Jill Domschot

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It’s been a long and crazy journey arriving at this point. I started this book on 11/11/22 and finally published on 12/21/23. At least, I’ve managed to publish the ebook. I’m still waiting on a proof of the print version; that publishing date is 01/10/24.

I really poured my heart into this book. It’s a little dark thematically, but it’s also goofy and filled with hope and second chances. I want you to walk away with warmth in your heart and tears in your eyes. I’m not joking. Of course, the book has jokes. There are comical moments that made me laugh even after reading them 10,000 times. If those parts don’t make you laugh….well, there’s no accounting for one’s sense of humor. Or lack thereof.

Life is a matter of laughing or crying. There’s no avoiding it unless you are the type to pretend humans are robots. But, gosh, people, even sci fi’s most beloved robots are almost human. That is, they toy with the idea of feelings and other intangibles, such as love, envy, or loneliness.

I used to be lonely. Now, I want to shed tears because I have a community here in Roswell of kind people who seem to see my heart more than anyone has in years. This past week–which has been exhausting–I’ve been called sunshine and sunny multiple times. Weird, considering the stress has caused my face to break out and my eyes to look a little pale and watery. It’s definitely not for my haggard appearance, in other words.

Humans need affirmation, love, and someone to truly see who they are every once in a while. No, these aren’t needs like oxygen. They are emotional and psychological needs. I hope to give that to people at my job and in my books.

Last year was Year of the Accordion…for me, anyway. Who am I fooling? Every year is the year of the accordion.

But 2024 is going to be different from every other year. I’m not sure why yet. It just will be.

Here’s to the best year, upcoming, starting tomorrow!

Yes, the world might be crazy. Wars and bad weather and drug addicts are devastating, disturbing, and heartbreaking (respectively). But my hope for the future is in God. Whatever happens, he is with me. The Good Shepherd is guiding me.

Roswell, NM is, for unknown reasons, the pasture Jesus led me to almost nine years ago. I’m just as confused as you are.

But I repeat: here’s to the best year, starting tomorrow!!

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And here is my New Year song, and what I had to say about it on YouTube:

I always take a New Year song that is supposed to inspire me throughout the coming year. It used to be whatever was playing on the radio when midnight rolled over. Now, it’s whatever pops up first on my feed. This was it. A ridiculously romantic song by Los Dos Carnales y Los Farmerz. I made a joke about King Solomon sending his hundreds of wives flowers to keep them happy in today’s video. That was after claiming the Song of Solomon was not even remotely romantic because there’s no way one man can make hundreds of wives feel loved. This song flips my idea around: “Tuve que reflexionar compraré mil rosas / Y un ramo buchón con billetes y toda la cosa / Hacerte feliz me importa…” I guess irony will be my inspiration for the coming year. This could get interesting.

I’m posting this link because when I make Google searches on my name — yes, I really do want to see what pops up first — an ancient YouTube channel is numero uno, unfortunately. I can’t get rid of it. I don’t know the email address that was used to start it. For the past twenty years, I’ve had the same email addresses; I must have used someone else’s…which is bizarre, but not unthinkable. That channel was a collaboration with one of my children, who, I’m sure, does not wish to be named. I stopped posting content due to the turn towards mockery the videos took. My fault. I always meant to change the theme but dropped it instead. I’m pleased that only two videos were posted. Still, after all these years, it comes first in a Google search. I really wish there was a way to nuke it.

Here is my current channel: Jill Domschot YouTube . Please subscribe and like my videos, obviously. Also, if you’d like to join a livestream, let me know in the comments. Livestreams are preferable, in my opinion, unless there’s nobody there to talk to.

That is the name of my book, but it is also my outlook in life. God delivers hope to us even in the darkest of circumstances. Sometimes, human suffering is internal, sometimes external — often both. When we cry out to God, he is faithful to rescue us. It is not always how we expect, though. Some of God’s people expected the Messiah to lead them in a physical battle, but instead, he was crucified, defeating death and ushering in the Promised Land in a spiritual sense. However, don’t get too caught up in the intangibles; his death was real and physically, tangibly painful, and his resurrection from death was just as real and physical. He even ate with his disciples in his new body.

While here, we want fulfillment of basic human needs: food, shelter… love, affirmation. Yes, I don’t care who you are or how jaded life turns you; you have a human need for affirmation. Don’t let cynics teach you otherwise. God loves you. God created you. God does not create junk. I had a shirt that said that when I was a child, but I did not actually believe it. Humans told me I was trash, and so I believed them instead of God’s calling on my life. Be careful how you treat people. Be careful when you are dismissive of them. Jesus died for those people you treat with your hate or your so-called “tough love.” If you don’t know how to respond to someone who makes you want to be dismissive — e.g. a person who calls themselves transgender and is trying to force a political agenda down your throat — I suggest you take a step back and pray. God knows more than you do, and realizing that is the first step towards wisdom.

Yes, snow is incredibly difficult to capture on camera. All of this weather took place in the space of a few minutes. It is still snowing. Whatever you do, praise God in all seasons.

But mostly, that’s owing to laziness. I don’t check my work as I should, and I write blog posts on my phone. Autocorrect is especially bad for writing Spanish, as it is English by way of training and functionality on my phone. I should do better/ be better about reading over my work. I was scrolling down my website to remind myself of what I’ve posted and discovered bad autocorrect Spanish in my post “I will become a norteño song“. The worst part is I don’t even know what I meant to say at the time and can therefore not correct it. Let me go grab it and give a little grammar lesson.

I wrote: Quiero ser un rincon soleado / donde me puede amar a mi amado… The first part means “I want to be a sunny corner.” That is fine. But what does the second line mean? I have no idea. If I get a weird conceit in my head one day, it is not generally memorable to me a second day. “Where he can love me” is what the first half of the second line means, but what did I mean by the second part? Was “me” supposed to be “le”? “Le” is not correct there, so how could I have meant that? That’s why I assume autocorrect changed something fundamental that makes the entire expression incomprehensible.

Objects in Spanish are a little different than in English. In English, we’ve blurred the lines between subject and object and no longer use them correctly, but even when we do, we have one form for both direct and indirect. In Spanish, there are different forms, at least with he/she/it: le and lo/la. When you love someone, it is lo or la. However, when you’re dealing with people, you always put an “a” before them, even when “lo amo” = “amo a Juan”. Do you understand what I’m saying? An “a” would normally equate to a “le” but does not in this case. No, I’m not actually writing about any Juan. It’s just a convenient name because every man is named Juan in Spanish. It’s like being Jacob in the Holy Land. I get those calls at the office: “Hello, this is Jacob from the Holy Land. I would like to sell special items in your church.” To which, I say, “Which Jabob from the Holy Land?” as some are vetted by the Bishop and others — who knows?

Oh gosh, I think I figured out what I had intended, and autocorrect is not culpable, as it was in the last comment section, where “cumbia” became “Cumbria.” I probably started writing “donde me puede amar mi amado” and put the phone down and forgot what I was writing and added an “a”. I was (most likely) going for the cheap rhyme soleado/amado, which was why I flip-flopped the subject and verb — to be super poetic. But I’m not sure why the focus was on a lover loving the narrator (redundant, what?), instead of the narrator doing the loving. How selfish. OTOH, this is why I don’t actually write songs or poetry. I don’t have the proper perspective for it. So, it should be donde puedo amar a mi amado or conversely donde me puede amar mi amado.

Now you know a little about Spanish grammar (I hope). And way too much about the sloppy way I write blog posts.