AW Week 7: Check In

Checking in...somehow it feels more real if I do it here rather than just in my notebook.

First, before I even start the check in, THANK YOU to everyone who commented this week! Your words were inspiring and encouraging - there is nothing better to a writer than to know your words are being read!!!!

For those who wondered - I really recommend the Animal Speak book. It's been guiding me for about six years now!

Now for the check in...
1. I did my MPs everyday. Even every day that my mom was staying with me (Sun through Thurs) when I felt bad at going off into a corner by myself and writing for 20 minutes and leaving her alone. I did it anyway, and thank heaven I did. Yes, I daydreamed a creative risk in being a yoga teacher and now I'm in the training. I'm a bit scared to daydream more creative risks because I'm not ready for more big changes in my life!

2. AD - yes I did a couple mini dates when I went to Rainbow Foods (co-op organic grocery store in SF) and got a pedicure at a wonderful new salon in Russian Hill called Lavande. But then I did a for real big artist date last night and went to SOTA, a local public arts high school, and saw students reading excerpts from unfinished plays they were writing.

That in itself was cool, considering that I was courting imperfection and I didn't want to see a perfectly rehearsed play performed by grown-ups who have studied acting all their lives. Nope, in the spirit of this week I wanted to see imperfection. The announcer/narrator said at the very beginning these were likely the first plays the students had written, and could very well be first drafts. Woo hoo! Students read from scripts in hand, flubbed up lines, didn't speak loud enough, didn't look up at the audience the whole time. I'm making it sound bad but really it was wonderful.

The best part though was that a woman sat next to me who I noticed as she walked in - turned out to be the dance teacher at the school. She was one of those people who just radiated passion, energy, and enthusiasm, even though she was losing her voice. We talked before the performance about the school and I told her I was studying to be a yoga teacher because I want to bring yoga to public elementary schools.

She then said there are grants - GRANTS - for that sort of thing! I can get a grant to bring yoga to public schools! Woo hoo!

It felt like a Celestine Prophecy moment :)

3. Synchronicity. If there was any more sync in my life this week, I would have felt trampled by it.

4. Issues...yes. I got to give up my "story" that I couldn't be a yoga teacher because my hearing is bad because the teacher leading the teacher training has bad hearing! The biggest issue that got knocked down and led out of the ring on a stretcher was my hidden lurking perfectionism! I got so much accomplished this week because I didn't have to do anything perfectly! My living room wall got painted, I started my book, I went to my training and didn't have to be perfect. I was encouraged not to be perfect! As it would turn out, my foot that isn't flexible because of my past surgery and my imperfect body that can't do every single pose is a gift. Now my future students don't have to be perfect either!

5. I know there isn't a #5 but I'm creating one to talk about this week's tasks. I barely did any of them. I did write the mantra on three pieces of paper and stuck them around the house. They irritated me, but I kept them up there. I didn't listen to one side of an album, I didn't go to a sacred space (except yoga studios are sacred space for me if they count).

I created a wonderful smell by making banana bread, but that was because my bananas were black and ready, not because it was a task.

I didn't wear my favorite item of clothing, unless you count my cropped jeans but I always wear them.

I didn't buy anything wonderfully comforting, except I did buy a new pair of yoga pants - 95% cotton in a green somewhere between olive and lime. Okay, maybe they count but I bought them because I only have one pair of yoga pants and with all the yoga I'm going to take I wanted something more.

And for the biggie...I didn't do the collage. I thought about doing the collage. I searched for magazines with images I like and after looking in a few places finally bought cooking light, real simple, and yoga journal. Of course now they're brand new and I don't want to tear them up! I really fear collages. I fear that if I do put what I want out there on paper with images that I will have TOO MUCH in my life. I guess I always fear this - I'm pretty good about doing what I want to do once I figure it out and I'm afraid I'll be overwhelmed.

I think what I fear most is that there will be too much in my life and it won't all fit - that if I put in something new that something old will have to go. If I have a new interest that it will steal time away from my time with my daughter or T. It seems like I have to give up something I like to get something else I want. Where does my time go, exactly. I don't watch TV, I clean only when necessary, I don't feel like I have any spare time!

Then at the last minute I read the bit Julia C talkes about in task #10 - collage more thoroughly a dream you are trying to accomplish. This, I just might be able to do. A specific collage may meet my needs more than one with everything I like in life.

Maybe I'll do it in another couple weeks after I've read through my new magazines.

Slapped in the face by imperfection

I started this morning by assisting at a yoga class - my role was to observe the instructor - a friend of mine - as he taught the class.

I guess because I've practiced yoga for the last seven years I thought I should be at least as observant as an instructor, right? Of course not. My friend is a really talented extraordinary teacher who studied with BKS Iyengar in India and has been teaching for at least 10 or more years. He's been practicing for about 20.

What right do I have to compare myself to him as an instructor???

I am okay with the beginning of my new book being imperfect - I'm not even using Word to tell me when I make mistakes or autocorrect problems. I'm okay with my newly painted wall being imperfect considering the edges and ceilings aren't perfect in our 1940s house!

Of course though I should be a perfect yoga instructor on day one, when I haven't even gone to the class on teaching techniques and assists - it's this afternoon!

Evidently there is a perfectionist lingering in me still, saying you have to get this right and quickly as my whole future depends on it. No wonder T just said - do it - don't think about what you're going to do with it - just show up.

Daily ramblings

I had to read a few other blogs before I got motivated myself...

Blue dog ... I hope you feel better. Being sick sucks and it usually happens to me when I need a time out.

Kat ... thanks for sharing about birds. I got interested after I read about birds in the Animal Totem book (previous buffalo post) and then I wanted to know what birds so I bought a couple bird books. Your description is wonderful!

In Otter Space ... loved the bit about Jamie the Buffalo Nickel artist!

And now I can write something new!

My triangular family has left me as the solo point. Just for the weekend, maybe just for tonight, but the house is just so vacant without T and our lovely toddler toddling around. They've gone up to Tahoe to join friends or maybe just find trouble of their own. I'm at home because my yoga training starts tonight and there are twenty-three minutes before I leave to go find parking to sit in a yoga studio and figure out just what I signed up for.

I'm excited, but almost bored with the long long minutes between now and my time of departure. I never dated much (being a serial monogamist type), but this is like waiting for a date to arrive.

This week has been such a high, such a series of revelations that now feels a bit unfamiliar and empty. I will have precious hours tomorrow morning before my next class - hours that aren't filled with picking up after, feeding, changing, walking, entertaining my toddler and I have time for an AD but don't know what to do with that time!

If they're not back until Sunday I'm going to find some kind of evening play. I have this craving for theater, high school theater if I can manage it (someone's blog gave me the idea - forgive me for not remembering which one!) because I want to see something a bit rough, unpolished, and, thank you Julia Cameron, imperfect.

Did I mention that this week while my Mom was in town helping with Ava that we painted one of my living room walls yellow? It's a goldenrod shade of yellow, called "colonel" by Kelly Moore but having never met a colonel, don't know if they are usually that shade!

I've been wanting to paint that wall - my fireplace wall - that color of yellow for over a year. It's beautiful. Midday when the afternoon light meanders through the front window it reminds me of the light in Tuscany. T even noticed it this afternoon. The room now says, sit down, rest, stay a while. It's not a big room - in San Francisco style it's maybe 10x12 feet or so but we've finally made it comfortable. In my world if the room isn't comfortable, what's the point?

Yesterday I talked to my sweet friend B, who's husband is recovering from some horrid cancer that took over his tongue (he wasn't a smoker or a user of any kind of tobacco thus making this all the more strange) and she was having a rough kind of day. I told her when she wanted to yell and scream to call me. These are my waking hours, I told her, just call, yell, scream, I don't mind a bit. Sometimes we just need friends we can call and bitch to - all the better because we're not angry at them. I told her it was easier than making her food!

I have eleven more minutes to go before I start my adventure and now it's only six because I hopped over and read Dilly Dilly and I'm signing off now. Happy Friday Night!

Brought to you by Buffalo

One thing I keep forgetting to mention, is that since I started the AW, buffalo have been appearing everywhere.

Now buffalo aren't small animals, and they don't show up everyday. Take for example in January I went to the Fresno zoo where they had a buffalo. They had lots of other animals but the buffalo really got my attention.

Then last weekend I went to Golden Gate Park where I drove, quite by accident, right to the buffalo fields where a few were out for the day. I've never seen them out of their shelter until Sunday! Isn't she beautiful?



And then today, in the midst of my yoga dilemma, my Mom handed me a quarter for a parking meter, which I didn't need and stuck in my pocket. A Kansas quarter with a buffalo.

So I went home and looked up Buffalo in Animal Speak: The spiritual and magical powers of creatures great and small by Ted Andrews and it said:

The bison or American buffalo is a symbol of abundance and manifestation....you do not have to struggle to survive if the right action is joined with the right prayer (this is what White Buffalo Calf Woman taught the Lakota). I read about this first when I was troubled about praying, how to pray, and to whom I might be praying in the first place.

It also says:
The bison usually follows the easiest path. When we join right action with the right prayers, the path is not difficult...The appearance of the buffalo also implies that the law of synchronicity is operating within your life at the moment. Things will happen at the time, manner, and means that is best fo rus if we allow it. this odesn't mean we should sit back and do nothing, but rather that we should do what we have to do and then let the events take their natural course.

Ask yourself some important questions:
Are you honoring that which you seek?
Are you remembering that the divine is essential to all things in the physical?
Are you giving honor to yourself and the efforts of others within your life?
Do you show gratitude for what you already have?
The quickest way to stop the flow of abundance is by failing to honor that which has already come to you.

There's more in the middle, if anyone has also been seeing buffalo, let me know and I'll type out the rest!

I love you people!

I love YOU PEOPLE! You people - the ones I know and am coming to know through the AW. The ones who post and the ones who read but I can feel your reassurances even if you don't post a syllable.

I am saying YES!

After stressing about it all morning, as I drove home today I asked, prayed, requested:

Hi God, would you please give me a clear sign whether I'm supposed to sign up for this training? A big crystal clear yes or a big crystal clear no, please.

Then I got home and added to that, would you please let me know in the next half hour?

And I went outside and pulled weeds from the grass. Don't tell anyone, but I love pulling weeds. There is something so wonderfully satisfying about pulling weeds from the ground to give room for the plants I've chosen for a space (like grass). So I'm pulling weeds and I think, yes, what about instead of thinking no and fighting it, what if I say yes?

What would stop me from saying yes? I realize it's my daughter. My adorable, wonderful, almost two year old daughter. If I wasn't a mother and didn't feel like I would be taking time away from Ava by doing this training I would have signed up the day before I saw the class. Instead of asking myself if it's fair to me, I asked if it was fair to her. She can't be the reason for me to say no to something so good. Money can't be the reason either. If these are my only reasons, I reasoned, they aren't good enough.

So I printed and filled out the registration form.

I spoke with T who was tired after a long golf day but said "if you want to do this, do this, and it sounds like you're going to be busy." But now that I think of it, he also said "you may not even end up teaching kids, you may end up doing something else with yoga, this opens the door." Yes, I love this man.

I spoke with the yoga instruction program organizer and paid the deposit. Somehow this is all going to work out, somehow now that I jumped, now that I committed, it is all going to work out. I can feel it, like a warm bath melting away, steaming away all of my concerns.

Overwhelm

Is there such a thing as too much possibility?

In the first weeks of the AW I was confronted by aches in my right hand and wrist and entertained other ideas of what I might want to do if I wasn't working on a computer all day.

The two ideas I came up with were to photograph children - and then shortly after that I got a haircut from a friend, we both want to work as photographers, and I bought an amazing new camera. My husband tells me just to play with the camera, just take pictures and have fun with it - don't wrap your head around making money with the camera even if you do spend a lot of money on it - just play with it. Evidently he knows my pattern of coming up with something new to do and getting stuck right about the time I think I ought to make money with it.

But I did photograph a birthday party of a good friend's daughter and I did have fun. I have the images burned to a cd to her that I am determined to get in the mail tomorrow. I have to say the good side of digital is that there is no huge cost of film developing or printing proof sheets - the CD costs little, copying the images from my camera to laptop costs only time.

This is all good...if it's so good, why am I a basket case? Why am I ready to bounce off the walls and bury my head in the sand to make it all go away.

Why am I so determined to limit myself and opportunities???

In reality...all I did was take pictures at a birthday party. That's it. In my head I have quit my job and somehow relying on what must be meager money that I would make shooting birthday parties.

This is what I do. I get way ahead of myself and get scared and worried and then terrified. Terrified of succeeding at doing something completely atypical.

Then the other thing. When I had hand and arm problems (which were, according to my awesome holistic practitioner all to do with not breathing while I was doing my MP's if you can believe that!) I also thought I'd love to teach yoga.

So of course, OF COURSE, since I am in the AW my usual yoga studio had a flyer a couple weeks back about instructor training. Six month course and (what feels like) a huge amount of money. No way...no way I can swing it I tell myself and throw the flyer away. I just want to teach kids why do I have to go through a huge course like this?

So today after yoga I picked up a schedule and saw that the training is Friday evenings, Saturday and Sunday afternoons - three weekends a month. Hm. I can at least ask the questions in my head...the questions like do I have to pay all at once or can I pay over time? What time exactly is the time commitment on those days?

So I get a quick response back...the training does start this Friday. OF COURSE IT DOES. OF COURSE I WANT TO PULL OUT ALL MY HAIR AND RUN IN CIRCLES MADLY AND RAPIDLY AND HIDE. Mostly I just want to hide.

I pay in four chunks, which are big, but manageable. The time commitment is 2 hrs Friday night, 3 hours Sat & Sun. Manageable. Uh-oh. I also have to take six hours worth of classes a week plus homework. I count. Fourteen hours of yoga a week.

I talk to my husband, who says, OF COURSE, if you want to do this we will make it work. I say "of course" because it's like the Universe is handing me a plate, full of being a yoga instructor, saying, help yourself. Don't you want this? Really, it's delicious, take some.

WHY DOES THIS MAKE ME WANT TO HIDE? Why does the thougth of having a wonderful, extraordinary life make me want to run to the nearest 8-5 job and sign up?

Oh - and OF COURSE I had a synchronistic conversation with my Mom this morning about religion and had a bunch of great ideas for my book.

I mean "of course" in the most sarcastic of ways.

Am I just crazy? How does anyone else deal with too much good? Is it possible to just accept it and say thank you????

One last quote about money...

It is only by following your deepest instinct that you can lead a rich life.
- Katherine Butler Hathaway

Money miracle

This could only be explained as a money miracle of Divine Intervention.

I was sitting at my computer, uploading photos to shutterfly, ofoto (which at some point became kodakgallery) and mpix so I can test which has the best color for printing digital pics with my new camera, when I heard a faint knock at my front door.

It's nearly 10PM. People don't knock at my door at almost 10PM.

I peek out the window and the guy seems to know me and I don't know him. I call T, who peeks and opens the door...

Evidently he's our next door neighbor, holding my wallet with no less than $260, two credit cards, and every membership card I possess.

It's all there...even the zoo membership.

Perhaps this is God's answer to yesterday's plea, ahem, request for help. I think it's God's way of saying,

Relax Julie, I have it all under control and here's your wallet.

God And Money

This week has been strange for me. For the last two days my MPs have been all about my ideas about God and money (I nearly capitalized money...how ironic). Why would God get involved with money, I pondered. Money is such a messy, guilty, ambivalent thing. Money causes so many problems...well, okay. I know it's the people that cause the problems in the name of money. People also cause problems in the name of God. The reality, I suppose, is that people just cause problems period and blame God, money, relatives, and other things.

I am playing with the idea that God wants to give me money. Maybe God has a giant pot of gold for everyone - we just need to get our safety umbrellas out of the way and let it rain on us. I am also playing with the idea that if everyone had enough money there wouldn't be hyperinflation so it would actually feel like enough money.

I have been counting money since yesterday, and saying yes to things people offer me (like my coworker buying me lunch yesterday!). I have noticed I spend money on food. Starbucks gets money from me a few times a week - the grocery store gets regular money from me - and restaurants get money from me. I am trying to spend like I do normally and not think of this as an exercise in making myself wrong about how I spend money. Trying. Money has so much guilt tied into it for me that thinking about money I feel like I should cease spending altogether.

I once had stock (yes, a dot-commer I was) valued at lots of money. I didn't do anything with it out of fear. I wasn't selfishly waiting for it to be worth more, I was more shell-shocked at the possibility of stock options being worth so much. (I got that worth all mixed up with my worth which is a story of a different color.) I was a bit afraid of taxes, but mostly I was afraid that if people who knew me, knew I had money, they would be hammering on my door asking for a slice. I liked my anonymity of facquaintences and relatives thinking I had no money instead.

I did nearly nothing with the stock and now, of course, it's really worth nothing.

I beat myself up sometimes by saying that why would God give me a second chance at big money when I blew my first chance so horribly. Why would God bother with me? I figure God would leave me to my own devices with money.

So that is the God I have been believing in - a God who gets involved in all of my life except my financial life.

What if I created a new kind of God? What if instead God is just waiting for me to ask for help? What if God wants me to stop beating myself up for the past so she/he/it can do it to me one more time?

Hi God,
As you know, I really suck at asking for help. I am also having issues in my head with money. Would you please help me with money? Would you take a wrecking ball to the brick wall between me and money so it can flow my way? Would you help me, please?

Thank you,
Julie

There. That's the best I can do for now. Let's see what happens.

AW Week 5: Check In

While I have a minute...

1. MPs:
I did the MPs six out of seven days and regretted not having time to do them the one morning I skipped...woke up late after a bad night of sleep and ended up being 45 min late for work even without doing them. Was a really tiring messy day, complete with a fall into the virtue trap.

One morning I fell into the river of creativity in my MPs though, the night before I had asked a question about the book I'm pondering and the morning I found six pages of material dumped onto the pages. I love that river...

2. AD
Thank you Kat and In Otter Space for ideas on ADs! Sometimes it's obvious what my artist wants to do, other times not. I will save these ideas and borrow them!

This week I sort of had an AD. I went to yoga this morning, which is like an AD to me. I came home and T, Ava and I went to the farmers market and bought a zillion clementines and tasty blood oranges and a bunch of the freshest most beautiful chard I've seen. I also bought myself bright pink tulips because I adore tulips. I know I'm not supposed to bring my family along on an AD, but it's more fun to go to the farmers market with them!

Then we had a sitter arranged for 3Pm and I was all set to do something...but I wanted to do that something with T so I invited him to a movie. We showed up four mins before the next showing of the Pink Panther. We do that...just show up at movies and choose one playing soon that sounds interesting. It was hilarious...stupid British (French) humor sort of funny but there were parts that had me laughing for minutes. T and I ate a good sized popcorn and some really good soft red vines and my artist seemed genuinely happy to have some time with her boy.

Next week I'll do something solo besides yoga :)

3. Synchronicity...
There were a dozen little things like thinking I need to meet some real kids in my target 9-12 age range soon to ask them about my book ideas and a day later one of my coworkers who is the lead for an elementary school needs my help. I've met the principal and now I have to gather my confidence and ask if I can talk to teachers and students! I can't think of more but I will add as I remember.

I keep repeating my Artist Prayer when I get overwhelmed:
All I need to do is take the next step.

And then I have room to breathe again.

4. Issues...
Seeing I'm still susceptible to the Virtue Trap and struggle to say no when I am guilted into helping.

5. Other things... (I made that one up)
I am loving all of the bloggers I am connecting with...thank you for your kind words, encouragement, and just making me feel read!

In need of Artist Date ideas!

I have 2-3 hours today for an AD - but I don't know what to do with it!

Would you please share what you've done on the last couple AD's???

thanks!

My candy heart says...

Thanks all things jennifer...here is what my candy heart says:

Your Candy Heart Says "First Kiss"

You're a true romantic who brings an innocent hope to each new relationship. You see the good in every person you date, and you relish each step of falling in love. Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a romantic dinner your sweetie cooks for you Your flirting style: friendly and sweet What turns you off: cynics who don't believe in romance Why you're hot: you always keep the romance alive

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

It's time to go home...

...well beyond when I had planned on leaving work.

I had thought I might go to an exercise class at lunchtime, but lunchtime ended up as a prepackaged salad brought back to the office to eat as I worked on another computer.

I had thought I would go to a tai chi class at 4:30, but a coworker had a big issue that he didn't want to solve himself and guilted me into helping him. "I thought you were going to do it, I'm too busy," he whined.

I responded, "Name, I have four clients, I work three days a week, I currently have three issues more pressing than yours but I'm helping you."

He then whined "I have one client that feels like four."

IMO, that's because he doesn't manage them well. He's a yes-man, someday I hope he will learn how to say no.

But that might be the day that I do also...

I'm tired, and talking to him has drained the last ounce of energy from me so now I know there's no way I'm making it to any exercise anything today. If I'd brought my swim suit I'd go do laps so I could immerse myself in water and drown out his lingering whiny voice.

Plus I woke up late and didn't do my MPs and that always leaves me behind in my game.

Week 4: Check In

I broke the reading deprivation in little bits - I read a couple blogs, I read bits of text in a color design book but to be honest I was just looking at the pictures to get ideas of how to remake my bedroom! I didn't read any books for my "project" which was actually quite nice as I could hear my own thoughts again bubbling back up. I felt a little restless as I use reading to relax, but found I could live without it.

I did my morning pages every day this week, even though my hand was starting to hurt. It's comforting to get the chaotic thoughts out of my head onto the page - I know if I don't do it I am less loving and less available to everyone in my life.

My artist date - I told myself my official artist date was to get a massage Thursday after work - which I did and it was fabulous. But I also went to an exercise class Thursday at lunchtime that still has my muscles complaining and a yoga class taught by one of my favorite teachers today. I think of artist dates as time I take for myself - whatever I'm doing. I have been etching out slices of time for myself to take care of me, and I've found T to be incredibly supportive and willing to watch Ava so I can go.

Synchronicity...I already wrote about getting my haircut and finding a possible partner in photography! What I didn't add was that I took a 2 year old birthday party yesterday as an opportunity to take pictures. I'm not going to any weddings that I know of this year, but there are more kids I know having parties and I'm going to use this as an opportunity get the rust out of my photography skills!

There are also a dozen little synchronicities - like friends I haven't talked to in ages calling me out of the blue when I was thinking about them the day before. Things just happening as I want them to - in general I am getting the sense that I am on the right path and doing the right things - finally! It's been a long time since I've felt this way.

Issues significant to my recovery....today in yoga our instructor had us practice many poses where the focus was on opening the chest in a way that fills up the space around the collar bones. I have been wanting to open my heart more and feel more love - and (synchronously!) this is what opening my chest does. It's going to take a lot of practice to lift my chest instead of sinking down, but it will also help with my hand/arm/shoulder aching so I can keep writing and keep typing.

Now, my little one has gone to sleep without tears tonight (whew!) and I'm going to declare week 4 over and go pick up a book!

Coming into focus

There is a part in Joe Vs. The Volcano when Tom Hanks' character is shopping with his driver for the day - after he gets his haircut his driver (an angel in disguise) says to him "You're coming into focus, kid."

That's how I feel today - like I'm coming into focus.

I did get a hair cut - my first in ten months. My hair only grows to about a third of the way down my back and then split ends start splitting and it refuses to grow any longer. I was beyond the point of frustration - I had to carry an assortment of clips and rubber bands so I could get my hair out of my face at any time. It had gone on too long.

So I called my friend who cuts my hair, and she was available right when I wanted her, and instead of making me drive across the GGate bridge we met at her place across town (which I had secretly wished for!). I had been preparing myself and T all week - I'm getting my hair cut short. Short short short! I am tired of long hair and my power is in no way tied to the length of my hair. My friend cut it wonderfully, I now have happy hair that is just grazing the top of my shoulders and pushing it behind my ears works great to keep it out of my face. It's perfect.

Then she had a break in her day so we went for a walk to grab a bagel.

On the way she asks me where I live, which spawns a synchronistic conversation about photography as she's coming to my neck of the city next week to do a maternity photo shoot.

The synchronicity is that when I was thinking about what I would do if I couldn't work in computers and I couldn't write - I would be a photographer. Then resignation and cynicism set in, as I "tried" it before but didn't succeed.

Then I end up in a conversation with her about how it would be FUN to work together - as I don't want to do this solo - I want a partner. Everything for me these days is about partnering with someone else. We started talking about wedding photography, child photography, what we like to do. I felt myself shrinking back, wanting to run away from the opportunity, wanting to run away from the possibility of being a photographer. Why? Because I've failed in the past and surely will fail again.

But as my friend said - let's just DO it. Not think about it, not talk about it, just DO it.

All I have to do is take the next step. That will be my Artist's Prayer:

All I have to do is take the next step.

Tagged!

I have been tagged by the fabulous Stefanie:

Four jobs in my past:
Outside drive through cashier at Burger King
Front desk clerk
Assistant financial controller
Computer Infrastructure Architect

Four movies I could watch over and over:
The Fifth Element
How to Make An American Quilt
The Princess Bride
Joe Vs. The Volcano (thanks Becky!)

Four places I've lived:
Salinas, California
Lakewood, Colorado
Davis, California
San Francisco

Four TV shows I love:
Charmed
Law and Order
Star Trek Next Generation
Three's Company

Four Places I've vacationed:
Nice, France
Barcelona, Spain
Botswana, Africa
Key West, Florida

Four of my favorite dishes (foods):
risotto
sushi
chicken tikka masala
a good, well seasoned turkey burger

Four sites I visit daily:
Stef
Kat's Paws
The bloggers that say Musing in the AW group!

Four places I'd rather be:
In a sunny corner daydreaming
On a safari in Africa
Snorkeling in Key West
Writing in my blog in pajamas with Ava in my lap (oh wait, that's what I'm doing now!)

One blogger I'm tagging:
Pamela

My hand is going on strike

Over the last week I have started getting a pain in my right (dominant) hand on that bit of flesh between my little finger and my wrist. I also have a pain in my right elbow sort of in a line up from the hand pain.

This morning as I was writing it was aching, not enough to stop me but enough to annoy me. I wrote..."if I couldn't type then I couldn't work in computers; if I couldn't write I couldn't do what I love (which is write), so the question is, if I couldn't type or write, what would I do?"

This is my question of the day...what would I do that didn't involve much or any typing or writing? The only thing I've thought of yet is teach yoga.