Blue

You say you love me
I say you do
Then why do I feel so blue?
Is the love you profess true
Or can a shrew really love, true blue

So you say you love again, this time
Now I'm beginning to detect a rhyme!
Pacing nervously while Big Ben chimes
I finally feel the world is mine

So why am I still blue?
She says the love she profess is true
Have I finally tamed the shrew?
If I've failed I'll be oh so blue

Tell me you love me, even if it's a lie
Tell me you love me, tonight's alibi
Say you love me, say it's true
I know you don't love me
I'm oh so blue

Heaven, hell and purgatory
It's all so new
I have yet to tame that shrew
She never loved me, it was never true
My mind is fit to be blue!

The world was never mine, I ask
You say, it's true, the blue die cast
I now see from the clear blue past
She never loved me, I never asked

Now I know why I feel so blue
The love she professed was never true
I never should have tried to tame a shrew
Because

A shrew can never love, true blue


jimelynott

Don't Believe A Word
The Poems 101

copyright 2005

A semi dreary Sunday in the city and a chilly one too! This is old man's winter last gasp, we hope because I'm ready for warmer weather to prevail. Nothing much to report, a new week is on the horizon and a strange one at that. Tomorrow I will have no job to go to, but I can relish in the fact that I can get some much needed rest, go to the park and chill out. Sometimes in the midst of despair you have to kick off your heels and go for it, that is the only normal way to keep your sanity. Chatted with my old boss Augie today. He is reason I came to GP in the first place. His pursuit of me years ago cemented my loyalty to him. Everything is in such turmoil right now with no one having any credible answers for anything, but as time goes on, all will become clear. It always does.

In November 1997, I was laid off from a company I thought I would work for my entire career. It took me five years to get back to close what I was making and now I start again from scratch. However, this time, the lessons learned from before will be applied here. Before, I wasted too much time getting the "same type" of job I had before, not realizing that I had to reinvent myself. Back then jobs were booming and one would think that it would have been easier to find one - not true at all. It was very difficult because unemployment was very low and the wages not that high. A global transition was taking place with India and China leading the way, outsourcing was firmly taking hold in America while in the paper industry, consolidation was churning at a rapid pace. I did no understand what was going on until it was too late and in the end, I lost everything. This time, even with the job market shrinking I feel I'm in better shape than 1997. I understand the dynamics occurring know that I will target my resume everywhere. I also live downtown, which makes it much easier to get from point A to B using public transportation instead of my car. I also have acquired several skill sets that I did not have 12 years ago. I have sales, selling, customer service and marketing experience I did not possess then. My whole set of skills are more well rounded than before, making it easier to get another job. I know that the obstacles are great and in the end, it will be up to the one factor I can't control, people. But, I am determined that failure will not be an option and besides, it's time to stab Georgia Pacific in the heart. THIS FIGHT HAS JUST BEGUN!

Black Thursday(a slight return)

Well, it's official, I'm no longer an employee of Georgia Pacific Chemicals, LLC. I'm the latest casualty in a melodrama playing out across our great nation. My position was terminated this morning, along with 10 others the day before. Funny how the people who were creating the value were let go while the non value creators, the one making decisions that the company is paying dearly for are still on the clock. But that is how it goes in corporate America, and these people wonder why their companies go bankrupt! But I'm not angry or bitter, it is now time to hit the pavement with the rest of my unemployed cohorts and find work. Maybe I can get me an "Obama job!" LOL

Black Thursday

I stayed home today and it was one of the smartest moves made in a very long time. My co-worker, Metric, called with the sobering news that at least 11 of our colleagues were let go. My group, one of the more profitable, saw the elimination of one position. Rumors had been swirling around for weeks, but we were already lean to begin with. Back in 2003, 35 people were let go and in the coming months the staffing levels got as low as the mid 80s. It was then decided to bring those levels back to around 100, which stayed stable until today. So, we are back to the mid to high 80s level of people in the building. It will again look like a ghost town. I survived yet another round of job cuts, but who knows what the future holds? Sometimes I feel like we have our fingers in an overflowing damn, wishing and hoping that "we're not next", but let's face it, these are very uncertain times and no one's job is safe. It is really time to start focusing on me and decide where to go from here.

As Clear as Clear Can Be

Last night was a clear example why the GOP will be cast about in the political wilderness for a long long time. President Obama held his news conference in Washington, fielding various questions from the media, a grueling one hour session with topics being thrown at him like missiles. Pisyah Jindal on the other had was seen across town holding a fund raiser for the GOP machine; trying his best to scuzz up money for the 2010 mid-term elections, the wealthy patrons dining on lobster, shrimp and crab. Funny, isn't this the same so-called Governor of Louisiana who turned down almost $100MM in unemployment benefits to it's citizens saying that the money would have to be paid back! During Jindal's speech all he could muster up was a bogus explanation of why he wanted Obama to fail and strategies for the GOP to "take back America". Mind you, there were no ideas or solutions coming from this "Rhodes Scholar", only mindless rhetoric we have heard time and time again.
Folks, one thing that Jindal said is true, it's time for the "navel-gazing" to stop. It's time we expose this sorry bunch for what they really are, a bunch of useless nitwits! These guys have zero ideas, that is why they keep whining about Obama failing, when you want one to fail means you have no credible ideas of your own so beat up on the other guy. Pisyah Jindal and his ilk are hypocrites in every sense of the word. To throw your citizens under a bus and then go to Washington and dine on crab, steak and lobster is the height of arrogance. The GOP is completely out of touch with this nations new reality. President Obama, whether you like him or not, is doing everything in his power to get our great nation moving again. What the GOP has become is a bunch of "bastard children" who don't have a clue. We need to do all in our power to support our President and make sure the "bastard children" continue to wander aimlessly.

Playing Hookie

Let's face it, I was not as sick as I claimed, but having the day off was a true blessing. I got some "me" time in and left the drama for others to deal with. Had lunch at CNN center, took in the fountains at Centennial Park and ended up seeing my "neighbors" at the Georgia Aquarium.
More than 3 years ago I made a decision that drastically changed me, I decided to make the move from the suburbs of Gwinnett County to downtown Atlanta. I lived in Gwinnett for more than 20 years and I had grown sick and tired of living in the "suburban box". It is a move that I relish with humbleness and ecstasy everyday. Sometimes you just have to go for it and that is what I did, now I can walk practically anywhere in the city and if I can't get there by foot, public transportation is there as a fill in.
I'm at the point that I scowl when someone asks me to come out of the city, especially on the weekends. This is where I belong and I'm only sorry I didn't make the move earlier. As far as any possible moves in the future? Maybe, but it won't be far, another unit in the building or a block or two from here, but it will be closer to the attractions I went to today, not farther.
I'm here in the Luckie-Marietta district to stay!!

Opporunity Everywhere

The photo you see is a Raku pottery piece by the famous American Raku pottery artist Robert Pipenburg. I purchased this from an ebay seller out of Water Mill, NY. Yes, the Hamptons which is in the throes of an economic crisis right now. I won't go into how much I paid for the piece, but just let's say that for my investment, I reaped a substantial financial reward. No way I could have purchased this piece at the going market rate!
On 3 March 2009, Barak Obama gave a speech in which he mentioned then current market conditions. He said that stocks haven't been this low since the late 1990s and now would be a good time to buy. His message was panned everywhere, with news pundits berating his stimulus package as well as his financial savy. Well let's see...

3/3/09 DJIA 6726;NASDAQ 1321;S&P 500 696
3/16/09* DJIA 7218;NASDQ 1404;S&P 500 753
3/23/2009 DJIA 7776;NASDAQ 1558;S&P 500 823

* - Adjusted my 401k from bonds to stocks.

Since my 3/16/2009 move, my stock value has incerased 30 per cent. Since Obama's speech the DJIA has increased 116 per cent, NASDAQ 111 per cent and the S&P 500 109 per cent.
For the people who did not get in, don't sweat it, there are more increases to come.

Folks, stocks have not been this low in a while, art has not been this low in a while, do you see a pattern here!? Now is the time to start buying again; we have hit bottom and things will be quite shakey for a while, but for those with money, the time could not be more perfect.

Now I'm not saying that our President is a sooth-sayer and that "happy days are here again", but opporunities are out there to create value and wealth. President Obama has given us the road map and we now must go out , seek and find it. Don't listen to the nay-sayers and near-do-wells, all they want is to get back in power and take what you have. They also don't want a thing to work because they believe that will get them back in office faster.
SEIZE THE DAY PEOPLE!!

Free Markets Aren't Free

Yesterday, the Republican "leadership" decided that enough was enough and sought to stymie the momentum in Congress to restrict executive bonuses to companies receiving taxpayer derived money from the bailout.
Mind you this is the same gang that did not want the stimulus to see the light of day.
AIG's Financial Products Group, based in London, was ground zero for the mortgage backed securities, debt swaps and derivatives that we now know are largely responsible for the global financial crisis meltdown.
It has been reported that through this group's actions AIG may have lost as much as $500B USD marketing these financial instruments. AIG alone lost $62B USD in 4Q, the largest loss by any company in one quarter in US history.
How can any company justify giving their so-called "best and brightest" a bonus of any kind. Yes, there were contracts signed, but were they signed on the premise that individuals get paid even at such staggering losses?! I find it intriguing that conservatives, who howl against "socialism" and tout free market principles would be for such a travesty. What they propose goes aganist everything a free market stands for, and what about the underlings who must now be lumped in with their coworkers who mishandled and misplaced the public;s trust.
Ludwig von Mises and Josef Schumpeter are rolling over in their graves right now!

A Four Word Called "Time"

In less than 3 weeks a CD will drop that was more than 30 years in the making. Light of Day is not only a triumph of the spirit, but a testament of sheer fortitude of my oldest brother Cambridge III.
His life has been one of hardship and pain, which shows up clearly on the CD, but it is also a blessing that he is still alive for it's impending release. All Cambridge ever wanted was to showcase his song writing skills, but in his younger years, dad was not having any of it. He and my mother came from another time, another place.
For more than 30 years, Cambridge toiled as a bread salesman, hopping in and out of bread trucks six days a week, so much so that is big toe has been rendered useless, forcing him to go on disability. But even through all the hurt, pain and disappointment, the dream survived and in less than 3 weeks, the world will hear a fresh, new voice.
Even though we've had major disagreements in the past, I stand here tonight to defend my brother, through all the ups and downs, a dream is about to give birth and I can sense a change for the good in all of us for Cambridge Jenkins III has finally come of age in the 21st century.

Too long

So much has happened since my last post, but that was the past and this is now! I'm making the transition from Yahoo 360 to here because this is where the action is. Sure hope I don't disappoint!