Monday, August 30, 2010

Getting Things Done

It occurs to me that a year from now, based on all the things that are bearing down on me like a freight train lining up to happen, my life will have changed substantially.  These events are such that they require planning, monitoring, bribery and payoffs, adjusting, tweaking, celebrating, and last but certainly not least, remembering. And I wouldn't want to rely on just hard liquor my own aging baby boomer brain to get through this, no no!  Therefore, I  invite you to take this journey with me.  I intend to resume posting regularly here for at least one year, bitching and moaning, tracking and recording, our triumphs and our failures. What's in store you ask?

You see this year my daughter will start college pursuing a career in teaching, she will adjust to college life while working maybe two jobs and living at home, and may even move out on her own.  Boyfriends come and go, but so far she has no tatoos remains level headed.  My youngest son, a senior in high school, will visit and apply to colleges, he will be accepted to a college most likely we can't afford on the east coast, but certainly hundreds of miles away, he will audition and participate in his last high school musical, participate in speech for the last times, graduate from high school, we will throw a much anticipated, humdinger of a midwest graduation party, he will audition and perform in his last Trollwood summer musical, and then he too will move out on his own.  Our oldest son is currently attending his 10 year high school reunion in the Pacific Northwest and will return home this week.  His life seems pretty stable recently, with a wonderful girlfriend and plans to be involved in an artists co-op.  They are approaching the one-year mark in their relationship, so can marriage a baby buying a house a puppy be far behind?

This will leave my husband and me alone staring at one another wondering who the hell we've become in the much dreaded, yet inevitable category of "empty nesters."  Which will probably require yet another year of therapy blogging to work through those issues...  Of course, with all of this turmoil going on, why wouldn't we choose this time to embark on a 12 step program of healthy eating and exercise?  We each hope to end this 12 months at least 30 pounds lighter, toned and fit, decluttered, and with a more zen-like state of mind.

So - thus begins our saga....

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

After a trip to New York a couple of years ago, I was regaling my BFF Kimisue with an hilarious email about my adventures purse shopping in the black market warehouses with my two gay boyfriends. If you've never had the black market experience while visiting the big apple, you would shake your head upon hearing about it, because it sounds dangerous. Its really not, though I wouldn't have done it by myself for the first time. Suffice it to say that its a little like prostitution, a little like a swap meet, a little like a spy movie .... and... you get name brand designer purses for really cheap!

So, back to the hilarious email, which took an unexpected turn, as most of our email conversations do. Kimisue kept the email for some reason, and upon hearing about my recent jobless situation, forwarded it to me with the subject:

It's Time.

KIMISUE: OK, so are the NY warehouses OK to Share? Can we tell someone else how to shop there or do you HAVE to have gay men with you???

LINDA: Oh honey, when shopping in New York it is ALWAYS better to be with a gay man, or two even ... no more than two though because then it just gets too gay and they forget you are there.

KIMISUE: Wow! Sweet! I wanna go too! Can you rent gay men?

LINDA: I don't think there is a Gay-Man-Escort-For-Straight-Women service... but wouldn't that just be a hoot? I'll talk to my gay friend about that. Hey, maybe that's my next venture capital project! You'd be my partner right? In a non-gay, business kind of way of course.

KIMISUE: That's our new business! YESSS! Here's the commercial... Ladies, does your husband want to stay home instead of going dancing? Well, he wont let you go out with just ANY man, but what husband would have a problem if you went out with a Gay Man?! And what gay man doesn't like to dance? Or let him take you shopping!


I haven't acted on this idea yet, but maybe Kimisue is right. Maybe its time!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

A Whack Upside The Head

So yes, I was a square peg in a round hole at my former job... no wait, I'm not a square, OK, I was a round peg in a square hole, the white sheep of the org chart, a fish out of water. You get the picture. But they paid me well, so I stuffed all of my personality, ambition, sense of humor, and intuition into a drawer, and soldiered on. For the record... bad idea. But for some reason it seemed like a good idea at the time. Money will do that to you.



It seems to me that creativity and being comfortable do not play well together. Above all, I am a creative person, and those important pieces of me that were languishing in a drawer needed to be let out. But for some reason, probably the money, I kept ignoring those needs, and kept trying to fit my shapshifting peg into their square hole, kept trying to change the color of my wool, learn to breath the corporate air.



But literally, as I left the building, I felt a little more like myself, and throughout the day, myself kept coming back in waves the more I realized I was free of that oppressive environment. I guess sometimes, it takes a shock to the system to get yourself back on track! So thank you United Underworld Megagrowth Negasoul Engineers, for the whack upside the head!