...THERE'S ALWAYS HOPE... (I HOPE...) THERE'S ALWAYS HOPE... (I HOPE...) THERE'S ALWAYS HOPE... (I HOPE...) THERE'S ALWAYS HOPE...

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FAQs about WORK


I suppose it is a fair question for most, given the pidgeon-holed culture we choose to create for ourselves... the following is my response to the typical questions tell me a little about yourself and more specifically, job related questions (as if someone asks what do you do? and means something else, right?... is work all you do?)... anyway, I have ranted a bit about the subject of accepted, nurtured, and even demanded stereotypes and prejudices in everyday life (look for the rants in the get real section if you want)... here I'm gonna try to give the expected answers in my way... feel free to critique from your perspective J

THE QUESTION:

Oh and Ric... if you have your resume updated... bring it with you.
What kind of work are you looking for ?

SHORT ANSWER:
anything interesting, challenging, rewarding, and if at all possible, fun.

LONGER ANSWER:

Hi... I had a busy day and tomorrow looks even busier (I only have a few very new friends down here so far and two had emergencies that will have me running around for a few days and I'll be pet and house sitting for the third and her mom for two weeks come this weekend).

I will do my best to make it to your mixer and I'll do my best as a greeter if you'd still like me to help after reading more about me. I intended to call you and introduce myself further and explain my hesitation, but time flew by (once I start working again, I think I'll pick up a cell phone) - I will try to find time tomorrow.

My situation is probably not unique, but may be challenging at first. All of my belongings are in storage in upstate NY, including clothes, papers, and the stuff usually needed to start a new career. I've had a rather traumatic few years (I went from owning my home and living very well on a multi-year vacation to literally living on the street). I currently don't dress or look the part for "success" in our culture, but under the hair and T-Shirts is a person worth knowing and I know I can be that can be an asset to any endeavor I undertake (I'm told I clean up well, but I don't clean up easily or for nothing).

There's a rebellious part of me that resists conformity and putting on plastic masks just to placate age old social morees (part of my storage is an extensive and irreverent T-shirt collection). There's a practical side of me realizing that first impressions and appearances, as superficial as they are, matter a lot to many (hence the Hugo Boss suits and other designer clothing in storage).

I think I'd be happiest in a casual professional setting like the creative arts or music industry (or any creative setting), but I have no professional experience directly along those lines. Just my love of and study of words and music and performing arts along the way. My professional experience is indirectly related as I've been working with people, motivating, organizing, teaching, directing, inspiring, and nurturing all through my life and careers.

My concern is, to be blunt, that I wouldn't want you or anyone feeling uncomfortable or even embarrassed to have invited a rather radical looking guy (long hair, short beard, Walmart clothes) to an upscale professional mixer. This is what I was going to say to you via the phone, but in case I don't get the time to call tomorrow, I felt I should stop dragging my feet about introducing myself further to you and write it out.

As I said, I am coming out of a nightmarish portion of an otherwise rather idyllic life and I am charging up my batteries and motivating myself to face 'the world' again. Perhaps there's some shame in me about ending up on the street and slipping far out of the professional ranks for a while (my last two jobs were low level supervision in manual labor industries, a far cry from the challenging responsibilities I handled well for most of my career).

As for a resume, it's another stumbling block (are you sorry you offered to help yet?)... I smile with the parenthetic aside, but I wonder seriously... how much do you or does anyone presenting a helper persona really care or want to help?

In a nutshell - off the top of my head, and thank you for the motivation to take this a bit more seriously - you are already an important friend to me even if just for the moment and even if you decide you don't want to be J

Education


BS Psychology, Brooklyn College, 1983-1987 (157 credits, 3.81 GPA, Summa Cum Laude while working full time). Some informal Post Graduate studies in various fields.

Military Training in Emergency Medicine, Specialty Driving, Crisis Management, Counseling, and Hospital Administration, and Protocal.

NY State and Cornell University Certifications and Professional Training in many health, counseling, and management areas including First Aid+, CPR+, Behavior Management+, Crisis Intervention+, Human Services, Personel, Group and Individual Counseling and Evaluations+, Treatment Care Plans+, Team Leading, Management+, Logistics, Operations, Organization, QA Audits+, Community Relations, and other areas. (pluses signify areas I earned 'trainer' status)

Employment


US Army, Medical Specialist, EMT - 1974-1976
Performed all services available in a large Hospital Emergency Room Additional training in specialized driving and hospital administration.

Candor Communications, 1976-1978
Freelance Consulting and Publishing. Mostly studying at different universities and working with other consultants in a variety of fields, exploratory years. (I don't usually put this on a resume until 1990 when I actually started publishing and producing something)

OMRDD, NYSDMH, 1978-1990, MHTA thru ICFPM/CTTL/QMRP
(Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, New York State Department of Mental Hygiene)
(MHTA - Mental Hygiene Therapy Aide, Mental Hygiene Therapist)
(ICFPM - Intermediate Care Facility Program Manager)
(CTTL - Clinical Treatment Team Leader)
(QMRP - Qualified Mental Retardation Professional - state and federal OSHA certifcation) I held other titles, but these are the essential ones.
Performed all duties (direct care, operations, clinical, training, supervision, and administration) involved in managing staff and residents in institutional and group home residential living and treatment facilities for handicapped, mentally retarded, and dual diagnosed people. Additionally surveyed other facilities, chaired clinical treatment teams, conducted internal audits, trained staff, formed and chaired committees to address specific issues (to mention a few - budgets, paper flow (forms), internal audits, training, staffing, public relations, community involvement, morale, ethics, events, transportation, logistics).


1990-2000...


here's where I become creative... how to pull a resume for 10 years out of the last 10 years of life, well... I laugh and yet, I must take it seriously... maybe it's as simple as the truth (what?... in a resume?... has the world changed that much in 10 years?... sad question, what's your answer?)...

like maybe just saying... I worked professionally and managed my career and finances successfully enough to be able to take a 10 year vacation to explore personal and creative interests and endeavors that work did not allow time for and now that I'm once again seeking to focus my energies on a professional career, perhaps you'd like someone with planning, management, organizational, and creative abilities in your organization... and leave it at that... the rest, as is so easily brushed of in this culture, is history...

and perhaps that is all there would be in the resume portion of my response to work related questions... but being me and this being bios, I naturally continue (and of course, risk losing interest by getting more real)... though the ability to survive life's greatest challenges and and make something worthwhile out of virtually anything might be a skill worth mentioning in reality... of course resumes are not reality in reality, are they?...

so after 12 years of 24/7 life-death responsibility, in 1990 I semi-retired to Orlando on savings and investments and focused my energies on building a house, relaxing, developing my creative interests, and looking to fulfill my dearest dream, finding 'the one' and creating and nurturing a family. I published two small target-audience magazines that did make a profit, but were more for my pleasure and to help others than anything else. In 1995 I fell in love and gave up everything to move to Toronto and adopt a family of five. Much of my belongings went into storage, my house went on the market, and everything else was left behind.

beautiful dreamer... but dreams don't always come true.

She said wait, I did, the government wouldn't. Without legal commitment from her I could not remain in Canada even if everything that mattered to me was there. Even if they all wanted me to stay.

FALLING ROCKS  .  .  .   me   .  .  .  HARD PLACES

By 1997 I was on the street in Buffalo. My belongings remained in storage, the house (ten miles south of Disney) was lost because it would not sell and I cared more for my new family than my past, and everything else was lost. Foolish, the things we do for love... or at least, what I did for love. Seems a song or few come to mind. I learned that love isn't always all we need, and that trust can get you in a lot of trouble, even destroy you. In 1998, due in part to the generosity of strangers and a manual labor job sorting recyclables, I survived and floated around in limbo. In 1999 I worked an average of 95 hours a week at cleaning and building services to save enough to move at least myself back to Florida, pay the storage for a year, and take some time off to get myself back together. I'm determined to turn the sad story of a romantic fool who died for love into a cathartic resurrection of hope and faith in self... enter violins (and hoping you're at least a little amused or touched and not totally put off or bored by my candor)...

And here we are today. I did some freelancing for Leader Management (computer consulting) since returning to Orlando and mostly have been volunteering with various local groups, among other things, VP of CFCS, Computer Events, Webmaster, email groups, parties, and other activities.

Internally, I continue to heal (something else I'd leave off a resume... in fact, most of this very long email would not be in my resume, but I am honest and open in my life and maybe that's why I am where I am, but I am me). I believe in giving and seeking help that honesty and openness is essential and pretense is a waste of time.

So what do you think (still there?). Shall I still try to make it tonight? (I may not be back to check email all day and if I don't I think I will call).

So starting to summarize... Once upon a time I was the most confident, secure, and comfortable person in virtually any room I entered. I'm amazed at what a broken heart and profound berayal can do to one's psyche. In all the BS books I read, I could never have imagined the experience of utter life devastation without experiencing it. Now, as I rebuild myself, I look towards a time when I will be better for all I've been through.

I have never reached out and asked for help. I'm not sure I know how to accept help. I learned independence as a very young child and rarely depend on anyone. I'm not even sure I am asking for help now. The stubborn and perhaps arrogant (and perhaps foolish) person I can be may be asking to evaluate the help you might offer before I raise my hopes and ask for it. I wonder if that made any sense to you (me and my psyche, stumbing through the avenue).

ok, when I slip into paraphrased song lyrics too often to lighten serious points, I know it's time to either continue babbling to myself or call. So I thank you more than these words can say for inspiring me to write these words tonight. I was supposed to be getting some sleep as I have a 6AM wake up call coming in less than an hour. But you have helped me help myself. I needed to write this.

I even used mostly periods instead of all elipses :)

as I close with honest love, please understand what I mean and don't let it push you away. I place the word honest before the word love in closing my personal correspondence in order to remind me that I mean it. It means no obligations, no expectations, no romantic or fanciful connotations at all. Simply, honest love - a wish for your great health and euphoric happiness and true fulfillment and inner success... the simplest and purest thank you I can offer. I know that some strangers read many things into the words that give them cause for doubt or fear. I mean no harm. I have no better way of showing my appreciation in words.

I'll probably put this (maybe) long and winding babble on my website one day (probably with editorial self-mockery and an attempt to make it more entertaining by adding quips and the like)... I have a "Letters" section that's supposed to be where letters to strangers and friends go... this is the first incarnation of my most recent attempt to write a combined life summary (at least from age 17 on) and resume... we shall see how secure and open I am (there's a self-challenge)...

you had to ask, huh? :)

I sincerely hope I did not overstep bounds or intrude too far into your time. If I did, please just say so as I respect honesty above all else. You now know as much about me as anyone in Orlando except for two who've known me a few years.

Your mission, Ms ..., should you decide to accept it, is to help me figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life and why, find true friends, restore my faith in people and maybe even in my own romantic heart, reawaken my dreams, rebuild my success, security, and confidence, reaffirm my beliefs and return to thinking I know the meaning of life... or... at least help me find a decent job? :)

hoping my semi-tongue-in-cheek closing inspired a smile, I shall back out of this hole I may be digging for myself with the hope that I've not said too much.

may your day unfold with many more smiles than frowns :)

honest love, ric
http://home.att.net/~candor
407-426-7101

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift
and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant
and has forgotten the gift."
~ Albert Einstein ~



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