My two years, during 11th and 12th grade, at Thornwell Home and School for Children (now just Thornwell Home for Children) had a huge impact on my life. Much of why I’m the kind of person I am now is due to Thornwell. Thornwell is a private, church-operated (Presbyterian Church USA aka PCUSA) children’s home in Clinton, SC.

Children from North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida call Thornwell home. During my time there, we had our own K-12 private school. Children living at the “home”, as we called it, attended the school free of charge. Families in the surrounding communities would pay tuition for their children to attend Thornwell.

Looking back, one of the great things about Thornwell was its small size. My senior class only had 24 students, and the rest of the grades were similar in size. Because of the small size, not only did we get personal attention, but many of us also were able to be on sports teams and/or participate in other school organizations and clubs.

I played clarinet in the band, had private clarinet, piano, and voice lessons, was on the track team (briefly), was a two sport letterman as a varsity cheerleader and basketball player, and was in the Key Club as well as on the quiz bowl team. Most of those activities would not have been possible had I not been at Thornwell, and in a large public school instead.

And, because there was a PCUSA college, Presbyterian College, across the street from us (founded 5 years after Thornwell, by William Plumer Jacobs, the same man who founded Thornwell) – I was exposed to college up close and personal, as well as cultural events like a reading by Nikki Giovani.

Thornwell students were welcome on the campus of PC, and were included in some of the college’s student activities. I auditioned for a role in one of the 8 one act plays that senior theater majors were directing as finals projects, and was cast in a major role! PC was a school with a lot of engaged students, and so many of them would turn out to audition for the plays that the auditions were known as Slugfest!

That was a fantastic experience that I will never forget. That was in 1989… I still have my I Survived Slugfest / One-Act Plays 1989 t-shirt. I don’t come anywhere near fitting it anymore, but I keep it as a keepsake, LOL. Presbyterian College was, and still is, a competitive college to get into. Upon my graduation from high school, I didn’t have the GPA or the SAT score to be accepted, but I applied for my sophomore year of college and was accepted. The price tag scared me off and I didn’t go, though.

Thornwell has a very special place in my heart. In another post I’ll detail ways that anyone reading this can support Thornwell and its children.

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I knew I hadn’t made YouTube Partner – and thus had time limits removed – because I don’t have the subscribers, views, or comments to qualify, so I wondered why I no longer had a time limit. Off to Google I went. Turns out that along with YouTube Partners, YouTube has eliminated time limits for those users who have never violated the terms of service! That would include me. Woo-hoo!

I don’t anticipate having really long videos, but it’s nice to have the option to go longer without having to split up a video into 2, 3, or more parts. There have been times when I’ve wanted to go in depth with a commentary, or do a tutorial, but didn’t because I knew I’d end up having to split the video into multiple parts – and multiple parts mean more work to get them online. So, now I don’t have to worry about it, and I think it’s very cool for YouTube to do this.

Thanks, Google!

Uh, in case someone didn’t know, Google owns YouTube.

So, I just went online to find out how to get to my “old” polling location, only to find out that MARTA doesn’t go there, anymore, since the route changes that went into effect on September 25th. It’s too late to apply for, or get, an absentee ballot, too. So, I’m stuck. No voting for me.

How crazy is it to have polling stations that aren’t on public transportation routes? Is it even LEGAL to have polling stations that aren’t accessible by public transit, in a city that has public transit?

Yes, I could rent a car, but I refuse to do that because I shouldn’t HAVE to go to extremes, or pay money, to exercise my right to vote. I feel like my civil rights have been violated. I wonder how many other people won’t be able to vote due to MARTA’s changes?

Could MARTA have inadvertently contributed to voter suppression?

First let me say that as a private organization, the sorority can set whatever membership criteria it wants, and I respect that right. But, I think requiring a credit check is ridiculous, and a total overkill. I was sad to read this because this is the sorority I would have liked to join. But, upon reading of this new requirement, I instantly lost my desire to become a member simply on principle. I could understand requiring a credit check (and updated criminal background check) if a woman who is ALREADY a member, is elected to an office in which she would have access to financial information and money. But, anything short of that is just not called for, IMHO.

Just as I would never give a church a copy of my income tax return as a condition of membership, I would never give a sorority permission to do a credit check on me. A criminal background check ONLY? Sure, knock yourself out. I don’t want to be forever linked with homicidal maniacs any more than the next person. However, I don’t see what a person’s credit has to do with their fitness for membership in what is supposed to be a community service organization.

I encourage anyone wanting to get fit with a supportive, nonjudgmental community to join with me. Okay, that community doesn’t exist yet, but… if you build it, they will come, LOL. You gotta see it, before you see it, or you will never see it!! ALL are welcome, whether male or female, able-bodied or disabled.

I’ve decided to keep this separate from my personal social networking accounts, so I’ve created the FitFabDiva YouTube channel, and registered the accompanying website’s domain. I also created a FitFabDiva Facebook page, and created a Twitter account.

Nothing is on the YouTube channel or the website yet (it probably won’t even be live for 24-48 hours), but I hope to have my video introduction up on the YouTube channel by the weekend. The website will take a little longer, because I’m trying to decide which Content Management System (CMS) I want to run the site on. Things will really get poppin’ once my new DVD player and fitness DVDs arrive (and I go to the grocery store, hehe).

You don’t have to wait until things get jumpin’ jumpin’ to join. Subscribe to the FitFabDiva YouTube channel, and you’ll be notified when when new videos are uploaded. You can also stay in the loop by following me on Twitter. I hope some of you reading this will join with me. I know somebody out there, besides me, has been talking (or thinking) about getting fit. Don’t wait for the New Year to resolve to get fit. Two extra months can make all the difference when it comes to that last 10 pounds you want to lose in time for swimsuit and sundress season! 

I hate that the issue of transportation is going to be the deciding factor in which church I’m going to join.

I miss having a dishwasher and my own washer/dryer. And valet trash service. My BF is right, I am spoiled.

Only a couple of more weeks before the BF relocates to SC for work. I’ve gotten so used to spending (almost) every weekend with him that I don’t know how well I’m going to adjust. Him being here was a welcome break from the monotony of my day-to-day during the week.

Trying to look for a sedentary part-time job at no more than 20 hours a week. But, everything open is retail.

What’s up with employers wanting potential employees to “tell me why you want to work here” when the position isn’t one with a career-track? Shouldn’t they be more concerned with someone who’s going to show up for work on time?

With the “prosperity gospel” infecting so many churches now, it’s getting harder to find a place to worship.

Why are Republicans telling me I’m Republican when they hear my positions on things? Well, one did say I could also be a Libertarian. That doesn’t make me feel any better.

I have “Fine Time” by SWV stuck in my head.

Where the heck is Tracie Spencer?

Shanice is working on a CD. Where is it? Hurry up, girl! We need you to save us from Rihanna!!

You too, Brandy. Hurry up!

Why hasn’t Rich Girl blown up? Them chirren can sang. How you gon’ open for Beyonce then drop off the map? I’m supposed to be seeing them EVERYWHERE! They need new management.

I want to go to the Fantasia concert at the Fox Theatre. Eric Benet and Kandi will be opening for her. But, the best ticket still available is $83. The next best still available is $72. I’m a Fantasia fan, and I can’t discuss my affection for Eric Benet (hehe), but I am loathe to spend that much money. Actually, the base ticket prices are okay, but Ticketmaster adds almost $20 in “convenience fees” to the price, putting it out of reach for me.

I think it’s time for contact lenses.

I’d take that a step further and say that money motivated people can’t grasp that someone would spend time doing something that could make money, but prefer not to monetize it. She summed it up by writing that (again, paraphrasing) there is a mentality, among this group, that if something isn’t making money, it’s useless.

I have run into that mindset when it comes to my photography and computer skills. It irks me to no end when family, or friends, try to push me into trying to make money from those skills. When they saw I could take a decent picture, or learned that I can put up websites and build computers, the first thing out of their mouths is that I should try to turn it into a business.

What happened to doing something just for the joy of it? I think that concept is lost on some people because they don’t have any hobbies of their own. There is nothing they like to do – outside of watching TV, or maybe sex – on a regular basis that is done for no other reason than they enjoy doing it. So, without a hobby, they don’t get that when you turn a hobby into a JOB it’s no longer fun. That’s not to say that I won’t ever make a few dollars from my skills, because I’m not opposed to making a few dollars here and there, on the side. But, if or when I make money, it’ll be when I decide I want to take on a job or gig. Businesses, for the most part, don’t have that luxury.

The other day, I wrote a post entitled “Living to One’s Full Potential”. Pamela linked to it in her blog and further into her post talked about the idea that some people think that if something wasn’t making money, it was useless, which is what I just wrote about in the prior paragraphs. In the post I wrote, I did write that I wasn’t doing anything worthwhile. But, I want to make a clarification.

While I do feel that I’m not doing anything worthwhile, I wasn’t thinking about my hobbies. I’ve almost always been involved in some kind of community service, but that aspect of my life has been missing for the last few years since I became disabled. I had a sense of fulfillment, and felt like I was doing my part to help the community when I was actively engaged in things that tangibly helped people other than myself. That sense of fulfillment has been missing for me.

It’s taken a while for me to act on it, because first I had to identify what it was that I was feeling. You know how sometimes you have a feeling that you really can’t place at first? There’s a new phrase for that now, LOL. When people feel something they can’t yet identify or articulate, they say that they “feel some kind of way”. Well, that’s where I was. I was feeling some kind of way, but didn’t yet know what I was feeling. Until I knew that, there was nothing to act on.

However, now that I have identified what I’m feeling, I can do something about it. To that end, I’ve started looking into volunteer opportunities. This is Atlanta, so I’m pretty sure I won’t have any shortage of places to look. I have no specific places in mind, but what I do know is that I would prefer that it be somewhere I would enjoy being. I’ll be updating the blog as the volunteer work search progresses.