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.
I have a splinter in the palm of my hand. Scraped my shin. Broke most of my nails. Cut my thumb. Am covered in dust. And haven’t changed my clothes in three days.
Oh, the fun of moving.
On the other hand? Hoppy House!
We have Hoppy House! (To be sung — enthusiastically and tirelessly — to the tune of I am Iron Man)
The hard stuff
Moving!
Obviously moving was by far the hardest part of this week.
Transitions are kind of a pain in the ass. Having everything in boxes is disorienting. Not being able to get a whole lot of any work done is stressful in and of itself.
The move itself is obviously a good thing. But when you’re in it, it’s kind of nightmarish.
Plus I was sick and cranky and not having patience for anyone. Oh, and not able to sleep, so during the day I was this jet-lagged zombie shell.
Which might explain all the moving injuries. Also, our new neighbors now know us as the sort of people who curse loudly in front of small children.
I should not be allowed to go to Roller Derby ever.
The three days right before we moved were taken up completely by the national Roller Derby championships — Northwest Knockdown.
Which, even without the move, was enough to turn me into the world’s biggest stress case.
I care way too much. About a lot of things. But specifically about this.
Seat me next to a bunch of loudmouth men from Texas who are shouting the meanest obscenities possible at my girls from Chicago and it totally gets ugly.
My dark side came out to play, which is often highly entertaining, but in this particular case it was pretty depressing to see just how hateful I can be.
Though I will say that I am very, very funny when I’m mean.
The good stuff
Moving!
Yes, it was also the good part. No, the best part.
Because now we are ensconced in our Hoppy House. Hoppy House!!!
Still a ton of unpacking and putting-away-of-things to do but we’re home. Home. That is huge.
Also, my gentleman friend and I tried to figure out if there would be anything at all we’d miss about the old place, aside from hearing rain on the skylight. And the awesome view of Mt. St. Helens from our old living room window.
Goodbye, Helen!
And no. We will not miss our neighbor with the drum set. We will not miss the other neighbor who is learning to play the trumpet but not learning very well.
We will not miss the puke green kitchen.
We have Hoppy House! I LOVE this place.
Roller derby!
Okay, so if you forget about me being a hate-filled monster and we just talk Derby for a second, I got to be present for two of the most amazing bouts in history this week.
The first was watching Chicago (finally!) destroy Texas after the closest, most excruciatingly nail-bitingly tense game imaginable. Texas had been up by a few points for most of the game. Going into the last jam they were tied 91-91.
Two minutes later it was Windy City 110 … and Texas left in the dust with 97.
The entire arena was flipping the heck out, the guys next to me were in total shock and I was the happiest I’ve been since I don’t know when. Last week, probably.
What an game!
And right after that we watched the Gotham Girls tear apart the Liberty Belles. Granted, I like New York and Philly pretty much equally, but wow.
Sure, the derby girls are all terrific skaters and scrappy as all get out, but New York is in a league all of its own. They’re just phenomenal athletes and it was beautiful to watch.
They fully deserved to win the whole tournament which they did easily, beating my Chicago girls 134-66.
And then Philly beat Texas to place third, so life is just good all around.
Can’t wait for the 2009 season to start. I might have to have the Shivanauts sponsor a local team or something ….
I have a new hat!
I know this seems like not that big a deal really … especially after getting a new home and watching Texas lose to Chicago in Roller Derby.
But I really like my fuzzy grey wool hat. It’s much warmer than my old purple cap. And it’s almost obscene how adorable it is.
Having inherited from my father the much-envied Brooks Hat-Wearing Gene, I am genetically programmed to get away with wearing any hat whatsoever and looking absolutely fantastic in it, but this one is especially charming.
If I may say so.
Friends! Kindness! Good wishes from around the world!
A ton of people emailed and twittered and messaged and such to wish me and Selma the duck and my gentleman friend luck and say things like “Good moving house tomorrow!”
Yay! That was really sweet and it meant a lot to me. Thanks, guys.
Also, Shannon Wilkinson, who is one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet and also hysterically funny, took an entire afternoon off to make me laugh while helping me schlep boxes and run errands.
Accepting help from people is totally hard for me, so it was good practice.
And actually, since it was the most fun part of my week by a lot, I think I might even be able to get used to this whole “other people making my life easier” thing.
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.
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May Heaps Of Happy Happenings Habitate Your Hoppy House, Havi!
Jeff Moriartys last blog post..Trivial Super Powers: What would you choose?
Your Habitual Hotheaded Humour Has Hardly Hindered the Heights of my Happiness in Hoppy House. Huzzah!
I have never seen so much alliteration in my life.
Ok – maybe once.
Sounds too familar. Well the moving part anyhow. And btw, let me apologize for those Texas fans. We are not all like that.
Jamess last blog post..Sometimes I Wish I Had A Clever Story To Tell You.
Havi,
I apologize for the loudmouth men from Texas. (:
I’m so happy to hear that you are happily and (mostly) safely in your new house! Hooray!
For me, the hard stuff this week was sticking to my 30-day trial of being vegan in November. I’m craving cheese and ranch dressing and all sorts of things that would make me feel horrible if I ate them. Also I’ve had a hard time dealing with my fear about our upcoming book launch. We’re trying to make sure that people can get their copies before Christmas, but it’s going to be tight, and if anything goes wrong, what will we do? We’ll have a lot of disappointed preorderers (preordererererers?) and we’ll need to make amends with them. It’s scary committing to a date when circumstances out of my control might schmoo things up.
But I’m listening to that fear, acknowledging it, and carrying on anyway, because the awesomeness of things turning out well totally outweighs the scariness of things turning out poorly.
The good stuff has been living a lovelyly (I hate adjectives that end in -ly) balanced life. Kyeli and I are celebrating our anniversary this weekend. We made ourselves a yummy dinner (Moroccan tagine with apricots and spicy pumpkin soup) and ate it by candlelight. We’re planning on going geocaching and to a ren faire this weekend, but right now Kyeli’s in bed with a sore throat so I hope she feels up for it. If not, we’ll postpone and have a lovely snuggly weekend.
p.s. Roller derby chicks are hot.
Paces last blog post..Mushy anniversary post. (:
Oh, so YOU’RE the family that got the hat wearing gene.
Well then.
Be like that.
I’ll just continue to go around looking ridiculously stupid in all hats.
FINE.
🙂
Congratulations on your new Hoppy House! I’m so happy that you’ll be noise free and I’m sure the neighbours will soon learn that you don’t always swear loudly in front of children. By the way – totally stealing the personal ad idea for when I move out East next year!
Sarah Marie Lacys last blog post..Positivity Fridays: A New Tradition! (Because I just complain too much.)
Oh, Havi. You just make me grin. I’m so happy that Havi’s Hoppy House is hoppin’.
The worst part of this week was the 30-minute meltdown last night when I discovered my the frighteningly low bank balance. In a short while, I felt much better (thanks to my GF and the Gal Who Looks Awesome in Hats) and now…
The good part is that I have a short-term plan to boost my financial picture – and some major traction on my long-term on (even if I *did* have to work late last night to do it).
The other good thing this week is that Thanksgiving is just a week away. Yum. Oh, and that I might see Selma this weekend! (squeal!)
So glad to hear you’re settling in to the house!
For me, ending this week is a relief, because, although it wasn’t technically my last week of class, it was the last week I would actually stand up and teach some particular coursework.
This has been only the second time I’ve taught a college course, and I’m coming to the conclusion that it’s just not for me, at least teaching in the traditional way (I’ll be developing and teaching an online course soon, and that should be interesting).
Met lots of curious, smart, and enthusiastic students, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world, but ultimately, I’m glad it’s almost over.
Have a fabulous Thanksgiving, all!
I know this is probably a silly question, but how exactly does roller derby work? How are points awarded? I’d never heard of there being actual roller derby leagues. Sorry. *sheepish grin*
I only look good in hats that have some sort of brim. If it doesn’t have a brim, I look like a cancer patient according to my boyfriend.
Melissas last blog post..Silly Tombstones
Congratulations on your new abode Havi – glad the move is done. I haven’t done it in a long time myself but I do rememember when. . . . I’ll leave that to your imaginiation.
The good part – my dog who is a lab mix husky brained love of mine is unusually short hair and I discovered she gets cold in the winter weather. So, I bought her an adorable purple fleece lined jacket – I’ve only had big dogs and am not into fru fru little dogs at all or jackets so this is a new thing. I get a real kick out of her playing with the others in her fashionable wrap!
Another good part is my son is home and we are spending a lot of time together – laughing, talking and just being with each other. I am very grateful for the time.
It’s fun being me!
YOU darlin’ are one of the wholely-delicious bits of the weekly writ-tu-all … tee-hee
— joyce
joyce lukaczers last blog post..Art Show Logo / Marketing Materials
Did you also get the being-funny-while-giving-jackasses-a-public-tongue-lashing gene? Cause that’s a pretty awesome gene to have.
If you can be funny when you call someone on being an asshole, then everyone around you is on your side.
Supposing you don’t want your dark side encouraged, I’m sorry. But I’m glad you gave them a dressing down, and I’m glad you were funny at it.
This is awesome. Friday chicken checkin is my favorite thing about the week by a lot.