Hello, I’m Alan aka Tater, Nice to Meet You An Introduction to Me Updated 12/8/21 About Me I am a 52-year-old semi-retired/on sabbatical librarian. I left my job of 25 years one year ago this week because it was destroying my mental health. I am one of those writers who…

A look at my week in life, viewing, and reading — I watched one movie and finished one book this week. Life I had my first sub job last Friday afternoon. It seemed to go OK. The time does move a little slowly since I am basically watching people work for over an hour at a time. Maybe I need to take…

Random events keep getting in the way — I felt like I was getting into a groove after the changes here at Medium. My earnings were up. I was getting more followers. I was interacting more. Everything was looking up. And then life happened. I am now an on-call employee(substitute teacher) so unless I decide I am not…

Danny Masterson from That 70’s Show and The Ranch was recently convicted of two rapes and sentenced to 30 years in prison. I have not read the sentencing guidelines for the state, so I have no idea how that compares to what would be expected for such a crime. I…

This is Suicide Prevention Week. Yesterday was Suicide Prevention Day. If you are struggling, please reach out to someone. 988 is always available in the US. You are not alone. One of the first questions my therapist asked was if I had ever had suicidal thoughts. …

I have read several articles about experiences with the new payout system. What all of these have in common is that they are from people who were already Medium successful. How has it been for someone like me who struggled to match the $5 membership fee? Here is what I…

A look at my week in life, viewing, and reading — I watched two movies this week and finished a book. We are watching TV, but there is very little to talk about right now. Life I turned in all of my paperwork at the school this week and should be getting calls next week to sub. Not much else is happening…

A new job is on the horizon and will change when and how I write — Today, I am going to a local private school to turn in new employee forms and show my ID to prove I am allowed to work. I will then officially be a substitute teacher. I don’t know yet how often I will be called in to work. …

Even the best trips can have snags and irritations — I was happy to see that Linda Ng is back with another travel writing prompt. This time it is about our 10 worst travel experiences. You can read hers here. This might be a hard one for me. I tend to have good memories of the majority of my trips…