Happy New Year! To start off 2014 on the self-improvement track, what better than a unique list from cracked.com’s executive editor, David Wong, “6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You A Better Person”. As the title denotes, there’s no sugar-coating on his bitter pill offering, but be brave, man up, and swallow. You might even grow some chest hair if you actually follow his advice or you just might, ahemmm, become a better person:
“While other people are telling you “Let’s make a New Year’s resolution to lose 15 pounds this year!” I’m going to say let’s pledge to do fucking anything — add any skill, any improvement to your human tool set, and get good enough at it to impress people. Don’t ask me what — hell, pick something at random if you don’t know. Take a class in karate, or ballroom dancing, or pottery. Learn to bake. Build a birdhouse. Learn massage. Learn a programming language. Film a porno. Adopt a superhero persona and fight crime. Start a YouTube vlog. Write for Cracked.”
This article was pointed out to me by my ever-curious son, who bored me to tears with a cnc machine video a few days ago and told me he wants one. He’s already buying components to build his own…. I’m trying to get my other son’s attention long enough to read this article, but that would cut into his computer gaming time (he’s hard at work on building Civilization V, geesh). ….. A mother’s work is never done….. My adventures into learning new skills this year – well, I plan to actually spend some time to learn Latin, which is something that had been dropped from my public high school by the time I got there and I’ve talked about attempting this for years. I also want to venture into writing some short stories with actual plots. G. Murphy Donovan’s stories from his childhood at New English Review inspired me to attempt the short story format. His latest, “Goldie”, with the poignant Anne Frank quotes, sure offers rich layers to his story about much more than hero sandwiches from his childhood.
The difference between those who will pray “for you” and the rare person who will actually act costs $2.75. On Tuesday, I covered the register, so my cashier in lawn and garden could go to lunch. Scheduling pitfalls and a call out from work from another worker, left us short-handed as usual. Just about everyone in line was purchasing food items for New Year’s celebrations. A lady paid for her purchase of a few food items with a gift card, but she still owed $2.75. When she started to tell me which items to take off, the customer behind her quietly said, “I’ve got it.” And she handed me the cash. The lady thanked her profusely and this customer demurred and said, “It was nothing!” But really it was worth a whole lot more than $2.75. To borrow an Anne Frank quote from GMD’s story, “No one has ever become poor by giving.”
libertybelle diaries 
I wish that generous lady drank in my pub!