Red Tash's Blog, page 4

Join the Magical Mug Giveaway with the new Miss Fitz Audiobook!

New release! Miss Fitz and the Hot Patchouli Murder is out on audiobook!

What are you waiting for? Grab a free copy when you sign up for Audible, which I believe is on sale right now for Black Friday!

If you’ve already got the book, scroll down for the exciting Magical Mug details! Otherwise, here are the links:

US Audible link

UK Audible link

Canada Audible link

Australia Audible link

Audible France (audiobook is in English)

Audible Germany (audiobook is in English)

And not to be forgotten, the audiobook is also on Apple Books:*

*I don’t have a referral link to Apple books, but I do for Audible, so I will get an additional cut on top of my very modest royalty if you buy through those Audible links above.

And now, without further ado…if you got the newsletter yesterday, you already know about this huge giveaway, but just in case you aren’t on the list…

It’s books, it’s audiobooks, it’s a magical mug, and it’s cozy tea! And even better, it’s you sharing cozy comforting stories with your friends who may really need some comfort and care right now.

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY HERE!

And by all means, if you have any questions, send me a note! I’m happy to help.

Thank you for enjoying my stories. It means a lot.

RT

Time to give Thanks

Friends! What a season, huh?

I am preparing to send out a newsletter today, and it includes so many swell tidings! A new audiobook release AND an exclusive very cool giveaway just for Red Tash fans. Just my way of thanking you for reading my cozy fantasy mystery series, even though I have been a very slow writer these past few years.

To that end, I was actually looking through my backlist under my three biggest pen names, and it seems I have had a habit in the past of working in fits and spurts. During a “fit,” I would write, edit, and polish multiple works. I really have gotten on a roll in the past, sometimes for months at a time.

It has been my good fortune to know many writers who are able to work steadily at their careers, but until lately, I have not had the luxury of time for that. In October, however, I believe I found the tipping point. I finally have more time to write, an office of my own, a diagnosis of ADHD and the Rx to match, and a female role model I can relate to professionally, even though she’s younger than me and lives a completely different lifestyle.

Who?

Oh, you know who.

Whenever I feel myself at the crossroads of “Should I goof off?” or “Should I try to work for at least 15 minutes?” I ask myself, “What would Taylor Swift do?”

Go on and laugh if you must, but hear me out. She’s achieved all she has by relentlessly making her art her way, diving deeply into her life experience, and fearlessly sharing with the world. Her talent would not have taken her as far as she has risen were it not for her habit of DOING the thing. And, hey, sometimes she cries in between. Finally, a successful woman who is not afraid to show the world that her sensitivity is NOT a weakness, but an actual requirement of being a human being!

Perfectionism has its place, don’t get me wrong—but it has long discouraged me that women have attempted to hide their inherent womanly tendencies in the pursuit of artistic success. It is so backward! Thank you, Taylor, for showing me the way!

And it’s not just Taylor. I made myself an old fashioned vision board to remind me of where I’m headed, and why. I haven’t had to look at it much, because so far I’ve not gotten myself that far off track, but I will share it here in case you are interested in what my dream looks like in collage form. (I used to teach a journaling & collage class, and BOY do I hope my former students have checked out Pinterest’s new collage function.)

Well, that’s all for now. Make sure you’re on the email list! And happy November. I am grateful for you.

It smells like Failure and Crowdstrike

On July 19th 2024 there was a unexpected impact to all sectors of the economy,
I kOn July 19th, 2024 there was an unexpected impact to all sectors of the economy,
I know this firsthand, as I was on call when this happened, which put me on the front line working to clean up the mess this caused in our Citrix environment. It made for a crazy morning and being bleary eyed from a late night downtime that pushed me to a 22 hour day, and only getting a 2 hour nap before getting a call from our help desk related to this issue at 4 AM.

By then it was determined it was Crowdstrike that was causing the issue, what was the issue Crowdstrike released a standard update to its vulnerability scanner Falcon Sensor that wrecked havoc across three continents, the US, Australia and the UK by causing Microsoft Windows 10 and 11 PC’s to blue-screen. This had an immediate and cascading effect as airlines, shipping ports, government agencies, banks, business unable to process transactions, take online sales, emergency call centers and hospitals slowly grind to a halt.

We were busy as we had multiple tracks of work being done at the same time. We had the analysis of the problem and determining the number of business systems, I.E. backend applications that were affected, and trying to determine how many our of end users’ desktops were impacted.

We had immediate triage going on, as well as health checks of systems to validate they had not been impacted.

All this while members of various teams struggled to access the environment since their PCs / Laptops were also among the causalities of the incident.

It took several hours to understand the scope of the problem, but once it was determined to use our well thought out DR process.
We were able to implement it rather quickly. We were able to return our uses to production by the end of the day, an achievement that shows how all teams pulled together to address this unprecedented problem. It also shows that the investments that were made in our DR environment and procedures showed how critical they can be in a crisis.

I’ve had a couple days to recover, and I have a fresh cup of coffee and I’m thinking about the incident and what the fallout might be.

The Who and What

Let’s start with what is this company, for those who might not know CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides cloud workload protection and endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services.

It helped the US Department of Justice to charge five Chinese military hackers with economic cyber espionage against U.S. Corporations, and uncovered the activities of a group connected to Russia’s Federal Security Service that conducted intelligence operations against global targets, primarily in the energy sector.

Crowdstrike went public on the Nasdaq in June 2019 and joined the S&P 500 index in June 2024

Crowdstrikes stock prices followed an inverse curve going lower than more and more recognizable brands/companies reported outages. Microsoft reported that 8.5 Million devices were affected,. Microsoft has released an usb recovery tool that will help quickly recovering impacted machines via a bootable USB Drive. (Additional BitLocker Key Modification)

The obvious logistical problem in this work from home world is how do we get a qualified person in front of the PC to perform the corrective action?

Companies far and wide are scrambling to do just that.

QA Sucks …

This shows how large of a market share, both Microsoft and Crowdstrike command, and that is the problem.
Crowdstrike has become a single point of failure for the economy, capable of quickly degrading all services that it touches.

The balance between being agile to identify and close potential cyber attack vectors and quality control is tough for any organization. Yet that is what is required, and perhaps what customers should demand.

“This incident appears to be a severe failure of quality control, not a malicious act,” cybersecurity strategist and former FBI counterintelligence official Eric O’Neill said of Friday’s paralysis.

Quality Assurance isn’t sexy, you can’t sell QA. Its very purpose is to slow down, create repeatable testing procedures which should ensure that bad code doesn’t make it out the door. It is a cost center, and it is one of the first areas that are examined when cuts need to be made.

In 2023 an employee reported round of layoffs, of 200 people at crowdstrike with a RTO (Return to Office) policy being cited as the reason. This included engineers, devs and QA testers.

A Glassdoor post from September 2023 sums up the work culture as:

The focus on “world domination” has created a noticeable difference in morale and business operations. People and process first culture has taken a backseat to being the biggest, fastest and strongest security provider. More burnout, more patchy solutions to quickly solve problems that could have been superbly implemented with proper communication and expectations set on timing.

and a follow up post on January 2024 has listed the following reasons for missteps the company was suffering from.

Absolutely toxic senior leadership; no emotional IQ, no communication, immature “leadership”

*The culture can best be described as: old boys club, bro, and/or a fraternity*Re-org after re-org with no clear direction beyond the bottom line*CAO (Counter Adversary Operations) makes absolutely no sense and is confusing internally and externally —*Rolling layoffs with zero transparency and blatant lies (lies about why people were laid off, firings disguised as layoffs, false promises that “this is the last one”)these layoffs deemed critical functions “redundant,” which led to critical work being piled on top of burned out, understaffed, and underpaid folks left behind

These and other posts paint a picture of a company that shifted the responsibility of QA from a dedicated team to the engineers writing the code. With inadequate testing of the full package before deploying to the world. Which leads to the issue we all experienced on Friday.

Hindsight is 20/20, and this is just my opinion, but all the signs show that the Leadership lost sight of its purpose, it grew too fast and there wasn’t the experience at the C-Suite required to see the cliff it was heading for. This is a management problem that goes to the core of the business and its culture.

They slashed its QA safety net, they shuffled the deck chairs on the ship enough that the employees felt lost and without clear direction.

We can’t and shouldn’t be trusting any third party company. This is gut check time. A 3 billion dollar (2023 revenue) company took shortcuts to save 50 cents, and the impact is still being assessed. It’s time that some safe guards be put in place. As everyone who uses this software should be looking for more control over when and how these updates are deployed.

Using automated processes to push these updates to critical systems needs to be re-evaluated, and those impacted should be looking at performing its own Quality Assurance before deploying these updates to their production environments.

Mistakes were made …

Yet as employees stress about the layoffs that will surely come, lets not forget that CEO George Kurtz and his 46 Million dollar salary package (a 237:1 Ratio when compared to the Median Employee Pay) created and promoted this frat bro culture and the stock holders should take a look at the leadership that was responsible for the decisions that lowered the stock price and work to restructure the company that can better manage the responsibility it finds itself now holding.

As its stock prices decline, and the lawsuits pile up, Crowdstrike has proven it is too big to fail, and that means it is very likely that the tax payers will bear the burden for this failure.

Coffee cup runneth dry….

I’m out of coffee, and it’s time for some more.

Next week will be interesting and maybe we will hear more about Crowdstrike in the coming days.

Happy Sunday!

Life, the Universe, and Chicken Wings

Chicken isn’t the best food for my itinerate hunter-gatherer blood type, according to the old classic, Eat Right for Your Blood Type.

(^That’s an affiliate link…just assume any and all links on this website are affiliate links, mmmkay?)

“Eat fish from the deep sea, such as snow fish, pomfret, Indian halibut, etc. Recommended meats are goat, lamb, turkey, deer, and rabbit. Avoid pork, chicken, shrimp, crab, shellfish, and cockle. Eat moderate amount of dairy products (milk and cheese) and eggs.”

I must have read that book, what…25 years ago? It was a lot to take in, and it wasn’t totally easy to live by, as you might imagine. McDonald’s foray into the rabbit-burger market was shorter lived than the McRib (although the McRib may or may not be goat meat…who knows?), and who wants to avoid cockle? DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!

While I’m not on a diet, per se, I have been using some medication that has severely impacted my appetite, with the result being that I have lost a little weight. Lately, the only food that sounds good to me is salty chicken (on the no-no list!). Fried chicken, chicken sandwiches, I’d even go for chicken wings if they were prepared correctly.

The cravings come and go. This week it’s chicken, next week? Maybe it’ll be baked goods again. I also get a little sick from time to time if I overeat, if I forget to eat, or just because, with no real reason. In that way, it’s very much like being pregnant.

Come to think of it, my joints hurt, my hips, my back…lord help me, maybe I AM pregnant!

No way. Not possible. Not in this universe.

Regardless, I thought I’d do a little check-in and let the readers of PlanetTash know about how life has been going lately.

My rabid job search has very much worn me out. It’s difficult to completely STOP looking for a job, because I very much want one, but I am trying to take a break from it.

Sometimes, I convince myself to stop job searching by working on something else. This week it was supposed to be the living room. I did some paint color testing last week, and Tim has done wall-patching and sanding. Now I only need to go over the walls with my sander one last time, and I can start painting. I have the paint and all my supplies.

But I’m tired. It’s probably not going to get done today. I’m going to end up doing some self-care here in a bit, aka take a nap.

I keep telling myself that it’s good–a privilege, really–to be in charge of my own schedule in this way. I can paint whenever. Job search whenever. Record the audiobook to Miss Fitz 2 whenever. Work on any of my novels-in-progress whenever.

Honestly, it’s not good. A privilege, yes. But it’s not good for me. I feel like I am letting myself down lately, and really, the only thing that pulls me out of it is the accountability piece. I need an accountability partner.

It’s probably been twenty years since I last sent out a call into the wilderness–let’s check in on each other, report to one another, hold each other accountable in a gentle, friendly way to boost our common morale and get things done.

Are you interested? Reach out to me. Leave a comment or send a note to LesleaTash at gmail.

In the meantime, I want to recommend a hilarious book to you! It’s absolutely fabulous, a romp, highlighting not only a kind middle-aged woman, but several septuagenarians, a teen dad, and a ballsy broad who may or may not be running from a life of crime. I found it inspirational on many levels, as well as consistently laugh aloud funny and touching. Really, probably the best book I’ve read in a long time.

How to Age Disgracefully: A Novel by Claire Pooley

I listened to the audiobook version, which was excellently narrated.

That’s it from Leslea for now.

Maybe ping Tim and ask him about his novel-in-progress sometime, huh?

July 4, 2024

We’re watching JAG, an old Navy lawyer drama from the post-Top Gun era. I’ve heard “on my six,” about a zillion times already, along with “camel jockeys,” “squatters,” “burst her cherry,” and several references to “ice.” A little slut shaming, a little girl-on-girl voyeurism, and a supersize order of male bravado…it’s a real time capsule, this show.

Times have changed so much since this show debuted. It was a huge hit, running for several years and spawning all the NCIS shows.

I keep thinking about the pathos that inspired and uplifted a show like this—Boomers of the same mindset who support conservative politics today. At the time this television show was at its peak, you could avoid this kind of rhetoric by changing the channel or picking up a book.

As a writer, I deeply understand the satisfaction of creating ugly characters who say all the wrong things. They are a receptacle for all the stress, anxiety, and anger you need to release. They’re easy to demonize and a joy to kill off.

We don’t have fictitious television shows as that kind of outlet anymore. We don’t demand the head of the murdering bastard at the end of the program before a commercial break transitions us to a nightcap of late night comedy.

The same economics that blew our world economy into the widest gulf between the haves and the have-nots obviously apply to television programming. We go hard for unscripted, cheap, and disposable entertainment. The only consequence for ungallant, unkind, downright shitty behavior is higher ratings. Bad behavior = success.

We now pour our pain, suffering, and angst into the bullying of the kind, the educated, and the rational. Name any television show from the past 40 years, and chances are good that the most notable character from it is the villain. The one who steals, lies, cheats, rapes, kills…

Culturally, our focus has shifted from our eyes on all that’s good and holy to all that shocks and demeans. When I say “our” focus, of course, I mean as a culture. There are still millions of Americans who don’t tune into garbage mindset, but they are woefully outnumbered by the masses cheering on the criminal contingent of popularized competitions.

This July 4, I am saddened that the bad guys have emerged as our cultural heroes. If you can shock, offend, bully, and abuse, you are “winning.” Our nation has changed, worsening in character by our celebration of our human faults.

I wish we were focused on decency. On kindness. Generosity. Freedom.

I want to believe we are better than this. I want to believe the bad guys can’t win. I want the voices that expel the garbage of their souls to be fictional villains, not bona fide presidential candidates and their bankrolling political action committees and think tanks.

Our heritage is one of freedom, opportunity, and community. Please share with your friends and family your thoughts, questions, and lived experience today. Please listen when they share their own. The only way we’re ever going to turn the tide of ugliness in this country is by working together. Not to censor, but to reason.

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote that. He was referring to our nation’s origins as a property of the crown, but I find his truths to be self-evident regarding today’s system of socioeconomic injustice, as well.

Perhaps today of all days is the time to re-read (or REALLY study in earnest) the following:

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

In Congress, July 4, 1776

THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION

of the

THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.–That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operations till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.

JOHN HANCOCK.New Hampshire,

Josiah Bartlett,
Wm. Whipple,
Matthew Thornton; Massachusetts Bay,

Saml. Adams,
John Adams,
Robt. Treat Pain,
Elbridge Gerry;Rhode Island, etc.,

Step. Hopkins 
William Ellery;Delaware,

Caesar Rodney, 
Geo. Read,
Tho. M’Kean;Connecticut,

Roger Sherman,
Saml. Huntington, 
Wm. Williams,
Oliver Wolcott;Maryland,

Samuel Chase,
Wm. Paca, 
Thos. Stone,
Charles Carroll,of Carrolton;New York,

Wm. Floyd, 
Phil Livingston,
Frans. Lewis, 
Lewis Morris;Virginia,

George Wythe,
Richard Henry Lee,
Thos. Jefferson,
Benja. Harrison,
Thos. Nelson, jr., 
Francis Lighfoot Lee, 
Carter Braxton;New Jersey,

Richd. Stockton,
Jno. Witherspoon,
Fras. Hopkinson, 
John Hart, 
Abra. Clark;North Carolina, 

Wm. Hooper,
Joseph Hewes,
John Penn;Pennsylvania,

Robt. Morris,
Benjamin Rush,
Benja. Franklin,
John Morton, 
Geo. Clymer,
Jas. Smith, 
Geo. Taylor,
James Wilson, 
Geo. Ross; South Carolina, 

Edward Rutledge,
Thos. Heyward, junr.,
Thomas Lynch, junr.,
Arthur Middleton;Georgia, 

Button Gwinnett,
Lyman Hall,
Geo. Walton.

IN CONGRESS,

January 18, 1777.

Ordered,

That an authenticated copy of the Declaration of Independence, with the names of the Members of Congress subscribing the same, be sent to each of the United States, and that they be desired to have the same put on record.

JOHN HANCOCK,
President.

By Order of Congress,
Attest, CHAS. THOMSON, Secy.

A true copy,
JOHN HANCOCK,Presidt.

Your daddy & I didn’t have those when we were kids

How many times have I said this to my children?

Today’s conversation was about hot summers. It’s 90 degrees today and Sam (almost 23) is planning how to get the mowing done without a heat stroke. It’s really overdue, so it needs to at least partially be finished today. I tried to coax him toward doing it while it was a mere 86 out, but he followed his instincts to stay in the basement playing video games for a couple of hours first. I’m not mad. I have long held the philosophy that people learn best by experiencing consequences for their choices. He’s headed out now, and hopefully he listened to my advice to took some ice water. When I finish typing this, I will look out the window and check to make sure he’s still upright. (fingers crossed)

The reason Sam and G (13) got told about hot summers was…this was how nearly every day of the summer felt when we were kids. It was hot as Hades since before school got out at the end of May, and we stayed in the pool all day, every day until we went back to school at the end of August. Our children, by contrast, have grown up with cool Junes and hot Julys, then the entire month of August spent in temp-controlled, air-conditioned classrooms.

Air conditioning units inside the schools?! We didn’t have those when we were kids! (See? It keeps happening.) But that wasn’t what I said, actually. What I said was, “This weather today is how it felt all the time back then. This is how summer used to feel. You know all these rainy Junes you kids hate about summer? We never had those when we were kids.”

Whereas I firmly believe that AC inside the schools is better for the kids’ health (hello, asthma epidemic!), I’m also aware that the energy we’ve used to create this kind of comfortable learning space has contributed to the environmental shift that has made our ecosystem wetter, weirder, and certainly wilder. So many aspects of our lifestyle have changed since the 80s, I sometimes wonder if we will ever stop evolving faster than the average human being can keep pace. We fix one thing and it breaks another. Life has certainly always produced this challenge, but I think pace is the biggest obstacle in our lives, personally.

There were always pace-setters. Those who had the next year’s car model before everyone else. The early adopter of the briefcase-sized cell phone. The real estate developer who knew where the future of mercantile shopping would lie, and bought up all the land. Those were the pace-setters we knew as kids.

Things change so quickly now, it’s often unclear who the visionaries and pace-setters even are. What was an insane proposition yesterday is tomorrow’s “can’t live without.” We see CEOs and inventors pushing their product as the next big thing, and honestly, who can tell? You would have to dedicate so much time to researching whatever industry they are in to make an educated guess. People spend years in higher ed devoted to studying concepts that are immediately blasted apart by lived experience. It’s something, really.

I openly hope that a lot of today’s ideas about sustainability and conservation will win-out in the long run, but in the meantime, we are so assailed with the rapid pace of life that there isn’t much time to thoughtfully consider life itself long-term. I remember the luxury to time. Of boredom. I want to tell my kids what it was like, but that’s also something that has to be modeled, if we’re going to live it. Life without phones? Sure. Let’s switch ours off. (But for how long? Because I have deadlines. Seriously, I need to know. *glances at online calendar*)

See what happens? We’re all hooked on the devices that keep us up with the grueling pace of today. Whereas we used to think about tomorrow, it’s downright difficult to do now, and sometimes I wonder who benefits the most from that.

Or does anyone, really? Because while you can sell the future in shares and fractional shares, does anyone out there know how to stop the data storm that comes much more predictably than a June rain? In this world where not only can you not see the forest for the trees–but the trees are literally outgrowing the forest and evolving into something new–is there ever going to be an end? Imagine coming to the end of a copse of trees and finding a meadow, but before you can set a foot down in it–let alone build a home–it is filled with more trees. The only thing that stops this evolution of forest data is a very hard stop like an ocean. And it is only a matter of time before the data trees on land pioneer their way underwater and co-evolve with what lives there, in the deep. In the meantime, a lot of things die. Perhaps the organic parts of life we’ve always known are corralled into spaces that we seek to fit out to keep up with the human-made tech beyond.

But, Leslea, you say. I like human-made tech.

So do I. I really do. I’m just saying, it’s fast.

And that brings me to today, more than rapidly changing climate on my mind. Money on my mind, as well. There are literally innumerable ways to make money in this world, whether focusing on the now, the future, or the past. You can get in on the fixing or the tearing down. You can get in on the invention or the tradition. You can get in a bit of all of it, really. And that’s where I am. I want to preserve and hold holy, and I want to invent and discover. I reckon if you have read this far, you feel the same.

Why have I not been blogging? Because I haven’t had a thing to promote. My YouTube channel, Unicorn Puzzles, has been steadily growing its viewership, despite the fact that I spent about eight months ignoring it while I took the role of Coffee Shop Barista for a spin.

That job was a test: after years of putting the kids and my health first, do I have what it takes to get up and perform? Turns out, I sure did. I enjoyed making coffee, talking to customers, talking to the young people who were my co-workers, and doing the math to dream about a coffee shop of my own. Could I pull it off? Financially, undoubtedly. I could even manage my energy to put in my share of hours training a staff that I could then let run the place with minimal supervision. Plan for the future, unlocked.

Then I got Covid for the first time. I took my medicine, rested, and scurried back to work as soon as I could, because I was learning. I had a future in a coffee shop somewhere in the Bloomington/Brown County area of Indiana, and I wanted to soak up all I could from the successful small business I was working for in the meantime.

And then I got Covid the second time. I was sick for most of February, and I realized after consulting with my doctor and doing lots of research with the CDC that I was not an ideal candidate for work outside the home anymore. Even if the Covid doesn’t kill me, being off work for weeks at a time isn’t a sustainable way to run a career. Any career. And it shouldn’t have to be said, but frankly, it was downright depressing.

So. Four months ago, I decided I shouldn’t go back to the barista gig. It pained me. I miss the place, and I miss the kids who work there. I miss the fragrant aroma of espresso. I miss making a little money. After spending a little time moping / aka recovering from Covid x 2, I decided to focus on jobs I could take that wouldn’t kill me, and I started a UX Design class. I plan to have that finished by this fall. (I have been far too busy this summer enjoying time with G and writing to finish the class, but it really shouldn’t take months. It’s pretty easy and fun to do.)

I’m job hunting now. I have some AI credentials and marketing, and UX and writing and and and…

For about six weeks, I put aside the audiobook I was recording, put aside the YouTube channel, put aside everything I could push out of the way, really, and hunkered down trying to find a job I could do at home to replace the interaction, income, and satisfaction of working at the coffee shop. Granted, there’s a more “grown up” sort of ethos to working online in the corporate world vs literally working with kids at a coffee shop, but my experience and expertise are better suited to “adultier adult” work than anything else, anyway. I’m an adultier adult with a fairylike flair. I am the witch of the woods, wizened and surprising. I often forget where I left my glasses and have fifteen open tabs on my browser. I work magic.

Gosh, did I have a hard time with job searching. SO MUCH HAS CHANGED. I know this makes me sound old, but in my life, old isn’t a bad thing. Old is wisdom, experience, and trust. Old is healthy. Old is taking time to think about tomorrow and making sustainable decisions.

And, let’s get real: I’m not old. I’m probably going to live another 50 years. So take that, ageists of the world. I’m rambling, because this is a blog, and that’s how I’ve been blogging for 20+ years, but hear me out: We didn’t have LinkedIn when daddy and I were kids.

We had paper applications, generalized resumes, landline phone calls, in-person interviews, and snail mail thank you notes. I’m not saying it was better, I am just saying how it was.

We have adapated through so many things since then. We have dealt with the curse of workday ATS, we have learned how to customize resumes, we have hundreds of connections on LinkedIn, we text, we do interviews via Zoom, and we know how to look for remote first / direct hire / agile businesses.

We learned how to do that on our own. We adapted to survive. We outgrew the forest and bloomed underwater.

We did all of that, because what is common now, what is everyday common-place de rigeur so rapidly replaced decades of stasis that we had no choice but to pole-vault ourselves into the future.

Daddy and I have always been on the cutting edge of research and exploration, kids. We love to learn new things. We are strategic, creative, and fun. We survive. We thrive.

I’m looking for a job right now, and it’s both terrifying and exciting, because whoever I go to work with is going to teach me so much, and also going to learn so much from me. I have always been a teacher at work. I get the lay of the land, and then I make things better. I’m a team player who gives my heart to my friends, and I’m also a natural leader. Whatever job I take is going to allow me to specialize my knowledge in a totally new part of the forest. I want that, even if it doesn’t smell like fresh espresso.

Stay-at-home moms: your daddy and I didn’t have those when we were kids. We learned how to cook, how to pick up, how to make grocery lists and take down business phone messages. Career choices: your daddy and I didn’t have those, either, to the extent we do today. Resources: fuhgeddaboudit. The kinds of resources today’s job seekers take for granted would have made my genius parents’ heads spin.

I know that I’m going to be fine, I just don’t know yet what that picture looks like. So, rather than drive myself absolutely crazy applying to a dozen or more jobs per day, I’m finding a balance. I’m working on the audiobook again. I’m ghost-writing a novel for someone for $. I haven’t made time to find space in my life for Stationhead, but I do play with the idea of starting Witchy Wednesdays up again, since the old gang from Amp has asked about that a couple of times. I’m learning new novel-writing software and have migrated my codex of characters from the Miss Fitz at Midlife series into it. I’m making videos again. I’m learning UX Design. AND I’m applying for jobs. I’m going to do so selectively–even more selectively, I should say–as I go forward, because I really need for the job to be a good fit. I give far too much of myself to work for a bad fit.

God, I am excited for the future. For my kids, for my spouse, for myself. This daily life is so challenging, but so full of potential, how can I not be?

Coming soon: Miss Fitz and the Hot Patchouli Murder on audiobook. It’s finally gonna happen. That and everything else. Wear your swimsuit, because it might be underwater.

Apple butter cozy yummies

In case you missed the November newsletter, there’s a recipe for apple butter included.

I’m still relatively new to MailerLite, so if that link doesn’t work, try this pdf version:

nov2023Download

Of course, the email newsletter looks best in your email inbox! So make sure and sign up (it’s free and I won’t spam you or sell your address), and you can unsub any time. Topics include: Miss Fitz mystery novels, audiobooks, non-fiction kitchen witchery, and product recommendations from the gang at the Treehouse. Oh, and UnicornPuzzles, of course.

Right now I’m recovering from a nasty cold, so my voice is ragged and I will likely NOT have a newsletter for December, but you never know! In the meantime, enjoy some holiday ambience videos:

Air Fryer MAGIC (another YouTube video)

I was sent a sample of these awesome Flannci air fryer parchment paper liners, and now I will never use the air fryer without them. Chef’s kiss. Five stars. If you’re interested in trying them, here’s the link (I get a commission from the sales).

I would say more about this, but really, it’s all in the YouTube video. Please give it a watch! (I added sound effects!)

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Vanilla extract adds an extra boost of cozy flavor to any boxed cake mix, and when you make your own, you can really taste the difference over store bought vanilla extract. When you bake from scratch with artisan grains, fresh backyard chicken eggs, and made-with-love vanilla? WOW, get ready to taste the love!

I wrote about this recipe in My Life as a Kitchen Witch, and I’ve posted the recipe online a few times when asked, but here’s a video! This is the first time I’ve done a cooking video, so I hope you enjoy it!

The vanilla beans were provided by Vanilla Bean Kings, and for this bit of the post, consider it sponsored! I will get a small commission from each sale using the following link: MADAGASCAR VANILLA BEANS. This link defaults to a 25 pack, but you can choose a 5 pack or a 10 pack for smaller batches. I believe the beans I used in my video were from a ten pack.

AMP is dead, long live…?

AMP will be no more as of 10/31/2023. I’m still waiting on my last payment from them for hosting shows. Le sigh. It was a truly great gig while it lasted. Lots of great music, great people, even a lot of new friends made. What more can you ask for?

AMP by Amazon music was a fun platform. I will miss the playful interaction with a steady group of a few dozen people who I got to know reasonably well, all while earning a decent hourly wage. Several folks have moved their shows to StationHead, which has a far less lucrative payment model. I have been thinking about how I might work a StationHead show into my busy slate of work. Between the coffee shop, narrating an audiobook (the sequel to this one), Unicorn Puzzles YouTube channel, and other work-at-home projects, I can see some opportunities…but the lack of actual immediate income from the shows makes it lower priority, you know?

One thing I’m picking up more of now that AMP is taking less bandwidth in my life is writing product reviews and doing sponsored posts. Tonight I wrote a review of Four Sigmatic’s Think organic coffee. If you’re interested in mushrooms and herbalism, you might like this product line. (I liked the elixir best). See pics and read my review on Instagram or Facebook, or just jump right to the coffee and all the Amazon reviews here.

And if you’re into homemade vanilla extract, stay tuned. I have a review coming up soon from a company that graciously sent me some beans to try out.

Tomorrow, back to school! And back to narrating Miss Fitz and the Hot Patchouli Murder. I’m looking forward to it.

I’ll miss AMP, but what do you think about Stationhead? Ever tried it out?