Recently I noticed how annoying it is to stumble across a blog and not know for sure who's writing it or what it is about. When this happens, I feel like I spend a lot of time and energy trying to catch up. Sort of like coming into the second half of a movie and not knowing the name of any of the characters or if the monkey with a Mohawk is significant to the plot line or just a cute extra.
I have to figure some people come here and have the same feeling. Some of these people are patient enough to sort through many blog posts and try to figure what they want to know. Most, I assume, aren't. Some of the most persistent send me email and ask me questions. Instead of individually answering those emails, I've decided to just pull them together here in one post that I'll try to somehow figure out how to keep somewhere so others can access it.
So here goes, the FAQ of Jenne's blog
Yeah, Hi, I read your blog and I'm sort of wondering, who are you? (Other wording of this question has included: Are you somebody? and Who do you think you are? and Should I know you? And if so, Please tell me why because I don't think you are anybody important but if you are, I want to know.)
Who am I. It's a good question. I have a little paragraph here somewhere that says,
I'm a wife, a friend, a daughter. I'm a step-mother, a speaker, a pretty good sister. I'm a part-time philosopher because the full time gig didn't pay enough. I'm a trainer, a problem-solver and consultant and if you ask around I think you'll find out I'm a pretty good dancer.
Cute. But I don't really know what that all means. I'm just me. I'm strong-willed and sometimes compassionate. I'm often too bawdy for my own good. I do my best to be open and honest and I'm almost always overly loud when I get tickled. I have this blog because I think I have some things to say. I enjoy saying them. I will never claim to enjoy writing them or being a writer because I'm undisciplined and writing takes discipline. But, as my friend Ann's brother says, I do enjoy having written.
Um, I don't really get your blog. Which really isn't a question but I'll translate for you: What's this blog all about?
Heck if I know. I try to make it more significant than a list of what I had for lunch and less cumbersome than IRS.gov. I cover just about any topic that hits me. If I were describing my blog to other people I would simply say it is me in writing. Sort of like what you'd get if we went to lunch every day. Except here I'm buying.
Why do you talk about your dad so much?
Clearly you know nothing about therapy. The short version is my dad was my hero. My dad was funny and loving and smart and sometimes not so smart but always growing and learning and saying little things that ended up having life-long impact. Also, my dad died. I was just a kid and in an instant I went from 15 going on 16 to 15 going on empty. Although he'd been in and out of hospitals my whole life battling Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system, I was completely shocked when he died. Because I was 15. And 15 year old girls need their dads. If I were to draw a timeline of my life, it simply couldn't be continuous and be accurate. I would have to stop and start it a few times. My first ending was the day a doctor said the words, He's gone, we did all we could, I'm sorry.
Is this your job, for real?
No. Not for real. Not even for pretend. My pretend job is a turtle wrangler. My real job is a consultant. I help leaders of small and large businesses solve small and large performance management problems. Most of my work centers around how to make sure businesses are getting the best out of their people. I also do strategic planning, in-house training and motivational speaking. If you're interested, you can jump to my website. It'll give you the scoop.
So is this a business blog or a personal blog or what?
This is my blog. I believe it is impossible to separate your work from your life. Sometimes I talk about business lessons, sometimes personal. It doesn't matter, it all plays. I believe in congruency - who I am here is who I am. If you're my friend, this is what you get. If you hire me to help you figure out what's wrong in your company, this is what you get. If you stop by here once and never come back, you can know that you got the real me - the whole she-bang, no holds barred. I believe the more consistent we are, the less we have to worry about. That's why you'll find every topic on here from my adventures cooking an artichoke to my bout with cancer.
You have cancer?
Yep. Or I did anyway.
Can you tell me more about that?
I can. I can give you the quick version here and then you can find out the rest by sorting through posts labeled "Cancer Girl". In June 2006 I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system, which, although a similar cancer to my father's is ironically just a giant coincidence. After diagnosis, I began what ended up being about 7 months of chemotherapy given every other week. In December 2006 I was hospitalized for bleomycin toxicity which is a fancy way of saying my lungs went on strike and for a while there we thought I was going to have a permanent stop on my timeline. I finished my chemo in January 2007 and ended up with my first clean report in March.
Does your mom ever mind it that you are so mean to her in your blog?
No. Because once when I was in high school she gave me a JC Penney's credit card to buy a pair of gauchos and then went traipsing off into the mall to pick up a soft pretzel or something and I when I tried to use the card it got denied and I had to go up to the office on the 3rd floor and vouch for my mother, apologize and promise to pay the late bill. Mortified doesn't BEGIN to describe it. And I think we all know that payback is hell.
And I guess that's about it. The somewhat FAQs of my blog. Hopefully it helps.
Oh, one more thing. I try to answer the emails you send me. I don't always do a good job of it. But don't give up on me. Sometimes an unanswered email will sit in my inbox for a couple of months and then blammo! I'll send a reply. It isn't the timeliest way to deal with email but I like to think of it as throwing a surprise party several months after your birthday. Really, totally unexpected and just the tiniest bit charming . or is that annoying? I'm always confusing the two.
There. I feel better.
Got any pix of you in those gauchos? I think your readers would really appreciate that!
Oh, and I think you are somebody important.
Posted by: Wendy | April 24, 2007 at 08:04 AM