The good: Had a great, relaxing, no-schedule weekend for my birthday last Sunday. Kids with the inlaws, me and DH up in the mountains with no phone, no internet, just sunshine and birds feeding their babies and an occasional thunderstorm.
Got to spend Wednesday evening with my daughter.
Discovered a musician who is now my new musical obsession – SJ Tucker, website skinnywhitechick.com. Awesome voice, terrific musicianship, clever/intelligent lyrics, all in one package. I’ve been listening to my birthday CD over and over and over …
Finally got over that cold that’s been lingering.
Another Rolfing session with amazing results, in spite of the moments I think I can’t take it.

Anna-Lizas last blog post..Pollyanna Is Waiting for the Sand Sharks to show up

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! Thank you, Havi, for creating this space for us to share in the good and the hard. I love the community forming here and I’m so happy to be a part of it.

@Char – oh no! Ear infection! Oyvavoy. Sending you love for that (and sleep).

@Christine – hi! And thinking about you and your girlfriend cracking up whenever she gets email totally made me laugh too. That’s awesome.

@everyone else – you guys you guys you guys! I love reading everyone’s chickens. Thank you for this – it makes doing it so much more fun. Yay.

Wow – what a week for you dear! How cool that you surprised your gentleman friend with such a great trip.

The Great:
-the a/c problem in my house was resolved by asking some neighbors for help. found a great solution
-sleeping again: nothing like that!!
-reading a phenomenal book

The Less Great:
-no running water
-think i’m getting an ear infection.

The good–
insomnia has given me time to hop around links here and read some super interesting stuff. i took kelly’s 16 questions and wrote a bio. i learned a neat visualization about time. i read about Hamlet and Prom. And comment karma.

*grin*
everyone is so SMART! and i love it!

melissas last blog post..Walking Meditation 7/16

The Hard Stuff:

-totally swamped with work. learning/rehearsing 2 shows to be performed in the same weekend + recording.
-trying to keep time to work on my own music
-not eating properly because I forget to eat when I’m so busy
-getting behind on little tasks

The Good Stuff:

-hanging out with my friend’s hilarious kids for an afternoon
-playing guitar with my friend Joey… just for fun (rather than a rehearsal)
-watching Golden Girls in my spare time (well, “spare time” means “dinner time”)
-getting some work through twitter!
-checking out my friend’s fabulous new renovated pad
-running in the mornings with my girlfriend
-having some amazing breakfasts cooked for me by my lovely girlfriend
-replacing the “ding” of my girlfriend’s email alert to a fart sample, which makes us laugh about 10 times/day
-meeting and playing with some great musicians
-contributing my version of the Moonwalk to an awesome site called Eternal Moonwalk.

No rain for the third week. Things are drying up.

Confronting actually leaving the job and tying up loose ends I should have closed off earlier; getting through by just setting the timer and doing them.

Confronting the big change I’m making in my life (and my wife’s life) by doing school full-time. I’d rather have an MFA in creative writing — that would be more fun — but I also have fun doing the scholarly research thing. But but but.

Trying to talk to my monsters re the tinnitus in my head and, really, what is this pattern that makes me fear for my future? What is it they’re trying to protect me from?

To bed late every night, which meant up late in the morning, late to work, late to return home, etc. A bad cycle.

Having to fill out W-4 forms and ick for my research job at the school in the fall. Always nervous about filling out bureaucratic forms.

The Good:

Closing off loose ends at work frees up trapped energy. Also, damn it, they didn’t take as long as I feared they would.

Took today off of work to take the bus from our town to where the college is, as an experiment to see if I can use public transportation instead of driving. We wound up having a great outing.

Continued progress on the lit review.

Good evening out with friends and a good meeting of the group I’m the pres of.

Found the John Jorgenson Quintet’s “Ghost Dance” on Youtube and have been playing it once a day. Just thrilling.

Mikes last blog post..Link harvest

Just wanted to stop by to let you know, the personal ad thing totally works. I put one up this weekend on my very personal blog asking for a largish item that was causing me a lot of stress. I mean, lack of having that item was worsening my quality of life and causing daily stress, not the thought of acquiring it or that item specifically.

Anyway, it came naturally and easily in the way I most desired in 4 days. Holey moley, batman! I’m way happy! Now I’ll be posting ads for everything, hee hee.

Naomi Niless last blog post..Introducing BluePrint Balance.com

The good: well, boy, do I appreciate all the work that hands can do when they’re healthy. And infact my hand is healing and I can type, turn the car’s ignition key, pick up a bottle of water, and a few other small achievements.
I am excited for my family member’s new start in life, and of course I get to go visit!!
At work I figured out how to save someone else a TON of work and time — so they were very happy, and I felt good that I could help.

Lets see… the hard:

my job, and feeling like I should be doing something more. I’m frustrated with being an admin. AGAIN…

I haven’t heard from my family in several weeks. I never know if it is an intentional ‘tough love’ silence.

realized I need my home to feel more like MY home, safer and somewhere I can let my guard down. I haven’t let myself settle in.

The GOOD!

Ordered my Shiva Nata kit. I have been learning the basic positions while waiting on the DVD and even those feel amazing. I’m feeling muscles stretch that I never knew needed it. lots of nice warm fuzzy relief. Also, so much of it is exactly what I need and works in my comfort zone. 5-10 minutes in the morning? YES! I CAN do that. Learning the meditation does not need to be a half hour ordeal was nice too. Somewhere along the way I got the wrong idea about what meditation is/can be. :) so excited for the DVD!

Feeling more hopeful and energized and motivated than I have in about 2 years. And it is different this time. Feels more whole somehow. Discovering the idea of ‘stuckness’and that I can just be with it and be with myself has changed my world view. I can feel that solid, deep ‘I like myself’ confidence creeping back in and, just WOW. seriously. HUGE GOOD.

I completed a nude figurative sculpture for a co-worker. It is the first figure I’ve sculpted in 7 years, since I left the art program at OU and my apprenticeship under a master monumental sculptor. I have been frozen in fear since then about doing that kind of work. Completing this project is a giant accomplishment for me. I’m not thrilled with the outcome, its nothing special, but I feel fantastic that I loved making it. I enjoyed the work! also HUGE

*the sculpture is from a photo that has been a long running joke amongst friends for years. I just found out
the man in the photo will be coming by the office today! I’ve been staring at his butt dimples and deciding what size his *ahem* umm ‘business’ might be for weeks. ahhahaha should be an entertaining encounter