Tag Archives: Joanne Guidoccio
Table Topics for Halloween
At yesterday’s Agvantage Toastmaster meeting, I was the Table Topicsmaster. This is my favorite portion of the club meeting, and I welcome the opportunity to practice thinking and speaking quickly. As Topicsmaster, I announced the topic and called on members, one at a time, to give impromptu one- to two-minute talks. With Halloween just around the corner, I created a series of questions using the holiday as a theme.
Preamble
I am the fairy godmother of Halloween. I bestow upon each of you $500 to be spent on one of the following Halloween related scenarios…
Scenarios
1. Design the Halloween costume of your dreams.
2. I am sending you back to the Halloween of your sixteenth year. What type of costume would you wear?
3. Decorate your workplace for Halloween.
4. Organize a Halloween party for the children in your neighborhood.
5. There is a lot of waste at Halloween. How would you make Halloween greener?
6. Throw a Halloween brunch for your friends.
7. You have decided to cruise the streets on Halloween night. How would you decorate yourself and your car (motorcycle)?
8. Provide healthy treats for the children on Halloween night.
9. Create the perfect Halloween bash for you and your friends.
10. Create a Halloween wonderland on your lawn (if you live in a house) or lobby (if you live in an apartment).
11. Decorate your child’s classroom or daycare center for Halloween.
12. I am sending you back to your first Halloween. What type of costume would you wear?
13. I am allowing you and your partner to skip Halloween and have a spectacular date night instead. What would you do?
14. Make your street safer for Halloween.
15. Dress up as your favorite superhero or celebrity.
The Evolving Mermaid
When I announced the release of Between Land and Sea, a novel about an overweight, middle-aged mermaid, I was surprised by the subsequent comments.
The typical male response was a Duchenne smile followed by a puzzled expression and several pointed questions…
Why is she so old?
Just how overweight is she?
What happened to her?
The men had preconceived notions of what a mermaid should look like—wavy auburn tresses, mesmerizing green eyes and a curvaceous twenty something body.
Continue reading at Kate Wyland’s blog.
A Theme Song for Cancer
Searching for a bible reading was the farthest thing from my mind during that first month after receiving the diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer. Between appointments and all sorts of tests—biopsy, bone density, ultrasounds—I had very little time to do much else. Once the chemo treatments started, I was barely able to focus on my dwindling list of daily tasks.
Continue reading at Jessica Jefferson’s blog.
Fun Friday
Visiting Marilyn Meredith
While sitting in Grade 13 English class, I dreamed of writing the great Canadian novel. But when university application time approached, I gave in to my practical Italian side and obtained degrees in mathematics and education. I planned to teach during the day and spend my evenings, weekends and holidays churning out best-selling novels.
How hard could it be? Continue reading at Marilyn’s Musings.
My Yoga Trials
The blonde willow was out of her comfort zone.
She sighed deeply and tossed her Farrah Fawcett curls as she removed a borrowed parka, three sizes too big for her perfectly toned body. She was not impressed by winter in March and seven less-than-enthusiastic students in Sudbury, Ontario. She spoke at length about her personal journey as a California yogini, and then demonstrated her pretzel-like ability to contort her body in a variety of poses.
Impressed and intimidated, we did not look forward to the short lesson that would follow. Continue reading at Spunky Seniors.
Oprah and Diana Nyad–Part I
Yesterday on Super Soul Sunday, Oprah sat down with long distance swimmer Diana Nyad.
Having followed Diana’s amazing swim in late summer, I was looking forward to insights from this extraordinary woman who, according to Oprah, demonstrated “what a real warrior looks like.”
Born into a tumultuous home, Diana faced challenges at an early age. A temperamental father prone to outbursts and a cold and distant mother led her to find solace in the water, practicing up to six hours a day. The sexual abuse she endured from her coach rocked the cells of her very being and for the longest time, she believed that she had allowed the abuse to happen.
She swam competitively until age thirty and after burning out, decided to leave the loneliest sport in the world. She forged a career in sports broadcasting and lived a different dream. All the while, she kept hearing a little whisper about the failed swim from Florida to Cuba, “Gosh, it would have been magic.”
After her 82-year-old mother died in 2007, Diana began re-evaluating her life and asked the important questions: “Am I living the life that I can admire? “Am I going to leave this earth, maybe as you do, leaving it a place where it’s a little more than it was, and human rights have been fulfilled more?”
Since age 60, Diana attempted the Cuba/Florida swim five times. After four failures, she approached the fifth attempt brimming with confidence. She took every precaution to protect herself from the box jellyfish and completed the 110 mile swim in 58 hours.
Quotable quotes…
Will can push you beyond the impossible.
What the spirit can do is immeasurable.
Spirit is larger than the body.
When you achieve your goals in life, it’s not what that gets you, it’s who I am. (Henry David Thoreau paraphrased)
Diana’s Mantra…Find a way.
How to Celebrate Rejection…
I’m always on the lookout for unique word combinations, but this one took me by surprise. I couldn’t imagine a more unlikely word pair than “celebrate rejection” and an even more unlikely source: an interview with Susan Sarandon.
How does one of Hollywood’s most talented leading ladies celebrate rejection? Whenever Ms. Sarandon didn’t get a role, she’d go out for dinner or buy herself an album. In leaner times, she treated herself to an avocado. But more importantly, she did not dwell on it. She had a knack for replacing the negative self-talk with positive and affirming statements such as, This means I’m now available for something else.
Continue reading at MindBodyGreen.
Redefining Success
Welcome to my Second Acts Series!
Today, we have Kathy Bryson talking about letting go of expectations and heading off the beaten path.
Here’s Kathy!
When Joanne asked me to write about my second act, I was intrigued. I’m currently reading Between Land and Sea and laughing in recognition. I think that’s the first thing you learn if you make a change at mid-life. A lot of us realize somewhere in our forties or fifties that we really want to be doing something else and, whether through circumstances or conscious decision, head off the beaten path. You’ll be in good company.
When I left corporate America for teaching, I met bicyclists who were training for races on weekends, artists who worked craft fairs around temp jobs, and poets who taught night school. There was an amazing wealth of people and interests that had nothing to do with ad copy! My particular skill set was welcomed, however. I got to know people by working on their web promotions and learned I as I transitioned into part-time jobs and, ultimately, writing my own stories.
My background is 20+ years of advertising and marketing. I worked for Fortune 1000 companies and managed major campaigns. And like many, I bottle-necked somewhere in middle management, where positions start to disappear and everyone fights for the same budget and recognition. In my last job, my boss literally could not shut up from sheer stress. She talked non-stop from the moment she walked in the door until we finally escaped at the end of the day. It was infuriating, it was funny, and it was sad. I finally walked when she put me on notice, saying I couldn’t write headlines.
I had been working towards a change anyway. I’d gone back to school to get the credits I needed to teach and was moonlighting at my local community college. The timing wasn’t perfect. Since then, I’ve struggled with having hours cut and some of the weirdest state legislation regarding standardized testing you ever saw. And I don’t regret any of it. Instead of sitting in a cubicle waiting for retirement to enjoy my life, I’m sitting on a futon, drinking a second cup of coffee, and wondering how a toad managed to get in my front door peephole and how he’s going to get out. He’s a fat little guy.
The part that was hard was letting go of my expectations. I grew up in California during the first computer boom when everybody was going to be the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. I have no problem being an ‘entrepreneur,’ but it’s taken me awhile not to beat myself up because I wasn’t wildly successful. I don’t make big money, I don’t have guaranteed employment, I have a small house, and my car is fifteen years old. It took me a long time to realize that I was the only one making the comparison and to silly expectations. No one has a guaranteed income, there’s never enough money, and the house is just fine. I will probably replace the car since the door handles are falling off; my brother’s hunting a used one for me.
Ultimately, that was the best lesson learned out of this whole transition and my one suggestion. There’s no point in living a supposedly successful life if your reality is just miserable. Ultimately I can live without success because I am living. As my leprechaun pointed out, “It’s never just about the money!”
Blurb
Megan O’Malley pinched a cute guy and accidentally captured a leprechaun. Who’d have thought a perfectly normal guy – okay a bit short – would have such a bad attitude about giving away his money?! Megan may be millions richer, but she’s also got an angry leprechaun camped out on her sofa, trying to keep her from becoming the business mogul of her dreams!
Fergus O’Reilly cannot figure out what he did to upset the Queen of the Fairies. He was playing a wedding when a drunken lady pinched his ass and the Queen declared him caught. Now he’s broke, homeless, and hustling to stop the lovely lady with the wandering fingers from spending his money! This would be so much easier if she wasn’t cute, caring, and determined to help with his so-called money addiction!
Where to find Kathy…
Website: kathybryson.wordpress.com
Twitter: twitter.com/kathybryson2
Facebook: facebook.com/kathybryson22
Google+: plus.google.com/118438646025517720984
Joanne here!
Thanks for sharing your inspiring journey, Kathy. Feeling Lucky sounds simply delightful. I’ve just picked up the e-book and look forward to reading it.
Joanne Guidoccio 