Happy Friday

The weeks pass so fast, don't they? I remember when I was still an office-goer how long each week seemed on Mondays. Then, no matter how horribly the individual days droned on, suddenly it was Friday and we could all breathe a sigh of relief that we'd have whole days to ourselves.

HUBS and I have nothing of note planned. I'll be going to get my hair did tomorrow and plan to drop off PT's Mother's Day gift. Sunday we'll take Julia to the vet to see about his yearly shots and what's going on with his oddly placed fur loss.

I will try, all in all, to Do My Opposite so the days don't fade away from me surrounded by a cloud of freaked-out-by-doing-new-thingsness. And maybe, just maybe, I'll bake some homemade scones.

Have a great weekend everyone! Hopefully some of these things will make the days more interesting:

1) I just finished reading Girl Walks into a Bar by Rachel Dratch of SNL and King of Queens fame. You will like this book. How do I know? Because one chapter is titled How to Care for Your Fuckin' Baby. Go! Read and enjoy!

2) If you've seen The Avengers (and really, you should), you might enjoy this thank you that director/writer Joss Whedon posted on a fan site.

3) Old school art/photography/design lovers will like the magazine cover archive at Ad Art Gallery.

4) Artsy-cool maps from Stamen include digital watercolors of whatever city you search for.

5) I just discovered Trombone Shorty and think you should get to know him, too:

Fear Itself

He's fearless.

This morning I was reading a job search article which noted some advice from the author of a book called Be Fearless.

Write out a list of all the skills and qualities that got you to where you are. Own them!

I shuddered a bit. He meant, of course, to give readers a way to shore themselves up so they could face future challenges. But, I couldn't help but see it differently.

What skills and qualities have gotten me to a point where I'm unhappy with my career, social life, finances and personal development?

You noticed, I hope, that those are some major life areas. Almost all of them, in fact. It's not good. For every step forward I feel myself sliding backward into an abyss of my own making. The key for me is always fear. It's played a major role in every decision and non-decision of my teen and adult life.

The question, as always, is how do I fight it? How, without the therapy and drugs I can't afford anyway, do I stare fear down and tell it to fuck off?

We know what Nike has been telling us for decades, but when you're racked with anxiety it's hard to even consider beginning something that freaks you out. I'm clearly more afraid of change than I am of dying with things staying the same. Why? Why do I allow it to have such a hold over my life?

Maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe I need to let go of my analytical crutch and just Do My Opposite. Say hello to that cool looking person in Panera. Make that cold call. Introduce myself via email to that author. Research that idea. Face the blank page and start writing that story down. Send that script off to agents. Go left when I'd usually go right. Say yes when I would normally say no for no good reason.

Today I'm going to begin to consciously Do My Opposite. Because, this isn't good enough.

How do you become fearless in life?

Well, We're Back Into The Week Now

I know. I haven't posted since last Monday. I suppose I needed a bit of a blog break pre- and post-job interview. I was fine until the night before, on Wednesday. When we happened to be at a Cardinals game. The interview was one of those new-fangled group deals, and while it turned out to be a low-pressure first interview, I had a bit of a panic the night before. I hadn't been on an interview for quite a while and had certainly never done a group interview. The "before" was nerve-wracking in a whole different way.

The interview was fine once it got going, but it was just hot enough on Thursday to ensure that I had no way to arrive at my destination dry and shine free. Oh, well.

I was all prepared to post my usual Music Monday yesterday...And then I had one of those days. You know, the kind of day where you start off early, working hard and getting things done and with concrete plans to get more done. But, after accomplishing some hard stuff, you get mentally and physically worn down and sort of collapse into a soggy heap and vegetate for the next nine hours and 45 minutes. You end up eating too much ice cream and too many potato chips and you go to bed with a headache. Yeah, that kind of day.

HUBS and I had a good weekend, though. I stayed up to 1:30 am on Pinterest Saturday morning. He played a lot of video games. We went to brunch at Jilly's Cupcake Bar on Sunday and then saw The Avengers. And, by the way, both were awesome.

Now that we've got a Tuesday evening to contend with, I'm going to make this recipe and get some crap done. You with me?