Schroedinger's moving boxes

(Somehow this posted with the wrong date--it being Tuesday, May 1st. I am not yet savvy enough to change the header...)

Oh the marvelosity of the day.

I have fired my agent--gently, & with all good wishes of course--& called my editor (of the hardcover edition of Growing Wings) who has been waiting to see another book from me. We had a nice visit & then I actually printed & sent her the novel the same day. How cool is that? Moi--who used to wear the scarlet "P" for "Procrastinator."

& I painted in my newly(half)cleaned studio space while soaking my feet in a cool little vibraty foot bath that I've had for a long time but haven't used much in the last few years.

& I had lunch with a friend recently returned from Thailand. We're going to take a batik class together on Saturday.

&--going back almost to the beginning of blogging as I know it; see "Let the fingers (and palms) do the talking"--I have figured out something about the ghosts who were keeping me from the full expression of my creativity. It was indeed the moving boxes. Every time I looked at them, or tried hard not to look at them, I imagined all the things to deal with lurking inside the cardboard. Ghosts? In the Schroedinger's cat sense of the word.

What is the half-life of the past? You can only find out by opening the boxes and dealing with the (living or dead) things inside. If it weren't for my executive assistant, I'd still be haunted by all those wavicles. As it is, half of them are put in their places, or at least scheduled to be.

Blog alternative:
38. Go soak your feet.

Carrot juice

Wow, if your (real or imaginary) executive assistant is as hard-working as mine, you're exhausted! The two of us worked for 4 hours, with another spate scheduled for Wednesday. I just drank some fresh-squeezed carrot juice to rejuvenate. I think it worked.

Maybe only partially rejuvenated, because I can't think of anything really cosmic to say. So, I'll just go with my standard blessing:

peace & strength
joy & wisdom
love & gratitude

perfect healing
body mind heart & soul
in this & all times

perfect abundance
body mind heart & soul
in this & all times

all is well
in this & all times

all you need is within you

all you do not need
let it go

blog alternate
37. go through a bag o' stuff or a box o' stuff (I know you've got at least one!) and do something with something.

Imaginary executive assistants & the twelfth elf

Sunday.

The birthday week is over.

However--

the American Express guy I talked to on the phone a few days ago said some friends of his celebrate their birthdays every month on the birthday day. So hello the 22nd of everything! (On May 22nd I'll be forty eight & one twelfth. (Hmmm, I never noticed that twelfth has an elf in it. Cool.))

Today was another walking day, this time in the arboretum. And oh, the rhododendron show! Some of them smelled SO good. Especially the white ones. And fabulous meditation and great ideas and--

Maybe the birthday week isn't over after all.

My executive assistant is coming over tomorrow for a couple hours to help me get the apartment in order. I'm looking forward to the day--soon--when I can pay her what she's worth.

Here's a tip though. Even an imaginary executive assistant is tremendously valuable. My first E.A. was 12, the visiting step-niece of a friend of mine. She came over to my apartment and painted purty pictures, with actual work to be done on the next visit (art supplies and space was her payment) but then she got sick and couldn't help out before she had to return to North Dakota. However, when I thought she was coming over, I spent a bunch of time getting things ready so she could be useful, which meant that I looked through my papers and threw a bunch of stuff away. Worth her weight in gold, she was.

So now, I have an actual executive assistant. She worked for me for 2 hours in February. Now both of our schedules have opened up and there's no limit to what we can accomplish.

Blog alternative

36. Hire an executive assistant (real or imaginary) and prepare to work together.

Skinny dipping in Flat Laurel Creek

tried to post this yesterday (saturday, april 28th) but there were wi-fi "issues"
so, another day, another coffee shop, another post to follow post-haste

Blog alternative

35. Let's say you have 2 days left on the planet. (Due to death, ascension, e.t. bus, other.) What would you do? From where you are--things you could realistically do locally. Don't spend a lot of time on this, and think with your heart rather than your head.

My friend Mary came up with that question a few days ago and made a list. Three of the items on the list we did today: go to a really high place, skinny dip in a mountain stream, drink dagoba xocolatl (spicy hot chocolate) made with rice milk and coconut milk with whipped cream squirted on top.

Okay, so the skinny dipping was QUICK, it being around 50-55 degrees and mostly overcast and a little drizzly at times, although the sun did come out to see us when we said, "Look, we ain't skinny dipping unless it warms up a little."

It was a magical day. Perfect privacy for the skinny dipping, probably because of the weather. We finished getting dressed and I'd just crossed the stream to get back to the trail when a guy came down to the stream--which had the lovely name of Flat Laurel Creek.

Oh, and a thousand years ago (spring/summer of 1984) I worked at IBM for 3 months. Night shift, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. putting chips on cards. One night, when it was a simple job you could do in your sleep, I memorized an Edna St. Vincent Millay poem, "Afternoon on a Hill." It was so fabulously appropriate that I recited it to Mary and she promptly said, "Okay, but it needs a new ending." I changed it some, to make it appropriate to our magical mystery tour up to Sam's Knob. So, with gratitude and homage to Ms. Millay:

We were the gladdest things
under the sun.
We touched a hundred flowers,
did not pick one.
We looked at cliffs and clouds
with quiet eyes,
watched the wind bow down the grass,
and the grass rise.
And light began to spark
in every human soul,
lit every human heart,
and we were whole.

Make sure you read "Afternoon on a Hill" some time. Hope you come up with a good list.

Bubble gum vs. pure darkness

recently read by yours truly
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
The One Minute Millionaire by Mark Victor Hanson & Robert G. Allen
Creating Affluence by Deepak Chopra
Dancing with Joy (poetry) edited by Roger Housden

(before recently there were a whole slew of science fiction & fantasy books for the Tiptree jury)

Today I'm making some notes on The One Minute Millionaire, so the information will actually be incorporated into my brain and the exercises will be incorporated into my habits. A millionaire? Moi? Mais oui! I've got some really cool book ideas that I'm working on (as well as the screenplay and the stage play of course) and I have some other ideas... I'll keep you posted.

Excellent overheard quote of the day: "I told him no, I'm bubble gum and you're pure darkness."

Today's bit from my book: When you're really ready to change a habit, anything will work. When you're not, nothing will.

Today's blog alternative:
34. delete 22 emails from your inbox.

Quantum clouds of possibility--100% chance of rain

In yet another coffee shop, this one in Weaverville.

Had a fun conversation with two women with great energy--did a little reconnective healing and had to get out my driver's license to claim my age.

So, back in time to the last post, a couple days ago
(hey, it's my birthday week, I can't be blogging all the time!)
my three favorite things about me now
positivity
creativity
quantum cloud of possibility (little fizzix groupie girl had to get this one in here) manifesting into incredible destiny (little meta-fizzix girl had to add this part)

I'll have to wait to do the other variations on the theme, cuz it's back out into the wide wet wonderful world for me.

your blog alternative

33. drive to a little town you've never (or rarely) been to and seek out a coffee shop or a mom&pop diner. order your second favorite thing on the menu, so you'll come back for number one another time.

today's philosofizzix (from a book I'm working on)

You can choose something or complain about it, but not both.

Okay, so the entire thing is a blog alternative

maybe I should start with the blog alternative, in case you're looking for ideas on what to do with your no-doubt-copious time. I'm guessing you have have somewhere around 168 hours per week, if you're reading this from planet earth.

blog alternative
32. write down your three favorite things about yourself--and then imagine your best friend's list of three favorite things about you and write that down too. go crazy--how about the you you were when you were ten. (yeah, I read that through and I think it makes sense if you don't take the corners too fast.) you can do that one two different ways: your favorite things about ten-year-old you and what three things the ten-year-old you would pick about you now.

My three favorite things about me now? (Oh, man, only three?)
I think I've just picked my blog theme for tomorrow.

and now I'm going to quit blogging and visit with my friend Mary, who is eating a cherry chocolate chip scone.

later, gators.