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.
Seriously? I’m pretty sure it was just Friday last week.
Is it more or less embarrassing when your mindfulness practice bites you on the ass?
Let’s do this!
The hard stuff
Projects!
I mean, treasure hunts.
Yes, that does make them sound more fun.
But it was still a lot.
Ketchup.
Being back after my Non-Emergency-Vacation was full of here are all the things that need to be done right this second.
And I wasn’t in the mood. And didn’t have time because of pesach and clients and and and.
Nightmares!
Stupid PMS.
Stop waking me up!
Possibly related: aaaaaaaaaaaagh.
Oh, the hyper-sensitivity is getting even more stabby.
It’s also that season when people reach for their lawnmowers and hedge-trimmers, and I go a little crazy.
The farfel crisis, round 2.
Last year, if you will recall, there was no farfel to be had in all of Portland. And it was slightly tragic. In a pitiful, unimportant way. Which only made things worse.
This year, we stocked up early.
But it’s been repackaged. And all wrong. And now the farfel tubes are full of farfel dust.
The good stuff
Things are moving!
Three big HATs are written.*
And edited decorated.
Which means that my big thing will probably actually go live mostly according to schedule. Oddly enough.
* HAT = Havi Announces a Thing. This is what other people call “sales pages”.
My designer is a GENIUS.
But you know that already.
Seriously, every time I look at the Monster Coloring Book, I have to stop everything and just laugh delightedly for ten minutes.
Everything blooms.
Cherry blossoms! Apple blossoms! Magnolia! Lilacs!
It is unbelievably gorgeous here.
Favorite time of year!
The seder. Was gorgeous.
As much as I bitch about pesach, I actually really like it.
Skhug.
There are all sorts of things I miss about living in Israel.
You know, like all my friends. And family. And my neighborhood. And my life.
But mostly it’s the skhug.
Got some this week. Tongue: on fire. Rest of me: deliriously happy.
Yes, I realize I could just make it. But it’s one of those things.
Lucky me.
I got to see Dick Carlson (that’s @techherding to you) who stalks my duck.
And he brought her a book. About pirates and swashbuckling and ghosts. It was pretty awesome.
Referring to people as “dirty-jawed crotchcake”. In my head.
That’s thanks to this extremely handy, extremely disturbing funny mean names generator (uh, not safe for work?) which is exactly what it sounds like comes to you care of Jenny the inimitable Bloggess (not really safe for anything but I love her).
It also came up with twinkie-livered snizzwiper and camel-bearded fruitsmoker. Oh, bless that internet.
And yes, anyone who doesn’t think this is awesome is a dirty-jawed crotchcake. See how much fun?
Got some more of these.
Flannel handkerchiefs that don’t make your nose red.
And … playing live at the meme beach house!
Yes, that’s a Stuism.
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?
WOMBAT HAT
Weirdly, it’s just one guy.
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
This week I have to start with the good because MY THING got born this week. It’s been a long gestation with the first initiating email being sent about a year ago.
The idea first went (bloggy) public here: http://tentativeequinox.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/in-which-i-am-self-serving-but-in-a-good-community-building-kind-of-way-at-least-if-youre-over-30/
And yesterday I was able to announce this: http://actorsintensive.artsclub.com/
Traffic was crazy busy on the site yesterday — plus we already received applications! So happy.
I built a bridge! So thank you Havi because I was able to micro-step this baby into being using a lot of your techniques.
It has me so charged up I’m like a little labrador puppy all wiggly, chewing up the furniture and peeing on people’s feet just ’cause I’m so happy to see them.
Also good: changed naturopaths and I think I found a good one.
Okay, there was some bad too. I got an eye infection, and my neck has been oh so sore for two weeks now despite two trips to the chiropractor.
But I don’t care, because my baby just took her first steps! Wheee!!!
.-= Christina´s last post … Introducing the Actor’s Intensive =-.
Mmm, Spring! Totally my favourite time of year, too.
And another big yay for the Monster Colouring Book! Yaaaayyyyy!
This week in Kailand~
The Hard:
~Trigger-y yuckness.
~Waking up almost every day in a panic attack.
~Collapsing in bed twice because of all the yuckness.
~The dishwasher refusing to work.
~PMS making me crave veggies instead of chocolate. I was not prepared for that.
~April Fool’s Day.
The Good:
~Eating frozen custard for dessert. Yum.
~Falling more in love.
~Dancing around to happy music.
~Being invited to dinner this weekend.
~Lovely warm weather and budding green things.
I am intrigued by the skhug and now must go look for some.
In related news, I recently discovered aji amarillo (“AW-hee”), a hot Peruvian chile sauce made by grinding up bright-yellow aji chiles. I hear in Peru they love the stuff so much it’s everywhere, even at McDonald’s.
On to the Chicken…
Hard
* Too many headaches this week, and therefore not enough exercising. Yuck.
* My sweetie got bug-bitten on his legs during our last hike. For a couple days he had trouble walking because the itching was so awful. It looks like the pox, poor guy.
Good
* Hiking! Wildflowers! Nature! Love.
* Lots of brain buzz: inspiration, ideas, plans.
* I got accepted into yet another big-ass art show I’d always been rejected from before (this one in Beverly Hills). It’s like suddenly all the closed doors have started opening for me. Weird. Amazing.
.-= Barbara J Carter´s last post … New Painting: “Cheseboro,” or is it Chesebro, or maybe Cheeseboro? =-.
Oh, I am sorry for the faux-fel, we have a dearth of matzo and gefilte fish here in town, my daughter is just degraditated.
This week, hard:
Feeling like Rebecca Wells must have felt when the Ya Ya Sisterhood hit the bestseller list. I hear she was quite the pariah in her community. I had a couple of shoes thrown at me over my blog post about last week’s show.
Standing up for myself over the shoe and having a combat boot thrown at me for my trouble.
Working on not holding onto the boot, even though I can see the button/trigger, and I am talking myself through it, it still stung. Especially since the combat boot was exactly the stereotype that this event was supposed to overcome.
Yeah, did I say combat boot?
The good:
Thanks to time here, and NVC, and the Brene Brown book on shame, I was able to actually see the shoe and boot for what they were. So I was able to understand a) why they made me feel that way and b) that I don’t have to integrate that into my life.
Trees are blooming everywhere, magnolia, white tree that isn’t dogwood, forsythia, and we even found a violet in the yard yesterday.
I sold three pieces from my new line already.
I was able to massively update my Etsy, which enabled the sales 🙂
Homemade hummus on matzo. Yum.
.-= Andi´s last post … Years of Experience =-.
Friday at last…
The good.
+ It’s warm. I’m wearing sandals (purple Keens!). I’m wearing a t-shirt. I slept with my windows open last night. I knew spring would really come!
+ I talked to my supervisor about my job situation, and she suggested working half time, which will be so much better than full time. I’ll still get benefits, and the pay will be almost enough to cover my mortgage and carrying charges (property tax, maintenance, and water), and I’ll have more time to work on my thing. I have so many ideas for biggifying, but they all take time and energy that I just don’t have when I’m at the day job 40 hours a week. She said to think it over and talk to her when she gets back in 2 weeks, but I’ve already decided.
+ Crocuses and dwarf irises blooming in my garden. 🙂
The hard.
– I’ve been reading more about migraine and diet. Specifically migraine and hypoglycemia. It looks like hypoglycemia may be responsible for just about all of my health problems. So I’m cutting out sugar and eating every 2-3 hours. I figured the sugar thing wouldn’t be too hard because I don’t really eat a lot of sweets, but it turns out that sugar is in a lot of stuff. Havi, do you have any suggestions for snacks? Which is to say, snacks for a lazy vegan?
.-= Riin´s last post … Marbles =-.
Chick’m!
The Hard:
-even four days on the road throws me off enough that I need a full day to do NOTHING when I get home. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the guilt about it…
-girlfriend having work stress. Producers are a special breed.
-another grant rejection! boo.
The Good:
-running
-friends
-collaborating on a new music project (very exciting!)
-Passover. yum.
-started fundraising for my next album…and it’s working! feeling very grateful and loved and supported.
Happy Weekend everyone!
~C
.-= Christine Bougie´s last post … Unnecessary Creating =-.
All this talk of food! mmmm.
funny week, we have a long public holiday for easter in the UK this weekend so today is not a working and neither is monday. Consequently I am going to take the rest of next week off and we’re going to Lyme Regis to Jane Austen the place up.
So it being a short week, naturally I had a whole load of stuff to do.
The Hard
Taking a work trip first thing on a monday morning and being away for the night, just after Wife had been away all weekend for a work thing. Tough start to the week.
frustrating travel, sometimes it goes like that – trains that don’t turn up, that sort of thing.. I got home in the end though.
working really late on the last night before the holiday. this always happens but it’s the only way to resolve the stuff so that i can relax.
Pain: on thursday night, celebrating the start of our holiday, i went out to pick up our Indian food for dinner and slammed my finger in the car door. Ooh bleeding on napkins in the restaurant, distinct feeling that I was going to faint, that sort of thing. Yuk. Wife strapped it up and it looks a little better today. See my blog for the detailed disgustingness. And I am basically typing one-handed. slooooow.
The Good
On my travels I spent an evening with my recently acquired step-mother. it’s good that we get to spend time together like that.
I got the work done. it’s done. i can leave it alone for a week, yes i can.
the weather is all kinds of English Spring Crazy – we’ve had such a long winter and it’s still a bit mad. yesterday was hail, this afternoon a bit of sunshine after a day of rain. I think very slowly we’re emerging but the good bit is the light. we’re in British Summertime so the long days are Gooooooood.
happy chicken, happy passover, happy easter, happy pagan spring-fest.
and for the atheists like myself, you know, happy just being..
Lucy x
.-= Lucy´s last post … Puffy Finger Uncovered. Warning: Not Pretty! =-.
I’m redoing my office in mid-century modern furniture. And coming to terms with the fact that it takes hours to scour out vintage stores and craigslist to find the perfect this or that.
And it’s nesting. It’s NESTING. I am NESTING for this baby that is my life’s work. Which means everything feels really freaking important. Which sometimes has me standing in stores looking critically at a table lamp for like, 15 minutes, which makes other people nervous. I might look like I’m stalking it. Or trying to make it faint. But it’s a lamp.
And then sometimes, I’m all squee, because I’m sitting on my circa 1950 ivory hide-a-bed. Or I’m shoo-ing a cat from the circa 1955 orange (orange!) tweed chair and then shutting the door, because my office has a door!
Um…also…I’m thinking a lot about who I interact with, and who my right people are.
And…I’m coming to terms with jealousy, and all the things that are hiding behind jealousy- because jealousy is really just a velvet curtain, and behind it there is fear and dissonance, and coming back to purpose.
And…I was nice in traffic this week.
So, in all, a pretty fabulous week.
.-= Bridget´s last post … Soul Note: Earth-Wise =-.
yay Friday! yay for this wonderful chickeneering with such cool fun fellow-traveler kindred spirits! I love this crowd, and I love you Havi for (among other things 😉 ) bringing us together!
Hard:
* hands and arms hurting from working at the computer
* hangover (!!) after the 2nd seder! I almost never get hangovers (I almost never drink!), but boy did I feel lousy Wednesday!
Good:
* herbal remedies for my hands and arms seem to be helping
* figured out some workspace changes to make things more comfortable for me
* ergonomic keyboard being shipped, happily flying on its way to me
Amazingwonderfulgreat good:
* I resigned from a volunteer position that had turned into a miserable sad guiltified intense-visceral-resistance position-from-hell! Deciding to resign was a hard decision but doing it felt wonderful. I sent the president of the organization my resignation letter yestrday. I feel so delightedly light and free! It’s a sad thing, yes, but the problems are more deep-seated than I can fix, and I am so not interested in trying to rescue the thing…. so it’s a sad thing, but it’s not my sad thing.
Happy weekend, happy week, happy chickens!
Karen
I got “Crater-Encrusted Hamstermonster.” This thing is totally addictive. And I’m at work. And I don’t care. Addictive. I want to keep hitting “create a new name” until I come up with something chicken-related, but you know…chicken.
Hard:
-Uhhhh, I was a complete slacker for the first half of the week despite having a to-do list that looks more like an encyclopedia than a list. But you know what? Not really that hard. I mean, I’ll get to it eventually, right? Is this really the only hard I can come up with? Yep. That’s nice.
-Husband leaving again for a month this time. Eeeeek!
Good:
-Big self-understandings still cascading in. Nice.
-I am addicted to knitting. See what you’ve done, Blonde Chicken? Addicted. And I’m apparently a pattern whore. See “Hard” and you now know how I’ve been enjoying my procrastivacation.
-Fire. I built a fire last night. Last time we did this, the husband tried first and became a cranky-pants because the husband? Apparently has no fire-making skills. But luckily I am the firemaster. I had a roaring blaze going in minutes. And we made s’mores. And all was well.
-On the other hand,as it turns out, the husband is an amazing effing cook. Yay for good food I didn’t have to make myself!
-Hiking in the woods. Even with the naked people (!?), it’s wonderful.
-Husband leaving again for a month this time. Yaaaaay! (What can I say? I’m conflicted…)
Happy Weekend Chickeners!
The Hard:
-Food poisoning! I has it. 🙁
-Sick and tired and having trouble gauging what I *can* eat.
-Stomach pain.
-Waking up every night with sweats and nausea.
-Feeling totally hungry but not wanting to overload my sensitive system, thereby agitating my hypoglycemia. @Riin, I hear you re: sugar issues!
-Totally annoying day job.
The Good:
+It’s Friday!
+Having a comforting face to come home to
+Garden’s growing
+Things are blooming
+Warm-weather walks
+Open-toed shoes
Oh, yay for Friday. It’s lovely to spend a few minutes with everyone here.
The hard:
Techno-ptooey. Cell phone, car, audio-visual materials for lecture…all vexing me this week.
And I’m with you, Havi, on the nightmares. Around here, I think it’s full moon plus first warm nights that is a recipe for monsters stomping around my pillow.
And the string of you-turned-a-signficant-birthday-so-let’s-see-if-you’re-all-together medical tests.
The good:
Blue bonnets. Wildflowers.
All the tests on one day. Done and done.
And a VPA plan coming together.
It’s a chicken, indeed.
.-= Elizabeth´s last post … A Tale Told at Knife Point =-.
Yay, chicken! That there name generator could get me into *lots* of trouble…
This week’s hard:
– Totally screwed up my own e-mail by trying to be too clever with it and make it go places it doesn’t want to go and be filtered in ways it doesn’t want to be filtered. Wasn’t able to send from my professional account for a few days, then it took almost another whole day and some tears of frustration to get it all back to the way it was before.
– Tears of frustration are so… FRUSTRATING! And it’s hard to explain to people that I’m *not* devastatingly upset, it’s just the way my body expresses frustration, and telling me “don’t cry” just makes it worse.
– My poor sweetie is having a rough time right now, and there’s not a single thing I can do to make it better.
This week’s good:
– The daffodils bloomed today!
– A new editing project came in, right before I was getting ready to send the letter to my regular clients asking if they had anything for me.
– I have decided to take a break this afternoon to do a little yard cleanup and relax in the sun for a little while. There may be Trader Joe’s lemonade and a good book involved…
Happy Friday, chickeneers!
.-= Lori Paximadis´s last post … the beauty of spring =-.
The Hard: Further customer service interactions, but I think it’s now resolved. Sovereignty FTW!
Feeling really invested in creating a certain post that I’m reasonably sure no one will care that much about. So I should really be outside enjoying the sun or something instead of preoccupied/overwhelmed by trying to finish on time.
The GOOD: Fresh strawberries.
Eating breakfast outside. So lovely out!
Got past a ridiculous stuckness and got a lot done creatively, tallied on the Life of Art SitRep link below.
Tallyho!
.-= claire´s last post … Life of Art SitRep #8 =-.
Treasure Hunts! LOVE the concept!
The Hard:
– Serious case of insecurities and fear over the hiring of a new program director. All this was triggered by the interim director handing me two applications to look over. The one is too new – won’t even have his doctorate until May. The other – well the jury is out at this point. I’m circulating the packets to the other adjuncts and we will see what the consensus is regarding moving forward on the interview process.
– Fear taking over my brain this week – scared of the changes that I know will happen whether I want it to or not.
– Feeling crappy about the condition of my body and the number on the scale. Here I am, supposed to be promoting fitness and I am feeling like a fraud at the moment.
– A bout of gout over the weekend. OMG the pain.
The Good:
– Black cherry juice, ibuprofen and ice packs cleared up the gout within 48 hours once I figured out what was going on.
– Daffodils blooming
– Temps in the 80’s!!! Actually a little TOO hot for my taste
– A very supportive friend who gets the whole fear of change thing
– Students who have asked me follow up questions about Wednesday night’s lecture – maybe I don’t suck as bad as I imagine at doing lectures. That was the same day I got handed the applications mentioned under “hard”.
Have a lovely weekend, everyone!
Chicken! Whew!
Hard:
-Working and working, day after day, to get these last two pesky preliminary exam projects completed for school.
-Sick with an energy-sapping, cough-making, voice-eroding cold all the while. Bleah.
-Stress and tangled red tape concerning my sweetie’s medical stuff, making me feel frustrated and very anxious.
-Even the most basic self-care has felt difficult. Intermediate self-care — all the little self-nurturings and quiet spaces that keep me happy — has felt well nigh impossible this week. I’m journaling, and I did Shiva Nata once. That’s about it.
Good:
+Although the projects aren’t quite done yet, I was able to make a lot of headway — and whatever problems I’ve had with them this week have not been procrastination or avoidance related. That. Is. HUGE. Major, major progress there.
+Bright, beautiful spring weather.
+In a way, this week’s illness was well-timed: I got to call in sick for a couple of days, which gave me extra time for the academic stuff, right when I needed it.
+I’m getting better at shedding the shoulds. The fact that I’ve been neglecting my self-nurturing practices this week makes me feel compassion for myself, not guilt. Again: wow! Progress!
Wishing everyone a splendidly springy (or awesomely autmnal, depending on where you are) weekend. Hugs for the hard, cheers for the good, and gratitude for the pleasure of your Chickenly company!
.-= Kathleen Avins´s last post … An open letter, from me to me =-.
What no I only realized it was Friday oh 16 hours into it already jeesh.
So to Chicken
The hard
– money, income, cash flow, moolah, dinero, that paper…I see a theme here. Ugh and weee it’s Financial Literacy Month.
– the thing, the thing which kept morphing on me and I wasn’t sure if it was the thing or my whuteef monster who got bored with his assignment
– wanting something to happen that looked hard, scary, nigh on impossible. Plus being informed by a dear friend that the way I wanted it to happen was like a ‘ton of bricks’. Oww but necessary but owwie…
The good
+ I found some Egyptian 1 pound notes and about 150.10 Piastres – so I have money just not so much that I can use in the moment. Sigh
+ the thing morphed into Something more concrete finally, which now has an
outlinea structure+ a conspiring universe creating a space in which the hard looking thing, just sort of happened on it’s own, weirdly because of all the other things that had to not happen all at the same exact time.
So now I’m going back up there to read the other Chickeneers Hard’s & Good’s.
Go Chicken, It’s the Chicken. Go Chicken. It’s the Chicken. And it’s Friday for 7 hours and 24 minutes.
@Christina – that is AMAZING. your thing! got born. This is beautiful, excellent news. mazal tov.
@Kai – unfair! Thank goodness for custard.
@Kathleen – love your thoughtful chickens, sweetie.
@Gadgetgirl – wow, that is a lot of week in your week! I’m imagining your students all fascinated and looking up to you. 🙂
@claire – strawberries! outside! Tally ho indeed.
@Lori – yeah me too on the frustration tears. And really, is there anything more frustrating/annoying than to be told not to cry?
@Elizabeth – monsters on the pillow. That’s what I’m calling it from now on too!
@Dawn – food poisoning?! Oh no. That sounds absolutely miserable. Hope everything gets better over the weekend and just keeps improving.
@Emily – I know! Life is just good when you can mutter Crater-Encrusted Hamstermonster under your breath at EVERYTHING. Addictive. Extremely. Yay for fire-starting powers too!
@Karen – good for you. HOORAY for feeling light and free!
@Bridget – oh wow. Happy nesting. And thanks for the jealousy curtain insight. I like it.
@Lucy – oooh. ow. ick. Poor finger. Please take lots of pictures at Lyme Regis!
@Christine – hey lady. Hooray for new project and collaboration and fundraising and new album. Very excited for you.
@Riin – oh, no fun. Are you doing fruit and natural sugar still? Because I tend to stick with nuts, fruit, raisins for snack-ey bits. Also fake coffee-like substance that is made from chicory and barley (maybe with soy milk or something?). Hope things get better.
@Andi – oh no oh no. So sorry to hear about all the (very large and menacing) shoes. And glad that your art is being recognized and appreciated by non-shoe-throwers, because it should be. Hug!
@Barbara – look at you go. It is SO wonderful to hear about you having these terrific successes. I remember so much frustration in the past. Lovely that things are moving for you. I approve!
Sending big love to all the Chickeneers of the High Seas. Mwah!
@LaShae – hey sweetie. It took me so long to process everyone’s chicken that yours came up while I was posting!
Laughing at the picture of you finding Egyptian money (what, during financial literacy month?). Your sense of humor is my favorite. Hi! Happy Friday!
@Riin This lovely lady blogs recipes for her migrane-away, no sugar diet. I hope it gives you some good tasty ideas! good luck http://the10centdiet.blogspot.com/
It does seem like it was just friday two days ago… weird.
the hard:
i’m feeling especially aimless. It is unsettling, especially when I have all this new found time to do whatever it is I want to do.
money of course. I owe the last of my rent and bills so I can be free of my roommate situation and I owe taxes this year. ick.
Portland teases with sunshine that isn’t yet warm. I want to be warm!
feeling uneasy about old routines, habits. How much should I hang on to and how much should get scrapped?
the good:
my gentleman friend is back home!! YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!
lovely days in the park playing games and watching dogs.
breakfast out
we are so in love its just ridiculous and awesome
FREE time.
So much hard this week, spilling over from last week. Gah!
The Hard:
– Last week, one of my dogs, Ginny, ate a toy and had to have emergency surgery to remove it. It was touch-and-go for a while because her intestines were quite angry and unresponsive.
– This week, another dog, Phoebe, had surgery so the vet could biopsy one of everything in an attempt to figure out what’s wrong with her. Every test has either been negative or inconclusive. This is the last resort. She’s lost 25% of her body weight in less than two months and since she started out as a 8lb dog, we’re running out of time.
– I worked my friggin tail off to meet a ridiculous deadline only to be met with “We’re going in a different direction and we don’t need you anymore” yesterday. I was a contractor, so no severance, no vacation pay, nothing.
– Since I’ve had over $10,000 in vet bills in the last six months, I have very little in savings, so I’m stressed about finding another job post-haste.
– Ridiculous nightmares and panic attacks re:my dog ripping open her incision and eating her own intestines. Yeah. I know. I guess my vet thought I’d go easy on Ginny and not make her wear the e-collar, so she told me a ghastly story about another dog’s demise.
– Will have to wait-wait-wait until mid-week next week to hear anything about Phoebe’s biopsies.
– I am out of excuses (legitimate and lame) to clean my house.
The Good:
– Ginny is healing nicely. Her intestines decided to play nice and heal instead of dying. Yay!
– Phoebe doesn’t even act like she had surgery, two days afterwards.
– Yeah, I’m anxious about being unemployed because I have no safety net (e.g., family with buckets of cash who want to pay my mortgage), but who wants to work in a toxic workplace? Not me. I was going to look for a job anyway, but hadn’t put much effort into it because I was so tired all the time from having the lifeforce sucked out of me every single day.
– I can attend to my much-neglected blog.
– I just came up with another blog idea!
– The bottom line is: God always takes care of me. Always has. Always will. And if he’s the only person in my life I can completely trust, well, that’s okay.
– It’s almost Easter! I won’t go off on a religious tangent here, but Easter is a big deal to me.
– The Redbud tree outside my front door is in full bloom, along with some purpley, fragrant flowers in the flower bed right next to the front door. Makes me want to walk in and out my front door a thousand times a day.
– I am out of excuses (legitimate and lame) to clean my house.
The good: I love the program I’m visiting. I think it’s splendid and would suit me so well. People are impossibly friendly and helpful. Compared to the other program it just feels so much more nurturing and happy and me-like.
The hard: The climate and the allergens thereof feel like they would kill me (humid heat + *visible pollen*…). I’m realizing that there are good reasons why I have never been this far south before. It’s impressively painful.
I have no idea what I should do about this.
And the rest is still there, mostly on the order of middling and not of major immediate importance, so it can wait. Happy Friday!
The Hard:
Not getting enough rest because I was installing an exhibition then getting utterly exhausted and feeling cross about it.
Someone throwing a shoe at me this morning, which I really did NOT need today.
Being stuck in a place of struggle yet again and not knowing how to get out of it.
Feeling massive guilt because I haven’t updated my blog yet this week.
The Good:
Being in an exhibition this week and managing to pull off making and installing a brand new piece (even though I said in a previous VPA that I wasn’t going to go down that road of madness).
Being accepted for an art website that I’d been putting off applying to for 8 years.
Realising that the person throwing the shoe was projecting his own stuff onto me and anyway, it’s just a comment on the internet, it’s not the end of the world.
.-= Kirsty Hall´s last post … 7 Ways To Evaluate Art Sites =-.
The hard:
Having no control over my environment because my apartment is still being repaired so I’m living with the in-laws (week five!). Desperately needing the ability to say “no, really, I can’t handle any more people being in this house right now” and having no right to say it because it’s not my house.
Lots of hiding in my room (the guest room). Lots of not being productive as I hide. Lots of feeling guilty about not being productive as I hide.
Stuckness, stuckness, stuckness, and waiting for people to get back to me regarding work and hoping I don’t go broke in the process. And meanwhile throwing shoes at myself. And knowing better but STILL throwing them!
The good:
Although it will not be in the same place my yoga instructor contacted me and there will be classes on Saturdays. Yay breathing and yay getting out of this house!
I will start doing some work next week. Yay income!
Left the house today, ALL DAY, and ate good Indian food and played frisbee in a lovely park, with a nice soft breeze and a late afternoon sun . . .
Have a great weekend chickeneers!
@Havi I can still eat fruit (and that’s a very good thing!), but it’s supposed to be fresh fruit, not cooked or dried, and I’m not supposed to eat just fruit by itself as a meal/snack. So I can something else and then an apple for dessert, but I can’t have just an apple for a snack. This is going to take some getting used to.
I’m not a real big fan of nuts on their own. It’s a texture thing for me. Nuts are fine as an ingredient if they’re ground really fine, but as bigger pieces they seem like bits of wood to me. Sawdust = ok, bits of wood = yuck. Yes, I am a picky eater.
Not a coffee fan at all, so I’m not sure about the chicory. I’m a decaf tea person (I love Tetley. Their decaf tea actually tastes like tea!), but no more honey in my tea. Kind of sad about this. I’ll adjust though.
@ilikered Thanks, I’ll take a look at her site.
.-= Riin´s last post … Marbles =-.
I feel like my week was one big pile of hard, and I’m now in catch up *and* recovery modes. Ugh. I’m hoping things will be better next week!
The hard:
– trying to get the info I needed in order to be able to plan and get ready for my brother-in-law and his family’s visit, and not getting it despite repeatedly asking for it very very clearly
– the day they came for the visit; the headache I had when they left was of epic proportions, and I almost never have headaches so it was truly horrible
The good:
– having a KT small group call right after our visitors left and being able to (semi-)actively participate even though I was exhausted and had no clue how in the world I’d find the strenght to think in English with that killer headache
– finding out at the end of that call that my headache was gone! Yay!
– next week can’t be worse 🙂
.-= Josiane´s last post … Middle of the night musings =-.
Hi there, Easter bunnies and Easter chicken. This is a Saturday chicken for me, didn’t make it yesterday.
The hard:
– Complete meltdown during session with therapist on Thursday.
– Overreacting during a discussion my husband brought up because I was still even more sensitive because of the above.
– Figuring out that my passport expired, now I need to pay double to get an express one done.
The good:
– Booking a trip to Dubai and India. Totally exited.
– Figuring out that with this express passport thing I will be able to sort out passport and visa on time.
– Taking godchild to see a children’s opera and having sushi afterwards.
– Meeting my oldest close friend (in terms of age, she is 70).
Have a sunny long weekend everyone!
It was an emotional roller coaster of a week, but at least it ended on an up note!
The hard:
– hit a bump in the road, HARD. Serious overwhelm, mourning of loss, and self-doubt. Bleah.
– shoulder flare-up kept me out of yoga – boo!
The good:
– I’ve been doing SUCH a good job taking care of myself!
Including:
– lots of fun/social time (2 Passover dinners + 2 other dates with girlfriends + another special connection)
– excellent emotion-processing (also qualifies as hard, but is definitely very, very good!)
– GIG last night! A reminder that I’m good at this! Fun! And sold a CD!
– did a great job setting a limit and saying no
– Photoshop-filtered a headshot into something I actually really *like* for my blog!
– Just remembered: my migraine WENT AWAY! Yay for the healing powers of coffee (which I only drink as a last resort to scare away migraines)!
– got PAST bump in the road and am feeling hopeful again
Yes, I did get a chance to meet Selma while I was in Portland last week. And because I HAVE been somewhat of a stalker of the little yellow-feathered-fowl, she felt the need to bring a chaperone with her. (In the person of @Havi.)
I braved the rain and cold to head to a lovely restaurant (The Tin Roof?) to meet the girls, but because of congestion (not mine, the restaurant’s) we decided to relocate. That’s how I ended up having BEER WITH THE YOGA LADY.
Talk about outside the paradigm! I’m knocking back brewskis in a microbrewery with the object of my affection and the lovely Miss Havi. (Well, it was only one brewski.) (And Selma wasn’t drinking.)
But still. Very surprising. Other amazing things I learned while there:
>>Selma is still single, despite many mail-order-duck husbands that have been submitted.
>>Havi consumes bar food. Including french fries.
>>Both @MarkHeartOfBiz and @Havi have identical advice for me on my blogging career.
>>A rank amateur attempting the “Dance Of Shiva” in a restaurant booth can result in broken crockery and flying ducks.
>>Time flies when you’re having fun.
I hope that now Selma can see that I’m not really a stalker, just a deranged fan. And maybe she’ll leave that other chick home on our next date.
.-= Dick Carlson´s last post … Is Learning Going Down The Toilet? =-.
@Riin: what about something like celery + peanut butter or hummus?
The hard:
Work during the day and reiki sessions in the evening steals away lots of time. I have serious admiration for anyone who attempts to run a business around their day job.
Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy.
Writing is blocked. I feel like I have nothing to say that is of any use to anyone.
Poor pup slipped and fell on the slippery boardwalk and was sad and hurt – and I was sad because just before I released his leash, I thought, “This is probably not a good spot to do this, he is going to race off and slip.” Yeah.
I cut out grains for the month to see how they affect me and seem to be replacing them with sugar.
The good:
My reiki people are remarkably detailed in describing their experience. Love them.
I know why I’m sleepy (the wheat thing, very much lacking in carbs).
I know why my writing is blocked – the muse wants me to write about something and I am resisting. Don’t. Want.
Reeses PB cups – seriously the best thing ever.
The tulip fields appear to be in bloom!
To everyone – hugs for the hard and cheers for the good!
.-= Elizabeth´s last post … there is extraordinary in the ordinary =-.
I wasn’t going to comment this week as I kind of want to forget that last week ever happened, but then I thought…surely there has to be something good.
Bad
– went out for a works party where my drink was spiked (think either PCP or ketamine) – leading to violence, smashing myself about, hallucinating – although I don’t remember any of it. Am now covered in injuries bad enough for my close friends to ask if I’m sure I haven’t been raped, and to top it all off, the person who I was with has written a mean blog post about it.
– some guy tried to sexually assault my friend when we were in a pub on Friday
– oh, and because I’ve only worked at my office for 3 months, now everyone thinks that I’m some kind of maniac that has pychotic episodes after a few glasses of white wine
Good
– I decided that I needed to get back on the horse and actually managed to have a good night out on Thursday during which nobody nearly got assaulted or poisoned.
– bizarre as this may seem, apart from The Horrific Incident, Friday was a pretty good day too
– spent some quality time with friends on Friday night
– chilling, loafing, reading excellent books, feeling safe
Maybe they’re not entirely even (!) but…sometimes theres still a scrap of silver.
Wishing you safety and support and healthy recovery, much stability and comfort. Thanks for chickening — I’m glad you were able to find some slivers of silver in all that hard (even though it would be completely understandable if you couldn’t). And sending LOVE!