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’m all bruised right now.
Blaming the roller rink. And the ’80s.
But other than that, things are okay.
This is actually the first time in a looooong time when the good in my week so easily outranked the hard. So that’s kind of weird/cool.
And here we are. Friday. For the Chicken.
The hard stuff
Experimenting with being non-internet-ey.
That is, connecting to the internet in short spurts (ten minutes here and there) and then remembering to disconnect.
It’s more of a symbolic practice than anything else. But as with any thing-that-you-are-shifting, it’s been challenging and hard.
I did surprise myself by remembering to do it more often than not, but it really just brings so much more attention to how easy it is to get sucked into webbery.
Working more than I want to be.
And seeing the effects of that and still not stopping.
Worrying about details.
Details details details details. Not to mention: aaaaaaagh, what about the details?
It’s so much fun being around me.
Trying to figure out my calendar for the year.
Totally stresses me out.
Winter dark dark dark.
I like waking up early. And I like waking up to natural light. And those two things don’t go together.
Portland is still doing its flamboyantly gorgeous autumn thing but you can feel the dark and the cold creeping in, especially when I’m going about my morning rituals.
The good stuff
I have a crown.
Well, Hiro told me I should wear one for when I’m practicing my sovereignty stuff.
Because Hiro is awesome.
But then I was all frantic about good god, where am I going to get a crown?
And then I remembered that Dana the Spicy Princess gave me a tiara last year. Which is at least one reason why you should always have a friend who sells sex toys.
Actually, I’m not completely sure how those two things are connected, but Dana assures me they are.
Anyway. I am now a pretty pretty princess. And I have been wearing it while Making Difficult Decisions and deciding on navigational changes for the pirate ship.
Oh, the metaphors. They get mixed. But that’s okay.
Foods. Again.
Being back from Extremely Necessary Vacation means all sorts of good things.
I’m baking again. Home-baked bread! It is the best. Really, I’m not good at much in the kitchen aside from dancing in it, but I make fantastic bread.
There are hard-boiled eggs at breakfast. Which means I get to sing my little egg song.
It’s not the milk song, but I like it.
And my gentleman friend has been cooking up a storm. A storm!
Jennifer Louden: we love her.
You know Jennifer Louden, right? Smart, wonderful to-hell-with-self-improvement Jen? She generously agreed — almost a year ago — to teach a class for my At The Kitchen Table With Havi & Selma program. And it was this week.
And it was amazing.
That woman! I love her! She is full of smartnesses.
Hiro and Janet did a terrific job of facilitating, and the whole thing was just really cool. Yay.
Friends. In real life and stuff.
Hanging out with wonderful Dana, the aforementioned Spicy Princess.
Dangerously good brunch with Denise.
Finally got to meet Jason, whom you might know as @allpraxis (formerly @metanoid) if you’re on the twitters. I already thought he was awesome, and yes, I was completely right. Total sweetheart. He and Selma hit it off completely.
Since I normally don’t see anyone aside from Selma and the gentleman friend, this was an extremely social week for moi. Which is usually something that stresses me out, but this week was just lovely.
This coming week is the best week ever.
Not to jinx it or anything.
But tomorrow is Roller Derby! Derby! Ass-kicking! Me losing my voice again!
Also, did I mention a thousand times yet that Selma and I are sponsoring Guns N Rollers this year? Because wheeeeeee!
And then we will be visiting Hiro! Yay! I get to meet my dear friend in person! Very, very exciting.
And … playing live at the meme beach house!
Yes, that’s a Stuism too.
My brother and I have this thing where we come up with ridiculous band names and then say in this really pretentious, knowing tone, “Oh, well, you know, it’s just one guy.”
So this week, I bring you:
Dollop Of Hate
I think it’s that one death-metal band that plays at cupcake shops. Or something.
Anyway, it’s just one guy.
And ā¦ STUISMS of the week.
Stu is my paranoid McCarthy-ist voice-to-text software who delights in torturing me misunderstanding me. I can’t stand him.
This week’s gems:
- “doll up of Haight” instead of dollop of hate
- “It’s really sleazy for us to start tilting ourselves” instead of It’s really easy for us to start guilting ourselves
- “Mars or Mario’s Rotary” instead of tomorrow is roller derby
- “hardware will exit breakfast” instead of hard boiled eggs at breakfast
- “it’s always advocated in a cave to be healing” instead of it’s always an okay thing to be feeling
- “every venue to Tara” instead of everyone needs a tiara
- “for sure truce mentioned to Florence” instead of chartreuse magenta and orange
- “bang by Master Carl” instead of paying by mastercard
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
What sleazy thing will happen when we “start tilting ourselves”? so much possibility…..
Ahem, this week was a lot better than last. Mostly that’s because I got to be at home and working.
so The Hard
i still have this lingering stress and it IS work specific. Some days are harder than others, i worry that i do a good job of ignoring it sometimes which could lead me to being bitten on the arse rather than spurred into action.
My butterfly brain. I’ve really struggled to concentrate on work stuff because i want to do creative stuff.
British politics – fascinating at the moment which means i want to blog about it ALL the TIME (see above re: concentration)…
Saying goodbye to Morag the White MacBook, my trusty companion for nearly three years.
The Good
the work related stress is time-limited. DO the report, there is no Try. When it’s done, go out and get drunk.
My butterfly brain: the creative is active, that’s a good thing. Just need the time.
Watched twitter take apart a racist and homophobic politician who was appearing on TV in the UK
Morag the MacBook has gone to London to make a 13 year old boy really happy with lots of music and movie-making fun and games. He’s going to love her very much.
And sometimes I get to do the creative for work: I am writing a speech that I will give next week: I love a good podium.
love to all the Universal Chickens!
Lucy x
http://www.lucysweetman.co.uk
Well, clearly “Bang” is the new hit single by Master Carl, who is… just one guy.
It’s been a while, but I have good excuses…
Hard:
-Uncertainty with C still job hunting.
-Losing my temp position at work and going back to the normal grind
-Staying up ’til midnight fighting with Ikea furniture.
-The Social Secuity Administration’s name-change process
-The Yankees lost, which makes C sad.
Good:
+Married! Yay!
+Honeymoon in Italy could not have gone much better.
+I was an Item this week!
+Phillies made the World Series again!
+Now that the apartment is set up, I should have time to start writing in the evenings again. NaNoWriMo, here I come!
.-= Laura GĀ“s last post … In which selfishness is selfless? =-.
@Laura G
NaNoWriMo! oh I wish i could be there too but i fear it would play havoc with the deadline described above..
good luck with your writing space…
http://www.lucysweetman.co.uk
@Laura G
Oh, how I understand the yuckitude of the name change process. I waited in line for 6 hours! No lie. And, after all that, they spelled my name wrong!
Hard-
-Older, non-married sister called up crying that I don’t reach out enough. I fell to tears. It’s hard to be younger and married because it’s as if I moved on, leaving her and her right to be more experienced and wiser behind.
-A deep longing wish to connect with more people with my similar interest has left me feeling shunned and in the dark.
Good-
-Visited my parents and took care of them. Cooked, cleaned, listened with honor to their needs. They are aging before my eyes and I never want to lose them. Weird that this is good, huh?
-Met a lovely craft women whom I interviewed and wrote about. I admire her technical craft using light. Truly warms me up as the dark months approach
.-= Lydia, Clueless CrafterĀ“s last post … HouseCraft: Illuminate Your World from the Inside Out =-.
Sleazy Tilting? Yeah, that’s just one guy. He plays a ukelele.
Um…
Chickens. OK. Wow. It’s Friday. How did that happen?
Hard:
-Not sleeping enough. I know it, but I don’t know how to fix it without losing time that I need for myself. Yuck.
-Time and space. There’s not enough of it. And there’s too much to do in what little of it there is. And what little of it there is is under attack. Seemingly. Grumble.
-Weird guilt about anything and everything that could possibly bring on weird guilt. Where is it coming from?
-The dark and the rain, making me feel dark and rainy. This too shall pass. Next week is daylight savings, and then my 4:15 wakeup won’t be quite so predawn as it is now.
-I finally made the time to start writing the thing. But then I sat staring at my screen, utterly terrified for 30 minutes.
Good:
-After 30 minutes of terror, I said, “just one word. one word at a time” and it came…slowly. The thing is officially blossoming on a page now and not just flitting around the brain lights like a moth.
-Owls. There are many, many owls right now. Not just the two who always live in our trees. And they’re talking pretty much all the time when it’s dark, which is a lot. Insomnia is much better with owls.
-Little Bird’s sense of humor is amazing. She cracks me up all the time. And I love her mis-use of words so much. I picked up a buckeye for her the other day, and she’s calling it a “bucket eye.” (She slept with it last night.) And tarot cards are “sparrow cards.”
-Having permission to not be great at the thing. From myself. Just because I’ve been thinking about doing it for 20 years doesn’t make me an expert. Thinking about it is not doing it. I’m a beginner, despite 20 years of imaginings and fantasy-life piled on top of the thing. But I release that now, and the thing can be what it is. It might suck. That was the fear. All the expectation on top of it made me terrified of possible suckiness. I give myself permission to do it, without even thinking about whether it’s good or bad. It was much easier for me to do this with the stuff that didn’t have all that baggage (drawing, painting…etc.). But writing? Writing fiction? Looooottts of baggage. But the baggage is checked now. Gone through the X-ray machine and up, up and away. Whoopee!
.-= EmilyĀ“s last post … First There Is a Mountain, Then There Is No Mountain, Then There Is =-.
Oooh, I think I missed a chicken. Happy you had a good week, Havi. I may need a tiara myself. Fantastic idea.
Hard: Scared about the upcoming house move (2 weeks). Sooo much stuff to arrange. So many other people to rely on to do their bit. So much worry that they’re not going to.
Way way way distracted. My brain just does not want to focus. My Shiva Nata habit is lying in a corner somewhere, wondering what happened. I look at it now and then and wonder the same thing. š
Good: Back into yoga at least. Whew. Nothing like it to put you back into your body. I’m sure the Shiva Nata thing will come back to me too. I just need a… well, I just need to figure out what I need. Yes, that.
I sorted out everything for the Comics Event I’ve got this weekend, even the new book, which I left for the very last moment, is printed and ready for sale. Whew, again.
I have friends who offer to put me up over the weekend when comics events are on in London. And then, when they’re sick, they find me another friend to do it instead. There’s… a network. This is very cool.
.-= Willie HewesĀ“s last post … Sassy Friend =-.
I have a tiara! (The troupe decided we needed all one, so last year’s Haflaween performance was as Princesses).
The Hard:
* Same old, same old.
* Allergies.
* Time (or lack thereof) for creativity.
The Good:
* Epiphanies! Permission! Binky!
* Decisions finally MADE!
* Performance tomorrow evening.
* Get my windshield fixed tomorrow morning.
* Troupie put up a troupe website of photos of our Raks Wackiness, including those tiaras!
* Very creative mindset, despite lack of time for it!
.-= G. RomillyĀ“s last post … Binky Gives Permission =-.
Yay Friday Chicken! I do love me some Chicken.
Hard:
– My sweet dog spent a day and a half crying and whimpering and running into walls after his big scary vet procedure. I guess it was the anesthesia. Very upsetting.
– Big vet bill. Bigger than expected.
– My supposed new client flaked out on me. Did I miss a memo? Is this Flake-Out Month?
Good:
+ Got another new client, who did NOT flake out on me. Hooray for non-flaky clients.
+ Art weekend last weekend! We did so many arty things I can’t list them all. It was awesome.
+ I had an icky doctor procedure that usually hurts, but this time didn’t hurt at all.
+ Leaving today for Santa Fe, an artist’s dream vacation. Whee!
.-= Barbara J CarterĀ“s last post … Santa Fe =-.
Yay, chicken!
The hard:
– Crazy busy week with overwhelming deadlines looming. Terrified I’ll miss them.
– Week started out very negatively on the personal front. Lots of yelling at me. Struggling to identify areas in my character that I genuinely should improve vs. unreasonable expecations from others.
– Arm is hurting me. Why, why, why?
– Eye doctor appointment today. Hate having my eyes dilated, plus worried my eyes have gotten much worse and will need a new prescription.
The good:
– Making lots of progress. More than I would have expected.
– Solved emergency problem for customer, and now they want to discuss support proposal. Yay!
– Finally getting into eye doctor. He cancelled 3 times, so this is good.
.-= Avonelle LovhaugĀ“s last post … Top 5 tasks that get missed in software estimates =-.
It’s Friday and Chicken Time already? This was the Week That Was . . .
Hard:
Still feeling a bit bruised and battered from an ugly encounter this week. I don’t want to talk about it.
Good:
So much good this week!
* Janet and I had a wonderful talk with Jen Louden on her brilliant teleclass at the Kitchen Table.
* I wrote most of the copy for my January program and will launch it on Monday! This is beyond exciting! I feel as squirmy as a kid with a shiny new birthday present. š
* Tomorrow I’m taking part in Barbara Sher’s WriteSpeak teleworkshop. Yay!
* Two of my clients made their big dreams happen this past week! Brave, bold, creative clients!
* Havi’s coming to visit!!!
Happy weekend, everyone. And in Stu’s immortal words: “Every venue to Tara!”
Love, Hiro
.-= Hiro BogaĀ“s last post … Questions . . . =-.
The HARD was so hard this week, I’m not prepared to discuss it yet. But knowing that I can and watching other people get that sh*t out there? Boy, howdy. Perks a gal right up.
The GOOD was getting picked for Ignite:Portland, getting some nicenice requests for other fun stuff to participate in/share my thoughts, a good hang with my jewbilly cuz and lifesaving emails.
Let’s hear it for lifesaving emails!
.-= communicatrixĀ“s last post … Ā» Questions. You probably have some. ā The Fluent Self =-.
Havi, I am right there with you on the “you can feel the dark and the cold creeping in” Portland stuff. It is a rough adjustment and seems like it happens so fast!
Oh chicken.. its been quite a week.
Hard:
had one of those crushing feeling pathetic days of hating my job and hating myself for being in it, and had to hear yet another new employee’s story of exotic travel adventures. I think I am the only person here without one of those stories and it kicks my ass. It was a rough day.
READY TO MOVE OUT. things just feel awkward and I’m dealing with a lot of passive aggressive stuff from the gentleman friend and I am ready for The conversation, but want it to be an appropriate time/place so I’m not throwing a big shoe at him you know? hard hard hard hard… ick.
i need to find a home for my cat. it BREAKS MY HEART. i feel so many awful things about this, but when it comes down to it, if i am going to do right by her and myself, she needs a new home. she has to eat hypoallergenic dry food and would love to have outside space and no young kitties that only want to fight with her.
Good:
the crushing pathetic feeling was gone when I woke up the next day. Also, a good friend had a thing to say to me about it when I was IN it and it helped and was awesome.
Moving this weekend! I got my key and I have a few boxes.. need more, but yep. I will have an art studio by the end of the week and my OWN space to shut a door and shiva it up and and and and and so excited and so ready.
*sigh* i feel all fuzzy and giddy and its hard not to grin all the time. I am bursting with potential and energy and feeling like I’m crouched at the starting line just waiting for the gun to go off. its exhausting almost, holding it all together, but GOOD GOOD things are happening and man does it feel great.
āitās always advocated in a cave to be healingā
Yeah, this week was definitely cave week, for whatever reasons. Lots of napping and being gentle with myself for not “getting r done”
The hard:
Hormones, still, and I think I’m a little anemic from the past month. Needing to sleep and eat (a lot on both) to feel more normal.
#2 daughter is still sick. š
The good:
I sold several paintings this week! š š š
The glorious colors of fall are at peak this weekend and the hills are an explosion of oranges and golds, with some amazing red bushes thrown in.
Being able to say “I’m tired and I just want to stay home today” to DH and being heard and spending the day in my pj’s. Helped a lot with the hormone and tired thing.
The vegan pumpkin oatmeal cookies I made for Hadassah’s bake sale were the hit of the party š
The tasty “southwest cabbage soup” I made for myself and have been eating off of all week. Such a big payoff for such a small investment of time and ingredients. Recipe here:
http://cupcakepunk.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/southwestern-cabbage-soup/
Pomegranates are Izzy’s new favorite fruit. Mine too. š
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
.-= AndiĀ“s last post … Taking the Leap =-.
Havi, I used to watch roller derby on tv when I was a kid. I didn’t even know the sport was still around! Makes me smile every time you talk about it. š
Hard
– Deadline stress. Bleh! That it’s avoidable deadline stress just pisses me off and makes me apathetic, which means I can’t concentrate and get my work done, which makes the deadline stress worse. It’s an endless circle.
– Substitute chiropractor. Bleh! She’s a lovely lady and helps lots of patients, but not me, very much. Can’t wait to see my chiro next week.
– Trying to practice gratitude and then having things happen that really make me mad. The two are mutually exclusive, at least in my little world.
– Dreams about my foster puppies being neglected in their new homes.
– Sick kitty. From stress. Makes me feel like a bad mom.
Good
– Sleep. Even if it’s drug-induced, I’ll take it.
– Reading an e-mail newsletter that said, “Whether you want to change career, set up your own business, or embark on your new life as a self employed writer/artist/dog trainer…sometimes the hardest part is knowing where to start.” Uh…I kinda resemble that part about wanting to be the self-employed writer/artist/dog trainer! I think she intended the slashes to me “or”, but I read them as “and”. I don’t know where to go from here, but somehow reading that sentence gave me the warm fuzzies.
– My girls have calmed down quite a bit since their foster brothers went to live with their forever families. Being a foster family was hard on them, too.
– Reading Patricia McConnell (The Other End of the Leash) and Marjorie J. Thompson (Soul Feast). Good stuff!
The Hard:
-Job interview that went well but left me so stressed and anxious and “why did i say THAT?-ing” that I didn’t sleep all night. It’s been years since I’ve had a sleepless night.
The Good:
+The job interview was so good that they hired me the NEXT DAY!
+I have a full-time job with EXCELLENT pay and benefits, doing what I want to be doing!
+My current job is being great about the transition, and are even asking me to stay on remotely (which will mean I’ll have health insurance to cover the gap between jobs, AND make money for doing very little work at home).
+My dissertation defense date is set, and it is all coming together.
+Things with my gentleman friend are delightful and energizing.
+I’m bonding more with his cats, too. š
Itās really sleazy for us to start tilting ourselves. Amen to that!
Hard:
Had to put my dog down. It was time. He and I fell in love at first sight 10 years ago, which has never happened to me with a human. I held him and he went very peacefully. I wish we had euthanasia for humans. Everyone you love holding you and telling you they love you and then whoosh you’re gone. A good death after a good life. But I miss him. I’m also relieved that he is out of pain and that there is no more ambiguity (or ambivalence) about the situation.
Part of the ceiling in a bedroom collapsed from a leaky pipe. The joys of home ownership. Yay.
Good:
Neither of these things were inordinately stressful. The ceiling situation I have met with complete equanimity. Of course, it helps that my fiancĆ© does construction so there is no “how much is this going to cost?” stress.
Making good progress with getting my e-business off the ground.
FiancĆ© will be back from 2Ā½ week trip on Monday.
The weather is gorgeous in Houston right now. Yay fall!
Some very very hard happened yesterday, and eclipsed whatever good might have happened before that, so a chicken is definitely in order. Hopefully, having to remember the good will help.
The hard:
– Pain. Horrible physical pain which, worst of all, felt way too familiar. It was way too close to the one that had brought me to the hospital (and kept me there for almost a week) a few years ago. So on top of that pain, I was scared. My tears contained as much fear than pain, if not more.
– Today, the pain isn’t as scary any more, but it’s still there.
– Having to deal with the fact that I may not be able to avoid surgery much longer, and feeling extremely insecure about the whole thing because I totally don’t have the information I need.
The good:
– Hearing from friends who cared when they learned I was suffering and scared.
– Seeing my gentleman friend’s novel sell like hot cakes at the book fair last weekend. Having to bring in copies from home because the publisher sold out before the end of the bookfair.
– Getting to name the latest creation of a spindle maker whose work I’ve admired for years. I was so excited when I learned they had chosen my suggestion!
– Feeling some teeny tiny shifts happening.
.-= JosianeĀ“s last post … Practicing body poetry with Havi =-.
Hello, chicken!
Hard stuff:
-Oh, how shall I put this delicately? Let’s just say that it would have been nice to hole up in a red tent for much of this week. My body was sending me all kinds of (ahem) messages indicating that it craved stillness, quiet, and peace, but I just couldn’t give myself permission to do that. Too many commitments, too many responsibilities. Which brings us to:
-I am feeling so very overextended, and lately I seem to be responding to that by being very inflexible about tasks and schedules. I get asked to do something relatively small — make a phone call, take on an extra assignment — and it is so hard to get myself to do it. Inner voice says, “No! You can’t! You can’t do it at a time when you already have stuff scheduled, because you already have stuff scheduled, and you can’t do it during your down time, because that’s your down time, damn it!!” (Come to think of it, I’m not so sure there isn’t dollop of good mixed in with this hard. I’m protecting myself, and while there may be some calibration issues to work out, the instinct is a healthy one.)
Good stuff:
-Some very lovely and meaningful moments with music therapy clients this week. At least I don’t have to feel that I was dragging myself out of the house for no good purpose!
-Getting a lot of comfort and nourishment from this blogspace. I seem to have settled in to stay a while, so, hi, everyone!
.-= spiralsongkatĀ“s last post … Thereās a nap for that. =-.
How is it Friday already? It seems like it was just Sunday when I couldn’t decide on a good VPA, haha… And yet, I’m so so glad this week is over. Isn’t that just the way?
The Hard:
– Allergies. Phlegm. Fuzziness. Bleh.
– Piglet feelings of worry about Woozles and Heffalumps and generally feeling like a Very Small Animal in a Very Big World.
– Slid into full-on inner Eeyore on Weds, when I had to be Tigger with errands and more errands.
– Insomnia contributing to the fuzz and meh.
– No more Farmer’s Market until May. Wah.
The Good:
+ Haunted Pirates! Went to the Pirates of Emerson haunted houses with friends — did 5 of the 6 with them, and was smart enough not to go into the super-squicky one.
+ Accomplishy week got things done, despite the moods. Still working on the balance of billable hours, but it’s a balance I’m growing into.
+ Finally got some sleep last night, and had a good meeting today despite oversleeping. Don’t think the client noticed I’d just woken up. š
+ Pumpkin donuts and White Russians helped cure Wednesday’s Eeyore mood.
+ Good friends are good.
+ Good clients are also good.
+ Good kittehs are the best of all.
+ Full of bubbling inspiration about several of my works in progress, and just need to take time this weekend to paint and write.
.-= Amy CrookĀ“s last post … Today I Am Just a Very Small Animal =-.
Hmmm… I got nothin. But I love everyone else’s chicken! Personally, I only eat the breast…
.-= JessicaĀ“s last post … i stopped making plans in college =-.
Ooh, chicken! Just a quick one, then, because it’s past my bedtime.
The hard:
– We all have headcolds, and the Feaster (almost 2) is sleeping like a baby – i.e. awake half the night.
– The weather has been grim: dark and wet, winter flexing its knuckles.
The good:
+ I’m inching closer to an understanding with my demons regarding a product I’m attempting to develop.
+ A couple of lovely social events and a great choir rehearsal.
+ The kids are being creative and brilliant (when not, you know, whinging at me at 4am). The Oyster (5) was adding indexes to the books he was writing this afternoon – that’s what you get for being a copyeditor’s child, I suppose.
+ Driving home from the supermarket this evening, I turned on the radio, and the big march sequence from Verdi’s Aida was playing, which turned out to be exactly what I needed to lift my mood. I’ve been feeling basically light and content all evening.
All in all, a pretty good week!
.-= Lean Ni Chuilleanain (@leannich)Ā“s last post … Socks! Well, One Sock =-.
Chicken!
The hard:
Difficult to integrate into daily life after a very good retreat – lots of emotion was stirred up and while it was good, it’s just difficult to re-adjust to daily life which is not quite so loving and supportive and nurturing.
The sore on the puppy’s foot is hurting him, which makes me panicky because I first noticed it about a month ago – it seems like it should have healed by now.
Insomnia. Ugh.
Mornings are dark. My body wants to align to light – this is not helping.
The good:
Retreating. I highly recommend it.
My puppy is home with me again – and the vet visit and foot soaks seem to be helping his foot at least somewhat.
Peeks of glorious vibrant autumn color between raindrops.
Yin yoga.
Yellow wellies.
The bag of salt water taffy from the coast was enormously soul-comforting – even though I am not always fond of taffy.
Hugs all around for the hard.
.-= elizabethĀ“s last post … dance into the light =-.
Despite your bruises, you’ve reminded me how much I want to find a rink not too far to roller skate at.
And I totally love that you sponsor a roller derby team. A lovely balance to your self-described hippyness.
Don’t usually do the Friday Chicken, but since I’m here…
Hard: going to storage and finding it in greater disarray due to other folks than I’d last seen it.
Having to make phone calls, though ultimately not so bad.
My local-ish photo shop doesn’t sell lint-free cotton gloves anymore. And their line was busy for 1/2 an hour.
101+ fever for a couple days.
Good: At the moment where hope was lost & resignation accepted, I found the box I was looking for in storage. I just read the contents of that final box a bit more carefully and saw what I was looking for because I didn’t let myself get stressed out. Still good even though the glove didn’t work out because I hate not being able to find things I know I have.
Found mostly lint-free cotton gloves at a local drugstore saving me from ordering them online.
Didn’t feel too badly despite the fever. Kept mellow, worked on sorting, de-packaging & re-packaging my negatives. Thought I didn’t have enough time to deal with boxing them up and getting them shipped off, but discovered a UPS store open till 6 instead of 5. Again, just when I was telling myself it’d be ok if I had to wait until tomorrow or Monday, I found the extra time I needed to do it today.
Seriously, I’m so stoked about that that nothing else seems that bad this week.
Also, my bro’s dental surgery went very well today, so yea!
Now I’m just hoping I didn’t overdo it today with my running around. Fingers crossed and a super mellow evening ahead!
.-= claireĀ“s last post … Beautiful People =-.
p.s. also to the good: the moment I thought, “I do not want to expend my energy this way,” and left the room containing two people engaged in an animated/vigorous discussion.
Granted the fever–though not making me feel much except cold–was depleting my reserves. Anyway, the point is sovereignty FTW!
.-= claireĀ“s last post … Beautiful People =-.
Chicken! I do love a chicken!
The hard:
– Lots of physical labor this week. I don’t mind doing it, but I’m way out of shape, which makes it ouchy.
– Little wrenches in the works this week, throwing my plans out of whack.
The good:
– My giveaway went up over at ClevelandHandmade.com yesterday, and it has a ton of entries so far.
– I finally bought my iPhone! My joy in this little piece of technology is boundless.
– I’m ahead of the game on next week’s work, so I can relax this weekend. First time in a while.
.-= Lori PaximadisĀ“s last post … tidbits: extra tidbit-y edition =-.
Happy to hear you had a good week for the most part – minus the bruising. Ooooouch!
My Good:
-my kids are both home and things are going well
-i’m taking barbara’s writespeak program on november 1st
and very exciting
-started blogging daily (not my biz blog but barbara’s blog that i created for the program)
-made a paradigm shift about why i’ve felt so disappoitned in others and realized that i need to turn more towards the Divine for my needs than for people for the issues that have come up
-realized that some mood issues are the result of weaning off medication which should level out in the next 4 weeks or so. a great piece to have in place.
-solving sleeplessness with meditating when i’m wakeful at night which seems to be working
-coming to peace with some relationships that have ended
Whatever hard there was this week has been eclipsed by all the good!
Love that. Have a great weekend.
.-= CharĀ“s last post … Happy New Year!!! =-.
Deciding and committing to show up, for the first time, at the Friday Chicken cocktail party was definitely up there in the āhardā part š
Another hard part was finishing a 15-week volunteer assignment, saying goodbyes, going out to farewell drinks and accepting that I accomplished less than I wanted to. And feeling OK about saying it to myself and to others. And trying to understand what it means, for right now and for later, to say openly that I did not do my best and that the whole assignment was a difficult experience for me.
Good stuff. And the grand prix goes toā¦ Shiva Nata! The DVD is still in the mail, so itās probably more accurate to say that I am doing āDance of Jeniaā rather than āDance of Shivaā (based on pictures and articles entirely ā no video download luck in this country). Practiced three times this week, going into it saying to myself āI really cannot be bothered, and I am not sure it works for me, and no breakthroughs are going to happen anyway, but itās only ten minutes, so I am going to do it to just check it off the list and say that I was right about this arm-waving stuff being yet another yoga nonsenseā. And yes, all three times I got some amazing, very visual, very neat ābing!ā moments. Immense gratitude and appreciation to everyone (Andrey! Havi! Selma!) and everything that directed me towards Shiva Nata.
Another good stuff is letting go of this above-mentioned assignment and accepting that the past is the past. The door opens either way ā I can come back to visit and draw more lessons from this experience whenever I feel like, but for now Iāve chosen to walk out of the door and move on to the next thing.
Chicken!
The good:
– having an extra hour for sleep this weekend because daylight saving is turned off
– having dinner with colleagues/friends and meeting their partners
The hard:
– friend unexpectedly lost one of her highschool friends
– work, haven’t yet found any routine or ritual to make it go smoothly, nor have I found out what’s the stuck
I used to have a hard time waking and especially getting up in the dark, but now that I’ve developed my own morning ritual I must say that doing it while it is still dark outside gives me a pleasant feeling of being in a nice cocoon of my own making and comfortably getting ready to face the day. The cold in the morning, however, is not so pleasant. Yay for comfy blankets!
Chickens! Chickens! Hey guys! Thanks for doing my weekly thing — it is so completely the happy part of my week chickening in with you.
@Amy Crook – haunted pirates! Best. Ever.
@claire – sovereignty FTW! Yay.
@Jenia – hi! Appreciating how hard the hard is (it really is) and happy you’re here at the cocktail hour — which I’m completely borrowing from you now. Brilliant.
Yay for the Dance of Jenia and yay for your unexpected moments of bing. I love it!
@spiralsongkat *blows kiss*
@everyone — Hugs all around for the hard. So much of it. And celebrating with you for all the good bits.
Every single one of you is in my heart. I love that through this thing that has totally turned into a witnessing ritual, we get to be part of each other’s week.
p.s. where’s casey?
Missed doing this yesterday. I was in a van for 8 hrs traveling to Vancouver.
So it’s a Saturday Chicken for me…
The Hard
– missing the Gemini’s. It was a really important night for my girlfriend who was nominated for her role as “Mamma Yamma” on kids TV. I really wanted to be there.
-my aunt died of a heart attack. It’s extra hard to deal with this while I’m a million miles away on tour.
-getting a cold on tour
-not getting enough time alone. Spending every minute of the day with 6 lovely people. It’s still fun, but I’m a hermit by nature.
-trying to stay connected with Ali while we’re in different worlds and time-zones. That’s really hard.
The Good
-laughing a lot every day
-playing great music every day
– listening to Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking on audiobook. So awesome.
-an amazing fancy meal with the band in Edmonton
-riding my bike around Chicago
-running every morning
I only read Havi’s Chicken and the next few comments, so I’ll have to copy this and read it on my next looong drive.
Have good week every body!
xo
.-= Christine BougieĀ“s last post … 9 shows, 56 hours in a van =-.
Ha! Stu *loves* me! That’s why he’s saying things like “venues to Tara”!
.-= TaraĀ“s last post … Fiber Friday ā Juxtaposition Edition =-.
Hello my lovely. Wheeee for all the goodness and happiness, hurrah.
Herewith my week:
The Hard
*packing up on site – ugh, goodbyes and stuff and discombobulation on a massive scale, wondering what is happening, where my desk shall be next week. All sorts of not knowing.
*wondering what happened to my time – because… where’s it gone? KAPOOF – my week was over and I was sitting there thinking ??? What?
*Walking like a penguin and having to go down the stairs sideways and up them on all fours. So dignified. Because OW my legs – they complained at running 13.1 miles in 2:22
*Snot – still! Ugh gross. Cold be gone.
The Good:
*Packing up on site – forward movement after all this dithering. Hurrah. An end and a beginning. A shift. Done. The road is built and open and we did it.
*I ran a half marathon. After being diagnosed with M.E. just a few months ago. Bloody fantastic me! And my legs and my lungs are just so clever and only took two days to recover from that very big challenge.
*An interview for a potentially WOW opportunity. Scary, scary just thinking of the change. But a change and a job and an opportunity to make what I will of. Yippee!
*Epiphanies about patterns. I mean they happen with me on a daily basis anyhow, but these are patterns that are long standing and have a big effect on how I deal and relate to people, so it’s about chaning relationships so that they become a gazillion times better and that is good. Ja.
*India! I go to India in just a few days. Wheeeeeeeeeee! I am so excited. Just one big adventure. With a gorgeous sun hat.
Hoorah. I love autumn and November is nearly here. Novemeber! My favourite month. And I have a really cool hat to wear this winter.
.-= WormyĀ“s last post … Clothes! Hats! Men Dressing Up! Oh, Handbags and Hairstyles ā itās all happening here. =-.
Sunday Chicken – the better-late-than-never edition.
Stu has some great ones this week! I think my favorites are:
1) āItās really sleazy for us to start tilting ourselvesā instead of Itās really easy for us to start guilting ourselves
2) āhardware will exit breakfastā instead of hard boiled eggs at breakfast
3) “itās always advocated in a cave to be healingā instead of itās always an okay thing to be feeling
And my chicken is painfully (heh) short.
The good:
+ ribcage healing, slowly but surely.
+ The hippie husband surprised me with a Globe Bar! It’s pure awesome.
+ confirmed new project starting Thursday so income will be assured and I can get out of this boring house. Forced rest is never fun.
+ Silly hairs pretty much guarantee that I’ll never have to work a “normal” job again.
The hard:
– Avoiding the pity party that tries to take up residence in me.
– Still dwelling on being fired from the volunteer gig. Fired for trying to help just really sucks.
– Too injured to Shiva or yoga. Starting to feel like Jabba the Hut.
Queens wear tiaras too, probably especially pirate queens. No mixed metaphors there.
So, making this a habit, as it’s a good practice:
The hard. It was a big, difficult week:
-Calling my partner on his alcohol dependency which he’d acquired during a horrible, stressful period and acknowledging the stress and hurt that it inflicted on me.
-downloading and reconnecting with a lot of buried emotions, including some quite surprising and tearful-panicky ones from emotional abuse I suffered in my early 20s.
-almost giving up on the whole relationship and mentally preparing to move back to Australia, 7 months after moving to the UK
The good. Thankfully it more than balanced out the hard, and has left the end of the week feeling the most unstuck it’s been in months:
-my partner accepting that he does have a problem and deciding to go teetotal for 2 months. He’s stuck to it so far.
-me, gently, not accepting responsibility for him doing this. He needs to do it for his own reasons, not because I tell him to. Bonus unstuck points for him!
-taking a half day off work when all the emotions came crashing home to nap/process them, rather than stocily slodiering through.
-observing the emotions from the old abuse and realising that I’m actually getting better, facing it rather than dampening it and hiding. Really tough, but it also means I’m feeling safer and more confident in me.
-seeing my partner be a lot lighter and more present with only a week of not drinking. Feeling lighter and more present myself as a result.
-we found a house! Our house! Yay housey-house. Rather than 3 people living in a 2 bedroom flat, with my step-daughter on alternate weekends sleeping at the foot of the bed, we shall now be two people, in a 2 bedroom flat. With space! And connectedness! And things that make my home MY home. Finally, some roots after 7 months of tossing about at the whim of others.
.-= KarinneĀ“s last post … Last week was: a long breath out (the Yay! edition) =-.
@Casey – we want pictures of the silly hairs! And we want you to get better! And I don’t know about everyone else but I think it’s ridiculously stupid that anyone dared to fire you from a volunteer job that you love. Colossally unfair!
@Karinne – hug. Good for feeling safer and more confident in you. I also go through that meeting/remembering emotional abuse and cycling through falling apart and then noticing and interacting and falling apart and and and. It’s rough. I’m glad you’re feeling lighter.
@everyone – good thoughts for this new week. xoxo
Yes! This works.