What’s a fear you’ve overcome — and how did you do it?

I recently was tricked by a woman that was supposed to help me get a job. She lured me to one place & then proceeded to take me to another. The best part was that it wasn’t a job at all, it was volunteering.

Something I’ve spent half my life doing. She essentially tricked me & the illegal part of the equation was that I’d have to pray before I volunteered. It wasn’t a job— she thought she’d get away with it. I contacted the place that I’d originally spoken to & called them the morning I was supposed to start. I told them what she’d done & how.

They were not amused by what I told them. The last day I saw her, the rotten apple she had written a bunch of unprofessional things about me in the letter to the organization I had gone through. I corrected her on what she’d written as I read it carefully.

I stand up for myself now. Period.

What’s the most profound piece of advice you’ve been given? Did you take it?

It’s a Norwegian expression for the difficult times will pass. I think it’s very current with what’s happening globally & locally.

If we let it, artificial intelligence will make us stupid & incapable of independent thought. It needs to be a fad that passes & NOT something we become dependent on. I feel that it’s already up in our emails & apps.

I think we need to be present more & understand that being on your smart device is rude. We have no TV in the bedroom policy & that goes for our phones too. When we have our coffee in the morning our devices are there but we try not to look at them. Definitely not at a meal or with friends.

I think the Norwegian expression is apropo considering the state of the world. What do you think has gotten you through hard times?

What’s a word or phrase that annoys you?

When I was at uni I dated a sweet guy whose mom really liked me. She told me that I was too smart to use the word like.

So I stopped using it & found real vocabulary words. To this day if you use like I assume your either trying to be stupid or you are stupid.

When I hear it from tourists I assume they’re either from the Valley or live close to it. Why would you want to sound stupid? Don’t use like. Like really don’t.