My wheel had started to chip away and become rather unbalanced. All of my energy was going into my relationships with people, specifically my significant other and his group of people. I hadn’t left anything for myself! So this past March my company sent me to Orlando for a trade show. It would be my first time outside of the little bubble I had created. It’s amazing what time away can do for the soul and the mind’s eye. I was able to see what life was like back home and how incongruent it was with my own life ambitions. Spending time by myself allowed me to bask in my true essence. To have nothing else to consider but my own whims, my own thoughts. Time away from my significant other allowed me to feel like myself again. And that’s when I realized how terribly wrong things had gone and how I needed to regain my center and find my balance. In a simple conversation with my ex (spoiler alert?) I explained how I needed time to focus on my career goals, my education goals, my spiritual goals, and how I needed freedom to go out and do fun things. This simple conversation painted a picture of us no longer together. And that was an irreconcilable flaw in the relationship.

We parted ways most amicably, but I must admit that it took my heart and mind for a spin. Here I was, completely entrenched in this man’s life, with no recollection of who I was before this nor enough sure footing to know exactly where I’d be going afterward. And it was in this moment that I threw caution to the wind and curled up in God’s hands. And the blessings came pouring in.

Let me walk you through my newly rebalanced wheel:

1. Finances: My finances had become completely entangled with my ex’s. Decisions about food, vacation, everything were made together, but with no clear separation about who would pay for what. In my eagerness and due to my generosity I often paid for more than my fair share. I could not stick to my budget because my ex and I had established a routine of spending money on whims that were an unaccountable variable that inevitably caused me to overspend. Now that my money and my expenditures are once again mine and mine alone, I’ve had a lot more success keeping within my budget.

2. Career: Ah… career. This is an area I’ve particularly been able to make strides in. Toward the end of my relationship I would come to work and try to chat with my ex all day (for reasons I’ll just keep to myself). I constantly tried to think of things to talk about. Overall my focus on him had truly become unhealthy for me. He didn’t notice a damn thing (so ladies please learn from my honest mistakes!). Now that my focus is back on improving myself and not fixing a broken thing, I’m finding a lot of luck in accomplishing the things I need to. So career… while this part of the wheel was growing terribly rusty and chipping away, I have focused some energy and it is smoothing out.

3. Physical Environment: Needless to say, my ex and I shared a home. Wrapping my head around having to move out was difficult, but of course as with most things complications abounded upon me like white on rice. Now I wasn’t just seeking a home for me and my dog, but my younger brother and sister wanted to room with me (maybe I’ll go into that later). Finding an apartment that made all of us happy in an area I enjoyed was difficult, but it has been done! My new apartment makes me very happy. So we can mark this one as successful.

4. Personal & Spiritual Growth: Oh, leaning on God always opens my heart to receive the fruits of His blessings. I’ve been able to connect with love and positivity better than ever. And, with new found clarity, I can better see how He truly works. I had begun to take for granted many of the lessons that He taught us through the Word, choosing to make things more malleable than they really are. But through sheer fortune God has brought me someone who lives his life to achieve nothing short of excellence and seeing the way he follows God’s lessons has strengthened me. I’m a visual learner, the Lord must have known this…

5. Friends, Family, Community: This one is going tremendously well! Thanks to my family needing to live with me and my friends helping me so much through this transition, I am noticing where my community really lies. I see who I’m actually being surrounded by and it’s far better and stronger than I imagined. My relationship with my overall community is so positive. It has reminded me of the power of love and due to my ability to love others they have loved me back tenfold.

6. Significant other/romance: I will honestly and openly admit that this cog in the overall balance is where I have begun to place most of my attention. I want to build a balanced and happy family one day and having the right relationship with the right man is absolutely essential to this effort. Last March (one year ago) I worked a freelance project for a marriage website. I was required to read the book and do the marriage readiness assessments. Naturally I tried to do these assessments with my ex and they turned out horribly. He had no idea what he wanted. So the process of figuring out what I wanted in marriage had to be done without him. If that didn’t tell me what was to come, I don’t know what else could have. Anyway, I began to prepare myself for marriage. To envision my dream life, my dream partner, my dream family. Just two months after that happened an old friend came back into my life, and I must have subconsciously seen what he would be to me because I latched on to him and brought him into every facet of my life. Needless to say, he is mine now. And if this weren’t perfect enough, my ex also found his perfect soul mate! I would have felt terribly guilty about this if it weren’t fully mutual on both sides, so thanks be to God.

7. Health/Self care: In one month I dropped all the weight I wanted to! I’m back to what I weighed at my physical ideal! And since I’m so focused on making myself the best version of me I have ever been, I’d say yes this section is going well.

8. Social/fun: I’m actually having the time of my life right now. Once career and my new apartment are settled, I expect to get to do lots of fun stuff with the amazing community I am a part of and with my amazing significant other.

This piece would be terribly long if I outlined absolutely all of the blessings I have received, but I hope that giving everyone such a holistic look into my life allows those who have been there to see how truly grateful I am for everything.

Reblogged from Thought Catalog:

Instead of automatically paying our taxes to the IRS for the federal government to distribute to states accordingly, what if the taxpayers could choose where their money went?

I mean, with modern technology this could be a very easy thing to do!

Each state builds a website that lists the budgets of all their agencies. Any agency who receives public funds (including private companies with government contracts) would list their budgets on this site. The homepage of the site could consolidate the information, for example:

$3 Billion ’til Fundraising goal!

Education needs $500 Million, Infrastructure needs $700 Million, Social Services needs $200 Million, Health Services needs $1 Billion….

etc.

This way the taxpayers are the ones who see estimated budgets and they can pay directly into what they want to pay for. Let the liberals spend all their money on Social Services, Education, and Healthcare, let the conservatives spend their money on small business grants, private contractors, military, etc.

When the taxpayers can spend their money on what they want to, government & taxes will get a lot more consumer friendly, cut down on costs, and there would be less tension.

Right now politicians are charged with creating the laws of the land AND taking our money and spending it amongst themselves. That is just way too much power & control. Let the agencies & departments come to the taxpayers for money. We’ll quickly see change.

And when it comes to how much money taxpayers will have to pay, I say at least 15% of their salaries. They can choose to give more… and when they see the new school in their community short on money I’m sure they would.

Maybe then the government agencies will stop looking at us like ATMs (I’m looking at you DMV/Traffic Dept), and they will start appreciating the money we pay into them as much as any other non-profit company. That’s how they *should* operate… right?

The short answer: Do what I do.

 
The long answer is gonna take a minute.

 
I wear about four hats throughout my week. I work full-time marketing in the tech industry, I am pursuing my graduate degree (because someone told me it was a good idea. I’m not so sure about that though), I’m the production manager for a tiny community theater/stunt team, and I’m the producer and co-CEO for a startup production company. Somewhere throughout my week I manage to fit in online gaming, way too much Facebook, and the occasional D&D or anime night, but mostly I’m working on marketing and producing two completely different types of geeky entertainment (live action & film).

My weeks work out like this: I work your typical 9-6, run meetings nearly every night of the week, and have nightmares about the essays that are overdue in my online marketing class. While this may seem like I’m unhappy, I actually am very happy. I typically feel very proud and confident in my skills and abilities. The only snag so far is when I wonder… where is all this leading?

It’s so easy to get stuck in a trap. To create a foundation for a career that has no profit. How do you monetize entertainment these days? Most YouTube stars pray for advertising revenue, most stunt teams are based out of a studio with investors and such, but none of these are realistic options for my little community theater group and my production company (yet).

So there you have it. Work a lot without even thinking about where you’ll get money from and that’s how you end up working 80 hours a week on a 40 hour a week salary (and a pitiful one at that).

I look at the people working all around me and wish I could pay them for all the work they do. I’m racking my brain to figure out how I can turn these hobbies into a profitable company. It’s beautiful to see so many people living out their dreams, their geeky childish dreams. It makes every moment worth it to me. But I know that I have to connect these dreams with dollar signs in order for these dreams to become “reality”.

Sigh… advice is always welcomed.

Here’s a hard-hitting summary of The Four Agreements taken from: http://www.humanpotentialunlimited.com/Summary-content.html 

The following is an overview of the meaning of each of The Four Agreements, based on the writings of don Miguel Ruiz.

Be Impeccable with Your Word

Speak with integrity.  Say only what you mean.  Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.  Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

Impeccable means “without sin” and a sin is something you do or believe that goes against yourself.  It means not speaking against yourself, to yourself or to others.  It means not rejecting yourself.  To be impeccable means to take responsibility for yourself, to not participate in “the blame game.”

Regarding the word, the rules of “action-reaction” apply.  What you put out energetically will return to you.  Proper use of the word creates proper use of energy, putting out love and gratitude perpetuates the same in the universe.  The converse is also true.  

Impeccability starts at home.  Be impeccable with yourself and that will reflect in your life and your relationships with others.  This agreement can help change thousands of other agreements, especially ones that create fear instead of love.

Don’t Take Anything Personally

Nothing others do is because of you.  What others say and do is a projection of their own dream.  When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

We take things personally when we agree with what others have said.  If we didn’t agree, the things that others say would not affect us emotionally.  If we did not care about what others think about us, their words or behavior could not affect us.

Even if someone yells at you, gossips about you, harms you or yours, it still is not about you!  Their actions and words are based on what they believe in their personal dream. 

Our personal “Book of Law” and belief system makes us feel safe.  When people have beliefs that are different from our own, we get scared, defend ourselves, and impose our point of view on others.  If someone gets angry with us it is because our belief system is challenging their belief system and they get scared.  They need to defend their point of view.  Why become angry, create conflict, and expend energy arguing when you are aware of this?

Don’t Make Assumptions

Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want.  Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama.  With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

When we make assumptions it is because we believe we know what others are thinking and feeling.  We believe we know their point of view, their dream.  We forget that our beliefs are just our point of view based on our belief system and personal experiences and have nothing to do with what others think and feel.  

We make the assumption that everybody judges us, abuses us, victimizes us, and blames us the way we do ourselves.  As a result we reject ourselves before others have the chance to reject us.  When we think this way, it becomes difficult to be ourselves in the world.

Take action and be clear to others about what you want or do not want; do not gossip and make assumptions about things others tell you.  Respect other points of view and avoid arguing just to be right.  Respect yourself and be honest with yourself.  Stop expecting the people around you to know what is in your head.

Always Do Your Best

Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick.  Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

Doing your best means enjoying the action without expecting a reward.  The pleasure comes from doing what you like in life and having fun, not from how much you get paid.  Enjoy the path traveled and the destination will take care of itself.

Living in the moment and releasing the past helps us to do the best we can in the moment.  It allows us to be fully alive right now, enjoying what is present, not worrying about the past or the future.

Have patience with yourself.  Take action.  Practice forgiveness.  If you do your best always, transformation will happen as a matter of course.

I hope these words inspire you as they’ve just inspired me!

As I look through this blog I see so many highlights. I graduated college, got my first (and second) professional job, published the first two chapters of my novel, learned how to walk the walk (literally), and dabbled in civic discussions and politics. I’ve longed for a way to unite all my passions to create more meaning in my life, and at the turn of the year I discovered the way.

With the help of friends who pretty much dropped out of the sky and into my lap last year, I’m forming a production company. Sure, right now we don’t have any investors and we can only work on this as a side project… but I know this is where my heart has been pulling me. I’m so glad and so passionate about getting stuff done that we haven’t even had time to name the freaking thing.

If this year plays out the way I expect, there will be so many projects to name it will become second nature.

In an Obama America, we can have everything we want. Social liberties (because the people in power mostly won on the promise to establish social liberties) AND economic freedom (because citizens now have more than enough incentive to rise up and correct our crumbling infrastructure and tax code).

I have nothing to say for those who fear America is becoming amoral because I wholly disagree. To allow all types of people to blossom we need non-judgmental social policy AND economic freedom.

Everyone comes into this world with their own lessons to learn. We cannot judge the choices people make when it comes to the family they choose to create. But we can ensure that no one’s economic freedom is hijacked by the government.

That is why I voted Obama and a Democratic Senator, while voting all Republicans into the House and Commissioner seats in Miami-Dade.

Reblogged from sleepwalkingthrutheuniverse:

It took me a moment to gather my thoughts, to filter out my own thoughts from those that were constantly shoved down my throat. Needless to say, it has been an uncomfortable election season for all of us. This $1 Billion dollar industry is taking advantage of the fact that most people don’t know everything that’s going on, and these campaign organizers are more than delighted to film a commercial in hopes of filling in those gaps and make you see the issues their way.

Once I finally found my center, I reaffirmed my values. I truthfully was not sure who I was going to vote for in this presidential election, mostly because I did not know what I wanted my future to be. I was feeding in to the fear culture, and I realized the fear culture is far worse than the entitlement culture. In an older post I ripped into the entitlement problem, so this is a true switch in stance.

I’d rather be a nation of “takers” who doesn’t take away people’s freedoms just because they’re scared.

Here are some major examples of the effects of the fear culture: DOMA, TSA, Patriot Act.

When you take these into consideration and you look at what Obama has brought us… it makes increased spending on Food Stamps look like the helpful policy it is. Seriously.

I believe in freedom. Real freedom. And it doesn’t come in the form of low taxes. With that, here are my answers to the Miami-Dade Ballot.

President: Barack Obama

Because I believe in education, equality, fair pay for equal work, and replenishing our amazing government programs through increased taxes. And not the other way around.

Senator: Bill Nelson

Because he has a distinguished track record, will protect our environment, works across the aisle, and puts people first.

House: Eddie Gonzalez

I feel like this guy read my cross-analysis of the Tea Party and OWS and is basing his campaign off it…. http://voteforeddie.com/issues.php

Commissioners: Keon Hardemon, Luis Garcia, Juan Zapata.

All are for increasing government transparency, working better with the people, regulating government contractors to reduce corruption, and setting term limits among other things.

Judge: Andrea Wolfson.

She is endorsed by groups I believe in.

House seat 115: Michael Bileca

The Miami Herald endorses him and he seems more open to progress and bipartisanship than his competition.

Amendments to constitution: NO to all.

So there you have it, my entire ballot.

On another note, as I was doing research on the politicians in my new district (I just moved) I found out my state senator has filed 4 bills, all are claims to award harmed citizens nearly 1 million in public funds. http://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/s38/District#district I would LOVE someone to discuss this with me.

I know I usually write about politics, human rights, and entrepreneurialism, but sometimes a girl’s gotta have a little fun. My cosplay fan page is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sapphire-Cosplay/354007938010393

So far I’ve pulled off Nel from Bleach

Black Canary from DC Comics

and Hatsune Miku from Vocaloids!

That’s all for now!

The right hook that caught us all in our half-slacked jaws was OWS.

Occupy Wall Street began as a protest against overpowered and corrupt corporations. Hundreds of people slept in a park for nearly two months. They were pissed that the…people (holding my tongue here)… who caused the global monetary insolvency that then caused the enormous financial crisis were also able to get away with most of the loot.

Exhibit 1

When we really think about it, all of us can relate with what Occupy Wall Street was trying to do. They were trying to fight for civil rights. But NOT the same civil rights African Americans & women had to fight for. When we think of civil rights, we think of the right to own property, the right to vote, the right to NOT be thought of as property… these were the basic civil rights people actually had to fight for during the beginning era of this country.

However, Occupy Wall Street protesters are fighting to restore and expand upon basic consumer rights.

But wait, we were talking about civil rights, right? Exactly. What they neglected to include in the list of basic consumer rights was how the corporations would treat their consumers’ livelihood (which often happen to be their own employees!). So Occupy Wall Street protesters decided to remind the big money fat cats that consumers are people. The civil rights OWS is fighting for are simple: (among them are) to be paid a living wage, granted access to medical care, and to have efforts be rewarded. If a corporation earns a billion dollars in profit and employs 19000 people, there is obviously something wrong when the executive board takes 150 million for themselves and leave about 44 thousand for the rest.

In consumers eyes, not only should corporations’ products solve our needs, but the way corporations create and distribute those products should solve our needs as well. And I agree with this to some extent. I think its screwed up that Apple and Facebook are earning billions upon billions of dollars, yet the people who gladly pay money and give their time to their products never see a dollar in return. But at the same time, the companies only need so many employees. And this is where we get to the second lurking punch in the face:

Entitlement.

The rich “job creators” have pushed back against protesters, claiming that they are all blinded by entitlement. After all, who says a corporation has to charge you a fair price AND pay you a fair wage? Who says they can’t use their money to tip the scales in their favor, so that they may continue to build their wealth at the expense of ours?

Honestly, WE are the ones who are allowing this. Nobody is holding a bullet to our head forcing us to consume beyond our means and continue to work a dead end job. There is nothing but our own apathy stopping us from turning the tables.

Exhibit 2

So what am I saying? I’m saying that if you choose to allow other people to run your life, you don’t get to choose how they run it. If you want the “peace of mind” of working at Starbucks because they provide benefits and flexible scheduling instead of pushing through the painful process of creating your own business, you don’t get to complain that you can’t afford a two-bedroom apartment on $9/hour.

I strongly believe that housing (and education) are a basic necessity. But I also generally understand economics and how pricing works. There are too many people settling for dead end jobs and not building, not creating. Not adding supply to the economy. These worker bees add nothing but demand. Therefore, prices go up.

Yes, some people are hoarding the world’s wealth, bur before you get to argue against the entitlement theory, make sure you’re not fitting the stereotype.

A few things that can mean you are entitled:

1. You owe thousands in student loans that you have no plans to pay back

2. You expect monetary compensation for any little effort (“I sweep these floors so well, I should get a raise.” or “I made that customer so happy, I should get a raise.”)

2a. You’re not looking to get promoted

3. You spend more time looking for get rich quick schemes than putting in the hard work that will get you there over time (this mentality shows a huge misconception over how money is earned)

4. You haven’t planned for your own retirement (“Hey, I had kids for a reason.”)

5. You can’t believe how hard it is to qualify for food stamps and you will actively get yourself low enough to qualify because you see more monetary benefit in welfare programs than employment opportunities

6. You expect other people to share in your responsibilities (Read the article I linked to Entitlement, please.)

I never understood how the corporations could be so blind to the plight of consumer civil rights until I became aware of the real issue of entitlement.

Does Occupy Wall Street have a point? Heck yes. Corporations should place equal care into how they distribute the wealth they’ve received from success as they do into acquiring that wealth.

Do the corporations have a point? Yes. We can stop buying from them and use our money to rebuild local communities, but keep in mind that millions of workers will lose their jobs. Look how many jobs were lost when consumers held back their spending.

Both solutions require huge sacrifices and I think nobody is gonna budge until we see that both sides of extreme are to blame. I’m obviously a bit bias towards OWS’ stance, but I don’t think the corporations should bend over and give money to anyone who will take it. I do, however, believe that by creating more distribution of wealth within their company the corporations will help local communities enough. And, obviously, only people who work very hard are going to be given high paid positions. So those entitled people, paralyzed by laziness, will miss out on the gravy train and hopefully learn their lesson once the corporations learned theirs.

Anyway, I’ve been punched in the face by both of these realizations, so I’m going to do some soul searching of my own on how to contribute to the solution. In the meantime, hopefully more people will start to see how these relate and stop the perpetual negativity of hate.

Article from Sun Sentinel

South Florida children have been among the hardest hit by the Great Recession: Poverty among those 18 and under increased 16 percent in five years — nearly 15,000 more poor kids in Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to data released Wednesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

In Palm Beach County, the number of children in poverty was up 32 percent from 2005 through 2009, the foundation found through analyzing county Census Bureau data.

Almost three years later, those numbers are most certainly higher. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reported a 60 percent increase in the number of poor children on Medicaid in Broward and Palm Beach counties since 2007.

In Hollywood, the soup kitchen at the Jubilee Center of South Broward now sees mothers coming in with babies and other young children to get a hot meal — Tuesday it was a mom with 4-year-old triplets, said executive director Joyce Curtis.

She tells her staff not to cry, because the children don’t realize the desperate circumstances they are in. Instead, workers serve them ice cream as a treat and take them to a more festive area with stuffed animals. “But it is heart breaking,” Curtis said.

Overall, Florida ranked 44th out of 50 states for the economic well-being of children, according to the foundation’s 2012 KIDS COUNT Data Book.

[Read More]

For some reason, holidays have always caused me to reflect on my life. Maybe it’s because they’re good anchor points in time; or, perhaps it’s because they measure my happiness and the caliber of those around me. Either way, as I sat watching the fireworks, I reflected on the difference between this July 4th and the last year’s. I felt so full of happiness and security… an emotional state that is so contrast to where I was last year.

In a nut shell: This year has brought another growth spurt for me. I started graduate school at Strayer University, landed my dream job with RingByName, and am very happy at home. Things have kicked up a notch with my stunt group, and I got to achieve one of my craziest dreams: to dance on the stage at a rave show! It was ridiculously fun and it looks like we’ll be doing it again soon

While life has been happy, it has also been hectic. At the advisory of the Assistant Dean, I’m scheduled for two classes each term in school. She basically told me I’m freakishly smart and assured me I would prefer taking two classes at a time instead of one. If it works out, I’ll have my MBA by the end of next year! And I must admit, having the faith and admiration from the Assistant Dean gave me a boost of confidence. She’s an enlightened woman and it made me so proud to see that she sees the same in me!

The challenge for me, in the face of all these blessings and opportunities, is to make the most of them. I want to continue making the most of this lovely relationship I have been blessed with, to make the most of my new role as Internet Marketing Assistant Manager, to make the most of my grad school experience, and most importantly to make the most of myself. I read these stories in Forbes, Fortune, & Inc. and I see people all around me making so much for themselves and changing the world just by being here. With all the blessings life has granted me, I’m beginning to feel like I have an open invitation to take my place among them. Among the stars of our age. Even if I go unnamed, I’d be happy enough to shine a light for someone out there to see and be empowered by.

If I’m quiet, it’s because I’m working hard. Once I get some hindsight on all of this, I’ll be able to discuss it all. And I can’t wait for that day!

__

In other news, for those who remember, I published the first two chapters of my book. We put it in the Kindle Free store for two days and it had hundreds of downloads. It was very very high in the rankings and got some great reviews. The energy really pumped me up and filled me with new inspiration. I finally saw where the story would go and realized it might end up being more than one book. I want to be able to give it the time and attention it deserves and for that reason… I must announce that the book is on hiatus for now. I’ll probably resume writing it later this year or next time I get a break!

“What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it.”

This is a comment I left in response to Subhash Kateel’s thoughtful and powerful analysis of the “flesh-eating” incident that recently occurred in Miami-Dade, the city in which I have lived my entire life.

_____
This comment is directly for Mr. Subhash Kateel,

You bring up a serious issue. I have been offended by the zombie-pocolypse jokes to no end. As someone who has done drugs (in the past), I know that they DO NOT cause a sane person to commit acts of violence.

There is so much ignorance about drug abuse. It truly makes me sick.

Florida was also the despicable state that required welfare recipients to take a drug test. I’m sure you know of this, but what I found to be worst of all was when Scott claimed “It helps the kids”.

You can see my rant on that here: http://charitysapphire.com/2012/04/14/my-thoughts-on-welfare-drug-testing/

I also come from a family of drug abuse and mental illness. I know that long term drug abuse can cause mental illness, but I also know that those who turn to drugs are those who have no other means to improve their reality. What happened with Rudy really is the sign of a crumbling state system.

It may be too late to save Ronald and Rudy, but this is just another serious wake-up call for our community. We need to stop separating ourselves so much from those we feel sorry for and instead we need to band together, take the power back for the people, and start some serious community healing for Miami, FL.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Did you know that by consistently raising the interest rates on student loans, the federal government earns $6 billion each year?

Simply freezing the interest on student loans at 3.4% will cause the federal government to “lose” six billion dollars every year.

Can you believe they’re profiting off of college students this grotesquely? It’s not like they even invest that money back into the schools! By not investing money back into the schools, the schools have to charge more. When the schools have to charge more, the government gets to lend out more money. When the government lends out more money, they earn more. Billions. more.

I think it’s time to burst this little bubble.

EDUCATION AND HOUSING ARE A BASIC NECESSITY. Economies and business are all about raising the standard of living. The standard of living in the US is superior to that of many other countries thanks to those of us who create businesses and become educated! We built this nation! Don’t double my interest rates, bro!

*The previous information was derived from my MBA education and this piece of news.

With the publication of my original sci-fi series, Assassin’s X, my boyfriend’s mom was so excited that she Googled me to see if it came up. Considering that SEO is not fool-proof and my book only came out yesterday, one of the TOP 5 search results was a car wash video. Sounds pretty innocent right? Well, when the car wash is conducted by the Sapphire Strip Club, for charity … you can see why it must be slightly hazardous to google my name without “these” little helpers.

So, yeah, that original sci-fi series titled Assassin’s X, will be publishing every Tuesday. It is available through Amazon Kindle and each part in the series costs just 99 cents!

Now to get back to work…

I love how the “job creators” think they know everything. Truly, it tickles my cortex. Prepare for my rant.

Hey, Rick Scott, you want to help the kids? Then it’s all about the follow through. Forcing druggies to shy away from welfare out of fear of being reported to DCF DOESN’T HELP THE KIDS.  Take it from someone who PERSONALLY was raised (until age 12) by a drug-addict—the less money there is, the less money there is for the kids. If a drug addict has $500 and it costs $500 to feed the kids for a month and $500 to do drugs, trust me, those kids AREN’T EATING.

And what’s worse is that nobody will know it until a neighbor notices the lights haven’t turned on for two weeks. Hm… are they on vacation? Wait, is that candlelight coming from the bathroom window? Dear God, those poor children…. And they’ll probably leave it at that.

The sad truth is that it is socially taboo to call the cops on suspected bad parents. And if the neighbor won’t do it, you definitely can’t expect the family to stand up and care for those children. Mainly because if this is a serious drug-addict, they’ve already cut contact with most of the family due to their disapproval of the drug abuse. To the drug-addict, communicating with family becomes all about the drug abuse, and they simply don’t like to be reminded of what they are. I.E. Watch the crack addict ease her mind about being called a crack addict by promptly snatching some crack. Unfortunately, in a situation where the family is at odds with a drug-addict parent, people tend to forget the kids. I know this from experience.

Here is my suggestion: If Rick Scott really does want to help the children, he needs to hire on more part-time social workers to check up on the families on welfare. And I mean home visits. I NEVER saw my mom move faster than when DCF called to schedule a visit. The house would go from looking like a landfill (and all of us looking like homeless people) to the house smelling like Lysol and us looking like normal kids. I vividly remember the craziness that would happen the day before a DCF visit. My mom would actually call my family members and everyone would come over to clean up the house and the kids as well. I would thank God for those visits. I know -without a doubt- that following up, in person, with welfare recipients is the best way to get them on track.

And if people speak out “Oh, but that is totally disrespecting their privacy!” to you I say: they are public figures now. Once you get yourself on government/my taxes’ payroll (no matter if you’re a politician, a soldier, or government employee) you decidedly waive your right to privacy IN SO FAR as your reason for the paycheck goes. I demand to know what politicians, public workers, and soldiers are doing during working hours. That’s the whole point of transparency. And welfare recipients get themselves included on that list because they opted to receive government money. The only way they differ is that they don’t have to work any hours to get that money, so in return, they should make themselves available and open to the public’s right to know what they are doing to resolve their issues.

Even people on disability and Medicare have to go through many steps to keep receiving their benefits. I am definitely not arguing the point that Rick Scott made of holding welfare recipients accountable. I just think that it’s insulting, narrow-minded, ignorant, and ineffective to believe that mandatory drug tests will be enough. All welfare recipients should be on some type of rehabilitation course. Period.

That is what I truly recommend for an action-plan to clean up our broken families. Actual CARE, not just an iron fist. Gov Scott is just plain WRONG to think that forcing people to take a drug test will (in any way) help the children. We need to teach parents on welfare proper discipline (for themselves and the children!) if we want to see true empowerment of the lower class (all you smart alecs who say that the rich don’t want to see self empowerment of the lower class—shut it. Let my bleeding heart bleed!)

All in all…

Drug tests are like random and inconsistent discipline. Rebellious children only get more rebellious when mom or dad randomly lay down the law for all of their mistakes.

It takes reasonable and consistent rules and procedures to attain positive and lasting change. Period.

–Edited for clarity on May 5th, 9:00 pm

Colbert Report, “Stephen reports on an old-fashioned hero”

After perusing “Colbert Nation” I came across a piece about a shoe leather journalist. The video takes us into the world of a real, live, newspaper journalist as he works to find a story. The journalist happens to also be someone who avoids the whole social media craze and actually goes out to find news. The video takes us through the man’s almost futile efforts at finding a good story. He begins at a police station, follows the trail to a supposed culprit, then needs to get a source to talk about the supposed culprit which leads him to an old fisherman. After patiently waiting for the fisherman to say something relevant, his ears pick up the SINGLE useful thing from that entire conversation, “Man says it’s too hot to fish.” This is the type of journalism that we find “archaic”, new media wants it to be “obsolete”, audiences call it “inefficient”… because no one wants to sift through an entire newspaper to find an article when they can just google their topic of interest.

But how do all these new media outlets acquire THEIR news? Well, as Colbert brilliantly points out… new media actually gets their news from newspapers!!!

Colbert shows how the NEW YORK TIMES RIIIIPS the story off of twitter and republishes it AS THEIR OWN STORY, fancy new byline and all. Thus, their contribution to the death of local newspapers

Soon enough, the well is going to run dry, and THEN where will all these internet journalists get their source material from? HMM? Soon enough we will realize that the internet is not the real world, and those who live their entire lives connected to the internet will miss out on an entire world where things REALLY happen and people don’t just talk about what happened. The internet may be a place where things are gathered and documented, but if you always experience life through another’s eyes, never doing or feeling anything for yourself, you WILL feel cold and bored and you WILL have missed out on your own path and your own talents.

News is ever important and if we don’t do something to remind people where news comes from (I.E. The REAL world) then people will continue to grow detached and disbelieving.

Even I, a 23-year old career rookie, have helped people to earn living wages thanks to my fortune of knowing people that actually pay for services. I must admit, though, that I am shocked at how easy it has been to help people around me get work.

So I got to thinking… What is a “job creator”?

The best explanation I have come across came from The Daily Show when the brilliant Jon Stewart pointed out: “Job Creator” is code-word for RICH.

Basically, whenever you hear candidates talking about protecting “Job Creators” and cutting taxes on “Job Creators” and lessening regulations and infringements upon “Job Creators”, they’re really talking about the RICH.

When Jon Stewart brought this to my attention, I had a mind-gasm. It explained to me why I experienced brain fuzz whenever I heard the term “Job Creators”. I knew there was something fishy about how this term has been thrown about. I knew that the term itself made no sense.

Grammatically speaking, the term “Job Creators” is perfectly parallel to “Rich S.O.B.s”, whereas it is incompatible with “Hiring Businesses” (what it’s supposed to mean).

Let’s see if I can back this up with proof.

Here’s a recent quote discussing “Job Creators” on NPR:

“While President Obama travels the country pushing his jobs bill, Republicans insist the White House wants to raise taxes on what they call job creators, to pay for the bill. These days, House Speaker John Boehner often remarks: Job creators are on strike.”

But how does the term “Hiring Businesses” fit?

“…  Republicans insist the White House wants to raise taxes on what they call [hiring businesses], to pay for the bill. These days, House Speaker John Boehner often remarks: [hiring businesses] are on strike.”

Hmmm… something doesn’t sound right. Why would Republicans take issue with Hiring Businesses bearing the brunt of the Jobs bill? And, either way, it’s grammatically impossible for a hiring business to be on strike!

Now let’s insert “Rich S.O.B.s” where it says job creators:

“…  Republicans insist the White House wants to raise taxes on what they call [rich S.O.B.s], to pay for the bill. These days, House Speaker John Boehner often remarks: [Rich S.O.B.s] are on strike.”

I think we have A MATCH!

Anywho, just to continue with the tone of transparency, definition of S.O.B.s: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=S.O.B.

__

What do you think of the so-called “Job Creators” and their role in our unemployment rates? Do you think the elite corporations have more responsibility to their “fellow” human citizens? Do you think rich S.O.B.s deserve the same treatment as wealthy hiring businesses? Should tax cuts be based on proof of employees? Let’s hear it.

Last week I talked about my journey to develop the skills I have today. I talked about my taste for news, politics, writing, leadership… and I also talked about the budding growth of my professional persona. For those who know me in person, I am 2 parts adult, 1 part child, and 1 part is an unedited version of Funk and Wagnall’s Encyclopedia (still trying to guess which edition!).

Although I highlighted my strengths throughout college in that last post, I must admit that to most of my friends and family, I was actually just a geek. I can vividly recall a time when I had wished there were 30 hours in a day just so I could have more time to play World of Warcraft…

Now I’m wishing there was more time so that I could actually accomplish all the things my professional life is requiring of me. Even before leaving my house I’m swamped with work, such as blow drying my hair, putting on a watch, and putting together a ‘fashionable’ outfit. All that work (plus more that goes without saying) before I can finally get to the amazing projects my colleagues and I have discussed! Books, magazines, market research, sales collateral, business development, and branding… plus so many more projects that are right up my alley.

As the days continue to pass, I am coming to terms with myself in ways I never imagined. To put it point-blank: I’m re-learning how to walk and talk.

For example, one month ago my boss and I were getting ready to attend a business expo. After straightening my hair, approving my outfit, and managing to get me to wear earrings (another thing I have to get used to..), a colleague noticed me standing and walking funny.

The thing is… I never really got into the habit of standing up straight, something I am sure many others have gotten away with and something that was never reinforced in my rearing.

Soon after realizing I don’t walk straight, they noticed I also don’t “model-walk” in heels. I walk normal in heels, but my colleagues advised I try to walk heel-to-toe, which makes my hips sway a little more and looks more professional. After struggling a few times with the motion and trying to convince myself to want to walk that way, I got it down pretty fast.

As we drove off to the expo in another colleague’s benz, I took a moment to reflect on what a big moment this was for me. My first “business expo” and I had the pleasure and opportunity of attending with two beautiful and intelligent women who considered me so valuable that they took the time and effort to do my hair and teach me to walk!

I felt more successful in that single day than I had in ages.

Personally, whenever I pictured myself successful, it has always been me in the future. More mature, better bread, more ladylike (or vixenesque!). To me, the key to ensuring my intelligence and talents get noticed right away is having a respectable image. It took me a little longer to get on the ball with things than I’d hoped. Things are finally coming together with the help of my wonderful colleague. I am finally getting to the point where I have a little voice in my head that makes proper judgment calls. As such, my personal stuff (wardrobe, hair, and even the products I use) has gone up in quality.

My lesson of the day: Being truly successful takes the right mix of preparation and opportunity. I’ve been pretty good about jumping at opportunities, but I had barely a clue as to what the “right preparation” would be for my field.

Experience in the field or at least understanding of the project is definitely necessary. Knowing the right people is also a great help. However, once you’ve scrounged up the qualifications and met with the right person, sometimes those aren’t enough. And that’s where the other half of preparation comes in handy. Having a developed resume is the cake. Having a developed professional persona is the icing that makes the cake appealing.

Now where can I find a good blazer…

As you may have noticed, I have been thinking about politics and current events almost religiously lately, leading me to finally sum up some of my thoughts and blog about them. I must admit, I am no newcomer to news and writing. I first developed my taste for news at 15 when I became sports editor for the school paper.

Due to my taste for news and current events I imagined the best path for me would be journalism. I endured through FIU’s SJMC program and got my Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications. However, long before I received my diploma I knew that shoe leather journalism would never be my reality. With my demographic, the best I could hope for would be a career involving the constant regurgitation of other people’s news for a competitor network.

I kind of hate regurgitating.

Fortunately, I escaped this fate. In one swift motion I went from receiving my diploma to being employed as a communications coordinator at a healthcare company.

At the ripe age of 22, it was almost unthinkable for me to snag such a job in this down economy with nothing but a diploma and list of restaurants on my resume.

Needless to say, the way I carried myself through college allowed my degree to be much more than a piece of paper and I include my time as a college student as part of my professional development.

Landing small internships that earned me published articles (on paper!), connections, and something to email recruiters asking for a writing sample definitely helped, but what helped me the most was my time learning about leadership.

It is my background knowledge in leadership that gives me the confidence to speak my mind, to inspire a shared vision, and to be very fulfilled with supporting roles that don’t necessarily get the spotlight.

As an Honors College student at FIU I had access to leadership courses, lectures, and conferences that anyone outside of the college didn’t even know about. I took advantage of these opportunities and placed myself in as many of these situations as possible.

Later on down the line, I joined up with FIU’s Center for Leadership and Service, enrolling myself in their “Academy of Leaders” program. I learned my personality code and got to play some challenging games, even a ropes course, with other personality codes and analyze their strengths and weaknesses with the advisers.

I continued on with this group until I finally reached my pinnacle with them: Marketing & Recruitment Chair for their most prestigious program. Alternative Breaks is a wonderful organization with a nationwide network. FIU’s program is solid and is a truly life changing experience. I got to work closely with a remarkable team of professional women who taught me to hear my voice and get others to hear it as well. I never experienced more satisfaction from any other position in my life. I had found my niche: Marketing & Public Relations.

Since taking on that job I truly fell off the face of the earth. Looking back, I’m grateful that I was so disciplined in my studies and work because it pushed me ahead of the pack. From the beginning of my junior year of college I never stopped picking up internships, writing opportunities, leadership opportunities, and learning opportunities. I saw each event (those that rarely attracted attention from other students) as a novel chance to learn something new.

And it’s exactly because I have been open to learning and working that I have been able to establish myself as a professional and improve my skills. I have been working so diligently for so long, considering my age, that I have been able to impress some of the amazing people around me, and thus opportunities have continued to come pouring in from all fronts.

I would have never imagined myself in this position so soon, and still I believe I can handle more.

My daily lesson:

It is important to not fear change. Everything changes, the only difference is that when things simply change we call it “change” and when they get better we call it “improvement”. Time always brings about change and sometimes change brings about improvement.

Be the change you wish to see!

Mars straight up cackled at the several slam dunks powered through by LeBron. Seems he is set on making up for his performance last year and giving his haters something to choke on.

Anywho, it was a fun outing with music, food, and a genuinely entertaining game. Was especially great that the Heat was leading at the end of every quarter and smoothly stomped the Cavaliers out (even with endless free throws those guys couldn’t get it in!).

I sat back for a moment pondering over the major sports franchises. It seems that both the NFL and NBA have been very resilient to the woes of this economy, with team-owning families still in the billionaire sector and players themselves approaching the multi-multi-millionaire sector.

Looking around the crowded, enormous stadium, I had to wonder: are they leeching off the local community or contributing to it?

Recently, one of my readers submitted a very emotional analysis on capitalism, classifying it as a system that most greatly benefits the greedy. Allowing the emotions of his “rant” to get to me, I kind of jumped on the bandwagon and stated that what we are currently experiencing is the manifestation of all things bad about capitalism.

Let me explain a little. Due to the freedoms of our democracy, lobbyists and corporations have been “capitalizing” on the governmental and economic systems in this country, twisting every path in their favor.

This is the reason why successful businesses continue to become more and more successful: they destroy the competition.

*FYI, this post will no longer be about basketball, but stick around because I will get back to the Miami Heat.*

Romney made his multi- multi- millions by devouring businesses and turning them around for his personal profit. What most upsets me about Romney is that he calls himself “conservative”. He is purely a capitalist!

This is the chart:

*Definitions taken from Merriam-Webster Online. To get a great refresher on conservative vs liberal policies, take a look at http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/conservative-vs-liberal-beliefs/

Even though Romney’s principles, platforms, and priorities do land him on the right, he is not classified as a conservative. Romney is a person driven by money far more than he is driven by his religion or personal values. In fact, besides his religion and his family, what else do we really know about Romney as a person? He is a faceless mass of capitalism.

As much as I love to see people succeed and thrive, I hate to see enormous amounts of capital sequestered into a single area. I say sequestered because the people who have the most money are the least likely to pump it into the local economy, buying wares from local sellers and donating directly to local charities. And that is what I thought I saw at the triple A arena this Tuesday night.

I saw so many inner-city children sporting Heat jerseys and talking about their love of the game. I found myself wishing I could provide more jobs for athletes. Why is it that there are so few teams, with so few players, making such a ridiculous amount of money?

It is because they stomped out the competition. The rich owners made it so impossible for a team to start up and get an equal share that the same teams have always been around and always will be around, regardless of how much talent there is or isn’t. The game will always revolve around the rules laid down by these people and fans will have to follow suit.

Which brings me to another point: Why is it that children are playing sports less and less? Is it really because of video game consoles? Is it really because of a free and open internet?

I believe it is because there is nowhere for the winners to go. Once the little league is over, it’s back to the real world. Because sports is a business that has been completely overtaken by the franchise owners.

Hm…

The original intent of this blog was to investigate how much of its ridiculous profits the Miami Heat gives back to the city of Miami. After a few moments of searching I found that they have highly publicized charity work, yet no schedule, no reported figures, and no contact person… funny right?

However, there was a refreshing piece of literature. The philanthropy section of Dwayne Wade’s wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwyane_Wade#Philanthropy

In this span of years, I have noticed the show evolve as quickly as the volatility of politics has evolved, not missing a beat and whacking the moles every single time. They have made me think ten times more about the garbage politicians spew, separating fact from presentation, and have made me a more discerning consumer of media. Got to thank those wise asses and point out the merits!

Oh yeah, wise asses. It’s true: Jon Stewart repeatedly reiterates that he is not a journalist.. simply a comedian. The voracious masses eat up every word he says like hard fact, and he does check his sources and admit when he’s wrong, but the sheer fact that he is a comedian has got to mean something!

If the president were to go up in front of congress and narrate to a montage of their stupidity, would it be as well respected as when Jon Stewart does it? Have we really grown so cynical as a nation to believe that laid back sarcasm can replace genuine authority and professionalism?

When Jon Stewart interviews politicians, lawmakers, or even journalists, does he outright hold them accountable for their flaws and lay down ground rules on how to move forward with projects? Of course he doesn’t, but most of his fans seem to expect it! Daily Show fans count on Stewart and his team to cut a gash through the saturated media they so often succumb to until the truth gushes out, or they begin to feel the familiar tingle of their brains actually operating. I think this is where we find the issue.

If The Daily Show is the smelling salt for the  media-coma masses, then stubbing your toe is the smelling salt for remembering to watch where you’re going. Granted, the two have opposing side-effects (laughter vs cussing), yet at first it’s the same motion: a big, deep breath.

Speaking of big, deep breaths… As a public, we need to start taking bigger, deeper breaths when we’re watching these slander commercials paid for by humanoid corporations. Don’t let the propaganda get to you! We need to take a big, deep breath when we’re listening to someone’s reasoning for who they want to vote for. Don’t simply prepare what your next argument will be instead of listening to theirs! Finally, we need to take bigger, deeper breaths all throughout this long and tough decision. Thinking clearly and logically now will help us when it comes time to choose who will be the leader of our country come Election 2012. Whether or not that person is everything we need is completely irrelevant. No one person can change the direction of a nation. Don’t let them make you think otherwise! and Start by looking into your local elections first!

The support we put behind our figure heads is what matters. They’re nothing more than a symbol. We the people are responsible for making this work. We need to fight these corporations and lobbyists and return the power to REAL people.

And the only REAL people I see on the news lately, actors, comedians, journalists… are those wise asses on The Daily Show. And for me this is an issue!

However, what’s not being taken into account is that 15% taxation on those who currently don’t pay taxes (and on those who currently pay a smaller percent) could be a disastrous policy creating an even greater divide between the poorest and the wealthiest.

Take a salary of $13000. Currently, this worker is not paying taxes. They’re barely making any money as it is. Now, strip them of 15% of their income for a mandatory tax. Those hundreds, on that salary, could make the difference between paying bills and paying bills without incurring a bank overdraft.

Alternatively, consider the effects on the wealthiest. Someone like Romney who makes $42 million a year, currently, is paying around 30% taxes on that income. At the end of the day, is that cutting into their means to survive? Is it cutting into their very basics, such as food, housing, and clothing? Not at all! Reducing their tax to 15% “to make it fair” is only adding more into their bank. Sure, more capital will allow them more freedom to do the things they want to, and everyone should have the freedom to use their earnings for their own means, however let’s weigh in on which means deserve more protection.

The argument of which is more important: achieving the basics versus achieving complete self autonomy has been decided by the self-actualization pyramid which placed the basics in a much more weighty role than self-autonomy. Self-actualization is a very valid concept and it is no secret that the wealthy have much more means to achieve it.

Yet, as a society, should we place equal importance on a person’s ability to achieve complete self-actualization as we do on a person’s ability to meet their most basic needs? Should our policy give equal weight to the plight of the rich versus the plight of the poor? The 15% tax model does exactly this.

Taking in this reasoning, we have assessed what is really at-stake for each class group concerning this tax model. Now, let’s assess the pains. The person with a $13k salary will experience a lot of pain when almost $2k is automatically removed for a mandatory tax. On the other hand, the person with the $42 million salary will lose $6.3 million to the mandatory tax (assuming he doesn’t finagle his income to show up as less than his actual profits). While the difference of losing $2k to losing $6.3 million is significant, the man with the $42 million salary will still have $35.7 million to add to his name, for that single year, whereas the man with the $13k salary will only have $11k remaining, of which every single penny is going to his basic needs.

The current tax policy does its best to allow everyone the fair chance to attain a reasonable salary, while taking the excess and injecting it into the poverty level. This is a message right from our constitution which ensures this society will do what it can to help everyone achieve life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness while blocking entities from attaining too much power. It is a cycle that has worked for a long time (although it could work better). A policy that can work so long as greed is kept at bay, but unfortunately recent events have caused the poor to want more and the rich to give less. The Obama administration inspired the tax code to bend a little more in favor of the poor and this has caused the delicate balance, the dam holding back the greed, to crack.

Now we are seeing the rich and poor fighting tooth and nail to create policies that will benefit their class. The 15% tax policy might sound fair, but will it really create a cycle that funnels money appropriately?

For now, let us all remember that the world rotates. Without a balance of North and South, East and West, everything will return to the center… and no one is prepared for that. We can’t make all the poor wealthy and we can’t make all the rich poor. However, what we can do is retain the delicate balance that funnels money in a cycle that meets everyone’s needs.

We cannot do that if we force everyone to pay a mandatory 15% tax.