A somewhat goofy mini-collection of stuff I’ve been reading, stuff I’ve been thinking about and oh, some completely random crap.
Basically the stuff that never gets mentioned here because I’m not the kind of person who can just make some teeny little point. Not into the whole brevity thing, as the Dude would say.
Actually, I’m under the strict compulsion to write ten pages about anything on my mind. So this is me. Practicing brevity.
I’m in Vancouver.
That’s not really an Item (Item!) — I just thought you’d want to know.
Item! Post No. 38 in a semi-ongoing series that still has no point and still isn’t going anywhere.
Item! My brain just rickrolled me!
Seriously. I just emerged from meditation with “Never Gonna Give You Up” in my head.
What’s up with that?
Never mind. Please don’t tell me.
Item! Office Hours! Amazing.
Wendy. One hour. Once a week. Answering tech questions by phone. Like, for fun. You know, stuff about E-Junkie, AWeber, Paypal, WordPress. Stuff like that.
“I’m trying out a little thing I like to call Open Office Hours. Which, if you abbreviate it to OOH, you are required to pronounce with a trill of delight, like someone who’s just been presented with a surprise chocolate cake. “OOH! For moi?”
Eyelash-batting is optional, but adds immeasurably to the effect.”
I can vouch for Wendy as someone I have known for a while and met personally, and as someone who is genuinely smart, funny, kind and caring. And a patient explain-er. And a total freaking goofball. In the best way, of course!
She’s @wendycholbi on Twitter.
Item! Mother said knock you out!
Okay. So this is five minutes of your life.
But, if you ask me, completely worth it. I cannot remember the last time I laughed this hard.
Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer: 30 years of hip-hop history in five minutes on the banjo, with his song “Chap-Hop History”.
My gentleman friend and I have been obsessively playing this wackjob gem all week. And yes, against all odds, Mr. B actually is British.
Via Laughing Squid — @laughingsquid on Twitter.
Item! You’re a grown-up now.
Yeah! And that means you get to jump on a trampoline! Wheeeeeee!
From our very own JoVE (pronounced Jo Vee-Eee):
“You’re a grown-up now.
And you work in a field where you have considerable autonomy.
Figure out how you work best and then design your day and your space to support your work.
It’ll feel weird at first. And you might have to experiment a bit. But sitting at your desk in silence might not be the most productive way for you to work.”
Here’s the rest of it.
She’s @jovanevery on Twitter.
Item! Waves. Socks.
A couple Thursdays ago I referenced this post that Emily had written where she
answered a bunch of my wacky questions in different posts on her blog.
The stuff that came up was so completely moving that I wanted to talk about her post some more.
Or really just to quote from it:
“What do I need right now?
To relax. To have patience. To stop pushing so hard. To not flail about waiting for something to pluck me from the waves. To rest easy and ride the waves.
To recognize the storms and boats as they approach and prepare for a little more rocking. To dive deep and see some of the cool shit that’s deep under there. It’s all part of the whole.
The waves will never be completely still. Just float!”
So great. She also wrote a post on extroversion for introverts that I loved:
“Today I have, yes…stripes.
Purple and orange and black stripes. No one else can see them (unless I let them), so those in charge aren’t going to know or care. But somehow, it makes a difference. I can remember I’m a happy snowflake and not an automaton. “
She’s @emilyroots on Twitter.
Item! My new pottery obsession.
I met this guy at a Last Thursday event last year in Northeast Portland.
And bought mugs from him that are kind of like these.
So now I’ve been stalking his Etsy shop.
And this is the new most gorgeous thing I found. Love.
He’s not on Twitter. I know! Tragic.
Item! My other favorite comic.
So last week I asked you guys for stuff to Itemize (Item!) and got tons of good stuff.
And someone said that I have “tragically neglected to Itemize xkcd”. Which is true in the sense that it has never been an Item! itself, and is also a brilliant recommendation (thank you!).
The funny part is that I’ve actually linked to xkcd on three separate occasions from this blog. Just not from the Item-ey posts.
Once in a piece called don’t bother taking a deep breath, and again (“science works, bitches!”) when I wrote about triggers.
And then in the best Friday Chicken ever — the one with the song about the big jew frog.
Anyway. All that to say that instead of talking about xkcd today, I’m going to Itemize my other favorite comic: Ryan North’s super-obscurely-genius Dinosaur Comics.
I live for it.
He’s @ryanqnorth on Twitter.
Item! Update from the land of the Peculiar & Hilarious Shivanauts!
The “peculiar and hilarious” thing comes from Melynda’s sweet bit about Butterfly Wishes.
Lovely guest post from Char about how it took her a year to actually try Dance of Shiva. It’s about the patterns that came up during the not doing, and the things she learned along the way.
Very thoughtful. Very useful. For Shivanauts and also for people who have no idea what I’m talking about.
Item! Comments!
So it was really cool the other week when I got to work on my practice of how I ask for stuff and you guys gave me the best reading recommendations ever!
So I’m going to try it again.
Here’s what I want:
- Things you’re thinking about.
- What you’re doing to mark the season changing (doesn’t have to be a profound ritual or anything — breaking out the hoodies counts too).
My commitment.
I am committed to giving time and thought to the things that people say, and I will interact with their ideas and with my own stuff as compassionately and honestly as is possible for me.
Even though asking for what I want still feels awkward for me, I’m just going to remind myself that this is a thing I’m practicing.
That is all.
Happy reading.
And happy Blustery Windsday. See you tomorrow.
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I love these item posts. They remind me of going to my aunt’s house, when I was a kid, and discovering treasures she had tucked away–a Laughing Buddha with a shiny belly we would rub for good luck, in one corner; coconut candy in a silver bowl on a little chinoiserie tea chest in another. 🙂
Things I’m thinking about: The maple trees around my house are shaking loose the last of their gold-and-flame leaves, which look like giant hands splayed on the grass. What’s left are the bones of trees, skeletons of roots, trunks and branches. And blue sky woven through.
Summer’s leafiness released. The hidden sky emerging.
This is what I’m thinking about. Saying goodbye to last year’s growth. Welcoming winter’s emerging sky.
.-= Hiro Boga´s last post … Of Dragons and Queens . . . =-.
Oh, I’m so glad you liked those bits. Seeing you quote them here made me almost cry this morning. (Happy cry!) Weird when you’re having a day/week when it helps to see your own words. Words that you actually meant.
Incidentally, I did end up showing someone the socks. And !! he gave me a duck !! (seriously, I’m not kidding about that).
…I woke up this morning with Oscar the Grouch singing “I Love Trash” in my head…
Marking the season: I made pumpkin muffins last night. Does that count? This weekend I’ll put the garden to bed for the winter, except for the herbs, greens and carrots that are still going strong. (They usually last through a couple of snows.) And I am seriously wanting to learn to knit. It seems like a wintry habit to take up. I blame @blondechicken!
.-= Emily´s last post … Skipping Ahead =-.
Oh my, the Chap-Hop History is brilliant! I’m fairly certain that mr. B says ‘Chicken!’ at 1m57s. No kidding!
Autumn is my favourite season, especially when the stormy winds clean up the outdoors and I get to stay in. It connects to the introverted me, this season of staying indoors and reloading after the outdoorsy summer and before the holiday season makes me go out in the cold to join social happenings. Autumn makes me burn more candles in the evening, scented with subtle vanilla, orange and cinnamon. It makes me inhale the lovely smell of the same trees that make my eyes water in the summer. It renews my love and awareness of all colours on the yellow – red spectrum. It’s the season of scent and colour.
I’m thinking about ownership these days. Not blaming anything or anyone for my actions or non-actions. For example blaming the existence of the internet for procrastination. Interesting.
Happy Wednesday!
I woke up with a single line from a song in my head as well this morning, Australian folk singer Josh Pyke:
“We are moving to a lighthouse, You and I”
It’s all about protecting his love from the storms of life.
While we are doing items! that are Etsy related, I thought that Havi people might be interested in a shop a dear friend of mine has recently opened:
http://decline.etsy.com/
She is producing interesting photos, and cards and pro forma letters on an old typewriter. They have an old world feel, with a subtle humorous, sometimes obscene twist (if you like Naomi from IttyBiz you’ll be fine). She’s just started blogging at http://littlewho.wordpress.com
.-= Karinne´s last post … Last week: heart is where the home is =-.
Hi there, I like helping people who ask for things, and so politely too 🙂
I work at a University in the UK and all of our students started their courses a couple of weeks ago. All the public spaces went from peaceful to youthful frenetic over a single weekend. Start of term is always a season change flag for me, but this year it passed me by. Lost in my own thoughts perhaps. Then the capmus shop started selling Christmas cards (yikes!), but still no engagement with the fact summer has passed and autumn is passing.
Then an hour ago I was walking through the young crowds, everyone laughing and on their way somewhere, when I noticed a big oak tree in one of the square green spaces between buildings. It was a riot of yellow and red and brown, and the floor was thick with a mirror of leaves. I stopped to stare at it and everyone kept walking past me, and it hit me then, at last, it was Autumn. And there was a bit of me in that tree (or that tree in me).
And now I have an urge to buy a bar of chocolate, dammit 🙂
.-= Mike Walters´s last post … Making a living, improvising and creative writing =-.
In my tradition, October 31st is the end of the year and November 1st is the beginning of the new. I take time at the end of each year to reflect on the year’s journey. My ritual for this is to write a thirteen-paragraph blog post about the events of the year, one for each month, then one in summary. Distilling the year down to so few words helps me feel what it really means to me.
I’ll probably write it on Saturday and post it on Monday. (:
.-= Pace Smith´s last post … “The Body Sacred” – part one: the body stuff =-.
Havi! Do you ever do the song self inquiry? (Okay. I totally made that up – but that’s kind of what it is.) You pay attention to the lyrics that you happen to be singing in your head and see if it applies to your life somewhere. It’s pretty rad.
Now I am being Rickrolled. 🙂
Autumn is such a fantastic time of year. I had to stop and think about how I start to get into it.
For starters, I start wearing my fuzzy, orange, arm warmers to my Super Corporate job. They’re so warm and so orange and so “inappropriate for work.” They’re perfect.
At home, I like to put cinnamon sticks and cloves in a pot of water and let it simmer – on LOW – on the stove. It makes your house smell so autumny and makes it feel instantly cozy. (Note: You have to watch the pot and keep adding water here and there so that the water doesn’t completely evaporate. Otherwise, you can burn the pot. Trust me.)
Outside in the world, I love watching the leaves change. It’s a complete wonder that it’s when the leaves start to die that their true brilliance comes out. It reminds me to keep working towards being my authentic self and not wait until the final hours of my life to show people who I really am.
And now I’m singing Cyndi Lauper.
Thank you for helping me bring my attention to the now.
ps – Do you have a little scarf for Selma?
Not an item, but I am also in Vancouver. Ish. Yay for Vancouver!
Halloween is fast approaching, and I have children, so I have pumpkins to carve and costumes to sew. Although so far those projects aren’t really progressing. They could use some de-stuckification, for sure. So for right now I am marking the seasons by looking at fabric and pumpkins and feeling as if maybe I should do something with them. Perhaps.
.-= Amber´s last post … Rehabilitating my Shower Curtain =-.
I’m loving the season. I’ve seen myself turn inward and am discovering a very loving free spirit inside. I feel super safe! Oh, feels so good.
I have been doing routines and rituals lately. I find comfort in consistency. So, I’ve been cozying up to steaming cups of coffee, a down blanket and my new DVDs from PBS called Craft in America. It’s church to me to see people applying their hand and soul to materials that make people’s lives pleasurable and beautiful.
I go on walks along Riverside Drive (on the Hudson) and breathe the aroma of decaying leaves deep in my lungs. So whole making!
@ Rebecca I love your orange arm warmers strutting into corporate land. Way to own your comfort and sanity in a place that can challenge those human needs so much. I think I’m going to boil cloves and cinnamon sticks tonight. I have tons of extra bottles to use!
I’m swaying to a song called “always autumn”
.-= Lydia, Clueless Crafter´s last post … A Ritual Exchange in New England =-.
How strange. Havi in Vancouver, Amber in Vancouver, and today I met someone lovely from Vancouver, which has always been one of my favourite cities.
I woke up this morning with ‘Life is a Rollercoaster, You’ve Just Gotta Ride It’ in my head. Speaks for itself, I think.
Love, love, love the autumn. I’ve been out in the woods today enjoying the glorious autumn colours, emphasized I think by the sun’s being very low in the sky. When it catches the leaves at a certain angle – wow. Just wow.
And now I’m off to try out Rebecca’s cinnamon sticks and cloves and try not to burn the saucepan.
You can also try mulling spices in a pot of water!
*Love to Havi for creating this safe space to be authentic!*
How do you find the most wonderful stuff to put in your Items! post? Sometimes I lose half a day to checking them all out. And then I steal them (I mean pass them on)for my blog.
Yesterday was the first really cold day in Fresno. Lots if wind, so I kept thinking it was Blustery Windsday but it was only Tuesday. Anyway, turning on the heater was bizarrely comforting–maybe because it signals coziness to me.
.-= Christine Myers´s last post … There Went the Bride =-.
Vancouver! Awesome.
Things I’m thinking about:
* Indecisiveness.
* How many emails I have to answer (omg!)
* Buying stripey socks for people I know.
* How my tea is Very Sad without agave syrup.
* A sooper sekrit project I have in the works (yay!)
Also, I woke up with this song in my head, which is awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92dXMQ3MyJU
.-= Charlotte´s last post … In Defense of the Snap Decision =-.
When I was at New Seasons a month or two ago, I found dried rose hips in the most perfect fall hues – burnt oranges and yellows. Putting them out in a vase is going to be my new fall ritual.
Otherwise, I visit the corn maze, start baking and soup-making, wear down vests and wool scarves, put an arrangement of dried leaves on my table, start bringing in leaves from outside and leaving them all around to dry (why don’t they look as pretty when they dry, sniffle), walk walk walk with camera and pup through anywhere with leaves, and live in front of the forced air vent. Fall is my most favorite time of year ever. Love love love it.
Simmering orange peels with cinnamon and nutmeg is my winter ritual. It’s a good way to use all those mandarin peels. 🙂
.-= Elizabeth´s last post … walking through the leaves =-.
Love the extroversion for introverts. Made me laugh because I have the “Science. It works, bitches.” t-shirt (http://store.xkcd.com/xkcd/#Science), but sometimes I feel self-conscious wearing it because polite is my default public mode. On such days, I might wear it underneath something so I still feel my groovy science-lovin’ self. Little more sovereignty, and I’ll be wearing it out all the time. 🙂
As part of the season change, I’ve been shooting leaves falling:
http://tallerthanaveragetales.blogspot.com/2009/10/autumn-in-action.html
Working on another batch of shots which I will have up soon.
I’ve also been wearing my super-warm fuzzy black hoodie which makes me think maybe I don’t need a windbreaker after all.
.-= claire´s last post … Winnings =-.
Oh my gawd, I’ve been Item!ized again! Thank you, Havi!
(far better than being Objectified, I tell you.)
I do not like autumn. Do. Not. Like.
So it is really wonderful to see all these people who are welcoming it in, embracing the change and the coziness and the smells and colors.
I’m glad for all of you. And I don’t have to do any welcoming of autumn if I don’t want to (dammit!).
OK, I’ll admit: When I lived in Boston I did kind of get into apple-picking (and pie-making and pumpkin-getting and cider-drinking) on cool crisp crackly days, with dear friends. I learned that there were some things about autumn that were darn near likeable.
But here in SoCal autumn isn’t like that at all. It’s the season of wildfires, and hot harsh wind, and paradoxically rain and green growing things. It would be ridiculous to pretend the leaves are turning and snow will soon be falling. Just not true.
And I’ve lived here for six autumns and still haven’t quite figured out what this change of seasons means to me. I’m beginning to embrace the idea that it can be different for me than it is for others. That I don’t have to do the “traditional” fall things. That I can create my own tradition(s).
So thanks for sparking that train of thought…hmmm…
.-= Wendy Cholbi´s last post … WordPress plugin: Google XML Sitemaps =-.
Wendy is the best! 🙂
Hmmm, autumn… I love that I get to wear my handknit socks again, wear more layers, put the wool blanket I got from my grandmother on the bed, pick and eat fresh apples, walk in the dry leaves, admire the colors… Also, I equally love the indian summer and the first snow (we had no indian summer this year, but the first snow has happened last week – now, it’s back to regularly scheduled autumnal weather until winter comes). Really, there are so many things to love about autumn here!
.-= Josiane´s last post … Practicing body poetry with Havi =-.
I’m in Vancouver! I’m always here though :p
Autumn is lovely in theory, but in practice, at least here in Vancouver, its cold, wet and windy. There are only a few days in which one can get outside and enjoy the changing colours.
Wikipedia writes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nataraja) that Shiva does his dance to destroy the weary universe in preparation for creation. Perhaps Fall is the beginning of that dance, in preparation for the creation of Spring?
.-= Marilyn´s last post … Blog Action Day: Are Carbon Credits the Answer for Climate Change? =-.
I’ve been planting bulbs. I ordered 600 bulbs in the spring for fall planting — daffodils, grape hyacinths, crocuses, species tulips and dwarf irises. At the time 600 seemed like a reasonable number. Turns out 600 bulbs is really rather a lot of bulbs. 200 down, 400 to go.
But oh! They’ll be so beautiful in the spring! I keep telling the bulbs how beautiful they’ll be! And I may have kissed a few of them…
.-= Riin´s last post … Blog Action Day 2009: Climate Change =-.
Mr. B. is a delight! And oh, thank you for sharing that beautiful pottery — I love the kind of pottery that seems to remember the clay from which it came.
I have a pumpkin-colored Autumn Spice candle that’s been sitting on my desk since the Fall Equinox. It smells of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. I’ve also been cherishing the sunny October days, when I’m dazzled by the red and orange leaves against the bright, so-blue sky.
@Pace Smith: October 31st marks the end of my year, too. Then, for me, the weeks leading up to the Winter Solstice are a time of rest, reflection, and taking stock. Even when required to hustle and bustle, I try to hold onto a quiet inner space. It’s a very special time for me, and I look forward to it every year.
.-= spiralsongkat´s last post … Some people cry at weddings… =-.
Hey, I’m in Vancouver too, and in Amber’s house. Welcome, welcome.
I quite enjoyed this image of how Rickrolling would work if there was no Internet…
http://www.cracked.com/photoshop_90_the-world-tomorrow-if-internet-disappeared-today_p1
Generally I mark the season changing by switching from shorts to long pants. Happened pretty early this year. But I knew that winter is close when our daughter actually volunteered to put on a coat before heading out the door this morning.
.-= Jon´s last post … Spooky Weekend =-.
Autumn is hard for me. I resist it. To balance out the resistance and conflictedness, I make a practice of noticing how beautiful the changing landscape is. This year is my first year back in my home state after three years in a very different landscape, so I am especially attuned to the gorgeous colors of the trees and the back-and-forth temperature dance. I also try to notice wonderful things that the colder weather brings more of, like layered clothing and lentil soup with homemade bread and snuggles with my sweetie.
.-= Tracy´s last post … Reflection: Beginning, and Beginning, and Beginning =-.
I love Rick Astley’s voice and was totally delighted to be rickrolled the first time, not getting the joke at all. And now I think Josh Groban would do an excellent remake 🙂
I love the colors of fall, especially the flamey maples. Also, I tolerate the totally invasive sweetgums better this time of year because their leaves turn an awesome maroony purple.
The ritual around here is to go to the pumpkin patch at the church next to the youngest daughter’s daycare (with both extremely helpful daughters) and pick out one pumpkin for each family member and take them all home and leave them outside in a decorative grouping until either a) we carve them or b) we don’t. Either way is fine and they all end up in the compost regardless.
Also, there are no more mosquitos (glee!!!!)
Thing I’m thinking about:
Trying to understand the difference between “working hard” and “striving”. “Striving” depletes me and makes me unhappy when I do it, but I want to get my thing off the ground and somehow, I get mixed up and think striving is going to make that happen.
I think “striving” tries to pretend it’s plain and simple “working hard”, but it’s something else. Maybe it’s pining too hard for success? Too much wanting the imagined end result instead of being in the where I am right now…please wish for me no more striving…(there’s a sentence construction for you!)
Change of Seasons
Removing all my container plants who can’t winter-over from my tiny courtyard and finding spots for them in my house and studio.
🙂
.-= Sarah´s last post … Wild Geese =-.
Being in LA, my change of season consists of putting away all but two pairs of flip flops (trust me, I have WAY more than two pairs!) and pulling out my scarves. I love scarves!!
With the cooler morning temperatures I also go back to enjoying my morning cup of tea. And if it’s cold during the day maybe I’ll brew another cup. I rarely, if ever drink hot tea in the spring/summer unless I’m on vacation.
And again, now that it’s no longer 95+ in our bedroom during the day, I can go back to lying on the bed and reading (or napping) when the mood strikes during the day.
I love the cooler temps!!
.-= Katy´s last post … Announcing New Services!! =-.
Oops, forgot to mention what I’m working on…finalizing my services, my pricing (that can be a doozy to work out) and my speaking topics. This has been something that I’ve put off for far too long and finally gave myself some permission to just DO IT!
.-= Katy´s last post … Announcing New Services!! =-.