Awake

What's this? An update?!?!

Ok, I guess milking the birthday post for 2 weeks is a little desperate. Or just lazy. In any case, I have been a bit pathetic in the communicado department. (Though, in a glass half-full-sense, I have excelled in the incommunicado department. Ok I know. It doesn't work like that.)

The best way to break the ice on a long-overdue update is...pictures! Here's a small bundle from my trip to Portland for Thanksgiving. (From my camera...some taken by me, some by Adalie, my 5-year-old niece. They were sort of a "oh crap, I haven't taken any pictures all weekend!" series of pics.)

Here's my favorite. Two of the best smiles ever!

Sparing you the pathetic details of starting up two businesses in a new town in the dead of Winter...I have a few reflections on the journey thus far. I've been reluctant to share the difficult and frustrating aspects of this new adventure. Actually, it's less of a reluctance than an inability to articulate without condemnation. It's so early in the process; it's hard to speak the truth about what I'm going through without drawing premature conclusions. I'm so judgement oriented, so sure, so confident...to put off these things, to wait on judging the situation (or myself), to be unsure, to grasp at confidence half-heartedly, well what can I say, this is new territory for me.

This territory is Southern Oregon. Living in a house in Medford, on a residential street so intermingled with the country, I can ride my grandma's old bike in one direction passing two Christmas tree farms, horses, an orchard, and a country produce market and in the other direction find barns, cattle, and veritable mansions tucked behind the acreage of humble residences. It takes me 25 minutes along a country road and an old highway now polluted with stop lights to get to my business.

My business is massage therapy and web development. How can these two peas occupy the same pod? Like the crazy blonde says in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun, you have to live your life spherically, pushing out in many directions. So I try to ease a person's pain with my hands and build them a website they can be proud of too.

Until the middle of last week, I brought my laptop to the salon where I work as an independent contractor massage therapist, and sat in whatever chair was available and suited me and tried to make headway on projects while trying to be available to talk about or, ideally, give massage therapy.

After the middle of last week, when my powerbook decided not to startup after asking me if it could restart (the absolute nerve of it, I know), I have been bringing unfinished crochet projects to the salon. I am a bit at a loss as to what to do next. When I tell my closest confidantes that perhaps I should just go to bed earlier and wake up earlier and work at my desktop computer at home and then go into the salon, they laugh.

The nerve.

But I have an ace in my pocket and still hope to be able to repair my laptop before too long. Until then, I suppose I ought to at least make an effort at discipline. Hm. I wonder how that works.

Stop laughing.

Onto a less rueful subject. Christmas is coming! My family will be gathering at Sunriver this year for a weeklong celebration. We are all very very excited. It will be a week to remember.

Well that's all I can come up with for now. Hopefully I will break this creative block into pieces very very soon.

I am headed to Portland this weekend to see Leah and a few others as well. I may need to see at least one "limited-engagement" movie. Medford is so decidedly not on the limited-engagement short list.

Lots of love to you and happy a Friday too.

32.

I'm 32 today.

Received calls from the family. Rewards go as follow:
Most in-tune: Brant and Jackie
Cutest Chorus: The Fun Squad (Adalie, Kylia, Zoie, Seth and April)
Most Faithful and Dedicated: Mom and Dad (they have been singing it for 32 years after all!)

The funniest moment was when the Fun Squad called, sang happy birthday to me, talked for a while, got disconnected, I called back, and the girls sang happy birthday again, as if on cue! Hilarious.

Drew and Kelly took Grandpa and me out to dinner at Olive Garden in Medford for a birthday dinner. We had a very nice time there, enjoying excellent service, food, wine, and even a little Tiramisu. Somehow (I was trying to keep it quiet) our server found out it was my birthday and she alluded to a song later. (I asked if they could do it in sign language.) It was actually very classy and un-embarrassing. :)

Uncle Steve mentioned that my next auspicious day is my 33 and a 1/3rd birthday, March 2, 2009. I am already planning to have a big day that day...just not sure how big. Something to think about anyway.

Happy December Second.