My kingdom for a literary agent!!!!!!!!!!!

Finding an agent is HARD. However I do highly recommend for the serious writers out there the following website: http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/

They give you the lowdown on the current hot and not so hot agents and editors out there. A newbie in this field should consider this site their bible. Keep it in your favorites and use it often since the site is updated to reflect changes.

I am revamping an already published book...I retain the copyright so I can do this. ;-) I am so motivated to get this book to a publishing house...that is how much I believe in it. I love the story...the morality in it...the love, the hate, the perseverance of the human spirit. Now...........if I can only find me an agent who will love it like I do!!

The Essence of Blogging

Wow, when I read this I was like amazed....always impressed at the human spirit, where it will reach, whose heart it will touch. I know Cambodia was a worn torn country due to the Vietnam war and then when it faced its own political internal strife. Reading this story makes me realize how priviledged I am to live in the USA where electricity and yes blogging......is as easy to me as breathing:

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- A Cambodian blogger asked recently whether former King Norodom Sihanouk should be considered the country's founding father of blogging.

Young, tech-savvy Cambodians are embracing blogs.

He got no definitive answer. Cambodian blog watchers say the 84-year-old monarch may not have known he was blogging when he unveiled his Web site, updated daily by his staff since 2002 with his views on national affairs, correspondence with his admirers and news about his film-making hobby.
But it is clear that young, tech-savvy Cambodians are joining Sihanouk in embracing blogs. The trend is changing their lives and their communication with people abroad -- even as electricity remains an unreachable dream for most households in this poverty-ridden nation of 14 million.
"This is a kind of cultural revolution now happening here in terms of self-expression," said Norbert Klein, a longtime resident from Germany who is considered the person who introduced e-mail to Cambodia, through a dial-up connection in 1994. "It is completely a new era in Cambodian life."

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/24/cambodia.blogs.ap/index.html

The winds of change

Just got out of a meeting with my team. Yet AGAIN we are going to have changes implemented to the way we do things. NARA is downsizing and getting rid of positions. Therefore, the tasks that these displaced workers were doing will fall on us archivists. Will be interesting. Wonder if a raise will insue next year when Congress gets theirs???????????????????????????????????

My philosophy is go with the flow. It is a job. I understand that governmental red tape is par for the course. Sigh....just give me a raise. What I do now and if there was a comparable job in the private sector.........I would be paid MORE than what I make now. I guess compensation is serving one's country with job security but higher pay would help. Rent went up, gas is up, basic essentials are rising. Please! Ay MAMI!

Drinking Tea

I WAS NEVER MUCH OF A TEA DRINKER. Being American coffee was my thing. When I was dating my ex he was very much into tea, milk tea, green tea, all sorts....I got used to it. Every evening (especially when it was cold), he would make tea with milk and boy oh boy I loved it.

I now own tiny little glass demitasse tea cups with their tiny little saucers.....so when I make tea my daughter loves to drink out of them due to the novelty. I will have to find a picture and post it here.

Dealing with Racism

I have had to deal with this since I was a child. First in school and now as an American. I have seen a lot of hostility against Americans since the onset of 9/11. I am one who does not like to overgeneralize or stereotype people. I know what is feels like on the receiving end. So when I hear people criticizing the American people for what the Bush Administration has done regarding our country's reputation and our hard work to be a super power yes I get pissed.

America is the land of opportunity and is the melting pot of the world. There are so many wonderful nationalities here...I love that I can walk down a street and see people from all over. In college I was active working with international students. I think being around people from different walks of life is a privilege and a wondrous opportunity to learn from one another. What hurts is that when I was traveling to the Middle East some friends I know told me not to mention my nationality since people are starting to hate Americans. Just sad.

Unfortunately, it appears that we Americans are being labeled as war mongers and plain sadists. Makes me sad.

Of course there is the racism I see against Arabs and Muslims. Reminds me of WWII when people were angry with the Germans here and the Japanese (internment camps for the latter).

Since the horrific terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, Security concerns have understandably increased, but so too has racial profiling, discrimination etc. In the early aftermath of the attacks some Americans that were understandably outraged and horrified, even attacked some members of the Sikh community where at least one was even killed, because they resembled certain types of Muslims, with beards and turbans. Various people of Middle East or South Asian origin have faced controversial detentions or questionings by officials at American airports. This web site’s section on the war against terror has more details on these aspects. http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Racism.asp#RacisminNorthAmerica

I wish that we could focus on the oneness of humanity, in working together to bring about more positive contributions to science, medicine, the social services....nice dream to have.....

STRATEGIES TO REDUCE RACISM:
http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/362.html

Why is it important to reduce racism? This may seem obvious. Racism is bad, so of course it should be reduced. But there are more thoughtful answers to this question than just that.
1. Racism impedes or prevents the recipient of racism from achieving his or her full potential as a human being.
2. Racism impedes or prevents the recipient of racism from making his or her fullest contribution to society.
3. Racism impedes or prevents the person or group engaging in racist actions from benefiting from the potential contributions of the recipient of those actions.
4. Racism increases the present or eventual likelihood of retaliation by the recipients of racist actions.
5. Racism goes against many of the democratic ideals upon which the United States and other democracies were founded.
Racism is illegal, in many cases.

In other words, there are both moral and sometimes legal reasons to act against racism. There are also strong pragmatic reasons as well. Racism can harm not only the recipient of the racism, but also the larger society, and indirectly the very people who are engaging in the racism.
What's more, some important new research suggests that in some cases, racist actions can cause physiological harm to recipients. For example, a recent review of physiological literature concludes:
"Interethnic group and intraethnic group racism are significant stressors for many African-Americans. As such, intergroup and intragroup racism may play a role in the high rates of morbidity and mortality in this population." (Clark, Anderson, Clark, and Williams, 1999).

Taking up Tae Kwon Do

YES YOU READ IT RIGHT............I am ready to get into better shape, focus and even earn a belt. I am excited. There is a gym near where I live that offers classes for $173.00 from November through January to start off...so psyched. And since my work gym is free I plan on going there after work for about a half hour on Monday's and Thursdays (NO WAY am I staying late on a Friday for ANY reason).........and do the martial arts classes on Wednesdays. I hope I can "get it" where I am half way coordinated and not flaying all over the place with my hands and feet like a chimpanzee. :-p

GOOGLING and YAHOOING

OH MY GOD IS IT HARD TO FIND ANYTHING ON THE NET! I remember "fondly" my first experience utilizing the Internet. This was back in college in the early 90's. I was totally addicted (hmmm...like I am NOT now??)....I have to admit that the search engines are better. However, there is so much CRAP on the net it is hard to filter through sometimes in finding what you are seeking. I do love exquisite convenience of it...just when you get like a trillion hits on something like: generation x clip art...makes you want to pull your hair out.

Now I have seen the slow downward spiral of Yahoo. It was my favorite search engine until I was introduced to Google. Then, when my yahoo email account was being bombarded with a gazillion junk mail I had to sadly leave it. This was my first email account established in 1994 and I was hard pressed to leave it and for some reason the spam folder did not work so I switched to google. The only thing I do not like about gmail is how it cache's your emails and makes it a tad confusing in trying to find an email or answering a prior request. All in all I am content with google and love to search for obscure items. Good luck to all who have the patience and fortitude to weed through all the hits! :-)