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.

The hard stuff.

Sometimes things hurt.

So my friend committed suicide. We’ve covered that. And maybe you remember how shaken up I was when I found out.

Well, I’m still shaken up. Sometimes it’s a little easier. And sometimes it hits harder than others. And this week was just plain hard.

I go into a cafe and they’re playing some heartbreakingly beautiful song and I think oh, I’ll go up to the counter and ask what it is and then I’ll have something incredible to play for him when I’m back in Tel Aviv. And then I remember.

Or I eat a peach and I think, “Man, eating a peach is just the most fantastically ecstatic experience ever. Being alive is so freaking great I can hardly stand it.” And then I remember.

Or out at the Oregon coast, practicing Shiva Nata on the roof, with the ocean below me and the sun glowing at the horizon’s edge … I’ve never been here and yet it’s completely familiar.

Then I remember. The last time I danced Shiva Nata on a roof above the sea with the sun about to set over it was on his roof in Neve Tzedek. It was the Mediterranean, not the Pacific, but it’s the same huge sky. And it just seems like more sad than I know how to hold.

That was my hard this week. That, and working a little too much. Luckily there was all sorts of good stuff to sweeten the hard …

The good stuff

I’m not internet famous but I uh, act like I am on the internet.

Colleen Wainwright, aka Communicatrix, wacky and endearing queen of internet fabulousness asked me and Selma to be in her video. Hurrah!

Yep, she made a video to convince Southwest Airlines to make her their honorary Blog-O-Spondent (video blogger correspondent person?), which she totally should be, whatever it is. And she went and got a bunch of internet-famous people to be in it.

My duck was all yeah, baby, yeah. Cameo time. Because ever since Selma was on German television with me, she has gone all sorts of diva, I swear.

And now that people think we’re internet famous, my duck won’t even look at you for less than a thousand dollars. Kinda like the San Francisco twins, except without the pillbox hat(s).

Anyway, the video camera was on the fritz, so all I was able to give @communicatrix was a screenshot, but we still made the final cut.

Go watch the video and vote for Colleen so Southwest can pay to have her come hang out with me in Portland.

People hate me because I’m cool!

This probably shouldn’t make the “good stuff” list but it’s so funny I can’t stand it.

Last week a client of mine finally quit her horrible job after threatening to do so — but not acting on it — for six years. And this was after I did a one-time 90 minute session with her.

So now her friends, who have been patiently and supportively listening to her complaints, giving her sound advice, and saying “JUST QUIT ALREADY” for six years, are all pissed off at me for having gotten through to her so quickly.

Of course that’s not what happened at all. I mean, obviously I didn’t tell her to quit her job. Or to do anything for that matter. God forbid. I just gave her some techniques and then we used them to figure out what she wanted to do and how to do it.

But then she did it and is elated about having done it, and apparently it’s all my fault.

I can’t say I’m too upset about that but on second thought I do seem to be making enemies pretty fast. As another client said this week, “My husband is kind of upset that you’ve solved all my problems — now we have nothing to talk about.”

So I’m thinking that instead of client success stories, testimonials or whatever, I should just link to a page of fabulous hate mail from the friends, family and loved ones of my clients who are furious that we were able to work through their stuff so fast.

You know, “We gave her the best years of our lives and you only needed 45 minutes!”

That is both horrible and completely awesome.

And occasionally people also like me, which is also cool.

Laura Fitton (aka @Pistachio if you’re a Twitterite), someone I totally admire from afar, said the nicest thing about me:

Twitter makes my world a fountain of bright, gifted people. @havi is a favorite, for her posts like this.

Which is funny, because that’s how I think about Twitter. A fountain of bright, gifted people. And I’m always thinking stuff like oh, that Pistachio is so, so great. It’s weird to think that people are out there appreciating your work and you have no idea.

This was not only super sweet, but also a great reminder to go out and tell people how important their stuff is to me.

This week I went and told some people how awesome I think they are. Among them — in case you want to tell them too — Charlie Gilkey from Productive Flourishing, Alex Fayle from Someday Syndrome and Shannon Wilkinson who is just great and now she’s also blogging it up.

Oh, right. Naomi and I had a baby!

Love how the best part of my week totally slipped my mind. Naomi-my-internet-crush with the hot, hot stockings is the mom of my Canadian love-child.

Well, we gave birth to a how to promote the cool thing you do without being gross and/or getting tangled in scary, overwhelming horribleness program. And working with Naomi is so joyful and fulfilling and fun that I want to cry.

And not to stress you out but all but two of the VIP seats are taken. I don’t mean that in a cheesy, salesy “Why, there’s only TWO spots left” kind of way. I mean, be happy for me that we launched this thing yesterday and it’s already filling up like crazy with the best people ever.

That’s it for me ….

And yes, absolutely join in my Friday ritual if you feel like it and/or there’s something you just want to say out loud too.

Yeah? What was something good and/or hard that happened in your week?

And of course: happy weekend. Happy week to come.