My Comfy-Cozy

QUESTION: What do you do when inclement weather forces the cancellation of a job interview?

ANSWER: Ya get ya'self nice 'n' comfy-cozy.

QUESTION: What in the world is comfy-cozy?


This is comfy-cozy, so sayeth the mouth and nose.






This is comfy-cozy to the skin that's wrapped in the softness of a new robe, and to the nose that unlocks memories of fringed foil hats, donkey tails and the lop-sided cupcakes of childhood birthday parties.






Can YOU curl up with three books and a set of CDs simultaneously? Comfy-cozy for the mind, the ear (the music of Pat Conroy's prose), the belly (when David Sedaris hauls up reluctant cackles from the gut).





Blessed are the hands that have permission to travel, round trip, nose to tail, and then back again.





Eyes and heart feel comfy-coziness -- watching and feeling a cat's sleeping contentedness.




















And now, in the immortal words of Paul Harvey, "G-DAY!"

Ten Months and

still unemployed.

Is there a cyber slush pile somewhere that inhales and then devours cover letters and resumes? I was up all night last night, until 10am, getting information on LinkedIn and partially on Facebook.

The last time I truly job-hunted was circa 1995? 1996? And now the old rules and methods are obsolete. And refining one's resume -- resumes -- is a never-ending venture. I suppose the next step, in addition to Linking In and Facebooking and working on a killer cover letter, is face-to-face networking. That means I need a networking wardrobe. Ugh! Am I complaining? Nooooo. Registered on elance.com, getafreelancer.com.

Every day I tell myself that the country's economic condition does not have to be my personal economic condition. Affirmation? Denial?

About a month ago I saw an ad on craigslist that was about four blocks from where I live. Real estate office. Hmmmm, I thought. A possibility. $400 a week, 9-6. $400 a week! That's less than the weekly New York State Unemployment Insurance benefit. No benefits, medical or otherwise.

The news from my pension fund is disheartening, and that's if I work for four more years. Aaargh!

Earlier this month I attended a four-hour Tellington Touch workshop, and it was great. When you enter your right millieu with the right energy doing the right work, oh, how your spirit soars. There's a certain weightlessness. I left my two cats at home and took a stuffed one, instead, for practice.

I'm hoping to take a five-day course that will count for practitioner certification next month, but I don't know . . . Yet I know that life can change in a moment.

PHOTO DIARY: "I, Barack Hussein Obama, Do Solemnly Swear..." - A View From Columbia University on January 20, 2009

Lee Bollinger, President of Columbia University, addresses the gathering crowd.


Low Library Plaza. Photo by Antonio Maria (Antonio Mari Photography, www.antoniomari.com, ASMP Member)









Gathering around "Alma Mater."


My friend, Marilyn (shielding her eyes), and onlooker.














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It's 3:25am and snowing lightly. Again. I stepped outside to have a cigarette and remembered how I was so looking forward to seeing how Precious would handle the snow. Would she run out, get a mouthful and then run back or would she insist on assuming the stalking position and lead me half-way down the block to leave my footprints beside hers?

In Pennsylvania for the Holidays

I had wanted to visit my family for the Thanksgiving holiday, but money was not available for that. But, gift of all gifts -- I received an unexpected treat before the year’s end: My brother and sister-in-law paid for a round trip train ticket to Pittsburgh because we haven’t been together in three years and because I’ve been unemployed since April 2008. I was dreading the 9.5 hours voyage, but it turns out that there’s an antidote for long rides. The Internet! My plan was to do what I always do, check email, etc., and then sleep. The hours passed so quickly that there was not time to sleep. In what felt like 4 hours, I was there. I had twelve full days with my family, half with my brother, his daughter, his wife and her son and dog, and half with my sister, her son and daughter.


Some Photos of the Landscape between New York and Pittsburgh















Family Photos



The nieces, Ronda and Bryna, and the nephew, Kevin aka Kevinstein, after their aunt's calligraphy "class."







Uncle Ron vs. Kevinstein, in the basement of Ron and Sue's home.




Bryna; Tina, my sister; Kevin; Ron, my brother; Sue, my sister-in-law, all together in the basement of Tina's home.


My Brother's In-laws (and dog)







Jymmie Jack, she has Christmas, too.



Derek, Sue's son, and his cousin.



Sue, her nephew, Derek (standing), her brother-in-law, her sister.


Sue's brother-in-law, her sister, nephew, father and mother.


And for her encore appearance, Ms. Jymmie Jack.

Where does the time go? I have much more to post here, but it's getting late and I have to get up earlier than usual tomorrow. Going to an alumni affair at Columbia U -- jumbotron of the inauguration. I just took out the instruction book for a videocam that I won in a raffle; unfortunately, I need a tape, which I don't have and that I might not have time to get by 11:00 am tomorrow. I should have done this months ago, learning to operate the camera. Anyway, I'll return tomorrow to complete or continue with this post, and probably post photos from Columbia.