In which I cover the good stuff and the hard stuff in my week, trying for the non-preachy, non-annoying side of ritual and self-reflection.
And you get to join in if you feel like it.
Happy one hundred and fiftieth chicken to meeeee!
Alright. It’s Friday. Let’s do this.
The hard stuff
Tired! Achy! Ow.
This week I taught Shiva Nata twice a day, did Old Turkish lady yoga every day at Rally, and still made it to dance class every day. Sometimes getting up at extreme dark thirty a.m. to do so.
All while running Rally, projectizing my projects and checking in on the business.
I want a holiday please! Please!
Yes, I have no idea who I’m supposedly asking since the person to ask is me.
So many things to do..
Projects giving birth to baby projects.
New systems needed to accommodate new growth.
The usual thing about change being overwhelming, etc etc.
People wanting things of me that I cannot give.
And one day I won’t worry about that as much as I do now.
All the stuff that doesn’t get done while something else is getting done.
Sometimes I forget about the fractal flowers and get myself into a tizzy until I remember.
Vancouver.
I love that city. So painful to watch.
The good stuff
Ohmygod Rally!
This may well have been the most fun Rally (Rally!) ever.
There were bunny-shaped cheese crackers in the motorcycle wine glasses. There were wigs and silly hats and furry legwarmers. There was bubble-blowing, stuffed-monster-fondling, hammock-napping, snacking and magic wishes.
It was pretty damn great.
Plus I got a huge amount of work done (though not on the project I thought was my project because something came up but it totally worked out perfectly).
Yay for Rally #10! Yay!
Insights.
Big ones. Big shivanautical ones.
Still processing but wow.
And new systems to match. This is the kind of thing I’m going to be thanking myself for in five years. I can feel it.
Moved up a level.
This is another one of those shivanautical results that is hard to put into words.
I went to my dance class this morning and everything made sense in a way it hadn’t before. I could move differently. I understood the choreographies differently. I had superpowers.
And that’s from breaking my brain with the insane flailing this week (we did some hilariously hard brain-algorithm-twistiness at Rally and I can really feel it).
It’s like I’m doing everything I was before but I’m two levels higher in the video game. Can’t explain it better than that but be happy with me.
Breakfast with Colleen. Yay.
The brilliant Communicatrix is one of my favorite people.
Breakfast! Colleen! Friends!
This is good.
Roller derby league finals this weekend.
I’ll be doing the shivanautical warm-up for the bad-ass ladies of Guns N Rollers and cheering my head off.
So excited!
The Whine Bar at my Kitchen Table program.
We have been writing silly poems about library fines, and it somehow makes everything better.
Presents!
Wonderful pirate-ey socks from @herchuckness. A cape for the Costumery from @mrstwigg.
Happiness.
And … playing live at the meme beach house it’s the Fake Band of the Week!
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’s band is not from around here. At least I don’t think so. Ladies and gentleman! Let’s give a warm welcome to….
The Florida Quease
Catch them rocking out at the Meme Beach House this week. And did you know? I’s actually just one guy.
ANNOUNCEMENT!
June 30 is a shivanautical snack preview (better than a sneak preview) picnic call. No cost. Hanging out with me. And snacks.
And talking about Shiva Nata and flailing.
If you’re even slightly intrigued by the powerful, silly, crazy thing that is Shiva Nata, you are more than welcome to sign up.
And you watched the video of me in a pink wig, right? Say yes!
That’s it for me …
And of course you can join in my Friday ritual right here in the comments if you feel like it.
Yes? Anything hard and/or good happen in your week?
And, as always, have a glorrrrrrrrrrrrious day, a restful weekend and a happy week to come. Shabbat shalom.
p.s. It’s okay if it’s not Friday anymore. There’s complete chicken amnesty — you can join in whenever (or not) and it’s no big deal.
Follow
I’m looking forward to the Snack Preview!
Hard:
–Falling very easily and suddenly into dark and dismal moods. I swear, it’s like I have my very own rapid storm fronts moving through me this week.
–I asked for something I really wanted, and was essentially told no. It pushed my buttons, and woke up several monsters, who proceeded to sit on my head and say all sorts of unpleasant things.
–Got triggered by a number of other things, too. Yeah, it seems to be Trigger-Happy Week for me, except there isn’t anything happy about it. (Hmm, maybe I’ll make a Trigger Monster, and color it in, and have a conversation with it.)
Good:
–I’m feeling more and more strongly compelled to write — songs, poems, essays — which feels like a healthy drive.
–A few good epiphanies, just quick little flashes of insight and light. Mainly of things I already knew, but on a deeper level now.
–Lots of very satisfying music-making this week. My voice feels strong.
Loooong week. But it’s Friday again. Good we can always count on Friday chickens.
The Hard:
-Long days of fatigue and recovery/pain.
-Sleeping issues.
-Terrible, awful traffic all week. Loooong commutes.
-Not being able to move my body the way I want due to recovery.
-Bit of frustration with person I tutor. Had to let it go (literally), which feels bad (but is the Right Thing to Do).
The Good:
+Quite a bit of good too!
+Starting to feel better! Am longingly gazing at exercise equipment and long roads, waiting for the day when I can Do Things like workout and walk.
+Wanting technology. I often avoid it, but I’m craving something, and I may just scratch that itch.
+Cookie with lunch.
+Eating delicious broccoli (caught just in time!) and squash from garden.
+Volunteerism is ratcheting up, and I think I’m ready.
+Watching the tomatoes grow, and the blueberries are almost ready. Oh, and the garlic too!
+Reading some powerful, life-changing stuff re: food, its origins, and being responsible.
+New system set up, and it’s making my life better. It’s been a long time coming, but I worked through my resistance (and continue to).
150 mph seems to be how quickly this week has gone. Seriously.
The hard:
– the weather, wet, cold and windy, it’s nixed a couple of plans this week and just been generally cold and miserable and gloomy
-stinging nettle attack on the thigh. Ouch. And itch.
– lack of sleeping
The good:
– Monday…was just such a fabulous day. A whole list of good by itself.
– Really getting into writing the novel again. Yay.
– Great meeting with my dissertation supervisor, so many new ideas.
– 365 project – taking awesome and interesting new photos I wouldn’t have done otherwise and have learned so much this week about processing and Photoshop
– ballet!
– photo expedition on Wednesday yielded many fabulous photos and was a generally fun and yummy day
– the glorious sun on Tuesday and being able to go for a long country walk
Yum. I liked this week lots. More please!
Hope you all have fabulous weekends. 🙂
Friday summary time !!
The epiphanies and breakfast sound just wonderful 🙂
*The hard*
– finishing a paper that wasn’t ready to be finished
– harsh harsh words my phd supervisor adding insult to injury
– increasing back pain and stress and feeling disconnected from my body and the world
– a lot of doubt & self-doubt
*The good*
– friends & support & hot tea.
– realizing i am not that afraid of the supervisor anymore. this is my work and i will stand up for it.
– progress. not the kind that i wanted at all but we can’t deny things are happening.
– no new emails!
*and now…*
i want a really nice letter from a future me or a fairy godmother or something
[leaves the stage and of to find something nice]
@ Jane – any tips or advice on having a great meeting with a supervisor ??
🙂
Hannah – Verbal hugs and commiserations about the horrible meeting with your supervisor.
I think I’m lucky to be doing a course where all the tutors are lovely – even when they’re telling me stuff I don’t want to hear.
Hope the meetings get better for you. :0
@ Jane – I hear you on the itchy leg – i have about five flea bites on my thigh all within a space about the size of my palm. Not sure how bad nettles are but man flea bites get me every time.
The Good –
– Birthday rocked 🙂 my friend who is learning to be a baketress (who actually used to make cakes for baskin and robbins) made me a beautiful cake that should be a wedding cake. Seriously, fondant, fondant lilies, beautiful and delicious. other friend brought a pinata
– contacts seem to be working for the neck pain on the bike. *yay* go me no more lifting my head up to look thru glasses
– Ready (or just deciding to ) go live on my blook.
– biking faster on new bike 🙂
– had my ergonomic assessment this week. now if i can just do what he said to do maybe my wrists will be happy with me.
The Hard –
– grandmother is sick, possibly her heart. idk
– totally no desire to be at work… i think this has something to do with the (slightly more beaurocratic) layoff letter.
Oh Hannah! I feel with you, PI’s are often difficult. But I’m glad that you will stand up for your own work.
The Hard: It’s been a really tough week, sooo much happening and shifting. Change is always so scary. And some of the scary good knocked the energy out of me for parts of the week. And I talked to the big scary critic monster and it was ok, but oh so scary for days before hand.
The Good: Dreams that bring clarity and lots of creative energy. And harnessing of that energy. And that I actually worked on my thesis and didn’t panic. Also starting to show to the outside world that I am serious about doing yoga.
I’m with @Jane — 150 mph is about how fast this week went by.
This week’s hard:
– I had planned to spend today working in the studio, but my motivation and inspiration are shot, and nothing good is happening there. Apparently, my work-related motivation is on strike, too, because I have not been able to get anything of substance done today at all. Yet I’m sitting at my desk willing it to happen and missing out on a gorgeous afternoon. (Screw it. I’m going outside as soon as I hit submit.)
– Ow. Heavy yard work. Achy muscles.
– My yoga instructor is moving far away, and today was my last class with her. I am not so fond of the style of the instructor who will be taking over, and the self-pep-talking into giving it an open-minded try is just not taking.
This week’s good:
– The yard looks fantastic, especially after a solid day of help from my mom. Yay for momtime!
– I spent some time brainstorming earlier this week and now have some fun, workable ideas for some new jewelry pieces to work on once my studio mojo comes back.
– I put on my sovereignty crown and said no to a work project for the first time in a long time. I adore the person who offered it to me and I’ll usually bend way over backwards to accommodate her, but this time it would have meant giving up every scrap of free time I have over the next two weeks. Amazingly, the world did not end.
Happy Friday, Chickeneers!
Is it chicken already?
@Jane – oh man, stinging nettles are torture. Sending you gwishes for nearby Jewelweed for future encounters.
Hard: It was final move week so everything has been hard. And, everything aches or resists moving.
Scuba class will not be happening for me until I recover from the move and related extreme exhaustion. Working in deep water is hard work anyway but exhausted and with 45 lbs of gear it’s doubly so.
Dealing with chipmunks which did find a way into a wall but hadn’t discovered the garden…yet (fingers crossed).
Good: My stuff is in its new location. I have about an hour to give the old place a final spit and polish before the check out inspection. And I am finally down to one life.
My garden is doing fabulously; baby peppers, tiny tomatoes, and the first squash are coming on. And the flowers look pretty good too. Plus I have lots of native perennial plants for my new butterfly garden yet to be planted.
Short chicken this week as the fingers refuse to spell.
Another itch-maddened macher here. Yarrgh.
Hard
* Getting gnawed on by the no-see-ums, and worrying that I’ve brought home fleas from an over-affectionate (but adorable!) barn cat
* Feeling like my Mandarin class = 1 commitment too many
* Our postman just got reassigned to another route. Dude handled our street for 11 years and was awesome. Wahhh.
* Feeling uptight about various tangles of things
Good
* Long hikes
* Benadryl
* Overhauled (much of) my website!
* Spicy peanut sauce on noodles
* Trading in books, and other declutterings
* Enough flex in my schedule to get done what must get done
Wishing everyone the support and salves they need.
Yay for the chicken!
The Hard
-super crazy exhausting busy-ness at work on Wednesday
-dealing with issues and concerns and fears around the proper care of my beloved Wondercat
-seeing a loved one deal with stress and overwhelm and knowing it isn’t mine to fix
-shoulds
The Good
-hosted book group and it was wonderful. Yummy foods and drinks, good friends – and an unexpected boardgame which was super fun
-another lovely dinner and a movie night out with my sweet husband – I do so love summer with it’s superhero movies and al fresco dining
-really focusing on practicing spaciousness and sovereignty, and getting to feel the effects of this in my daily life, particularly at work. Even the super crazy busy of Wednesay was much better than it could have been because of this. A gazillion sparklepoints to me.
-afternoon naps last Saturday AND Sunday. Awesome.
-bought the Wish Kit from Inspired Home Office. Haven’t really had a chance to look much at it yet, but I’m very excited!
Have a wonderful weekend, y’all!
Hi Kat! Hi Jane! Hi other Chickeneers!
@Havi – I am being happy with you!
Although it is Saturday over here, it is Friday over there, so I am yelling, LOOPHOLE! I DON’T EVEN NEED CHICKEN AMNESTY! LOOPHOLE!
So, the week, eh?
– – – –
The Hards
– Days blurring into eachother in a most unpleasing way. I really don’t like this sense of losing track of time.
– The Day of Meltdown. Mainly spent melting-down. It wasn’t pretty.
– Really, really struggling with not having my own space. And with the monsters who say I should be able to adapt to this situation and deal, already. Gah!
– Hard situation with a person who is doing something I’m really unhappy with, but is unwilling to dialogue with me about it. Much switching back and forth between having my heart open to the situation (vulnerable, painful) and closing my heart down (painful in a different way that feels tense & horrible).
– Losing my rhythms. Myuh, is all I have to say about that.
– Writing stuck. Several blogpost ideas, none of them flowing.
The Goods
– Even though there was a Day of Meltdown, it felt different to previous Days of Meltdown. The recovery time was quicker, and there was much self-care & learning.
– Friends! They are awesome.
– Whine Poetry: not only is it brilliant in itself, it also resolved an email stuck. Huzzah!
– Fancypants email address: I has one! And I’m not afraid to use it. (Actually, I am a little bit afraid to use it – gah, biggification! – but that’s possibly a topic for Sunday.)
– Little steps made towards websites! Eeee!
– Downton Abbey. Cuz who doesn’t like a good period drama every once in a while?
– Finally getting our shitz together for getting on the road and moving cross-country. We leave tomorrow! Nelson, get ready!
– Inserting a day stopover at thermal springs as part of our cross-country journey. Seriously, every long car trip needs at least one thermal springs stop, but probably many. It should be the law or something.
– Learning neat little tricks on my MacBook. It pleases me!
What I would like for the coming week:
Less blurry days. Gentleness and ease for the big move. Sovereignty and heart-connection with the difficult other-person-thing. Lots of hugs. Re-establishing the routines rhythm.
Love Reba
x
Hi Brooks,
Vancouver thanks you for your kind thoughts.
jon
Yay Chicken!
The Hard:
– slogging through some boring tasks
– too many pointless emails
– slow moving negotiations
The Good:
– a testable hypothesis for a project that I’ve been trying to wrap my head around for the better part of a year
– lots of outside time and lots of yoga
– crazy good new fro-yo place in town
Cheers to all the Chickeneers.
Late night (for me) chicken!
This week’s hard:
-The crazy. The overwhelming crazy.
-Weather turning headaches into a constant thing instead of an occasional thing.
-I spent six hours in a mall on Wednesday. It was so bad.
-Feeling like I’m doing it all wrong, even though I know that my way can be different without being wrong. Fretting over that. Ick.
This week’s good:
-Six hours in the mall did yield an outfit that looks good enough.
-I have an interview. I have to fly in for it and everything. And I think I may have done a pretty good job of arranging things so as to minimize further intrusion from the crazy. (If I get the job, of course, the crazy will escalate to a whole new level, but we’ll deal with that if it happens.)
-Between bouts of feeling sick and exhausted, I have gotten an impressive pile of stuff done. So there.
And I think that’s about all for me. Happy Friday, happy weekend, and hugs to all the chickeneers!
I’m moulting, moulting!
Ouch. Hard. Self-inflicted pain that just isn’t necessary yet I keep doing it to myself.
The good. I can feel that this pattern isn’t me anymore. Some part of me is ready to let it go.
Sad that support I’d counted on wasn’t there for me (hard!), but can see that I have more internal means of support than I’d thought (good! but still hard).
I feel like the Jaws theme is playing for this week’s chicken.
hard:
waking up multiple times almost every night this week. So shleepy.
fingers looking like sausages and feeling like them too after 3 days cleaning houses for monies.
not sleeping through the night even after cleaning houses all day.
moving dd#2 into her new place on day four of this week after cleaning houses for 3 days.
getting a phone call from dd#2 at 4:30 this afternoon and finding out she’d had a bicycle accident while test driving a bicycle
dentist trip needed tomorrow thanks to bike accident
good:
last night I finally slept through the night for the first time since the sun came out at the beginning of the month
getting up to paint when I was not sleeping on Tuesday and Wednesday
painting under the trees on Monday
my work is the featured week of art at the Create Mixed Media site
I found some double elephant watercolor paper when looking for work for my upcoming show at Donkey
Just a quick note: My friend used to say “O’ Dark Hundred” when he had to get up early. Your note about “extreme dark thirty a.m.” made me remember that. Thank you!
My first Friday Chicken! I’ve been writing “reflections” every week for a course I’m doing — my mentor told me she started doing reflections at a point where she felt like she was achieving nothing and life was going nowhere. So I decided to continue even though the course is over, and that’s when I remembered Chickens! Perfect!
The Hard
– Pretty huge self-implosion where I wasn’t sure if My Thing was even My Thing at all and perhaps it was really Some Other Thing and I should figure that out RIGHT NOW.
– Not being able to sleep due to monsters and anger and anxiety.
– Clumsy McClumsiness. Over and over. Breaking stuff and making a mess.
The Good
– Some amazing and intense processing that calmed the anger and anxiety, and lead to some wonderful epiphanies and a new contentedness about Me.
– Lots of re-reading about shoe-throwing and sovereignty that gave me even more contentedness.
– Got stuff done even when I allowed myself to procrastinate and fall down rabbit holes. This was pretty huge for me!
– Discovered that the apartment wants to be a cafe. Huh.
Jane & Lori – I hear you on the 150mph week! I saw this post and I thought “Friday already? surely not!” and then I realised it’s actually Saturday! haha
The hard for me:
-Wasted yesterday in avoidance mode
-Realizing that my plan for where to spend the winter is quite likely not going to be feasible
-Knowing that I’m way behind on my monthly goals
The good:
-Beach day! With perfect weather.
-I got my VPA wish
-Did some rough finincial calculating and realized I’m not as badly off as I thought I was
-Still not over how grateful I am that it’s not February anymore. Winter seemed to take forever this year
Cluck cluck cluck BKAAARKK!!
Hard
– partner travelling for work for NINE DAYS = all by myself me every night after kid goes to bed = cold + susceptible to crappy telly (ummm, five whole minutes of the Kardashians that I will never get back) + late nights + cold + too many leftovers because I struggle to cook for only 1.5 + conversations only by phone + urrgghhh different
– reading up intensely on actual nutrition and getting nutrition double vision. Hmmm I’ve cooked this for a hundred years but now it looks like poison. No wonder my kid is a stick insect and struggles to learn and I’m prone to every cold going round and WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME BEFORE??? Also hating Big-Farm-Inc with even more fervour but still finding agribusiness perpetually fascinating. (Not make-it-my-career fascinating. Facilitating-innovation-by-OTHERS kind of fascinating. One day. Yes.)
– one of my sources is biodynamic/Steinerist who suggests ‘enlisting the power of prayer’ in resisting sugar, right there in plain language but AT THE END OF THE BOOK, and quotes all this scientific research but then lets slip some poor word choices like proteins-and-fats-appear-together-in-nature-because-that’s-the-best-way-for-us-to-absorb-the-nutrients-of-both to which I say NO-No-noooooo-we-evolved-to-thrive-on-proteins-and-fats-eaten-together-because-they-appear-together-in-nature-NOT-because-god-saw-our-digestive-system-and-decided-to-create-an-egg-just-for-us.
– some triggery stuff around past experiences with Steinerist philosophy or at least the people and way I’ve known it to be practiced. (Ahem, with apologies to everyone I’ve offended just there. That would be MY stuff showing up there. Yes.)
– fighting off a sore throat/cold and uurrgghgh southern hemisphere winter and dark really early and urgggh. I know I know I’m Australian and it doesn’t even snow here and I’m sitting here right now with (cold) bare feet but still. It’s QUITE cold. Also, I am a reptile AND a Leo so I miss the sun. (I’m not ACTUALLY a reptile. I just feel the cold. To clarify).
– just added up the bills and have some phone calls to make to utilities which is always soooo much fun and Grrrrr-Kafka-esque-bureaucracy-still-holding-on-to-my-money and I’ve never looked forward to doing my tax claim so much in my life and !!!! and if only I could tell you the ridiculous list of expensive things that have gone wrong over the last four or five months you’d cackle hysterically with me too and also feel almost as sorry for me as I do for myself. Mostly about the phone calls I have to make. (Spy codes may well be necessary).
– Had half a Monster Conversation around money and got some insights about my behaviours that are pretty childish and self (and, um, household/family) sabotaging and uncomfortable. Urggghh, growing up?? It’s soooooo haaaaaarrrdd!!! Do I haaaave to????
– My June-sub-project kind of fell apart without my husband around. Wishing I didn’t need an EXTERNAL motivating factor constantly around me to get on and do what I want to do, be who I want to be. What is it with me and my lazy-ass-undisciplined-unmotivated-self-when-nobody-is-looking? Seriously??? Am I SEVEN????? WHO is this rebellion against?? Urrrggh. Childish protective from SOMETHING habits that are seriously SERIOUSLY out of date. Yes yes it’s a process. Man I’m ready to REACH some bloody MILESTONES already.
GOOOOOOOOD
+ having a place where I can crap on and on and on and ON and outlet some of my unused conversation from this week. On the internet. Forever. Still, it’s nice to crap on. (Sorry, are you ACTUALLY still reading this? Congratulations marathon-you!).
+ My mum is back in the country. Yay. I love my mum. I wish it was less conflicted but it’s not but so what. She’s around and she’s great and we’re a lot better together than some and I’m grateful.
+ My child ate SOUP. Thrice. This is huge for me. I can’t explain why without going on and on and on so just, yay.
+ Cracking myself up by saying ‘thrice’. On the internet. Forever. Hehehehe
+ Phone conversations with my husband. They were long and good! And I loved the reassurance that we CAN have long, good conversations on the phone. Head-to-head connection not just love potion number nine mutual enchantment.
+ LOTS of good journalling. Including possibly coming up with the world’s best filing system for personal notes inspired by the posts here this week. It is indexed in two different ways and then colour coded so it’s really indexed in THREE ways. LOOOOOOVE!!! That is, when I say it “IS” indexed, I mean, it will be. Once I start it. You see.
Okay, I’ve taken up waaaaaaaay too much comment space this week. Thanks for staying with me so long.
Sayonara Chickeneers.
xx
Hmm, Chicken! Seems like the thing to do.
The Hard:
-Bit of a headache this morning, no idea why.
-Still haven’t signed up for an appointment that I need to get done ASAP. It’s not painful, it’s just all the way across town.
-Not sure what I’m doing with my next week. I am having trouble finding a balance between getting some rest and having some productivity. I end up either being super busy, or having no idea what to do with myself.
-A lot of struggle going on. It sucks.
The Good:
+Fun party at my house last night. Taco bar, live music, dancing, a hammock, paper lanterns everywhere, a secret fort, and hanging with an adorable 3-year-old who decided I was her new best friend.
+Pho. Went twice this week, though the first time they were out of soup (!?!?!). Yummy and nutritious.
+Going to a Buddhist meeting with a friend today.
+Got some fun things in the mail this week. Yay for mail!
+Getting excited for the final Harry Potter movie that’s coming out next month.
Hugs and fairy dust to all!
Braaawk, braaawk.
The hard:
-Bad tax things still – doom doom doom!
-Only four hours to wash clothes and pack for a week at the beach.
The good:
+All 25-plus mosquito and/or chigger bites from pruning and weeding are crusty and no longer itching. Latest round of weeding complete.
+Audio books checked out from library for all-day-travel-to-beach tomorrow. Fresh sunscreen purchased. All plants needing plantsitting distributed to their caregivers.
+NLP session identified Afraid/Panic-Filled Me, Defiant Me, Creative Me, and Competent/Get-It-Done Me for working on the Book of Me at the beach about doom and tax things. Never thought before I needed Creative Me for this, what a stunning idea (duh)!
Gotta remember to bring the kites!
Happy weekend, everyone.
I am glad to be a happy part of your week any week. In fact, I wish I could be one in person pretty much every week.
<3
Chicken amnesty! I invoke you!
The hard:
Worried about a loved one. Struggling with responsibility monsters and what to do.
Had to take my freelance work to Rally instead of focusing on future Thing.
That’s it, though!
The good:
RALLY!!!!!!!! Oh my goddess! It was so wonderful!
Allowing myself to be playful, hug stuffed animals and make them clap and chase things.
Singing sea chanties (and realizing again that I NEED music like food).
Trying shiva nata for the first time.
Meeting Havi!
Getting to bring my freelance work to Rally and making better friends with it!
Following rabbit holes, especially easy since I was carrying a rabbit around with me the whole time.
Learning tools for dealing with my patterns.
Connecting deeply with the Tarot for the first time in years.
Making friends with neat interesting people.