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.
Selma and I are in Monterey, California.
But we just got here so you won’t hear about it until next week.
Anyway.
Friday!
The hard stuff
Ack ick oof argh stumble trip. Monday!
Shakes fist at Monday.
Monday was full of horrible.
Oh the hellishness of Things Going Ridiculously Wrong.
Systems not working. Scheduling mishaps. Connections not connecting.
Resulting in?
Me missing a client call because I didn’t know I had one. Which has never happened. In five years.
Our shopping cart charging someone for something [super expensive] she’d already paid for.
Me feeling really, really, bad about all of this.
Oh and finding out about a huge calculation mistake that’s far too complicated to explain here but basically means I’m paying a lot of money for nothing and this was, of course, completely avoidable.
Also, please note that all these things happened on Monday.
My gentleman friend had a massive computer meltdown.
Which was disastrous.
Because I count on him doing big chunks of work to keep me from having an emotional breakdown.
Also because right when you’re about to leave town for a couple weeks is not really the best time to go pooter-shopping.
Stupid timing.
Misunderstandings!
Are the worst.
I spent most of this week sorting out various things that fall into this category.
And then feeling bad about them. Lovely.
The good stuff
Roller Derby!
The new season finally started and we went to the first bout! With Danielle and Cairene!
And Guns N Rollers beat the High Rollers, and then (sob) lost to the Breakneck Betties but not by much.
Basically, life is good again. DERBY!
And since my Shivanauts are sponsoring my favorite team, I have a good excuse to wear derby drag and scream my head off. Awesome.
Finally started learning the Charleston.
This will be improving my Betty Boop imitation considerably.
I’m sure we will be hearing more about this in future chickens.
The relaxings!
You know how I started this Thirty Days Of Relaxations thing because I totally don’t like being relaxed?
I’m getting hooked.
The past few days I’ve been catching myself looking forward to my hour of being relaxed. It’s EXCELLENT.
The retreat!
Excited mouse! This is me.
Seven whole days of teaching my techniques and doing wackiness and doing liquid math (I mean, Dance of Shiva) to extremely inappropriate music.
With my duck and seventeen of the most amazing people ever.
All while wearing a tiara. It’s going to be a really good week. And it all starts this weekend!
Small miracles.
Were needed. And happened. In good timing.
Leeks!
The gentleman friend doing brilliant things with the foods.
Again.
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.”
This week we have two bands in competition to be the Fake Band Of The Week. It’s like a face-off. Or Battle of The Fake Bands.
Anyway. It’s going to either:
Sickeningly Creamy
or
The Bill Stickers Project
Either way. The thing with both of these bands is that it’s really just one guy.
And … STUISMS.
Stu is my paranoid McCarthy-ist voice-to-text software who delights in torturing me misunderstanding me. Stupid Stu is broken and I need to get his mic fixed and I still haven’t found my file of Stuisms past. This sucks.
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
Yay for small miracles and tasty food, and hugs for the misunderstandings, meltdown and Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day.
My week in a nutshell (help help what am I doing in this nutshell?)
The hard:
The rain. Lots of it. Cold and wet and making the yard a ponded mess.
Not being able to be as excited as I could be for my friend who is apparently selling work as fast as she can make it. Because I’d like to be doing that, too, and my little gremlin voice keeps whispering “you could do that if you’d just quit charging so much.” I know there’s more to it than that, and I’m working hard at keeping calm and carrying on, but every time I run into her lately I just want to go home and hide under the covers with a fifth of Jack.
Too much to do this week, involving said friend and promises made to my youngest son, and school and hockey and then an opening tonight and tomorrow. Needing to cave up and not getting to until at least Sunday.
The good:
Posting a flip comment about Benny and Joon at my Facebook (Izzy wanted to wear his hockey helmet in the car) and finding out that one of my cousins is a big fan of the movie and arranging a virtual movie date with her and another friend in MA who is having a crappy week. (Probably Sunday, but don’t have a set time yet). Feeling a little less oddball/black sheep about my family.
I made it back into the studio, for only two hours, but I made it back into the studio. Part of the time was spent helping Izzy clean off his workspace so that when I start sewing the big quilts I am not knocking his stuff off the table, but it was time well spent.
I made a connection with Casey, who was looking to get rid of some dye in the colors I was wishing I had, and now the box is on its way and we are both very excited about that. 🙂
Manager’s special mushrooms so that I could make the very tasty vegetarian mushroom goulash over at Seitan is my Motor http://seitanismymotor.wordpress.com/2010/01/14/gomba-pap/ I have been in heaven all week having it on a bed of kale for lunch.
Sharing kale with the guinea pigs, who come running when they see me at the door with the big bag of greens 🙂
Lots of mini-epiphanies all week. Like the one where I remembered I get like a thoroughbred racehorse at the starting gate whenever there is one of these events (two openings in two days, eek), and building in a little padding so that I can spend the day in my pj’s today and not freak out as much.
And on that note, I’m off! (waves to y’all from the comfort of the sofa) 🙂
.-= Andi´s last post … Little Steps =-.
Getting back in the chicken soup!
The hard:
– stupid horrible monday here, too, in the form of gf having the stomach virus. no fun to see your loved ones feeling so so so sick. also I slept on the couch that night and got like no sleep.
– frustration with my new massage school professor. now entering week 3 of existence. but at least I can talk about it with my classmates, so the pressure valve is slowly releasing.
– feeling overwhelmed with how out of control the apartment has gotten in the past three weeks, with me gone several evenings a week and general packed-ness of weekends.
– general packed-ness of weekends! so many things to do (some of it really great, some of it homework), so little time to just sit around.
– job job job job.
The good:
– being in school! despite my frustration with my professor! professional development classes (with other awesome professor) are so exciting, and i definitely feel like the timing was right on with this new adventure.
– i never got the really bad version of the stomach virus!
– my developing self-care routine, and my ability to be flexible about it.
– bang trim last saturday – got to see my hairstylist who is one of my favoritest people. and I found out she’s starting to take home clients, which I’ve been wanting her to do for sooo long.
– Dos Toros Taqueria. the best damn delicious tacos, burritos, and quesadillas in NYC, and so close to everything I’d like such a place to be close to!
– cooking ahead for the week. Now that I have to pack my second breakfast (yup.), lunch, and dinner several days a week, I am making myself lots of yummy meals and meal pieces that can last throughout the week. Quiche, grain/bean salads, soups…yum.
I think that’s it! Hello chicken people, I’ve missed you.
Chicken it up People!
This week’s been busy – a lot of demanding brain stuff..
The Hard
Finding time to do the planning but not write the plan. I said I would! Work has a fabulous way of stamping all over my brain so that when I do have time, it has no juice left.
The Good
Sometimes I can be clever about the money stuff and understand it so that when i add it to what i know about process, i feel very clever. feels good, lots gets done with colleagues when that vibe is in town.
Going to see Mum this weekend and then a play-date on Sunday with our friends and their kids so that we can have a go on their Wii !! Very excited about this. we don’t have kids but we still get to go on a play-date.. This i like VERY much!
A night with Katie and Jase, eating great food and watching Mad Men.. Ooop Box Set Insanity around the corner (like we don’t have enough already)
Satiating my stationary fetish by purchasing pens and new notebooks on the intermeweb. Nice!
have a good weekend all- @havi enjoy keeping up with relaxy-time..
.-= Lucy´s last post … Friday, already. =-.
Chicken chicken!
The hard:
– lots of last minute and Im’-too-busy and not-even cancellations from friends for a thing at my place. It surprised me that that was so hard. Probably fueled by growing resistance for being the one that is always travelling to go see them. Mix it all with stress and my family not being able to come because the designated driver was ill. Ick.
– also not being able to show up for Shiva Nata, not even for a few minutes, while I know I could use some brain buzzing and clarity right now.
– not being able to show up for any type of life ponderings lately.
– not much progress on the next bit of the dissertation.
The good:
– joining the twitter bar. You twitterbirds are hilarious and procrastination enablers, but I like it.
– meeting two friends of a friend who were awesome and interesting people.
– baking muffins. Yum.
– submitted 2 articles to a scientific journal after endless revising, editing and fighting with the ‘easy online submission tool’. I seriously had to look up the definition of easy in the dictionary because it seemed it might have changed recently.
– and finally: tonight is knit & blabber night at my local yarn shop. Fun times.
Wishing you all a wonderful week and have a glorrrious retreat, Havi & retreaters!
Oh Havi, your hour of relaxing things sounds brilliant. Might have to try to maybe figure out a way to possibly do that. Tentatively. Ha! (Wow, relaxation does come with its own set of weird stuck monsters, doesn’t it? Hmmm. Making mental note to investigate.)
Peep Peep Peep
The hard:
-Same old crap. What can I say? I’m (apparently) a glutton for punishment.
-The planning for hard. Don’t. Like.
-I ran out of my “Losing It” and “I’ve Had It” potions from Heidi (@curiousheidihi). (Both of which help with the hard.)
The good:
-I ordered more of Heidi’s potions and they are on their way to me, or will be very soon. And that is a Very. Good. Thing.
-Lots of moments–brief, but powerful–of inspiration on the old novel and a new idea I am playing with. Fun!
-Excited to be starting a practice of actually sharing some of my work with someone, who will also be sharing his work with me. Love this. Feels like a big step toward…something.
.-= Emily´s last post … This Isn’t a Resolution Either =-.
Oooo la laaa chickens
The Hard
Really sore shoulders. Burning sensation in fact. Something happens when I go online and discover new wonderful things. I sooo want to follow my creative urges and need to find out about new things but there’s a pattern here right? My body is me so I must look at this.
I forgot to shop for food properly and therefore eat properly this weelk because of the urge to absorb every exciting bit of titbit of info that I could.
Stuff with my sweet man. We are both hyper sensitives so when we hit a wall, no matter how temporary, it feels sooo huge, all consumning and horrible for us both. It really hurts. Ow, ow, oww.
The Good
Realising that space/recovering for any hard stuff with my love has to be factored in. We’re not sure how this will work. But lots of hugs in the recovery part seems key. Maybe physical space and distance too initially after any hard? We’re new at figuring out what works so we’ll see. Bt lots of good because we are both on the same page. That’s a first for me and it’s blooming marvelous!
Barbara Sher. Ohh Havi thanks for repeated reminders about this fabulous woman. BARBARA SHER ROCKS ALL KINDS OF FABULOUS! I unearthed some radio interviews online and other stuff on You Tube. She is all kinds of wonderful and smart. Leila + titbits of BSher = Epiphany Central. I can’t wait for more. Bring it onnnn!
Finally offered 5 months worth of work. Ambivalent about this. But yay for paid bills.
The Ideas Catalyst Book by Megan Elizabeth Morris. Sooo goood! Dipping into it. It enabled me to realise that I generate ideas whilst listening to music and also whilst reading books. So lots of happy happy. Brimful of ideas. Zinggggg.
Sound on my PC. Wow. Wowwww! And a new PC, thanks to a SUPER kind gift from my man. No longer nipping into yucky internet cafe’s for sound. Also I got to hear some of Havi’s audio stuff. I even listened to the free re-coding your mind session from your store and it was amazing! Amazing. Still a bit stunned from that discovery. Woo hooo!
Oh and my chaotic, mad flat? It doesn’t yet have a name but I’ve started clearing stuff out and putting my stuff into some semblance of order that I like. Soooo exciting. A sense of starting to create my space, my universe, my Kingdom for the first time ever.
Hugs to all y’all chickens! Hugs hugs hugs for the good, the bad and the sometimes ugly!
x
The hard: bad adoption news.
Feeling guilty/indulgent for taking 3 days off from work to grieve said bad adoption news.
Not being able to convince the husband to do the same.
Using food and retail therapy to comfort me.
The GOOD!!!!!!
Such ridiculously generous, loving, funny, sweet, kind, helpful, loving and beautiful friends.
People love reading about bad news. My blog stats are through the roof!
Taking 3 days off work to grieve bad adoption news. I don’t save babies for a living. Those kids will be fine without me. If they aren’t, think of how happy they will be to see me when I get back.
Two massages scheduled for today. Yep, 2. One foot with a friend and an hour and a half whole body. Since many of you are massage-resisters, I’ll take all the massages in all of the world.
Skinny jeans and orange cowboy boots. – buying silly things sometimes makes me happy!
Homemade mac and cheese with truffle oil. Realizing there is still some left and I can have it for breakfast. Sometimes comfort food does just that!
Saving tons of money on therapy because I can just spill my guts here.
.-= Tami´s last post … Where it all began. =-.
Oh man Battle of The Fake Bands – I don’t know. I can’t decide. I think they both win 10’s all around.
The Hard this week
–
standingspeaking up for myself in a money situation and an ethical situation– glancing at all the inowannas sitting in row, waiting for me to acknowledge them (feigning a southern genteel woman’s faint on a fainting couch right now)
– facing and talking to my esteem gremlin (waving while trying to avoid eye contact with her)
The Good this week all came from the hard
+ having my words heard, acknowledged, respected and accepted by two separate parties while dealing with the money AND the ethical situation
+ seeing that iguanaccountability is a god (no that’s not a mistake I went to correct it thrice and thrice it remained) thing
+ seeing my esteem gremlin for who she is a scared little girl who really, truly only wants and needs people to like her, even as she dislikes herself
+ work, from home, on my schedule that I really enjoy
+ Baby Steps McGee
Ahhh to have this space. Thank you Havi and Selma *smooches*
@Andi – omg that goulash looks divine, I will be so glad when I’m able to get a kitchen in which I can cook again
@Tami — I’m so sorry for you bad adoption news. I’ve been there and oof. It sucks. Thinking of you.
Oh, this week. This week.
There was a lot of hard.
–The friend drama continues. I sent him a really honest, really open email about what had come up for me, and so far, radio silence. So there’s a lot of waiting and anxiety.
–Our “day of recovery and getting our shit together” didn’t work out that way. Exhausted, little clean laundry, no food cooked for the week.
–Feeling like we’re both getting sick. Urgh!
–Yet other friends are struggling, and we’ve been listening / helping — and our emotional reserves are kind of shot.
–And then this morning, I fell down the stairs. Bonus!
The good — a lot of that, too, but more in the beginning.
–Two and a half days of meditation, intentional movement, and Poking At Big Issues — it was fabulous.
–I’ve been able to sustain my daily morning practice every single day for about three weeks. Modern miracle!
–My yoga poses are getting deeper and better.
After work today, I’m going home and not leaving until Monday, with the possible exception of a social event Saturday night and a trip to the library on Sunday. But THAT’S IT.
Hope everyone has a good week!
.-= Julie´s last post … Should he go to graduate school? =-.
The hard:
-Running around like a crazy person.
-Trying to keep our budget balanced when C forgets to give me figures I need.
-A job interview where I had no idea what to expect.
-Our bookshelf collapsed, and after I spent all day trying to fix it, C came home and declared it beyond repair.
-Too much to do today, and a meeting that got moved up 45 minutes, leaving me less time to do it.
The good:
+A part-time writing job, yay!
+We get new bookshelves now! Probably plural!
Hmmm… not as much good as hard this week.
.-= Laura G´s last post … In which I seek a Blogging Buddy (a personal ad). =-.
Okay, my first Official Chicken. Dooot doo doo DOOOOOOO (trumpet flourish)
The Hardness:
Coming back from beautiful gorgeous 75 degree Rincon Puerto Rico to grey snow melty WNY. Unpacking, resettling into my less than perfect non-tropical life.
Cut my hair in PR b/c it gets lovely and curly in warm moisture; remembering O SHIT it is dry and cold at home and now I look like Gene Wilder in the Young FRAHN-ken-steen portrait of his grandfather. Knowing that this means either washing and curling my hair EVERY morning or wearing a ball cap for the next six months. I sell chapeaux so this should not be a problem but it is. I wake up looking like a chicken, and not the fun Friday kind!
Driving an hour to an icky urine smelling dementia ward. Getting lost.
Taking Mom’s dog to the vet for heartworm treatment and having to carry her 60 pound ass into the office because she DIDN’T WANT TO GO DAMN IT! Crying about leaving her in a crate having yucky meds pumped through her system for 24 hours.
My shrink told me I can’t just checklist my way through the grief/anger/hard about my mom and my life not being the way I want it. Poo! My iguanas were restless about this the other day, you can read WAY too much about it on the last iguana chicken.
The goodness:
Actually HAVING a really nice place for Mom! Finishing the paperwork and having a nice tidy deadline for getting her stuff there.
Friends virtual and physical who are finally back in town after the holidays.
Allowing myself to introduce myself to taking care of myself! An hour of moving (yoga, weights, etc.) is NOT terribly decadent and self-indulgent, it is necessary to keep my self sane! Thanks to everyone here for helping me see that through various means.
DH has been so nice and sweet and is going back to a regular schedule, which helps me do the same. Whew!
A reunion with my friend’s beloved boxer, Franki. She is the Best. Foot. Warmer. EVER.
Oh! Oh! OH!!! I ordered the Shiva Nata starter kit and downloaded all the stuff and THAT my dears is my reward for taking my mom to her new home! WOOOOOOOOOOOT
Wow, it’s been a week! xxoo to all!
the hard:
feeling full of brilliant ways to bring New Yorkers to art, to each other, to pleasure but finding others don’t move to the idea with such alacrity.
competitive with others. wanting to quantify all that i do so i can not feel weak. hard to avoid bragging, the sustenance of the unfulfilled.
the good:
my other half is having tremendous success in computer engineering. he deserves it.
still feel inspired to get past the others that don’t care and go for getting these art events together.
having a big, delicious brunch tomorrow. nothing is going to stop me from ordering the triple stacker.
.-= Lydia, Clueless Crafter´s last post … Visual Relish or Le Porte-Couteau =-.
Leila: “My body is me so I must look at this.”
Huh. Wow. That’s a perspective I hadn’t tried in a while, thanks.
The hard:
Being in pain gets old, like, really quickly. My “backpain thingy” is not improving yet. Continuing to do the yoga and various other things to help it. I’m being a completely graceless grumblebutt about it though. Patience? Forbearance? I’m sure those are qualities I had, once.
Not getting used to being at the gym. It’s in the building where my jobjob is, and it’s nice to have a quick stretch and dance in my lunchbreak, but there are… downsides. Like the music. The classic rock was actually OK, the inappropriately explicit RnB is much worse. >_<
[snips rant]
I've not been able to cook what with the tired and the pain from my back thing. Good food is good, so this makes me sad.
The good:
Hm, let's see. I'm getting a lot of sleep, so that's good.
To cheer myself up I decided to make some progress on a Cool Thing I've been planning for, uh, a year or so? I'm rather excited about it. Hopefully, by the time the next Chicken rolls around I can tell you all about it. (Or, if you get my picture posts, I'll tell you this weekend!)
My free weekend is coming up next week. Aaargh! Wheee! Self-imposed disconnection + doing nothing-ness! Crazy stuff, so worth mentioning in this chicken before I have a proper freakout next one.
Special extra love and hugs from me to all the lady chickeners this week. Guys, you're on your own. Nothing personal, I'm just in a girly kind of place right now. <3
.-= Willie Hewes´s last post … Love Letter to my Back Pain =-.
Wait, it’s Friday? Wha — ?
Okay. Chicken. This turns out to be one of those weeks in which the hard and the good are opposite sides of the same coin.
Hard:
-Getting those client evaluations done has been like moving through molasses. Worse, the only time to work on them has been evenings and weekends, and my resistance, in the form of an inner toddler and an inner adolescent joining forces, has been throwing massive tantrums, making it difficult for me to do any of my work this week. I’ve been managing, but it’s been uphill most of the way. Of course, sleep deprivation doesn’t help matters (gee, y’think?).
-Had a difficult conversation with one of my partners last night. He’s had an epiphany himself, and realized that he and I haven’t been getting enough of each other for quite some time, and that this is causing him tremendous sadness, and making all his other day-to-day stresses far more difficult to bear. Being present with him in a moment of intense sorrow and despair, and knowing that my own choices had been a part of the cause — oh, that was hard.
Good:
+The conversation with my partner was a very necessary conversation, and so I am very grateful that it happened. We faced the elephant in the room, and gave it tender hugs. I met his despair with empathy and with some practical suggestions of steps we can take, immediately, to begin making things better. The love, caring, and commitment between us were tangible. Best of all, we managed to navigate this conversation without blaming or judging, and without anxious defensiveness. There’s a whole lot of hope here.
+The client evaluations are done at last, and that leaves the way clear for me to set some clearer boundaries, to keep my day job from spilling over into my evenings and weekends. This should be easier now: the nursing home music therapy gig has planning, prep and paperwork time built into the schedule, and the preschool music gig has a very rich curriculum that’s very user-friendly, making it easy for me to come up with session plans in the mornings before I work with the kids.
Havi, I am cheering for you and your relaxation practice! You’re getting hooked? That is wonderful news!
Offering hugs for all the hard stuff, and big silly grins for all the good stuff. Happy weekend, everyone!
.-= Kathleen Avins´s last post … Dramatis personae =-.
The hard:
– Anticipating my husband’s absence for pretty much the whole month of February is freaking me out, I don’t really enjoy solo parenting.
– Feeling direction-less.
– Family politics. Just … ugh.
The good:
– It feels like spring here, and that’s wonderful! (Although I live in Vancouver and I think the Olympic organizers would disagree.)
– Good friends who hold me up.
– Dark chocolate covered cranberries, these are so awesome.
Happy Chicken!
.-= Amber´s last post … Chocolate Chip Cookie Monsters =-.
Friday. Chicken. Typing this on my tiny netbook in Vancouver airport, heading to Monterey for Havi’s retreat.
Hard: Really busy week, getting things done before leaving for retreat. Didn’t finish everything on my list.
Stayed overnight in hotel near YVR airport. Didn’t get any sleep. Feeling a bit stunned this morning.
Got to the airport at 8 am for a 10:30 flight. New security measures require early check-in. Very early.
Good: Dinner with an old friend last night at the hotel.
Everyone at airport screening/security/immigration etc doing a difficult job efficiently, kindly and with good humor.
Seeing Havi and Richard again. Today! Yay… 🙂
Very kind blog mention from Danielle LaPorte = a flood of new connections and clients.
Happy weekend, everyone.
Love, Hiro
.-= Hiro Boga´s last post … The Gifts of Retreat, the Comforts of Home =-.
Had to Chicken this week! Bock!!!
The Hard:
So much Hard this week! Drama at work… contemplating Hard decisions in regards to my employment… Friend got fired. So Hard!! Must plan escape route from Corporate America. Ex stuff Hard. Hard about moving on… Normal yoga class filled to the brim with Resolutioners. Ack! Oh, the Hard! Feels like I’m drowning in it sometimes.
The Good:
Excellent therapies. Love the Therapist. She rules. Gave me the strength to get through the first part of the week.
Yoga goodness… suggested I move to the all levels class which made me feel good even though it may be meaningless. But still goodness in yogas.
Good friends, always good.
Nice movie night. Quite, relaxing. Champagne Thursday!
Have made it to Friday despite early predictions to the contrary.
Yay, chicken!
The Hard:
Clients: this was the week of the client trials. Non-payment, and I swear I had the same assignment from three people, which just was frustrating by the end.
Sales Not Selling: I had a great sale, to do the side of my business that I’m really passionate about, and well…zero response, so far. I’m really discouraged, because this doesn’t usually happen to me with business stuff, and I have no idea how to fix it.
Goals: This is a two sided one, because I felt like a lot of things in regards to figuring out what I really want and where I want to be happened this week. And I can almost, maybe, afford some of them. But not really. And that’s frustrating.
The Good:
Resolved to keep exercising, starting tomorrow. For my health and sanity. Finally dealt with the stuckness that was convincing me that I didn’t have time for it.
I think I want to write a book. A real book. And for that I think I need a second blog. Which seems overwhelmingly complicated right now, but I’m determined to figure it out.
Going home! After being away for a week, I desperately miss my family and my pets. I can’t wait to see them tonight, even if all we do is sit on the couch and eat fast food.
Blog Readers: I love them. They are funny, supportive, and write great guest posts when you’re in a pinch and you haven’t planned for things. I could not do this without them.
.-= Holly´s last post … The Elusive Right People-And How Finding Them is Like Fishing =-.
(Do some of you feel guilty not commenting on other chickens? I read them all. Laugh. Cry. But don’t comment because I want to leave them space. Then I take away my own space by wondering if I should comment.)
So, I didn’t Chicken last week, but this snippet was too good to pass up:
Ketchup Chicken’s Hard: The 22 year old, hand-me-down-avocado clothes dryer DIED. Kaput. With my clothes in it. Wet.
Ketchup Chicken’s Good: Opting for the cheapest possible emergency replacement, and getting it home to discover it’s THE EXACT SAME DRYER. Seriously. Ok, it has a more efficient motor, and a different label, and thank the poultry gawds) it’s not avacado, but it’s definitely the same dryer. 22 years later.
Apparently, some things truly never do change!
Ok, this week’s Freshly Baked Chicken:
The Hard: Realizing I have serious trouble with relaxation things these days. Feeling overwhelmed about writing and web design. So, so SO wanting to quit these piddly little client jobs but being afraid to. Still stucked on a project. Still being overwhelmed by the house. Still. Stuck. Ruts. Hmm.
The Good: Discovering a new bizarre relaxation thing I CAN DO! (yawning). Committing to make a ritual Thing out of it. Deciding to start a personal blog thing just for tracking rituals and ShivaNauting and Iguanas, and actually setting it up. Being happy with the new/old dryer because the timer actually WORKS. Being happy that the laundry room is clean, even if the laundry pile just moved to the Den. Finding new short meditation MP3’s from WildMind.org that I can totally sit with even when antsy.
And Hand Me Down Avacado? Totally just one guy.
I’m pretty sure that “Ketchup Chicken’s Hard, Ketchup Chicken’s Good” is their first album.
.-= Tori Deaux´s last post … Today’s Goal? *Yawn* (Seriously. I Want You To Yawn. ) =-.
Chicken!
This week’s hard:
– My old friend Overwhelm is back in town for an unexpected and extended stay. I was very much looking forward to a week of light obligations and rejuvenation, but ended up taking on a couple of projects that I didn’t feel comfortable turning down (still relatively new clients, interesting projects, genuinely wanting to be helpful).
– Having a hard time around a particular friendship, for a number of reasons. Knowing that no matter what I do or say, that person is going to feel let down and I’m going to feel guilty about it.
– Distractable is my new middle name, apparently.
This week’s good:
– These unexpected projects are very interesting, pay relatively well, and help chalk up some brownie points for me. One of the projects comes from an entirely new contact, a senior person at that publishing house. Spreading those eggs among even more baskets makes me happy (having once learned a very hard lesson about relying on one client for most of my income).
– The systems and habits I’ve started to put into place to help me deal with overwhelm mode are working — really working. I’m still not a total ninja, but wow, what a difference.
– My niece turned ten. TEN! Can hardly wrap my mind around that. But she’s growing into a lovely young woman, talented and smart and thoughtful and funny and all that. Fun to watch.
.-= Lori Paximadis´s last post … tidbits: avalanche edition =-.
I had a shitty week.
The hard:
My parents are getting divorced. They need to but still a gut punch.
When do parents grow up?
I do not like feeling 12 again being dragged thru the same shit. I grew up. My parents better start growing the fuck up fast.
I got no writing done.
The good:
The fact the parents made this decision might indicate they are finally growing up.
My Fantabulous Hubby, without which I would be a raving a lunatic on the streets.
Friends, oh the wonderful friends who met up with me to DRINK and eat. K and I met up at Hackneys on Tuesday (the day all this went down); we split a bottle of chianti, ate deep fried onion rings and red velvet cake. And I got to hear all about her first week at chef school (she deboned a chiken and duck!).C and I met up at a wonderful coffee house who has the best quiche! I ate up and had a cafe au lait. Then last night I met up with P at Bar Louie where we had fried calamari, baked goat cheese, and I had coffee with amaretto and she had white wine.
The condo is in pretty good shape too because when I started thinking too much I cleaned and cooked.
The Hubby’s birthday is Monday! Which means I need to go grocery shopping and find him a present (been a little distracted). I am hoping for a very, very quiet weekend.
.-= Shawna R. B. Atteberry´s last post … Why I want to be a whale =-.
The hard: being told I’m at risk of redundancy (from the cool part-time teaching-people-to-cycle job); cycling 10 miles & up a VERY BIG hill this morning only to find school shut due to power problems, thus cycle lessons cancelled & had to go straight home again; feeling really tired for the last few days.
The good: lots of really good writing at the start of the week; recognising that redundancy wouldn’t actually be a total screaming disaster & would in fact have some advantages; getting to go climbing yesterday; letting myself goof off today without *too* much guilt, because I’ve had a busy few days & the weekend is going to be just as busy.
.-= Juliet´s last post … My morning so far =-.
It just tickles me no end to hear about you doing the Charleston, Havi. Swing dancing = So. Much. Fun. And I particularly love the 2nd fake band name this week.
My chicken:
Hard stuff:
– dear friend’s 19YO nephew killed by hit-and-run driver (with added bonus shittiness of injuries incurred day before bday, found unconscious, turned 19 in ICU, never woke up, pronounced brain dead, family had to decide to remove life support). My friend and her family (who are like a 2nd family to me) are devastated, and I’ve been knocked more than a little off kilter, too, just knowing that someone could run over a kid and then leave him to die.
– 8th anniversary of my mom’s death, and I forgot to plan something for her holiday I made up for her (Feast of Madelyn)
Good stuff:
+ mashed potatoes with cheese sauce
+ sweetie making nice new wooden legs for a chair and a couch
+ weaving (finished something) and knitting (even just thinking about it soothes me) and guild meetings
+ lots of new reclaimed flannel hankies
Right. OK.
The hard: my ask re: people voting in MA on Tues went so infuriatingly wrong. Like I might’ve seemed calm to a casual observer but when I looked at the backs of my hands they were blotchy & red. So unexpectedly furious. And then there are those moments when I start to ask if I asked it wrong somehow which I can’t bring myself to believe. Made me question the usefulness of any ask that actually involves other people.
Finally made it to the new movie theater in the area, only 1 w/stadium seating but its screens are pretty small. Unimpressed. Also 3D glasses are heavy & drove me a bit crazy.
Today woke up early in excruciating abdominal pain for no obvious reason. Not flu or food poisoning like, just pain. Figured I’d walk to bathroom for good measure but could barely walk & actually went into the wrong room 1st. Wrong side of hallway & everything. But maybe my brain did that to keep me from falling down the stairs.
Anyway. Some vomiting out of pain- a first for me, & then an hour or so lying on the cold tile floor.
The good: I vacuumed yesterday so lying on the floor, not so bad. The floor perspective of my bathroom actually looks pretty cool. And there is a mat on the tile–not long enough for me it turns out, but better than nothing. And towels can be pretty warm if the need arises. Pulling them from their hooks while still on the floor made me think of spy or action movies. My brain coped pretty well, getting my body to relax until the pain subsided. And hey, the pain subsided & I made it back to bed. And feel mostly fine now though I’m taking it gingerly.
Having Monty Python eps to watch.
Avatar was enjoyable & beautiful to look at.
Caprica starts tonight.
I would say a dish from dinner out last night, but I’m still suspicious of it.
Started drawing in my cheap small sketch book.
Despite a rather lacklustre week, I’ve been feeling rather fortunate.
The hards:
– arsonist setting fire to neighbour’s car
– horrendous tonsil/throat issue that meant most of last weekend was spent struggling to swallow paracetamol, with the breath of a komodo dragon
– my noisy drunken neighbour’s (not the one’s whose car was set on fire) seem to be setting themselves up for a debauch
– post viral fatiguey feeling
– dreadful, dreadful training
– sardine like commuter train on the way to dreadful training, although at least I had a seat. (Sorry, I’m mixing my chickens.)
The Goods:
– someone spotting that the car was on fire before it went up, which would have taken their other car and our car with it, and then probably spread to our houses.
– throat getting better
– getting on with people at work
– having another delicious avocado based friday lunch with my friend
.-= Jane´s last post … Hutong =-.
Ha, and I totally forgot to say, getting the dance of Shiva DVD!
.-= Jane´s last post … Hutong =-.
Hi there chickeneers of the high seas,
The hard:
Starting to attack some monsters with the help of a therapist
The good:
– Starting to attack some monsters with help of a great therapist
– Travelling for a week
– Visiting my two closest girl-friends
– Going to places of my past and reliving happy memories
– First back-pain-free week in a long time thanks to Paul Grilley
– Going for walks every day
Have a wonderful weekend everyone! And Schlagobers-Gruesse to you, Havi!
Hi everyone! Oh, I’m so tired.
The Hard:
– Much relationship negotiation with my drsweetie.
– Waiting endlessly to get paid for past work while the nickels rattled around in the bottom of my checking account.
– The house is a mess. Where does the time go?
– I only sold two preview copies of my new infoproduct.
The Good:
– Much relationship negotiation with my drsweetie.
– I got products! I got products!
– The checks did turn up finally.
– Much good espresso was drinked.
– Hey! I sold two whole preview copies of my new infoproduct! Awesome!
– Much good networking was done including free lunch with the Tech Czar. Yay.
So that’s my thing.
.-= Mark W. “Extra Crispy” Schumann´s last post … Jazzed about products and projects =-.
Yay for the chicken!
This week’s hard:
-unexpected expenses. (Oil change turned into $700+ repair bill and BTW we need new tires NOW!) Relatively small scale home project came in way over budget. New violin for growing musician son.
-feeling crummy this week. Very sore throat. Don’t want to eat or drink, even though I’m hungry. (That’s how I can tell I’m not THAT sick!)
This week’s good:
New violin= yay!
New tile in bathroom= yay!
Class I’m teaching started on Wed with three fabulous moms= YAY!!
Workshop I’m doing on Tuesday went live for registration and people are coming = YAY!!!
.-= Liz´s last post … Do Overs and High-Fives =-.
I’m sooo envious of your Retreaters! Obviously I need to biggify enough to afford it next time. 😉
It’s been a busy-full week, despite spending most of it hiding out at home.
The Hard
– Wavering between busy-busy-busy and still not having money. Wondering what will give!
– Rain and cold and cold rain. Makes me want to hibernate! Grawr!
– Cat #1 barfs. Cat #2 comes along, eats the barf (ew), walks 6 feet, and barfs it right back up again. EW. And yet, hilarious.
– Having some stuck with a design, ptui ptui ptui. Slowly working toward a solution, but not enjoying the slow. Also, the one piece I did really like, the client did not. Sigh.
– Realizing that I am just a slower creative person, and trying to force the designs makes for bad designs. I require my percolating time in order for the pieces to come together and become awesome for my clients.
– Feeling stuck with Etsy, looking at having to commit huge chunks of time just to keep up with the Etsy-Joneses and their ridiculously high standards for packaging, community involvement, etc. Part of me wants to abandon the whole thing, and yet, I want the zombie stitch markers to find a good home.
The Good
+ Good clients, a glimmer of glasses-buying hope, and plenty to do.
+ Having an excuse to drink lots of tea and not go anywhere.
+ Cuddly cats snuggling up for warmth and loving.
+ Cartoons! In addition to the 5 clienty ones, have done 6 friend ones for a group shot for the lot of us, and am very amused by our clothes/props. Generally feeling much more competent at illustrating.
+ Nearing the end of Gigantic Illustration Project and very excited to be seeing it in real life soon.
+ Had my 2nd contest winner reply, and get to paint an awesome tiny painting for her that is right up my alley.
+ Designed some nifty Valentines for Etsy, which I plan to post over the next few days.
+ Have been slowly working on refining my site copy and marketing stuff with help. Lots of brain work, but in a good way.
+ Sold a print for the Buy Some Art, Be a Cartoon sale. Technically this was last week, but it’s so awesome I’m mentioning it again, since I haven’t shipped it yet.
+ Saw The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and it ruled!
+ Awesome friends are awesome. All of you. You know who you are. <3
.-= Amy Crook´s last post … How is a cartoon like copywriting? =-.
Mmm…leeks…
The hard
– I’m out of sick leave (short term and extended) at my day job and won’t get more till June, so now I have to take vacation when I have a migraine. Not fair. A migraine is not a vacation. And I might not have enough vacation time to get me through to June. So I’ve been going to work when I feel like hell, and not really working much because my brain won’t let me. Ugh.
– Realizing that I’ve gained 25 pounds since August and having no idea how. When I first went vegan, I lost 30 pounds without even trying. I’m still vegan, so what gives?
– My new glasses hurt my nose. I went back and had them adjusted, but of course I couldn’t tell at the time if the adjustment actually helped because my nose was already sore. And…it’s still sore.
The good
+ Getting a deposit for all of my beads and a lot of my tools. Yay! Now I just have to sell all the metal clay stuff and silver findings. I think eBay is the way to go unless someone speaks for them before I get to that.
+ Bringing home an entire carload of my gentleman friend’s friend’s late mother’s yarn and fiber, and going back this weekend for more, including a knitting machine. Thinking of the possibilities…
+ Finding a new (for me) meditation posture that’s really comfortable.
+ Snickering every time I see the word Parnassus, because it reminds me of a Rocky and Bullwinkle episode with a character named Pericles Parnassus, a shipping magnate. Rocky said, “Gee, Mr. Parnassus, for a powerful magnate, you don’t pick things up very well.” Hee!
.-= Riin´s last post … Hey! I can see! =-.
Heeeey, where did my chicken go? Hm, weird.
Quick chicken:
Hard: backpain.
Good: working on exciting new Thing! It’s already getting some love, and I’m not freaking out enough to stop myself from actually doing it (I think). Yay!
Shiva Nata: Level 3 still doesn’t like me. That’s OK though, so long as it keeps doing the genius thing for me.
.-= Willie Hewes´s last post … Love Letter to my Back Pain =-.
Oh, please. Everybody knows that Sickeningly Creamy is just a side project of The Bill Stickers Project. And you do know that The Bill Stickers Project was always just one guy?
Good: Met someone who could be a good contact for writing stuff.
Two days of warm weather were a welcome surprise.
Loving my Kindle.
Much-needed girl time with a new friend. Been missing that.
Hard: Encountering some resistance around actually sending clips as requested to move forward on the writing thing.
New workload is a challenge. It’s interesting work, but requires fitting a good deal of getting stuff done into a short time. A good opportunity to work on using time wisely. Challenging in the meantime.
Haven’t been climbing in weeks, between interfering plans and gashing my finger. Afraid it will be brutal when I get back to it.
Now I must go find some Rocky and Bullwinkle.
.-= Sandra´s last post … Tickets for Sapporo Snow Festival still available =-.
The hard:
sucky, sucky work. Scloded for being late. Have to work tomorrow in un-heated building. BLECH.
The good:
I slept through the night every night! Yay!
My kitties slept through the night, enabling above! Double yay!
I have today off!
It didn’t rain!
Ugh. Late for the Chicken. Figures. The whole week was that way.
The Hard:
– Speeding ticket on Tuesday. How can a main roadway be only 35mph when cross streets are 40mph?
– Unexpected expenses on the homefront depleting checking account. Fear, worry & anxiety about finances.
– Overwhelmed by piles and list of things to do.
The Good:
– Employee appreciation bonus received on Tuesday (after the ticket) meant I was ahead for the day!
– Found some money in my checking account because I forgot to record my paycheck from the end of December!
– Going to take a vacation day on Monday – my student workers are finally back in full force!
Hope next week is better for everyone!
My first Chicken. Or bok-bok, according to my daughter. Late, yes, but I’ve been busy!
Right. So, the hard:
– Forgetting about a voice over job that had been booked for a week (which never happens, I normally get a couple of days notice which means it’s at the front of my mind) because it was my boy’s 4th birthday and I got completely distracted by all the present opening and stuff. This has NEVER before happened in the 8 years I’ve been doing voice overs. YUCK doesn’t even begin to describe it.
– Having a big fight with my accountability demon, who is a complete sook and hates telling the truth if it can get us in trouble. The fight went on all the way to my job, which is a 30 min drive. I won, but it was hard.
– Telling people the truth about how crap I am. Being all responsible and accountable for my massive stuff up and how said massive stuff up affected all the other people involved (there were a lot, and I REALLY like most of them). Feeling like a total ass for letting people down and getting other people in trouble when they’d done their job properly. The horrible weight in my chest whenever I think about it. Still.
Phew. Let’s move on, shall we? The good (yay!):
+ Telling people the truth! Hard, sure, but such goodness as well. Now some people I haven’t worked with for very long KNOW I tell the truth, and don’t ask other people to take responsibility for my crap. Great way to start what is going to be a long term business relationship.
+ Getting the voice over job done within the hour allocated by all the other people working on it, despite being 45 minutes late. Slightly redeeming. Phew.
+ Kicking my accountability demon’s ass. Oh yeah.
+ A surprise visit from my beautiful friend in her lunch break! Lovely.
+ Three voice over jobs in a week! Amazing!
+ Lots of excellent photography goodness, plus my Mum being all pleasantly surprised that I’m starting to make money taking photos of people.
+ My gorgeous boy turned 4! I can’t really believe it. We had a party, and made him a Scooby Doo cake, and it actually looked like Scooby Doo! The kids demolished it in about 3 minutes. LOADS of fun!
+ A very welcome cool(ish) change in the weather. It’s been super hot (like 42 degrees Celcius) for weeks, and now it’s only 31. Ahhhh. It even rained for a millisecond yesterday! Weird, but good.
All in all, much more good than hard, but it didn’t feel like that at the time. I’ll just keep looking at this everytime I get overwhelmed. Yay for the chicken. x
The Hard:
Big, ugly, black, chest-squeezing anxiety on Thursday that kept me from going to work. And lots of ugly, judgey words that kept the anxiety flared all day.
The foot, which HURTS after being stepped on (twice) by dancers not paying attention.
Overdrawing our joint checking account (damn $38 fee!) because the husband overdrew HIS account and shorted he joint account and borrowed money from the joint account without telling me, and since the whole thing usually works like clockwork I hadn’t bothered to check until it was too late to fix anything at all.
Realizing that I have put back on every single of 35 pounds it took me 2 years to lose during my divorce. And the fear/stuckness I feel about having to do that work all over again, and thinking that maybe I won’t be able to do it at all.
The Good:
After 6 months of practice, my salsa dancing group did fabulous dancing at our performance on Wednesday night, and my husband told me how proud he was of me, and when I posted the video on my blog, I got SO MANY great Woot!s and high fives and YOU GO GIRLS that I forgot to look at it with a critical eye and instead just basked in the love.
And, we got invited to perform it 6 more times in the upcoming month.
Upon Xray, the foot is not broken but rather badly bruised and sprained, which means no cast and no surgery and instead several weeks of unsightly hiking boot wearing (with dresses?!) to help it heal.
Today, we got our finalized wedding video, and it is awesome.
And, today I got my Dance of Shiva DVD in the mail.
.-= lynn @ human, being´s last post … Days of Grace: 286/365 =-.