Are you getting everything you can out of this life?
An insightful, feel-good blog about work, life, and the elusive balance between the two, by career counselor, award-winning resume writer, and existential adventurer, Cliff Flamer
I’ve always struggled with telling my kids about Santa Claus. I have to look away when I answer their questions, and I try to layer in at least a shred of truth.
I don’t know how he does it. I guess it’s magic.
I’m not thrilled about this.
It’s the only… Read more...
My friend has this great story.
One day he woke up and decided he wanted to go to the beach. The only issue is he had no money and no car and he lived in Pasadena. That’s about 20 miles away.
But he was feeling stagnant so he packed up 6 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and… Read more...
I’m a pretty chill guy, but one place I always lose my shit — where I literally end up shouting at the top of my lungs at a decibel that makes my daughter cry — is when I’m on a call with a customer service agent.
It’s my Achilles heel.
Try as I might,… Read more...
The choices we make for our kids really show, and test, our values.
My teen is in a prestigious multi-year STEM internship. We literally danced when she got in.
But, she hasn’t been learning anything for a year. She’s bored and says everyone is bored. We checked it out … Read more...
Since roller coasters aren’t an option anymore due to my proclivity for dizziness (sob), I went to the water park with my daughter, instead.
We hit the Big Kahuna, The Typhoon Lagoon, and the wave pool.
But it was 70 degrees, not nearly warm enough for a water park. Even a la… Read more...
I agreed to play 30 consecutive games of Castle Mania with Hazel, or “The Troll Game” as we call it. (She had advocated for 50 games but I talked her down.)
Castle Mania is a simple but surprisingly suspenseful card game where you team up with each other to prevent a p… Read more...
I’ve been going through old papers. My mom saved everything, especially the art stuff: Half finished pictures, 3 words on an otherwise blank page, an excessively pasty attempt at a pop-up book…
I found a gem.
Apparently, when I was in second grade I wrote my first poem.… Read more...
Oh, I wish I hadn’t read the comments section.
All I wanted was to read the news.
I scrolled down too far, and BAM, there they are:
Angry people with differing views.
—
Oh, I wish I hadn’t read the comments section.
It’s such a sad sight to see.
Opinions are flyi… Read more...
When I was in first grade, I spent hours making Valentine’s for the class — big red hearts, topped with square black top hats and a clever message running across the brim in glitter glue.
In college, I baked cookies and passed them around campus.
Then someone told me th… Read more...
Stereotypes put people in boxes.
When you act on a stereotype, you’re making assumptions based on your ideas about the group you think they belong to. By limiting who they can be before you actually meet them, you’re limiting what you both can gain.
That’s right, … Read more...