Because it’s Friday AGAIN. And because traditions are important.

In which I cover the good stuff and the hard stuff in my week, trying for the non-preachy, non-annoying side of self-reflection.

And you get to join in if you feel like it.

The hard stuff.

Sad nooz.

So, as you may remember, I broke up with my noozletter. Most people were cool about it. Some people didn’t like it. In fact, the whole thing triggered stuff that I hadn’t really bargained for.

Some people wrote to say that they felt hurt and upset by the change because it seemed like I was abandoning them. “Kicked to the curb” was the way one put it, and she’s a friend, so it’s not like I can just say, “Oh, well, people have issues …” and leave it at that.

I certainly never meant to hurt anyone. It hadn’t really occurred to me that there were people who were super excited about yay, alternate Wednesdays!

It turns out that some people really felt safe and comfortable getting my “ways to work through your habits” essays … and they just don’t connect to the blog, or haven’t tried to.

So that was sad. I really do want to care for the people in my orbit, and I can’t do it for everyone. Everyone needs safety and reassurance sometimes, including me, and it made me ponder the ways I can spread some of that around and the ways I can’t.

The good stuff

The five day vacation.

Beach. Water. Expanse of horizon.

Also good food, good friends and all that stuff. But mainly lots of dancing it up in the sand and being one with the universe and stuff. Whoah.

Also: picking blackberries!

With people so sweet that even though they barely know me, they still remember that I don’t eat sugar, so when they bake a blackberry crisp they leave some blackberries out and surprise me with a bowl for breakfast.

But really just this:

Vacation rocks. I need to do that stuff more often.

Best fanmail ever.

No fansocks yet but man, the fanmail this week! I am the luckiest person alive. I’m just going to quote some choice fragments here …

To Havi the Happy and Selma Anas Flava Superba, Greetings,

That was a wonderfully inspirational and insightful piece for hoi polloi. I just love your sentence-fragment style and the masterful way you in which you change type size to alter the emotional impact.

I would nominate you as a National Treasure, except that probably no country would accept an ecstatic gypsy as one of theirs …

Happy Havi Trails to you and squishy paths to Dr. Selma

Or tell me that this isn’t completely awesome …

Two things have occurred to me:
1) You’re human catnip
2) I’m borderline becoming a stalker

I read your writing and you flow through. You reach out, grab me, and make me aspire to be a better writer and person.

And you come with a duck. A duck, I tell you!

The people who read this blog: not only do they appreciate me for being weird and cool, but they’re so weird and cool that they blow me out of the water. Out of the weirdness-coolness water.

Even better than “Yay, fanmail!” is the way you guys have inspired me to step out of my own introverted world so much more.

I never used to just write to someone I admire to say “Hey, you’re the coolest!” … but now I do it all the time. Thank you for that.

Speaking of people who are amazing …

Today is Friday. I find that hard to believe too, but here it is. Today is Friday and the non-icky self-promotion for people who hate self-promotion course with Naomi starts this WEDNESDAY (I know — what?? Already??!?).

Time: it moves fast.

So, as you can imagine, Naomi and I are giddy with excitement because we can’t wait to start teaching and playing. We can’t stop calling each other to talk about the material and all the ways we’re going zap us some breakthroughs.

And since we said “Hey, ask us as many questions as you want because we’ll answer them” and the class is filling up fast with smart, creative, fun thinker-ey people, a gigantic pile of questions is forming. And these questions are so, so great.

This is looking to be a terrific group of people, and at this point I’m really just looking forward to hanging out with them. They’re pretty much all people that you will be writing fanmail to.

And as everyone in the group gets better (or even better, in some cases) at doing the “Hey, here I am, shining my light and helping my right people” thing and feeling comfortable with it, you’re going to be finding these people.

And it will blow your mind. Honestly, you won’t be able to not write them fanmail.

My super famous duck!

Everyone loves Selma. That’s a given. Hell, she gets more fanmail than I do. Also, people send me weird duck-related things because they think I like ducks. I really just like Selma, but I also like getting random mail from people so you can keep sending the duck things.

One of these weeks I’ll just do a duck round-up from stuff people send me and it will blow your mind.

Anyway, my father sent me this weird, creepy video about some other duck named Selma who is running for President?

I was all, it can’t be my Selma. Because she’s, you know, busy. And kind of apolitical, even for a duck.

That duck named Selma is a total slut. My duck named Selma is earnest, charming and she likes you. Unless of course that duck named Selma is my duck named Selma, which is also possible.

Okay, at this point no one is finding this funny but me, so I’ll stop. I just want to mention that Naomi was the first person to call my duck a whore, so it looks like the mudslinging has already begun. Selma for Prez!

If you do nothing else today, put the badge up on your site, support Selma the duck in her odd campaign, and make everyone you know go Huh?!

That’s it for me ….

And yes, absolutely join in my Friday ritual if you feel like it and/or there’s something you just want to say out loud too.

Yeah? What was something good and/or hard that happened in your week?

And of course: happy weekend. Happy week to come. Selma for Prez!