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 |  Life, Adventure, Family, Writing what else is there? Random thoughts. |
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WELCOME TO: GEMINI RISING   UPDATED INTRO 28 MAY 2024: Just a little about me. I've been married for 32 years this past NOV and currently live in Southern California, but I grew up in New Hampshire. I've got 2 boys who are young adults. I work as a 911 dispatcher for LAPD. I enjoy my job a lot. Still. If you can believe that. I love to write. Thankfully both of my boys achieved Eagle Scout. My Scouting days are over and I'm back to focusing on my writing. I like to get out in nature, drink coffee and watch football. Here's a little bio about my zodiac. GEMINI: Gemini, the sign of the Twins, is dual-natured, elusive, complex and contradictory. On the one hand it produces the virtue of versatility, and on the other the vices of two-facedness and flightiness. The sign is linked with Mercury, the planet of childhood and youth, and its subjects tend to have the graces and faults of the young. When they are good, they are very attractive; when they are bad they are more the worse for being the charmers they are. Like children they are lively, and happy, if circumstances are right for them, or egocentric, imaginative and restless. Their good qualities are attractive and come easily to them. They are affectionate, courteous, kind, generous, and thoughtful towards the poor and suffering - provided none of the activities resulting from expressing these traits interferes too greatly with their own lives and comforts. Geminians can be successful in many walks of life though their general characteristics tend to make them unreliable. They are often skilled manipulators of language, in speech and writing, and may be: debaters, diplomats (though in politics they are more interested in theory than practice), orators, preachers (brilliant rather than profound), teachers, authors, poets, journalists, or lawyers. This is me. I am a Gemini. Pure, Raw, passionate. The NEW focus of this blog is to share my adventures, travels, random thoughts, book reviews, thoughts, opinions, and writing adventures from actual writing, writing/editing tips, marketing, research. I'll get there. BLOG ACCOMPLISHMENTS: SEPTEMBER 2024: I participated in the
![Merit Badge in Nonfiction
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Congrats on your Honorable Mention in Blog Week Birthday Bastion 2024](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/type-Nonfiction.gif) Big thanks to WakeUpAndLive   for hosting the contest! OCTOBER 2024: I participated in the
![Merit Badge in Halloween
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Congratulations on completing the 13 Poetic Days of Halloween.](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-Halloween-2026567.gif) Big Thanks to Lyn's a Witchy Woman  for hosting the contest!Find me at: WEBSITE: http://www.stephanieburkhart.com FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/StephanieBurkhartAuthor GOOD READS: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4031660.Stephanie_Burkhart YOU TUBE CHANNEL: http://www.youtube.com/user/botrina?feature=mhee Previous GRATITIOUS Warning, that I decided to keep in case I post about something that might offend.  WARNING I intend to be open, honest, and forthright. No topic is off limits from religion to you name it, I'm going there. If you think you might be offended...back up now - this blog isn't for you. For those who "dare"  check out the "Gemini Rising..." 
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| Retirement is two years away for me, so I decided a retirement seminar at work. Mind you, it was on the off time in the middle of sleep cycle so my body's a bit annoyed with me right now. I thought I would learn more about what to expect, but I've been to a retirement seminar before so for me it was a tune up. I'm in pretty decent shape, but there I need to make sure my retirement system for the city of LA (we call it LACERS) needs to make sure I'm "married." Can you believe it? For the past 25 years they thought I was single and I've been married for 33 years now. Sigh... City govt snafus, right? I plan on retiring in 2 years on 28 FEB 27. I'll have 27 years with the city of LA and after buying 7 years of my military time, I'll have a total of 34 service credits. Just means more $$ in my pocket when I retire. Right now I'm looking at a rough estimate of $8,000 monthly when I retire and that's not counting what I'll get from deferred comp. And if I wanna collect Social security when I hit 62 that's another $800. When I retire, I'll be 59 years old and I'm ready to enjoy it, trust me. I could retire tomorrow if I wanted to, but the hubby doesn't retire until FEB 28 so I'm going a year before him. We are not staying in California upon retirement. The state is absolutely INSANE with it's taxes. We are moving back to New Hampshire. It's a long story, but the hubby said we're moving out of state when we retire. I said, Okay, I'm willing to go to Nevada or Arizona. He said he wanted to go to Idaho because that's were all the cops go. I said Idaho has 4 seasons and snow and if you're willing to do that, I'm going to New Hampshire were all my friends and family live so I can spend the rest of my years around my family and enjoy the tax reprieve. Shockingly, I didn't get any blow back and he was looking at houses in Canterbury the next day. There are lot of benefits, but I need to organize the madness and get my duckies straight. haha. What are your thoughts on retirement? Do you have plans? Cruise the world? Fish? Move? |
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We opted for sunshine and where income taxes were kind to pensions plus it wasn't muggy in summer with terrible storms.