A-Musings

Travelblog: Day 1
(Wed.) “I defy you, stars” Don’t know your intentions, universe, if there are any, but something as inconsequential as a twisted ankle will never keep me from taking this trip … Not taking any chances slogging up and down subway stairs with my ankle: took the bus to the airport. Flying JFK – Detroit – Anchorage. Did laps up and down Detroit’s 1.5-mile long terminal. Rendez-vous’ed with Virginia (mature model); Kerry (model) and Chip (mature model) just made our connection by minutes; their bags may not. Seven hour flight with a screaming, red-faced toddler 3 rows back, her pregnant, overwhelmed mother completely unable or unwilling to stop her. Michel (photographer), Anne Marie (model) and Toni (RCCL rep) missed their connection in Dallas due to flight delay in Miami, had to reroute via Minneapolis - will their bags and all the photography equipment follow? Guillaume en route from Lyon … Arrive into Anchorage’s impressively large and modern airpo...

Countdown, Day 8: The Lord Giveth … Oh, thank you thank you thank you, God! Got an unexpected e-mail from Verdure Tuesday asking whether we were available to leave for Alaska a day earlier, to take photos of a scenic mountain train tour in a gorgeous national park near Anchorage. Hells, yeah! Came at the perfect time, just as the June NYC temperatures and my work-related frustrations were both beginning to climb steadily. Two day of 100-degree temperatures, the first week of June! Sandwiched between long stretches of 60’s and rainy … For weeks I’m sitting around my messy apartment and Joe’s, my noisy “coffice”, trying to find ways to introduce wellness coaching into corporate employee benefits programs. A longshot to say the least. Aetna, the provider for JPMorgan Chase, has been bouncing me from person to person, department to department. At least they’re responding. Even worse, a good work opportunity – a diversity training seminar with Orlando-Ward – conflicts...

As a single, freelance modern-day muse of d’un certain age living in Manhattan in the year 2011, I am uniquely qualified to speak on the topic of rejection. Why? Because I speak from quotidian experience. Unlike most other normal mortal beings, who know from day to day exactly when they need to go to work, what they are expected to do, what they will be paid, when they have to pick up the kids, when they can sleep in or go to the gym, who they are going home to, and the like, I have no such certainty. I work from project to project ( that is, when I have a project ), and my schedule varies from day to day. I chose to focus my expertise on not one, not two, but three disciplines - acting, writing, and certified professional empowerment coaching - for several reasons: Individually and in conjunction, 1. they make optimal use of my talents and skill sets; 2. they offer me a creative and ever-engaging way for me to make a living; 3. they provide a unique, useful and important ...