Hi Sherry,

I'm still here. Things have changed since I wrote this blog. My sister, probably having been drinking, was crying and called me telling me she wanted me to be up there with her. I did not want to go up there but she knows how to pull the cords in my heart.

I told her time and time again that month-long trips up there are not good as her boyfriend does not like long visits like this. This is reasonable and out of respect I do not like going on visits for any more than a few days, a week at most.

This time, three days from completing the trip up there, my sister was acting like she was drinking and, she noted that I had picked up the Southern accent being around those folks for years now and that she charged me to "talk right." This escalated even after I told her I would try to do better. A month-long trip + my drinking sister left me vulnerable and a sure target to her drunken wrath.

She turned on me and I had to summon a preacher from Connecticut to come get me out of that volatile situation. This would have given her boyfriend a chance to make it like hell for me up there the last three days. The preacher came and took me to Connecticut. That was over.

Back home in Florida, my sister (and my other sister) teamed up on me and turned the rest of the family against me, calling me a fake and that all I am out to do is cause problems between family members. I went up there for her, not me. Being away from the drama for years now, I just can't deal with it having been with people who live by the Bible. There is now such a contrast between how I live my life now and how I once did that I simply can't relate to life as it used to be.

I am hated for this but so be it. I have closed the door on this. It was awful. Facebook has always been the source of bad things, but no more.

Alcohol once again!

Good to hear you're still here! I just came across that you'd replied back, so sorry for the late reply! Anyways, sometimes it's best to just stay away from the people that are causing drama and unneeded problems...focus on the things that matter to you and don't let the naysayers and haters get to you...what matters is where you want to be and the people that treat you right.

Don't dwell on the negative things...but, focus on what's positive instead...that's what I try to keep in mind each day. As for FB, I suppose it can be a mess, but it can be also a good thing when the right people are there.

Best wishes to you my friend...as always it's good to hear from you. Keep in touch when you have time. :)
~Sherry

Hello Sherry,

I have already put some of your arguments into practice Sherry. I have done exactly what I find in your response and yes - this means everything said. We are on the same page :). Being the caring person that you are, you will be pleased with my reply...

Since I wrote my last reply on here, I have made progress with my Facebook account. It is now closed off to my family, the source of much discouragement, drama and nonsensical battles my family see no better than to wage with me. For many, many years, out of love, I have tried to clear my name with my family to get them to see I am not what they think of me, but that simply hasn't worked though I thought at one point, I was making good progress. After that last battle with them, I have resolved to cease relations with them. I have been gone for many, many years, since the late 1970s, and even before this time, pinned with many things by them that I am innocent of. The views of me that they have, and are persistent in hanging on to, is totally ridiculous and completely without any amount of prudence.

I still love them, though they hate me. I still care for them, though they wish evil upon me. I still hope for their well-being though they curse me. So be it. It's their choice. I have made mine own resolutions about this.

That's my earthly family. It's now closed off and put behind me.

I have my church family. Since 1979, being with these people, their patience and willingness to work with me, have helped me mark time with personal growth. I have been able to see stable families in action and have had many, many lessons to learn and lots of growing to do. I was not prepared to be out on my own and indeed, had lots of problems, mostly socially. I will never reach the potential I might have been capable of, but things are now far, far better than I have ever had them!

Even when I first came to Wealthy Affiliate, I had some serious issues and it came out on here many times such that I made a fool of myself on here. Even here, I received some backlash but some of it was well-intended criticism. This has helped me do better on here and has become instruction I have learnt from.

My personal growth has been such that, I can't even go into such environments such as those within my family's domain. What I once could shake a stick at, I can no longer tolerate. My upbringing in the Lord has driven this wedge and there is no more looking back. I have been with my church family now for 40 years. You can be sure, even though it was barely noticeable during about 25 of those years, once it took hold, growth became rapid for me.

Wealthy Affiliate and its community has had even more to add to this.

I have cut off relations with my family in all aspects, including Facebook. Once the grounds where I had been mercilessly ridiculed and accused of many things, those doors are now sealed off. All of the shenanigans, including the alcohol and its poisonous effects, at least from my family, have been left behind. Facebook has been purged and I now have in place of my family, my church family and even some from Wealthy Affiliate.

I actually did make some ground this year!

Thanks Sherry :)

Glad to see you hanging in here as well. I have had no progress in my campaigns this year but now working on funding for another year here come March! I have new plans, even if it isn't monetary, it does involve treasure that is far beyond money.

Daniel

Hey Daniel,
Yes, indeed...I am so happy to hear your news here! It's great to hear that you're not having to go through the issues with these people...family or not, they have no right to treat you as they did, in my humble opinion.

It sounds like by removing them from your FB, things must be a lot more peaceful for you on there...that's one thing I do like about it, you can block or mute people that are causing issues from your notice. I'm sure now that their negative chatter is no longer distracting you, things will be much more positive for you there as well. As it mentions in the Law of Attraction, "we get what we think about whether we want it or not"....something like that anyways, not sure if I'm remembering it right, lol.

Anyways, I've been really sidetracked this year, lol...but, still making about the same from one of my sites...really need to get to work on it to get it going more, but at the very least it's still helping pay some bills.

Mostly the reason I've not done much with my sites is I've started up with another project, sort of... that deals with health and wealth as well, so a lot of my focus has been on that these past few months or so, along with our planned move to our new home next to my dad's...fixing things up there and getting things ready has been eating up a lot of my time this summer.

Looking forward to hearing about your new plans when you get a chance, Daniel! Again, so happy to hear the good news...it's great to hear things are looking up for you, and who knows maybe I'll see you on FB too sometime.

Best wishes :) ~Sherry

The biggest issue I have had with my campaigns have consistently been very high bounce rates. I have tried rebuilding my campaigns in the way of new designs and themes, but mostly in designs, by removing the sidebar, putting it back, changing what's in it, colours, widths of the website, header, font, font size and page lay-outs. None of these helped.

Really, the only thing it comes to is my personality, my writing, use of words, simply not ever been able to reach my intended audience. Something about my writing is making people distrust me and about face. I am no longer making any income. Last month and it looks like the coming month will be the first in quite a few years without low but consistent income. I know this is due to dropping the ball. The bounce rates are extremely discouraging to me and is the main reason why I stopped after sustained effort to make this work the last time.

I feel I'm in the wrong niche and have been since I started this. At one point, I wrote an article that resulted an a spike of sales and started my income. for about nine days this continued and then played out. I was never able to repeat this again - ever. I tried writing similar articles but that was it.

This was years ago now and I firmly believe my personality is driving traffic away. I don't know what else it can be. My plans for this is to go into a completely different niche and not to go there for purely as an income-generating venture. I am taking the costs of being on WA as a necessary expense because I greatly prefer it over what's available besides (such as hosting, etc.) WA is an outstanding business platform and worth the cost even if I can no longer support it with my efforts, at least in the way of promoting WA.

I believe in the cause of WA but I'm simply not suitable to do this. I must seek out a different audience. I have also lost interest in promoting products, especially those I have not used myself. The niche I plan to go into cannot be discussed on here because it concerns religion.

[LOL! It's been two days since I wrote the above and forgot to send it! This browser window has been open since!]

Daniel

Hey Daniel,
Sorry to hear the WA niche isn't working out for you...I started on it, but never continued the Boot Camp since I felt too much like a fraud as I hadn't yet made money at the time I started it.

I just found it very hard to write much about it although I love WA and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a way to learn how to build their online business. I've been thinking of getting it going again, but just haven't had the time to work on it at all.

Anyways, maybe the one you're planning on going into, religion, will open new doors...if that's what's calling you, there must be a reason I'd think. I've always believed in following your heart, it'll usually bring you to where you need to be...btw, not sure if you've read it, but the book, "Money and the Law of Attraction" by Esther and Jerry Hicks, which I'm reading right now has some great advice in it. Another good one is "The Greatest Miracle in the World" by Og Mandino....there's actually a free version of it by someone reading it through a group on FB.

In my opinion, you're an excellent writer, and an honest, caring person, Daniel. I only know you from your writing here, so if I think that from your writing, there has to be others that would think so too. Just believe you can and you will...let the past go for what it is, and look forward to today. Stay positive and have faith my friend.

Lol, at least you didn't write your reply and accidentally lose the whole thing by closing the window, forgetting to hit the reply button first...I've done that way too many times!

Best wishes :) ~Sherry

Oh yes, I've done that too! Not fun. Sometimes rewriting results in a better article but that's usually not the case.

I certainly believe in what WA teaches and is about the best thing I have ever found on the Internet since I first found this place. In all these years, nothing has come up that can rival WA in all that it does, and if anything is rivaled, it would be one or two facets here and there. Nothing even comes close!

I pretty much stay away from the Law of Attraction thing because as a Christian, it's the Lord we go to, not the universe, which is a precept of the Law of Attraction. It gets things right when it comes down to this reaping what you sow or the results one gets based on their action.

Even the fact that we may get what is coming to us because of what we think might be so, but there is no outright evidence that this is so but is a theory. It is surely possible.

Albeit appealing to the universe to me, is barking up the wrong tree. LOL! I have to stop here. I don't want to get in trouble bringing this up. From hence, let your imagination fill in the blanks.

One of the other things is that if a person is not careful, he can make money the ultimate thing in his (or her) life. Money is okay but making it top priority can backfire. Money is a necessity and of course, one must earn money. This is common sense. However, there are things that go way beyond monetary realms and one of the reasons I have trouble with this is that so many are into it. They give themselves to the cause of money and therefore, put out some real works of art in literature.

Outside of being a necessity, money (or getting wealthy) doesn't have an impact on me, at least not as it once did. My earlier writings do, both here and in my Journal, have much to say about herd mentality and such. These are valid of course, but money isn't the only way to skin this cat.

I definitely still have some quarks about economics, one being thrust into what they call the group known as " consumers." I can't stand that designation nor do I want any part of it. I have hated this for a long time and have joined the ranks of what are known as "minimalists." "Consumer" is such a redundant term. It has been crammed down people's throats for generations now that today there indeed exists "consumer" societies. These are little more than peasant societies. I like to not think of myself as a part of this.

I hate shopping (which is said to be the most important job of a consumer.) I do not think like a consumer though many would argue this because I do not own a corporation that actively produces good and services that consumers use.

In my writing, I tend to not be able to think like a consumer in the traditional sense and therefore, more now than ever, reviewing products and such puts one in the position where thinking like a consumer is necessary. I realize that a business that serves consumers must do this. Until I am able to do this in my business, I will not be able to reach the consumer as such. There are audiences outside of this realm and it is these I am looking into as ones to work with. This is what you are saying about opening new doors. You are right.

Daniel

I appreciate this :) Yeah, this one is going to take some time to heal. It's on Fox News as well as other news media, but not all of them. The wife has, at the request of the family, had life support disconnected and he passed about 8:30 pm last evening.

Now this turns into a homicide since the doctors knew right away he would not be expected to survive. I think bail bonds and attorneys for the attacker will have done little good. I don't think it was on here, but someone mentioned the surveillance cameras that many ale houses are equipped. He won't be running free too much longer unless he goes into hiding.

You got that right! For me, I don't need it and I won't take the chance by even casually drink, because it can sneak up on you gradually and the next thing you know, there's a problem - if you ever come to recognizing it.

Well Hey Paul!

Are you doing okay? I have done some writing on here but usually taking part in discussions already started by others. I have been dealing with some health problems and family issues. The family problems, a large part of it, stems from drinking. I have been down on this for a very long time and try to reason with certain ones in my family about getting away from it. I grew up around alcoholism, have watched three generations of folks in my family die early due to drinking (and smoking as well,) and have seen a lot of violence at home and in bars. I find it heartbreaking to see some of the things drunk people do that they normally wouldn't.

I do agree with you that being responsible is the key but you know serving alcohol does come with those idiots that come in. Ale houses tend to be more sophisticated in their operations, including outstanding food and they offer more than the regular stinky saloon-type bars with rotted beer smells.

Of course, it comes down to the alcohol itself and the fact that there are people who can't handle it. It makes for uncertainty and unpredictability. The better bars are those that serve food, for obvious reasons.

There was a time, not too long ago when I would go into Shamrock's Ale House to eat breakfast and lunch but no later than about noon. This place was right next door to where I lived and it had excellent burgers and shepherd's pie, not to mention other dishes. I stopped going there because (especially in Florida) they can get pretty mean and it isn't uncommon that people get hurt. It is more metropolitan down here, unlike just about anywhere in Canada.

This stands as a warning about not being responsible, getting so inebriated that you can get killed one way or another, or in the above case, killing someone who doesn't even drink, there for the meal, and got pulled into it.. I am still very disturbed from what took place. It's alcohol and the people that don't mix very well with it. This is the main thing, inside or outside of bars. I felt the need to express myself even though WA is not really the place to be doing this.

No, you don't sound harsh at all. It is feedback and I certainly know and expect it after all, this is a forum. Writing on here many times has helped me line up my ducks better. Today, it just helps me relieve some pressure. The loss of my brother-in-law is very tragic to me and I think it will be awhile before I simmer down about the ale houses.

Thanks for responding :)

Daniel

Hey, Daniel.

I am truly sorry for your loss and I do understand the negatives that can come about through the use of alcohol and other mind altering substances.

That third party, Benjamin Hernandez Jr. should have stayed out of the affairs of your niece and her husband.

What prompted him to intervene, I do not know. I was not there.

I did not realize that 'Ale Houses' down there, are places of violence. Here in Ontario, we basically have restaurants that can obtain a licence to also serve alcohol.

We do occasionally see some violence happening in 'Bar Only' settings like 'Strip Clubs' that are scattered around the province. Again, probably over indulgence but for the most part, though, no major issues are ever heard of.

If the situation between your niece and her husband had happened here in a public place, chances are that the authorities would have been called in, and here, they arrive very quickly.

Don't really know what more to add, Daniel.

Stay strong, and stay the course.

Thank you for sharing.

Your friend from up North.

Paul.

Thanks Paul :) Ale houses down here are similar. They have full-fledged restaurants but in this case, the violence occurred in the restaurant part when Hernandez, who was sitting at the bar, heard the arguing. My niece and her husband did talk loud when they were in disagreement, and the sad thing - the argument was about movies that had been to at a theatre earlier that day.

They certainly should have been left alone. Her husband did whisper in her ear that they should leave but she did not want to leave. Sadly she feels guilty of this. Then it happened.

There are people down here that just do not have a clue and making matters worse, that area is very close to Disney, so it is full of tourists, some of which are not very desirable.

I do appreciate the discussion! Many thanks.

Daniel

Try to have a good week end, Daniel.
Again, condolences and heart felt sorrow for your loss.

Kindest regards,
Paul.