summer, we had a good chat about how she successfully went to overnight camp for the first time this summer. She made new friends and got to get closer to her old ones. She realized that she could take care of her own daily needs. (Granted- she did have a really bad case of homesickness for a bit but that wasn’t the bit to focus on in this particular conversation).

But, “Issa, what does that have to do with your photo?!”

To kind of help her along I told her I’d do something that was completely new for me and start on the same day she started school. She said it can’t be easy (darn).

So, I started a certification on Beginning Korean/Level 1.

And, guys, it has been a long time since I’ve had homework, or quizzes, or tests! I spent yesterday just kinda getting the feel of things. Went through some of the first weeks lessons.

It wasn’t too bad. I know a bit in a really casual kind of way. My dad was in Korea several times during my childhood. My Husband was posted there for 8 years total in his military career. He’s there now with is first work outside of the military. This is another reason why I thought formally learning hangul would be beneficial. Whenever these quarantine and travel restrictions ease up, I do plan on making several regular trips to South Korea. I believe I mentioned before that as late as mid-October 2020, I was planning an international move to Korea. Things fell through– the Hubbs went and I bought The Bee Mill. I do love my Korean Variety Shows (Guys. I kid you not. I LOVE them. I am a bit behind now because my top favorite shows lost my favorite members– so I’m mourning LOL). Also dramas, historical romances, comedies. I’ve picked up quite a bit from just watching, but I would like to understand more. Not to mention, I love history and when I go to the Country, I’d like to be able to read it for myself.

Anyway, when faced with an international move, I figured I could learn as I go in country–a’la immersion. Now, I have to face this down for a young lady who is facing her own new experience. She’s going to check on me tomorrow–so I’d better have something done!

Oh, and I will be reading this post and the previous either later today or tomorrow.

I know. Y’all can’t wait, right!?

Let’s try another comments question: Anything anyone doing or planning to do this month that is new and a little bit frightening?

Issa LorenLeave a comment

The Alexa Chronicles

I have decided, after a day of arguing with this wench, that I would keep a chronicle of the shenanigans I go through with Amazon’s Alexa. I even made a sub category for it. I can’t be the only one who deals with the sass of an AI.

Right?

Anyway, Alexa at the Mill was the first of her kind in my household. Over the years I found no reason to have to deal with it–moving from location to location. Setup, take down, set up again. I’ve mentioned before how with military life, how I wanted to keep as little as possible which would result in valuable losses.

Now, I am here in my own house. No plans for moving permanently in the near future, so I figured a sound system would be nice for the television (where we only had a sound bar. Maybe more on that debacle later). Pair that with Amazon doing pre-order sales for the new Echo… I got a couple.

And, somehow, I got the AI that was hard of hearing, stubborn, and petulant.

Yesterday, I asked for music and got something I didn’t ask for. She seems to really like Seal, Travis Tritt, and some weird techno rock. These are the go-to plays when I request something– And that something is almost never any of those artists.

The one in the master likes to give me the silent treatment– until I complain online and then she straightens out herself and starts listening.

One annoying thing after the other. Literally, at 928 yesterday morning, I was yelling at her to just “SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO WHAT IM SAYIN”

Grr.

Freakin technology.

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Unda Press-shha

I hope you have the song in your head LOL.

It took me a quick minute this morning to get myself on here. I am practically done with the cup of coffee for the morning.

What finally got me here?

Welllll.

I have to clean The Mill and do the laundry. Since I believe I mentioned that I am a huge procrastinator, it should be no surprise that I am avoiding do it. It also is partially because I am trying to build a habit with the regular posting. Actually, I am really very tired today. Even though I was mentally ready for sleeping last night—I didn’t actually fade off until after 1 or so in the morning. Animals and plant life who occupy the Mill with me, also don’t care that I’m not feeling good so if I would so kindly feed and provide the facilities. Everything in my neck and shoulders and hips were adamantly against sleep- even after the meds were taken.

This flare really want to get going and I really don’t want it to. So this is the silent Battle at the Bee.

Yesterday, had to ship back faulty front door lock so I’d not be charged for the replacement and decided to stop by the mall because a young lady in my life is having her first double digit birthday, so I wanted to get her a gift different than the toys and whatnot she would usually get. I remember, when I was young (I never needed any ooone….ok I digress) I looked forward to the double digits. I have no idea why. In my little mind, I believed it to be some sort of threshold. That until I passed it I wasn’t truly growing up.

Ahh. To be young and foolish. Adulthood is super over-rated. I also have thoughts on this that I may or may not expand on in the future.

Dang, I should start writing a list.

Back to the mall. I haven’t actually been to a mall in quite some time. Not because of any particular issue, but because I don’t really feel the need to most times. I rarely (though that seems to be changing lately–ahem–body weight–cough cough) buy clothes or other things. I did a bit of window shopping first. Get the lay of the land. See what she might like. Wanting to balance her still being young with the sense that she is moving into a new phase of life.

My default answer: Books.

So that’s where I went. And the bookstore was having a sale too! I spent a number of hours perusing the kids section and was not overly satisfied with what I saw. What has happened to children’s literature?! I know the answer to this question from a previous life within the publishing world some time ago, but I am still astonished at the majority of what is deemed good reading for the age group. Looks like I’ll be sticking with the used bookstores for purchasing tomes.

So I stuck with the classics. Grabbed her the first two books of the Narnia series. She likes animals and adventure. It will ease her into the genre of the fantastical– and move her into more challenging books. Her parents got her a kindle for her birthday–but there’s something about holding a book and flipping the pages. The entire process that just doesn’t happen with an e-reader. Believe me, I have had a kindle since it came on the market (I’ve also been an Amazon member since they only sold books LOL), but I still buy my real books.

Speaking of which, I did not leave without a few for myself. I got a huge book of biblical maps. It is actually really informative, which I found out as I was flipping through it last night. An insight into one of my book buying habit is:

If it is a thick book, and there are maps, I’ll probably buy it. Genre? Doesn’t matter. Author? Doesn’t really matter either. Lol.

A huge disappointment was the philosophy section. Literally it was the last little portion on a row of non-related books. In this small section, I saw a book that caught my eye called Good Thinking. I figured, “hey, we can all use critical thinking in our lives”.

A book like this should be objective. However, the author poisons the well on the second page (the first full page of text), in the added in preface. I don’t know if he thought “No one is going to read this anyway so I’ll just shoot myself in the foot to push my own agenda”

Gads.

It has irritated me. So the book is on the shelf until I can mentally shift gears and categorize it as biased work. It won’t be too long, and it won’t stop me from reading it. I just hate that it presents itself as objective when it isn’t.

Anyway, I should probably go and, you know, actually do something.

Oh so before I go:
Anyone know if I can add a bookshelf widget of some sort to this place?

Issa LorenLeave a comment

Cracked…

Send Help, but wait until I get through a contemplation first LOL

I am almost through my cup of coffee for the morning and I’ve been sitting here trying to pull a thread of what to jot down.

Not for lack of subject matter, but because there is a mountain of it before me.

What to choose?

I was also thinking yesterday (again) about how personal to make these posts? Relationally speaking, I mean. I think and process about the things I see around me and around the world. The issues I have been battling mentally is that of conversational timing. I could write my opinion here, where someone who knows me reads it, and then —

While its a conversation I could have, I probably haven’t yet with the person in question either because

1. We just not that close
2. It hasn’t been the right timing

Then again, I could be over-thinking things, which is not unusual.

Anyway, back to the purpose. My heels have cracked people. For the very first time in my life, they have cracked. I didn’t realize they were so dry as I am fairly consistent with the whole moisturizer thing. Then I was walking around the yard yesterday- tending to various aspects of the outside of The Mill, barefooted as per the norm- and my heels started burning!

They haven’t bled and the cracks don’t seem to be overly deep (though I have no idea how bad that can get– Im scared to look at pictures). Is Vaseline enough (cause that is what I already have)? Is there a particular product out there made specifically for this issue that actually works?

I don’t know that I’ll get any responses, so until I do… Vaseline it is!

Have a good Tuesday, Folks.

Issa LorenLeave a comment

Quick tip

Sundays, I generally try to stay off the computer as much as possible, BUUUUUTT


I am trying to build a habit here, so this will be a quick tip that I will share. Some may know this already, some might expect it to be true, and for others it will never cross their minds:

When looking for a new stylist (GRR- This is the norm in military life) don’t go back to the one who won’t show you the cut after a blow out, but instead immediately reaches for the flat-iron to put in those “beachy waves” you never asked for.

I’d invite you to ask me how I know, but I don’t think I have to.

Got a trim on Friday and back to my natural hair color (cause that fun cherry red from October doesn’t look so hot at the end of July– especially considering lots of pool time in there) and was reminded of this standard I’ve set. I won’t be going back to that particular lady.

And the search continues!


P.S.

I have been informed that I should ask for participation— SO!

If you want to share a tale proving the effectiveness of said tip (or to disproving it) Feel free to do so in the comments 🙂

Issa LorenLeave a comment

Not an app for that

You know how when you’re sitting around, or driving around, and an awesome idea pops into your head for no apparent reason. You think about it and think about it, knowing that it is something that could be utilized across existing media–

And amongst the hundreds, NAY Thousands, of apps out there in the internet-verse there isn’t one (that I’ve found as yet) like it…

THERE IS NOT AN APP FOR THAT!

Yes, I realize that is yelling. I’ll tell you all very broadly that I was driving to the pharmacy for my regular pickup and starting to kind of plan out in my head my fitness goals for, say, the next 100 days or so (FYI: we can already put 10 of those days on the front end as planning days LOL). Was thinking about how to record my baselines so I know where I am starting from…and can check in where I’m at over tie

And it hit me…like a bolt of lightening (incidentally there was also a crack of thunder, but that’s cause I was driving into a thunderstorm).

These are exactly the kind of times when I wish I had the skill set to actually make an app… or an app add-on (does that make sense?) I also wish I knew people in this particular area. I have many many contacts, in many different fields– but I don’t think any of them do app development.

This idea is so good, I’m not even going to put it here because it is most definitely getting tucked away until I can do some research.

Lots that I want to say today, but don’t know that I will get to it. I went on a trip this past week and I have yet to actually unpack the mess.

Also gotta work on the Bee Mill. Things keep disappearing. It could be my ADHD…

But just so I feel a bit better about things lets just say that there may be a resident fairy..or maybe a gnome? LOL.
Til we meet again!


P.S.

Okay, lets face it–today might be a double post day–mainly because of aforementioned ADHD combined with my procrastination superpower.

Issa LorenLeave a comment

Feeling Old…and then not

“I’m so frigging old.”

That is precisely what I was thinking this morning as I was getting ready to leave the house for my eye appointment. Testing for possible glaucoma.

Then I walked into the VERY full waiting room where I was very clearly the youngest person in the room.

So, I guess that’s a win for today?

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A Niche that isn’t…Is?

Been having a look-see around the new digs.

Algorithms have apparently picked up my not previously detected time on wordpress- so now I’m getting “tip” and ledes to articles on how to target an audience and plan a blog.

Thing is I don’t have any specific thing to write on. I have no specialized knowledge and I’m not necessarily pursuing that. I just know some stuff about some things and wonder about random things that I then want to find out about. I am sitting here watching my tele and thinking these things when—VOILA

I realize that I could probably drop a quick note on it. Why? I realize that even to blog about nothing in particular still requires a type of mental click in the brain to trigger the inclination to write. I remember, way back in the day, how I’d live my life and yet made the mental notes necessary to make fairly consistent posts. I am so out of practice in that mindset that my first series of posts just might happen in these random minutes. In fact, I even downloaded the app (GASP!) to act as a sort of notebook in my phone to maybe expand on here at a later date.

I was also thinking about the nature of blogging. This is where the train came full stop and refused to move again with my last blog. It was so hyper niche that when I no longer wanted to dwell on the topic, I no longer felt I had to say anything my very specific audience wanted to hear. How to balance life and privacy? Hum.

Anyway, to get back to the title:

So maybe my niche is simply being so broad that in and of itself is niche?

Sounds feasible.

Issa LorenLeave a comment

An Introduction… Of Sorts

Jumping back into the fray of the online world.

Once again.

For I think the third time in the last few years.

One would think that getting back into blogging would be like riding a bike, but it isn’t.

So. Why am I here?

I think about a lot of different things and I keep losing my notebooks. Or mixing up topics. I used to blog a long time ago–ancient history in the online world– about our lives as military newlyweds and building our family. It was fairly popular. I found it difficult to keep posting on increasingly personal situations and balancing the whole point of the blog- so I kind of just ghosted the entire community, before “ghosting” was actually a thing.


Anyway, I digress (full disclosure- I do that that often). “Why am I here?”, right.

Now that I am much older and we are newly retired from military life, I find myself wondering what I want to be when I grow up. Been reading and wondering what path I should go down. So why not just throw it all on the wall and see what sticks? Excerpts from the old blog may pop up here and there. I think it’d be interesting to see how I’ve progressed (or not). I study a bunch of different subjects as they interest me. I ask a lot of questions about life, my faith, my family, and the world at large.

I hate being objectively wrong, so I constantly reassess myself.

In that, I come across interesting sayings, quotes, opinions that I want to make note of but end up not.

I should probably note: I am very ADHD.

My intent here is stream of conscious. I’ll be pretty light on the editing.

I’ve named this little corner of the internet as “Bee Mill” because (rather unimaginatively) it is my home, and the “Contending Existence” part because all of these previously mentioned things have to do with learning and living. There are things we fight for and against and through to what will be real truth. I am not an expert in anything. Just another rando on the interwebz. The web addy: well its that not not BeeMill because the dot com was already taken apparently. Pretty straight-forward.