HH&R: Take Photos to Mark Progress or Issues

Home renovations can be incredibly exciting.  They can also be incredibly taxing and stressful.  One of the best means to addressing both?  Photos.

You can start by planning to do straight "Before and After" photos, but I'm talking more.  More photos.  More leverage to help you see progress and more clear cut explanation drivers for concerns.

Why take photos:

- For personal reasons:  Photos allow you to look back at progress and see what things looked like, remember what you've been through, show the progression, and help you see the 'forest despite the tree's, if you will.  As we renovate our home, we find ourselves looking back at photos going "oh! right!  OMG I can't believe it looked like that one time!"  Even though you think you're going to remember how amazing the transformation is, the reality is that sometimes because you see it all the time and are in the middle of it, progress doesn't seem as exciting.  Photos help you remember and really enjoy the actual progress you made.

- For working with contractors:  There's an old saying that says "You can say you see a 6, and I can say I see a 9, and depending on where we're standing, we can both be right but frustrated because we don't see the other's point of view."  Same is true for construction.  Having photos help give everyone the same starting point for the conversation.  It allows you to explain to the trades folk doing work what you're seeing and why it's a concern, and it also gives them the same starting point for explaining their thinking and perspective.  Without it, you all 'hope' you're basing your discussion in the same assumptions.  With photos, there's no assuming.

Happy renovation!

AOT: Choosing Where Your Taxes Go

 Ok, it's that time of year - Bonus Season - and it brings up a lot of angst for a lot of people.  If you don't get a bonus, you can still relate. 

Every paycheck we get includes the removal of money to taxes.  You notice it more at Bonus Season because of the sheer % they remove which is often higher than your normal tax bracket, but irrespective of your tax bracket, this cool idea popped into my head.

What if you could define how you wanted your tax money allocated?!

Disclaimer - I'm actually pro-taxes.  I like roads and infrastructure.  I'd like to see universal health care and public transportation and a greater sense of humanitarianism and environmentalism.  But even if those aren't your choices, I bet you'll still find this idea worth discussing.

How it would work:  When you sign up for a job (or if you have a job where you don't pay taxes / e.g. you pay your own taxes, etc, then you'd do the selections there) you select the top 3-5 areas you want your taxes to go. 

• Infrastructure (roads, bridges, sidewalks, internet, lighting, etc)
• Education
• Transportation (busses, trains, also bridges, etc) - similar to infrastructure, but with additional other items
• Defense
• Parks & Recreation (environmental protection, parks, public land maintenance)
• Social services
• Healthcare
• Historical restoration and preservation
• ETC

Obviously a portion of your taxes would go to fund the headcount required as well - thinks you can't get out of because in order for government to work, you have to pay people to work in government, but the rest of it (and the bulk of it) would be defined by you.  And it would go in equal parts to those areas.

What does this do? This gives an immediate voice to the working public telling elected officials how they want their money spent.  Now, many of these services would cross (e.g. healthcare and social services and education, infrastructure and transportation, even defense) but the point is we identify how we want our money spent by where we elect our dollars to go.  Then based on how much that particular fund has, they can do things with it.  If 95% of people elect "healthcare", then guess what?  The government now has motive and money to move towards universal healthcare.

Etc.  

Would this upset the balance of power, politics, and capitalism?  100%. But maybe it's time for America to join the rest of the world in taking care of its citizens and for its citizens to start thinking of themselves as global and community participants instead of solo players fighting one another.

Burnt Out Millennial (mix) is Live!

I'm so excited!  My album, Burnt Out Millennial (mix), is officially live!

Sample all 17 tracks and connect to the major platforms:  Spotify & Apple Music / iTunes

• https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/aboutstephanie/burnt-out-millennial-mix?ref=release

YouTube Music is coming soon.  Keep tracking my page.  https://www.youtube.com/@AboutStephanie

Quick Synopsis:  This is the mix CD we'd burn today if that's what we did. Written for millennials navigating adulthood in a world that changed, this album moves through exhaustion, anger, humor, nostalgia, and small, stubborn hope.

Seventeen tracks. Different voices. Different styles.
Pop, rap, ballads, country, grunge, Latin, K-pop — all tied together by the same chapter of life.

For anyone who did what they were told… and is now adapting, recalibrating, and sometimes white-knuckling it anyway.

Why it matters:  There's a quiet understanding that as you age, the music of the day is no longer for or about you.  Maybe that was okay in generations past, but today's Gen X & Millennial generations need an outlet that both understands them and caters to them.  Our music was varied, angry, happy, wistful, hopeful, and frustrated.  And our music from the 90s and 2000s is still good, but we want songs that are today-relevant.  I worked really hard to make that possible.

I genuinely hope you find at least one track to love.  Share which one that is and why!  Happy listening!

LMOH: Creativity

I had some time off at the end of last year, and during it something in my brain switched on.  I've always been creative, but I'd been creative in long projects - novels, kids books, etc.  A friend over the holidays told me about Suno, an AI music app, and while I'm not the biggest proponent of AI (I think it has LOTs of good application and possibilities - like robot vacuums and mops - I don't think people are taking or appreciating the level of risk mitigation and oversight it should be coming with), I don't have the voice or musical instrument capabilities to create songs.  However, I AM a writer.  And lyrics and prompting the general tone of the song I can do.

And I have.  And it's SO fun.

What I will say is that creativity doesn't have a timeline.  I can't say "I'm going to be creative from 7-8pm or 12-1pm or 8-9am".  At least mine doesn't.  Maybe some of you have creativity switches that you can flip on and be focused for a set timeframe, but I do not.  I have found that most of my lyric writing is either prompted after I've heard or thought of the musical inspiration, or after 9pm, when I'm in bed trying to sleep (which I also can't fault because now instead of my brain being awake with anxiety while I'm trying to sleep, it's working out song lyrics...much less anxiety producing).

So if you want to be creative, first start by rewarding your creativity when it turns on, whatever time that may be!  If you love on it, it will love you back.  And creativity is good for the mind and soul.

Song & AboutStephanie.com

As you know I love writing.  You may also know that I love singing, even though I know my singing voice has limitations.  That said, I have started voice lessons again to make what voice I do have better.  It's been fun.

So, when a friend of mine told me about Suno, an app that uses AI to make music, I was intrigued.  I may not be the singer that you want to hear on the radio, but I have some song ideas in my head.  Figured if I could get the lyrics and an outline of what I wanted into the AI engine, maybe it would turn out what I had envisioned.

And, sure enough, it's been pretty fun!  I have created three songs so far:  Send Me a Christmas Card, Ending, and Love My Dog.

They're on Spotify, iHeartRadio, and YouTube Music for your enjoyment (and downloading!).  I'm hoping to keep adding to the list this year!  I'm sure I don't make use of all the features of Suno, though I have tried a number of them and was only so-so impressed.  But for what I have used it for, I have really enjoyed it!

You can also find links to them on my new website:  www.aboutstephanie.com where I've consolidated all my published works and consulting / strategy offerings.

Excited to have you enjoying more of my creative works!