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.

This week was not fun.

Let’s bid it farewell, in the hopes that next week will feel welcome to come in and be more… compatible.

In the meantime I’m kind of dreading the chickening because I can’t remember any of the good stuff.

Luckily I know from doing a hundred and sixty of these that there is always some good stuff. Let’s see.

The hard stuff

I didn’t get a weekend. Again!

Because of the Shiva Nata iPhone app launch. Which I didn’t know was going to happen just then.

But it did, and when a launch happens you’re kind of supposed to be there for it.

So work emergency trumped vacation-emergency, and I spent my much-hoped-for holiday working from my hotel room.

Which was supposed to be a really nice hotel.

But it turned out to be a crappy hotel pretending to be a nice hotel.

Among the amusing bits:

The jets taking off and landing outside the window, the forgetting of hand towels (twice), the coming into the room despite the Do Not Disturb sign (twice), and leaving a container of furniture polish and a dirty rag next to my bed. Lovely.

It was a very apt reflection of some other sovereignty/boundaries stuff that I was working on.

And it also kind of worked as absurdist theater.

And then regretted the decision all week anyway.

Regretting things is annoying.

Especially when you originally made the calculation that if you’d made Decision A, it would come with fewer regrets than Decision B.

A lot of things hurt this week. And I wasn’t myself so the hurt came with a lot of resentment, and I wasn’t in a spot where I could adequately work with the resentment. It sucked.

But hey, I learned something. Nothing like the hard way!

Because I got sick.

So that was my week.

Mostly in bed. But not the fun kind of in bed. The completely not able to function kind.

And then everything else kind of deteriorated because of that.

It was crazy hot.

I was tired, miserable and cranky and couldn’t get anything done.

Wasn’t paying attention, wore the wrong shoes out, got awful blisters, had to walk home barefoot at night which resulted in more feet-hurt, couldn’t go to dance class, missed the bus, generally not fun.

It got even less fun than that but I really don’t want to talk about it.

Let’s just say that I am planning on not having any more weeks like this.

Also this.

When I’m not depleted, I’m much better equipped to deal with boundary stuff.

And when other people decide not to take responsibility for their stuff and put it all on me instead, I don’t get annoyed.

But when I’m exhausted, over-worked and unhappy, I forget how to meet other people’s pain with compassion.

So then I end up not responding until I’m able to respond. And now there are all these backed-up responses.

Oh and then no water.

A mysterious Hoppy House problem resulted in no water.

On the hottest day of the year, because why not.

Luckily I had just had a massive Berlin-homesickness-craving for Apfelschorle, so I was well supplied with liquid until it got sorted.

The good stuff

Making the roller derby bout.

Remember in the VPAs two weeks ago when I made a wish to be on tour?

I made it to the bout and did a teensy little shivanautically-themed workout for my skaters. GNR looked great. They stayed in their force fields, played tough and beat the Southern Oregon Roller Girls 131-53.

Super fun. And yeah, we were the only fans there but we made a LOT of noise.

And — how sweet is this? — they asked me to be in the team picture too. It’s adorable.

The world didn’t end even though I couldn’t work this week.

That’s always good to remember.

Taught some lovely classes.

The Shiva Nata class at the Playground was amazing.

I’ve been having crazed epiphanies all week.

Plus it was hilarious.

We had Trampoline, Lizard, Brownie and Disco as the horizontals, and Sailboat, Pumpernickel, Bonus and Nostrils for the verticals.

Then we did some Level 3 and Level 4, mixing words and numbers.

So if left hand does numbers and right hand does words, 2:8 = two nostrils. But the mirror reflection is NOT nostrils two as you’d expect. It’s eight lizards! Yes. CRAZY.

Oh, and I did a class for my Kitchen Table program and some really neat stuff happened.

The Shiva Nata iPhone app!

It came out last week and this week everyone talked about how great it is, and that made me very, very, very happy.

Thank you for all your support and spreading the word. Though now I’m totally wishing I’d consulted Briana and called it Epiphanies in My Pocket!

But still. Pocket Shiva Nata! It’s here and it’s fabulous. HOORAY!

I broke down and bought some clothing.

Now I shall be clothed!

Ez!

Fun chat with my brother made it all better.

Onward Rose City!

The Timbers made their three points on Wednesday by beating Chivas USA, so we’re still — barely, by the skin of the teeth — in the running for playoffs. Yes, it’s ridiculous.

Also there was a Timbers win over the Whitecaps, except everyone here adores the Whitecaps, so the celebrating was relatively subdued and all “we love you, guys!”, etc etc. Best chant from that match? “Your bacon is a lie!”

And then there’s lots of roller derby this weekend, so I’m happy.

Understandings reached.

Thanks to all the Shiva Nata, massive realizations all week. About time and space.

More specifically about my time and space, the ways that I don’t appreciate or take care of my time and space, and what I’m going to do about that.

This resulted in a huge depiling, some ceremonial dispatching of iguanas, and making a number of changes in my Pirate Queen Quarters at the Playground.

I’m in Colleen Wainwright’s 50-for-50 interviews!

This is big for a number of reasons.

One: I dislike being interviewed and so I’ve turned down all interview requests for nearly three years. But I like the Communicatrix so much and care about her mission so much that there was no way I wouldn’t do this.

Two: What she is doing is incredible. Support it!

Three: She wrote my bio. I didn’t have to write a bio! This is brilliant, because I detest writing bios.

Four: This interview is one of fifty interviews with her favorite women writers. And I’m on that list! This is a happy!

Anyway, here’s my interview about pickles and writing. Note the lovely picture of the Schmoppet. Schmoppet!

I hope you enjoy. And I really, really hope that you spread the word about her 50 for 50 project.

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.”

And this week’s band actually comes to us via that same brother.

Another Guilt Machine

They’re playing in town all week. Except that it’s really just one guy.

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.