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.

Oh boy! The Items (Item!) are back with a vengeance.

I thought I’d be able to take a break from Itemizing, but no. Things don’t Itemize themselves, you know.

Actually they do.

Item! Post No. 37 in a series that gets me to occasionally close like, 734 open tabs in Firefox at once.

Item! Deborah Weber is my favourite person in the entire world!

Remember when I went and bought that wacky Healthy Boundaries spray?

Because I needed some? Healthy boundaries, I mean. The fact that they came in spray form just made the whole thing more appealing.

And of course I didn’t think it would actually work or anything. Come on. I just thought it would be a Useful Reminder for the thing I was focusing on.

And then it worked so astoundingly well that I started obsessing over it.

So a while ago when I started getting really into sovereignty (the quality of owning your own space and not giving a damn about what other people think about that), I asked her if she had a spray for it.

I was kidding. Well, mostly kidding, partly hoping. And she said she did but that it wasn’t on the website. And I said something like get out of town!

And then forgot about it.

Deborah sent me a bottle of it this week. As a present. Because she’s the sweetest person alive.

Sovereignty spray! It is making me happy! And she just added it to her online store. Which is here, if you’re wondering.

She’s @DeborahWeber on Twitter.

Item! Snail mail tips!

Not a secret that I’m a big fan of Marissa Bracke, my genius First Mate who is one hell of a Can-Do-Ologist (and a fellow maker-upper of goofball business vocabulary).

This was a guest post of hers for Jen Hofmann (someone else I write about pretty much all the time.

“The items that require some interim step between receiving it in the mail and disposing of it are the ones that befuddle me, and often end up being tossed in a pile on my desk where they promptly… sit.

(Well, they sit *and* act as the foundation layer for additional pieces of “needs further action” snail mail that come later… so let’s not pretend that they’re completely useless.)”

The rest is here.

Also, if you need a Virtual Assistant (which is what other people call Can-Do-Ologists, I guess), I cannot recommend her highly enough. Go see if you’re one of her Right People.

Marissa is @marissabracke on Twitter and Jen is @inspiredjen.

Item! In which someone else needs a duck!

Yes, this post is actually called: In Which I Need A Duck

“And Selma, for Havi, is — as I interpret it, anyway — a sort of Shibboleth, a way of identifying who those people are.

Now, we all know there aren’t that many people even reading this, so the fact that you’re even here probably means you pass.

But I’m open to suggestions for my version of a Duck.”

I love this! Even more because the capitalization of Duck.

Item! Are you in Portland? In November?

Because my friend Carolyn is doing a cool thing.

(Some of you may remember Carolyn as the one who coached me through the hacker thing, and taught me important things about how it’s okay to be beautiful when you’re running a pirate ship.)

Anyway, she does small-group intuitive painting workshops that are all about accessing creativity and power and learning cool things about yourself.

I’m not doing them justice, but let me just say that anything Carolyn does is going to be pretty freaking powerful. She is a neat, neat lady and I can’t say enough good things about her.

Anyway, it’s happening the weekend of November 7th–8th in North Portland — 10am to 5pm both Saturday and Sunday with a break for lunch.

Details are here. If you happen to be in PDX and (knock on keyboard) there are still spaces left, I say do it!

Item! Speaking of things that are only available until early November!

I read on Jolie’s blog that she’s doing a big Clearing Out of Stuff as a fall ritual.

Which is a great idea, actually.

And as part of her Clearing Out, she’s removing all her jewelry listings from Etsy as of November 5.

“Since I don’t want this stuff just sitting in my studio, I’d love it if you bought it instead. That way I’m really clearing things out (since that’s kind of the point). It’s a win-win.

You get goodies and I get more space in my studio for painting stuff.”

Look at these Laurelhurst earrings. First of all: they’re gorgeous. Then there’s this beautiful tiny watercolor that goes with it. And a story. And they’re ridiculously affordable.

It almost makes me wish I had holes in my ears. But I don’t. But some of you probably do. Or know people who do.

So if you feel like buying them earrings, this is a great time for it. Plus you get to support a talented Portland artist and make someone happy.

Item! I am a terrible stalker.

Oh, remember last week when I was all look at me, stalking Colleen? No?

I think my point was hey, that’s mostly why I got on Twitter, to obsessively follow around the mad, fabulous Communicatrix herself.

So let me just say that I’m not very good at it.

Because then I got a card from her in the mail about how wonderful I am. See? She knows my address and I didn’t even know hers until I got the card. That’s how ineffectual a stalker I am.

She also told me when she’s coming to Portland. Which is really so that I can clear my calendar and make room for buying her biscuits. Because clearly she knows which side her biscuits are buttered on. ROWR.

Anyway, there will be biscuits. And maybe she’ll agree to teach a class with me called Being Obsessive: Doing It Right For Once.

Also my gentleman friend is very happy about all of this because he’s a huge Colleen-fan as well.

She’s @Communicatrix on Twitter and we love her.

Item! Update from the land of the Peculiar & Hilarious Shivanauts!

The “peculiar and hilarious” thing comes from Melynda’s sweet bit about Butterfly Wishes.

I’ve been avoiding writing this particular piece for oh, I don’t know … five years?

People often get a little confused about why I would want to teach something that is challenging to the point of impossible and also supposedly very not fun.

And what they’re wondering is something like, no, seriously, why would any sane person ever want to do this?

And I have so much to say about that, but I really had to wait until I found the right words and the right place in my heart, so that I could give a loving answer that is also a fun answer and a true answer.

The post is called why would you possibly want to do this?

And I think it’s super useful even if you’re not at all interested in Shiva Nata.

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 recommendations ever!

Here’s what I want this time:

• Someone or something I’ve tragically neglected to Itemize.
• Anything else you’re thinking about (uh, lines from Say Anything?)

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.