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.
Right. So this was the week where we left for Germany.
This week’s Chicken is pretty much all about that.
And getting the house ready.
And reassuring people that of course, my brother will be home and there are only like, two people in the world who know my actual address, so we can really, truly stop worrying about the nonexistent Twitter Stalker Burglar. Yes.
And about the fact that I need to relearn how to speak German before my first class tomorrow.
The hard stuff
Note to self: don’t set up a class for the day after you arrive.
Not sure how I haven’t figured out that one yet. I remember the concept of jetlag, but not the experience of it.
Technical catastrophes aplenty.
The moving-of-all-my-sites to the new server has been less than smooth. Thank god we have tech pirate Charlotte on our side or I would have had to throw major temper tantrums.
The site was down. A lot. Actually, all my sites were down. And since this is … how I pay rent and support the Hoppy House family, having stuff not work was full of hard.
Also setting up the email thing was a total nightmare. As you know, I’m on
But I do have a top-secret account that only my gentleman friend and my First Mate know about and aren’t allowed to use except under very specific circumstances.
And so I didn’t notice when I wasn’t getting any email, because really, I only get about three a week. But then an important one didn’t arrive.
I wasn’t a good explainer mouse when it came time to fix this, so the tech team hooked me up with the regular accounts and not just my secret one. And then I got four hundred and thirty messages in an afternoon.
Which is why I don’t do email. Because it’s overwhelming, depressing and full of all sorts of things that I would really rather not see.
The mailbox debacle.
The way my mailbox disappeared the day before I left for Germany was beyond annoying.
Hassle hassle hassle! Still not liking it.
Travel. Stress. Ack. Eek. Etc.
Repeat as necessary.
The end of an era.
Well, not really.
But I did run out of all usable thread in my sewing kit.
This is the sewing kit I’ve had since 1994. I got it in Poland. The same trip where I got stuck in an elevator. Or as I tell it, stuck-in-an-elevator-in-Poland.
Which is totally not the same thing as getting stuck in an elevator in Switzerland. Which, for the record, has never happened. To anyone.
That might only be funny if you’ve been to Switzerland. Moving on.
The only thing left is pink thread. And light blue. All the black, brown, navy (colors that I have apparently been wearing since 1994) are done for.
It was almost a disaster, but I was saved by the fact that my gentleman friend is enormously well-prepared. And his mother is a seamstress.
The good stuff
I got to see my oldest friend!
Well, not my oldest friend. Because that would be Douglas, the 80-year old reader of this blog and most favoritest of persons.
But the friend I have had for the longest. My friend Noah, who is one week older than me and lived right down the street from me.
We run into each other every few years. Once in Madison. Once in Tel Aviv. And this week in Minneapolis.
And it was wonderful. We ate Indian food and I got to meet his ladyfriend, who is fabulous.
And more friends!
I got to see Susan Marie. I adore Susan Marie.
What a treat!
And now we’re (we = me, Selma and my gentleman friend) in Berlin with Andreas and Lars.
And making little arrangements to see all sorts of different people that we only get to see once a year, all of whom are absolutely lovely.
Improvements! Whee!
The place we stay every year is now hooked up with wireless internet, which means that my gentleman friend and I don’t have to take turns plugging in to get online.
We’ve always managed okay with the back-and-forth, but not having to do that makes internet work-life way easier. Hooray for ease. I love it.
I have two new workshops in the States.
I can’t give you details yet (soon!) but there’s some really exciting stuff coming up.
So just twirl around the room with me in the meantime.
Brötchen!
The real reason I go to Germany every year. Yum.
And … playing live at the meme beach house!
Yes, that’s a Stuism too.
My brother and I have this thing where we come up with ridiculous band names and then say in this really pretentious, knowing tone, “Oh, well, you know, it’s just one guy.”
So this week, straight from Twitter, I bring you:
Interdimensional Mailbox
Me: “Went to pick up mail and my mailbox (the one I paid for 14 months in advance) no longer exists. Interesting. And by interesting I mean ‘give me back my mail and my money, you ————-!’ and then a lot of creative cursing in Arabic.”
Shannon: “Eep — your mailbox has gone interdimensional! (Of course, I hear that Interdimensional Mailbox is just one guy).”
Nice.
And … STUISMS of the week.
Stu is my paranoid McCarthy-ist voice-to-text software who delights in torturing me misunderstanding me. I can’t stand him.
Stu got kind of beat up on the airplane. The earpiece is now a bit uncomfortable.
But he did just say, “Stew that kind oh feet up on the hair train” when I tried to tell you that he got kind of beat up on the airplane … so apparently he’s back to himself. Whew.
- “it’s so Cisco” instead of in San Francisco
- “Why I’m aging oak or impossibly 1 million causes” instead of I’m teaching oh, possibly a million classes
- “the tree point rites” instead of three plane rides
- “hand authorities” instead of and for a smooth
- “you ass” (!) instead of new paragraph
- “under the host’s mists” instead of under the circumstances
That’s it for me …
And yes yes yes, of course you can join in my Friday ritual right here in the comments bit if you feel like it.
Yeah? Anything hard and/or good happen in your week?
And, as always, have a glorrrrrrrrrrrrious weekend. And a happy week to come.
Follow
The hard:
A business meeting at which I kept clapping my hand to my head. Ouch.
The good:
I got to see Havi! I *adore* Havi.
.-= Susan Marie Swanson´s last post … susan_marie: I love this sequence of photos.RT @planetalvina Nice photographs of people reading on the subway: http://snipurl.com/rll4v [www_nytimes_com] =-.
Oh and
The good (continued):
I got to see Selma! I *adore* Selma.
.-= Susan Marie Swanson´s last post … susan_marie: These Kay Ryan poems are making my day. How does she do funny, pithy, tender, wise all at once–and with sound effects?! =-.
Oh, MAN.
It has been a WEEK.
Hard stuff:
-Leaving to college in 5 days! And totally freaking out! Because this is my personal freak-out thing: HUGE GROUPS OF NEW PEOPLE THAT I FEEL RESPONSIBLE TO TALK TO. Aggggggh. So many tummy butterflies. Can only imagine they will GET WORSE, which…isn’t helping.
-Major, um, FINANCIAL STRESS in regard to all the shopping for college. Leading to lots of yelling on behalf of my mom. And myself feeling actual physical tension whenever I stepped into another store – even though it really was ALWAYS FOR NECESSITIES. Yuck.
-Totally not getting ANY of the…I guess validation…that would have really helped. But also not asking for it. And then feeling like – oh, well, if I’m not asking, it’s MY FAULT I’m not getting it. Which is probably true. But just led to more general yuckiness about the whole thing. Oy.
-This one is a continuation of the last one – SO, I actually called up my therapist, whom I haven’t seen in several months, and asked her if we could have a phone conversation. In my mind, I was wanting her to just give me some freakin EMPATHY – don’t think that got across. Oh, she was full of the reassurance, and the big-picture-stuff, and the encouragement – but you see, this is what I have been telling MYSELF for the past WEEK. And right now I need the EMPATHY.
Not brave enough to say that. Uch.
-Lots of busy. Lots of jobs to go to and stores to shop in. Had some overnight jobs, too, so didn’t sleep in my own bed most of the week.
-The parents, oh, the parents. Sooo stressful. Feeling like I have to take care of them. Not being able to, because, oh right, can’t really do that. Kind of wishing I could.
-Oh! There is still more! Several members of my family are REALLY MAD at this person who I am really close to. This is someone who has helped me through pretty much everything hard that’s ever happened to me – a brilliant, really compassionate person – and they don’t like this person FOR THEIR OWN REASONS – which I almost understand. But all I hear these days is criticism of this person. Sucks.
-The leaving. Oh, it is hard. I love this place where I live. I love the school I graduated from. Just…sad for me.
Well that was depressing! Moving on to good stuff, shall we?
Good stuff:
-Everything I need for college pretty much IS here, by now, either after having been ordered or shopped for. So. More calm about that now.
-Oh, okay: here’s something cute I did that I liked. I decided I wanted to think about what kind of coping tools I’m taking with me. So I made myself this little paper suitcase and wrote down all the things I know I have inside me and also all the people and things that help me – internal & external resources, Havi, this one is your concept – on little slips of paper and made a sort of collage on the inside of the suitcase. Really like it. Like that I did something like this for myself, too.
-Get to visit some people who I really love today. At a place that is a really great comfort to me always.
-Have started to feel some EXCITEMENT
Whoops! That just sent on its own!
Okay- have started to feel some EXCITEMENT as opposed to just UTTER ANXIETY AND FEAR about the whole college thing.
-Something really great happened to my sister this week and I’m really happy and excited for her.
-The week is ALMOST OVER! Yippee!
And. That. Is. All.
I need a Stu of my very own. “Hand authorities” “Under the host’s mists” . . . He’s a poet! 🙂
Hard this week:
Finished the last of a complex project that I’m doing on contract, then had to re-do the whole thing because the publisher changed his mind about what he wanted. Hours of additional work. Ugh.
Good this week:
Wonderful clients moving towards their dreams with courage and grace.
Loving email from an old friend whom I hadn’t talked with in a long while.
Dinner with my younger son, who makes my heart smile. 🙂
Wrote two new poems.
Finished the first draft of a major writing project.
Feels like autumn, with cool mornings & crisp evenings. My favorite time of year.
That’s it for me. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. Havi, wishing you soft landings and warm welcomes in Berlin.
Love, Hiro
.-= Hiro Boga´s last post … Sunday Poem #7 =-.
“You ass”? Sounds like Stu is pretty upset about that plane trip… Although “the tree point rites” sounds sorta ritualistic. Don’t know how, though…
Hard:
My mother overreacted to something stupid, and did that amazing Mom thing wherein *I* felt guilty for the next 24 hours.
Still some concern about the upcoming bachelorette party. C’s will be the standard huge bash with the steaks and the “gentlemen’s clubs” and pretty much every guy who was invited to the wedding, while mine will be a small group of friends (who are mostly C’s friends, too) doing low-key stuff that C would enjoy. Which sort of seems to defeat the purpose, since we might as well invite C along at that rate?
My friend whose wife is expecting actually showed up in a chat room this week, but of course he turned the topic to babies, since that’s his Big Thing right now… but all I had to contribute to the conversation was horror stories from MSN Lifestyle. Oops!
There is nothing going on in my life that is not wedding-related, and that is boring to anyone who’s not me. Sorry about that, all.
Good:
Had my wedding dress final fitting, and it looks awesome! Also, since the church won’t let us do rice-throwing, we’re giving people jingle bells to jingle, and those turned out really well.
Labor day weekend means amazing sales at outlets! And I have a long shopping list, so I’m gonna get my hunter-gatherer on. It’s like the joys of Christmas shopping without the stress of Christmas shopping!
.-= Laura G´s last post … In which I don’t argue =-.
the hard:
this week. ugh.
the good:
i am going to the coast. now. yay.
workshops! oh, how i want to sign up for one. 🙂
i’m glad you made it safe and sound!
.-= Elizabeth´s last post … sun light, star light =-.
I think “The Hair Train” would be an excellent name for a band. But you know it’s just one guy.
The hard: figuring out how to print to Avery 10-to-a-sheet business cards from a Mac. It seems like it should be a very easy thing, but Avery seems to think everyone is using Windows. Feh!
The good: I got as much yarn and fiber dyed as I’m going to get dyed in time to send to my partner in Wisconsin for the Sheep & Wool Festival, so after I ship it off today I can actually take a BREAK and knit for a good long time! Yay! Break! Knitting!
.-= Riin´s last post … Amazing =-.
I need to check with my host to see if *they* have mists. If not, time for a new host!
The hard this week…
My job. I probably shouldn’t say much more than that. *sigh*
The good…
Excited about talking to new clients who are super cool!
Five days off in a row for Labor Day. Whew!
.-= Victoria Brouhard´s last post … Very Personal Ad Update – Real Estate Edition =-.
The Hard:
-working through weird “I’m not cool enough for” issues that cause me to be unable to actually post any comments on anyone’s site. Weird….I hope I end up posting this one, and not deleting it in some strange panic.
-way too much “ick” writing at work-work, and not quite enough for fun. I still can’t figure out how to make some things fun and not work.
-not facing something I know I should face, but don’t want to face. In fact, here I am, not facing it again. Thinking about it, but doing nothing. Argh!
The Good:
-I re-launched my blog, yay! The nerve/idea to do this came to me in a strange, Shiva-Dancing-induced fit of weirdnesses.
.-= Emily´s last post … The Prodigal Blog Returns =-.
I think some day I would like to return to “it’s so Cisco”.
The good first:
– 4 day retreat! Focused on relaxing and not freaking out about work
– Lots of bicycling! and reading!
– And a little shopping. Yay! I can now shop in the store for normal sizes instead of the store for “women”. All that exercise is paying off!
– Spent some time thinking about how I can work more productively.
The bad:
– Returned from retreat to customers wanting some rush jobs, with loads of existing projects that need to get done sooner than I’d like.
– Returned to some yucky mail that involves more stuff to be added to my to-do list. Sigh.
Still, I’m really glad I went. I really needed that break!
.-= Avonelle Lovhaug´s last post … Please (I’m begging you) only hire tech resources you can trust =-.
The funny thing about computers is that they make everyone’s lives easier… then when you try to do something unusually or have to change servers or when they’re having an off day, everything becomes 100 times harder. Okay maybe that’s not so funny when you’re in the situation…
The most interesting things in my life this week have all happened in the last 24 hours.
HARD
Jealousy, range and general discontentment with life.
An argument with my brother, who is usually one of my favourite people in the world
GOOD
Running away.
My best friend being amazingly supportive, letting me spend a night at his
Baking a birthday cake and not being upset when it went wrong
Figuring some life-stuff out
.-= Paul´s last post … Last Night I Ran Away =-.
The Hard:
-Not hearing back from ANYONE, it seems, about things that are important (job interview, current job stuff i’m in charge of). Where did everyone go?? And why am I still checking email? Frustrating.
-While packing, going through my late father’s stuff that I still have in my possession. Painful.
The Good:
+Much more of the good this week. That’s a good thing.
+Actually seeing progress with the packing.
+Starting to plan for my “it’s so Cisco” trip right after the Big Move In in a couple of weeks. Can’t wait to see my old friends on the West coast!
+Printing an entire draft of the dissertation. *I* wrote all that? Seriously? Very cool.
.-= Dawn´s last post … Dissertation Haiku =-.
The hard:
– I think a card Dave & I sent to Havi went interdimensional.
– Eventually becoming so torn apart by the crazy that I stopped taking the blood thinner.
– Lengthy discussions with doctor – one of the potential drugs was $2500/month AND an injection! (HA!). Happily back on the coumadin, which still sounds weird to say.
– Cat boxes and dishes – they need to stop becoming dirty.
The good:
– Negotiated a decent rate with new client that will hopefully encourage them to invite me back for more work.
– worked out some kinks in our new site and planned some cool things with the hippie husband for the site.
– I can already feel the crazy ebbing – *whew* – Being able to BE happy again.
– weekend with hippie husband when I can be happy. Hurray!
.-= Casey´s last post … Fake Taglines =-.
well this week?
the bad
it was going fine until a stupid email that i really didn’t want to see arrived in my inbox and reminded me of all the crappy self-doubt I have about work and in particular the project that i’m working on. had to persuade myself not to completely freak out and run away but instead make a mental plan of attack. it starts monday and i will prevail.
the good
today i met with two colleagues who i absolutely love. they are honest, funny, endearing and deeply committed to the work we all do. have nothing but admiration for them and tried to offer a good ear on hearing some of their own hard stuff.
the really good
i am captain of a women’s cricket team. today it is our club players’ dinner. i am making my first speech as captain. it is written. the best bit? i get to give awards tonight to two players who give so much to the team and who’ve had outstanding seasons. what a gift!
I’m sure all that stress and running around before leaving for Germany felt like “impossibly 1 million causes.” Stu is smarter than he looks!
My week has been quite good.
Hard:
– I got stood up by a flaky client. The jury’s out whether this person will end up a good regular client or a waste of my time.
– Too MANY things to get done by this weekend. Which is pretty much NOW. Eeek! I’m not ready!
Good:
+ I sold another painting! To someone who reads this blog! Yay for Havi’s blog! And of course thank you Elizabeth. I hope you enjoy it immensely.
+ Good solid tutoring clients. Yay steady work.
+ Mailart. Whee! Fun!
.-= Barbara J Carter´s last post … Candy-colored dot painting =-.
@Lucy – captain of a women’s cricket team? That is awesome. I had no idea! Plus award-giving. neat-o.
@Emily – hooray for Shivanautical epiphanies! And I absolutely LOVE your post about the toad. And just generally yay.
Also, I’m sure no one will believe this … but I often feel awkward/uncomfortable when I comment on people’s blogs. And often just delete and run away. Sounds full of normal to me! Glad you went with the inclination to say hi, though. More yay.
@Gail – ohmygosh. Hugs for the hard — that is a lot to be dealing with at once!
And hugs all around … I love Fridays!
The hard of my week was a lot of realizing and learning and figuring out. Moving through some stuckness, which is good… but still hard.
* dealing with my life partner and I being not-very-compatible-work-partners, and trying to figure out how we can both get what we want/need without either of us being unhappy.
* trying to figure out what *I* want out of my business – and heck, out of my life – which required realizing that I’m not getting my needs met right now.
* realizing that I’ve set myself and my needs aside for far too long, and trying to figure out what to do about it.
* missing my kiddo, who’s spending the end of summer with his grandmom and uncle and has been gone too long!
* feeling impatience with the weather and wanting to wear my stripy socks and arm warmers when it’s still 95° outside.
* worrying that my best friend would need an emergency c-section because the baby’s heartbeat was a little too slow, and spending an agonizing 6 hours in the hospital with her waiting to find out what would happen.
The good of this week included moving through a lot of old, old stuck, and taking time out for me and to think about what I want/need:
* being able to grieve and process through two of my biggest stucknesses, and feeling like I’m actually making progress now.
* realizing that I’ve set myself aside for far too long, and getting to figure out what to do about it.
* spending time with good friends and laughing til I hurt.
* my best friend *not* having her baby, and everything working out just fine with both of them being safe and healthy (and the baby hanging on another week or two, so she can finish getting ready for him!).
*big hugs* Enjoy your trip and your classes! (:
.-= Kyeli´s last post … Together, we are unlimited. =-.
oooooooooh.
The good- visiting friends in Ohio that I haven’t seen in years, one who had a very successful heart transplant- he’s a friend who has always glowed with friendliness and love, if you’re lucky, you know what I am talking about.
The hard- during this visit, getting suicidal texts from my best friend of 20 years, and trying to manage what to do from 1000 miles away. The situation seems to be OK right now, but, wow.
The whole break-up/ scaling back conundrum, second guessing, doubts, etc.
Full moon + hormones + typical stresses + all of the above = random, spontaneous bursting into tears.
Gah. I know things will start to modulate. But holy cats, what a week.
The hard: Kidney Stone
The good: Medical Insurance, Cat Scan to assuage the worries. A sweetie who snuggles me.
.-= Bridget´s last post … Bananas: Trying Something New (Electric Boogaloo) =-.
The Hard:
– Sick! Sick bleah snot icky sleeping bleah.
– The behindness of sick catch-up and vacation-coming-up.
– Money is just always a hard, even when it’s also a good.
– The heat! Melting and sick at the same time = no fun.
– Cat barf. Oh god, the barfing. I think it was the heat, and I know it was both of them. Bleargh.
– I am in a thing with teams, and my team is Team Suck. It’s not that I deeply care about winning, but you know, it’d be nice to not spend the whole time knowing we were going to lose because we can’t even get all our entries done.
– Usually the Chicken is my excuse to do a blog post for the week, because I want a new one, but I’ve been so stuck since last week on what to post. Sigh!
The Good:
+ Well now! Or, mostly well. Well enough I don’t feel like I have to take a box of Kleenex with me wherever I go, anyway.
+ Got two of my commission pieces past the ass point. Yes, that is a technical term.
+ Hair dye! My hair is now brilliantly unnatural shades of purple and red with a delicious mahogany undertone. Having to mix extra dye at the end (I require 3 tubes to most people’s 0.5, and only 2.5 would fit in the bowl) has left me with unintentionally awesome highlights.
+ I very briefly had a huge (to me) balance in one of my accounts. It is now scattered to the far corners, including some set aside for next month’s rent, etc, but it was briefly glorious.
+ Convention this weekend! Gaming cons are great fun.
+ Kittehs snuggled even when it was hot, and made little flat rugs of themselves when not snuggling (or barfing, heh).
+ Podling turns 1 this month! As this means I can put them both on Hairball Care food now, I am Unduly Excited by it all.
+ I have (already chipped) green fingernails! They are very pretty, if chipped. Typing, I have been told, is awful for nail polish. Oops.
.-= Amy Crook´s last post … The Power of a LIttle Color =-.
Happy Chickenday!
Yay! My band name made it into your chicken – that’s DEFINITELY an effervescent little moment that makes it into my good for the week.
Beyond that –
The hard:
* Going into a tizzy on Saturday over some family stuff right before the Right People call. It was all fresh and icky and I didn’t even know how to say anything about it when I got the chance.
* More headaches. Nearly every day. And still no Right doctor to see about them. And I’m scared that they mean something big, so I’m also putting off taking more actions towards finding someone. Because, of course, that will help a lot if they do.
The good:
* BIG good – got an email from a German museum focused on ‘the unity of art and science’ that wants to include a piece of my work in one of their upcoming exhibits. I am all kinds of excited!!
* Found out all last-minutely about a ‘fermentation festival’ happening in Portland last Thursday night and we actually went! Talked to some people actually doing it, tasted their fabulous goodies, then followed up by getting ahold of some appropriate vessels so we can actually act on the plans we’ve been making for months to make our own sauerkraut and pickles. Mmmmm!
* Since I’ve started Shiva Nata I’ve unearthed an actual desire to do more exercise. The hard in this good is that everything I can think of that I want to do to get that exercise costs more than I want to spend, but I’m confident I’ll figure something out.
* Immersing myself in learning for a few weeks. Being okay with slowing down the work on my business while I ‘drink from a firehose of ideas and information’ and also staying aware of the importance of limiting the length of this phase. Trusting myself to dive in and then bring it back to balance.
.-= Shannon Henry´s last post … Spirosketch is ready! =-.
Thanks to Emily for breaking the “not cool enough to comment” ice. I’m going to apply some of Havi’s blogging as therapy advice to comments as therapy and figure it’s more for me and no one will probably read it anyway but great if they do!
Hard:
Detoxing and living a vegan, gluten-, caffiene-, alcohol-, and sugar-free diet for 4.5 days. Tired, cranky, craving.
Not setting the right boundaries around my detox to give me enough alone and rest time.
Really, actually starting a business and telling people about it.
Good:
The detox working. More energy and happy hormones.
Really, actually starting a business and being supported by my friends and family.
Finding lots of blog posts that spoke to exactly where I was on any given day.
There are days when I wish my mailbox would go interdimensional. All of them, physical and computer-based. And take my stupid phone with them.
The hard:
– Funerals. Suck. I don’t even have to know the person who died (this week, it was a friend’s mom) and I cry and get all puffy-eyed and feel like a jerk. I’m a prize-winning sympathy crier. And they get me putting myself in their shoes and what will happen when *my* mom dies and all that future trauma stuff, and, well, ugh.
– Still drowning in the overwhelm. The in-laws are coming to visit next week, so there’s lots to do around the house in addition to the larger-than-usual pile on my desk.
The good:
– Got a note from my editor that my book is going to a second printing, even before it’s available in stores.
– Took a really great class last weekend and learned how to drill stones.
– I’m making some baby steps in setting up some systems to help me work more effectively.
– My mom and I have set up a weekly date to work in my gardens. We’re spending (cliche alert!) good quality time together, and the gardens are looking truly lovely.
.-= Lori Paximadis´s last post … tidbits: extra blanket edition =-.
Oh, two upcoming workshops! Can’t wait to get the details!
The hard this week:
– The same old being stuck into what looks like a pattern of not moving forward despite being fed up with it and feeling for quite a while now that I’m going to move past it sometime soon-ish (while said “sometime soon-ish” keeps running away from me, laughing as if it was funny)
– Wanting to do so much stuff, and not being able to get even 1/10th of it to fit in my days
– Related to this last one, seeing yet another week has gone by without me posting to my blog {sigh}
– Failing miserably at going to bed earlier every night this week, despite my resolution to that effect
The good this week:
– Testing some recipes for a cookbook author: great fun and yummy results!
– An epiphany! Hot and buttered! In the form of a genius idea for another business project that is kind of related to the one that I’m about to get out into the world (as soon as the ever elusive “sometime soon-ish” mentioned above behaves and stops moving away). My Right People for this new project wouldn’t be the same ones, but the results would have a very positive impact on those who are the Right People for my first project. Exciting!
.-= Josiane´s last post … Retreating to write – and being treated to so much more =-.
Havi, I hope Berlin is all you need it to be and a really fantastic time on top of that!
the hard this week:
noticing I’ve become very unfit and my metabolism seems to be finally slowing down. I’m not looking toned and trim anymore and thats tough to swallow. Time to work out and be intentional about getting good exercise. ick.
not nailing down what it is I want to sell in my Etsy shop I plan on opening in October. still dealing with BIG STUCKNESS with actually making SOMETHING. arg!
the good:
A volunteer position for the visual art part of PICA’s Time Based Art festival opened up last minute and I took it. The big kickoff opening was last night and went great! I’ll be gallery sitting for the next month and a half, get free passes for festival events, hob nob with who’s who in the Portland art world… its just too perfect and a nice start to my shift out of the corporate, administrative jobs I’ve been stuck in. Aside from the career advancing goodness, it just feels great and exciting to be involved in the art world again. I had so many great conversations last night with other art lovers… man I missed that stuff! YAY!!!
I have a plan. I am opening an etsy store in October. I’m scared and need a good name… but YES. RESOLVE. ACTION.
I have been drawing daily for a good solid week!
onward to more forward progress and here’s to keeping the motivation and momentum going! 🙂
The hard–I am so with Ingrid on the last one. Crying to Over the Rainbow and thoughts of long lost dogs.
Realizing I have to pull back from what I have been doing and reorient my life.
The good– Epiphanies galore! Chance to move to Amsterdam! Finally made homemade mayonnaise and it was incredibly delicious! Mind Mapping, thanks to a tip from Havi on twitter, is really, really helping me.
.-= Kate T.W.´s last post … Lynda Barry Rocks! =-.
The hard:
– Complete chaos with my teaching schedule. Every day this week, my schedule changed. Seriously. Changed so quick that my adjunct contracts are all messed up.
– The boss is back from his 4.5 month hiatus. He is very hard to deal with in person. Depressed that I will have to deal with his insanity for at least another year.
– Lack of sleep. Fatigue makes it even harder to deal with the boss than normal.
The good:
– A new adjunct who is young, full of energy and a damn good teacher.
– FINALLY got my teaching scheduled sorted out. More work than I wanted, but I’ll manage.
– Getting to meet the other 17 people in my doctoral cohort last weekend
– Having an awesome pair of women to work with in our learning team. They picked up the slack for me this week. We ROCK!
– Managing to make the deadline of my next two writing assignments.
The Hard:
-trying to deal with medical issues in my family, that make me feel helpless, and confused and just a bit sad.
– seeking the balance that i need between city and country.
– deciding which project i will opt out of because it’s just too busy.
– getting everything done.
– feeling just too chubby.
The Good:
– spending all week looking at art, and being so very proud about my opening that will happen in 5 days! My very first art show!
– watching both the breakfast club and pretty and pink in an old movie theatre with some of my most favourite people.
– tea with lindsay while talking art.
– feeling love towards and feeling loved from and to my husband.
– the creatures.
– dim sum saturday. can’t wait for that.
– knowing, just believing that art and magic will happen.
.-= Lisa Pijuan-Nomura´s last post … Wednesday WishCasting =-.
Friday again! Yay Chicken! 🙂
Hard this week:
Server. 🙁 It does NOT feel good when stuff goes down, especially when you know the income of someone you really admire (hi, Havi!) is affected. Played havoc with our sleeping and eating schedules too.
A friend of mine was blindsided in a formal debate he had with another fellow. This fellow turned out to be rather a nasty piece of work – dismissive, underhanded, and frankly crazy. While my friend was a perfect gentleman in return, it was really hard to hear the things being hurled at him and sense his nervousness and anger.
Lots of expenses coming up after my move. I can cover them all, but I was hoping to be able to put more into savings by now.
Good this week:
Server! 🙂 It can now tell us that something’s the matter with it _before_ it gets really frustrated and just goes on strike. And it hasn’t gone on strike in 2 days (and is unlikely to do so in future) because we’re listening to it and giving it what it needs. Communication is good, even if you’re just communicating with a machine.
Another friend of mine got a job in his preferred city. So he’ll be able to leave the town he hates, and he’ll be within 90 minutes of where I live!
Long weekend. Yay!
.-= Charlotte´s last post … Review: Mac OSX 10.6 – Snow Leopard =-.
Wishes for soft landings and a wonderful time in Berlin!
The hard:
Shoes, dealing with repercussions from the stitch and bitch fiasco of two weeks ago; I can deal with cold shoulders, but doing it to my ten year old is just mean
Marty had another interview and another “thanks but no thanks”
Donkey raised the prices on my baked goods and I haven’t raised my wholesale price to them; so now I am in a quandry of trying to source even cheaper supplies or selling less to them or? not sure
Waiting for monies to arrive
Trying to move forward while still not seeing “how” that is going to happen
The good:
Greek Festival at the Annunciation Greek Cathedral in Columbus; beautiful mosaics, great food, great music
Making progress on my new water tower piece
Cooler weather, getting to wear my new orange hoodie this week 😀
Re-instituting my daily workout and beginning to feel like a person again
Have a great weekend,y’all!
.-= Andi´s last post … Fabric Gardens =-.
The hard: weaning off antidepressants–today was first day with no Wellbutrin, more weeks to go on the Lexapro;
starting to look for a dance studio to lease, which has required me to figure out exactly what it is I want–which has been harder than I’d expected;
my children acted in such a way all week as to make me not miss them too much when they started school on Thursday, the younger for the first time.
The good: today has been reasonably tolerable without the Wellbutrin;
the fabulous small school my two pre-school-aged kids will be attending. I would move in with the two teachers if they’d let me;
a great hour of dancing on Wednesday that left me feeling recharged;
more luscious cherry tomatoes in our garden than a dozen people could possibly eat; and
a long weekend!
Hmm, the hard:
Heavy road construction in all directions and bad traffic means it’s unreasonable to go anywhere in this town.
I washed and cleaned Honda Fit after its long roadtrip to North Carolina. But I left the interior light switched on. So I had to learn how to jumpstart Honda Fit. 🙁 It’s fine now — but since I’m new to car maintenance, I feel horrible like it’s a living creature and I killed it. So I’ll be buying it treats (ArmorAll, Rain-X, etc.) to assuage my guilt. Poor car.
My boyfriend’s ex-wife’s cat (his old cat) died and that made me cry because I’d met the cat and he was really nice.
Will possibly be working weekends in September.
The good:
Furlough day (today) and long weekend!
Epiphanies! (but not a lot, and, truth be told, not the ones I was most hoping for.)
Some new kinds of mental focus in my life. The house is looking better, the projects are getting done, and the horn is getting played.
I want to start cooking again.
Wishing you a wonderful time in Berlin, Havi!
The chicken for this week:
The hard:
*Deadlines. I hate deadlines. Especially when my
success is dependent on OTHER people.
*The job. No details, sorry.
*Insomnia, probably related to everything else.
The Good:
*Decisions made.
*Epiphanies had. and a new Winter Design created.
*Fabric for model ordered!
*Naomi’s SpeakEasy and associated “Get off
your A**” emails. 🙂
*A day with no people at all on Saturday! Just
the kitties and me.
.-= Romilly´s last post … Things I miss… =-.
Okay, a day late because I got interrupted. When I remember to do this, I’ve been finding it very helpful because instead of a mass of “Aaaaaaauuuugggghhh!!!” things get broken down into pieces. Not always more manageable, but still not quite so massive.
Havi, I hope your travels are wonderful/fun more than anything.
Lots of hard this week, but some pretty good good, too.
Hard: We’ve given up fighting the foreclosure. The sale date is next week, we don’t know how soon we’ll have to move.
This means moving back to our old, tiny house we were never able to sell, which further means we have to ask our really great tenant to leave, which I feel awful about. And she’s at Burning Man right now (I wish I was there, too), so we can’t even tell her yet.
I have suddenly gone from a pretty healthy person to a person with a blood clot, on various drugs (some of which are to protect me from the side effects of the blood thinner), and having to treat myself like an old china teacup. No like.
The company that started making overtures to my husband about possibly working for them (and for whom he would love to work) hasn’t called back, although hope hasn’t yet faded completely.
Had to tell the kids we’re moving today. The youngest doesn’t seem to be too bothered yet, but the older one is horribly upset – his best friend lives right next door.
My medical expenses are just scary. Even with insurance, we’re going to owe several thousand. And I had to say “no” to one of the drugs my doctor wanted me to take because, even after insurance was applied, it was over $1200 for a two-week supply.
I’m starting to feel like a poster child for all the ills President Obama is trying to get fixed!
The good: Giving up fighting the foreclosure does have some element of relief to it. There is still a lot we don’t know, like how long we’ll have to move (longer is better, so we can give our tenant more notice), but just giving in feels … restful.
Since my husband is very unsure if the current uptick in freelance work will last long, moving back to the old house (less expensive to run overall) feels like some relief of the money pressure.
Even if I do have to act like a fragile thing for a few months, at least now I know what’s wrong and there is a treatment for it.
The really good: I got an actual real copy of the magazine my sweater design is being published in – Interweave Knits Weekend. It won’t be on sale ’til the 15th, but I was given an advance copy. I’m really pleased with how it turned out.
.-= Anna-Liza´s last post … Knit Pollyanna! Now You Can Do It, Too! =-.
Hooray for Chicken! Blessings to Havi and Selma in Germany.
This is the all theatre chicken for me, as my week was consumed with the opening of Guys and Dolls, the musical I’m in which opened last night.
Hard:
–technical rehearsals. Long nights. Getting the lights right. Working with the orchestra. Futzing with costumes. Not enough sleep.
–having to deal with neurotic actor stuff, my own and other people. Had a sort of anti-diva diva fit when a costart got all persnickety about who gets what kind of bow in the curtain call. I have no patience for that ego b.s. and a lot of judgments about it. Did not handle it very graciously and wish I could get a do-over on it.
Good:
–the show opened successfully, and I feel good about it in general and the quality of my performance
–having a lot of fun with the cast and really enjoying a sort of “back to basics” why I love doing live theatre feeling of happiness and community and soaking up the spotlight.
Hugs to all for the hard, hoorays for the good.
@Anna-Liza – wow! Your sweater design published in a magazine! That you can hold in your hands. That’s fantastic. Hugs for the hard …
And to everyone else too. Because the hard is hug-worthy. Definitely. Yay, chicken-ing!
The hard:
running out of steam long before I was ready to.
food aversion when I knew I needed to eat.
stress due to work priorities management problems
The good:
Feeling well enough to have my steam run out… as pain used to stop me.
Feeling like my body belongs to me again.
Finally getting attention to my priorities management problems.
Planning vacation with my boyfriend.
Fun with friends.
Continuing to ‘get’ yoga more and more each time I go to class.
.-= Lisa Lassner´s last post … =-.
Thank you for a very fine Chicken! It’s Monday, so I won’t join in (can barely remember last week … it involved lack of sleep, and deadlines, and a wedding, oh yes), but I had to note that I shook with mirth at the Switzerland bit.
It’s your timing, is what it is. Good comic timing – worth its weight in … whatever one might succeed in weighing it with, I suppose.
.-= Lean Ni Chuilleanain´s last blog ..9 Crafting Tips from my 9-Year-Old Self =-.