Dreaming One More Time at 74

quit, layoffs but never fired Looking back to 1960 when I began doing things that I got paid for I have had 49 jobs in 58 years.  I quit or walked away from some.  I was laid off only 4 times.  Some simply ended. I WAS NEVER FIRED in 58 years. Working was what I knew to expect would be a major part of my life. When Banjo asked me to draw some cartoons and signs for her dad's diner across from Osborn that was the first time I had been paid for my creativity and not simply sweated doing hours and hours of work around the house for my weekly allowance or at 50 cents an hour to earn extra money doing various odd jobs: washing windows washing walls painting walls cutting grass edging the lawn planting my dad's Victory Garden getting rid of weeds from the garden oh his flower garden in front and rear yards laying floor tile in the basement Instead I was using my cartooning and self-taught design skills and getting paid for it. When I started college working towards my BS deg...

Synthesized Completed Puzzle Pictures Using Random Pieces with Some Usually Missing I posted these 3 photos on the WEEKLY PHOTO SHARE Facebook Group page that I am now ADMIN for. The weekly theme I chose was: BLUE I posted these this week for the them One of the very actively involved member of the nearly 2,000 photographer members responded and the following message thread began. Donald Garrett   Good ones! You really get around. Donald  my life has been filled with travel and traveling. In 1950 my parents, my 2 brothers and I and our Grandmother Black took our 1st annual Family Road Trip to visit family in Platte, SD, my Scottish cousin, Irene, Scottish Olympic Skating Champion who had married an American she met during WWIII and moved to the use where he was from plus my parents wanted to see some of their country chosen country. I vaguely remember that we did take road trips to Toronto and Niagara Falls to see an older sister of my mothers and cousins p...

walking away from Gunnar Birkerts' office After my car accident in January 1966 my life began to change. Instead of being an architectural student, LIT Student Council President who was working 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year at two over-lapping part-time jobs at WXYZ-TV as a news headline writer and weekend desk editor I was given a part-time job in the evenings doing mechanical drafting After having taken 8 semesters of mechanical drafting at Osborn High School I thought accepting the mechanical drafting night job would be easy.  A good friend of my soon father-in-law had given me the part-time job.   Coincidentally the job captain I was reporting to for my nightly work was a draftsman I met when I worked two Summers at Whitehead & Kales in River Rouge, Michigan as a blueprint boy and junior draftsman.  He was welcoming and trusting.  Working alone was not an issue because most of the time for two years at WXYZ-TV I worked alone and during some of my oth...

1966 a Year of Nightmares and Dreams 1966 was a challenging year for me from January onward. In January I was busy working 7 days a week at two jobs at WXYZ-TV located across 10 Mile Road from my college where I was in my senior year of my BS in Architecture degree. We had a freak 12 inch snowstorm.  Only the first day did I miss work not driving the 14 miles from my parents' home to WXYZ in Southfield. Here is a Google map of my route 7 days a week from early 1964 until January of 1966 The day after the 12 inch snowfall my route was very erratic as I drove on 8, 7, 6 mile back and forth in between stalled cars, snow drifts and other obstructions in my path. BUT......Wandering Alan usually ends up getting where he is going. A week or two later I had been staying over night on Friday night staying at my fiance's parents' home sleeping in a little telephone room and I drove up Southfield to the Northwestern Hwy interchange and during that S bend my car hit a pa...

1966 a Year of Nightmares and Dreams 1966 was a challenging year for me from January onward. In January I was busy working 7 days a week at two jobs at WXYZ-TV located across 10 Mile Road from my college where I was in my senior year of my BS in Architecture degree. We had a freak 12 inch snowstorm.  Only the first day did I miss work not driving the 14 miles from my parents' home to WXYZ in Southfield. Here is a Google map of my route 7 days a week from early 1964 until January of 1966 The day after the 12 inch snowfall my route was very erratic as I drove on 8, 7, 6 mile back and forth in between stalled cars, snow drifts and other obstructions in my path. BUT......Wandering Alan usually ends up getting where he is going. A week or two later I had been staying over night on Friday night staying at my fiance's parents' home sleeping in a little telephone room and I drove up Southfield to the Northwestern Hwy interchange and during that S bend my car hit ...

My Birth - a NIGHTMARE or a GIFT When I was born I was a nightmare come true for my mother. She had been told after my middle brother was born to have a hysterectomy because our family doctor was afraid if she got pregnant a third time she might die. Both her 1st and 2nd babies were huge at over 9 lbs each.  She was about 4'-11" and tiny in size. She was scared by the idea of having the operation.  My understanding growing up is that she and my father simply restrained from sex or practice safe sex when they did. It was not a Sunday afternoon dinner conversation. My collective knowledge came through bits and pieces of overheard conversations. BUT.... She did become pregnant a 3rd time.  She followed every instruction from her doctor and her various women friends. The morning of June 30th, 1944 she woke up. Prepared my father's breakfast.  Then told him she was going into labor. Off to Saratoga Hospital he drove them. Apparently I was in a hurry to be born and came...

Introduction or Prologue Dreaming One More Time at 75 In 1967 I began reading SELF-HELP and MOTIVATION BOOKS. Since then up to the early 90s I filled a tall bookcase with such books. They are organized alphabetically by the author's family names. Here is a sample of the most commonly popular 14 in the past 50+ years Did reading them truly help me? Looking back over the past 50 years of my thinking about the great, good, bad, ugly and horrible things that have happened my answer is: Yes they did. At least for a short while. Through my active involvement in the National Speakers Association from 1989 to 2005 I had the opportunity to meet a variety of these type authors including Zig Ziglar and listen often on audio tapes of tv shows to many others including Rev. Robert Schuller.  Also I have attended large audience events where Zig Ziglar, Norman Vincent Peale and Jack Canfield were the main stage speakers. Did watching and listening truly help me? Yes it did. At least for a s...