Searching for my meraki...

One of my good friends recently decided to pursue a career change. It's a completely different field, and she's pretty much starting from scratch. It will mean hard work, long hours and several years of study before she is finished. But instead of feeling overwhelmed by the challenges that certainly await her, she is excited and invigorated in a way she hasn't felt in ages -- her words, not mine, and they made me question the last time I felt really excited about a job or a new project.

It's not that I don't enjoy my work -- I am incredibly fortunate to work with great people, in a field that I still find satisfying, most days. And my side line in mixed media is also a source of enjoyment and creative expression. But I am feeling like much of what I do comes too easily these days. I am not challenged enough -- not afraid enough? -- something like that. I am not even sure what it is I am looking to do, but I am looking. I want to feel more alive, and I don't know what is is that will make that happen for me.

I recently read an article that suggested boredom and busyness were two sides of the same coin. The author explained that boredom was a lack of quality work/play and that busyness was the unavoidable chores and "to dos" that take time away from finding quality work/play. This is my life -- I have lots of things to do, many of which I feel are unavoidable - my day job, laundry & housework, mowing & raking, bill-paying & paperwork, and by the end of the week, I've gotten all of these things done at the expense of QUALITY work and play time.

So this weekend I am going to make time to do something new, in the hope that exposure to new places and things will lead me to my next creative adventure. And in order to do this, something else on my unavoidable "to do list" won't get done. For me, this will be the hard part.

--I just finished writing this post, and meanwhile my favorite astrologist (Rob Brezsny, featured in Metroland) gave me this weekly horoscope...Meraki is a Greek word that refers to the bliss you feel when you're engaged in a task that's important to you and that you're doing really well. It's your theme right now, Libra. According to my reading of the astrological omens, everything's in place for you to experience meraki in abundance. Furthermore, that's exactly what your destiny is pushing for. So please get out there and do everything you can to cooperate: Make this a meraki-filled week.

Trick or treat, I'm packin' heat...

I am going to a costume party for Halloween, and I wanted a fake gun to go with my Halloween costume. Due to gun violence and kids getting shot and all that stuff that ruins the innocent fun of blood and guts and Halloween, you can't buy a decent fake 9mm in the toy department anymore (or even the dollar store, thank you, China). I will add that you can still buy fake hatchets, machetes, and bloody fake body parts, however, so all is not lost.

So I went online for my fake gun. As luck would have it, I found the perfect little plastic model through Amazon for 75 cents -- with $3.25 shipping and handling, I still considered this a bargain. It arrived yesterday. Here it is...



No, this is not a re-enactment of Lincoln's assassination, nor is it a photo commentary on the state of the economy. It is my 75-cent gun, and yes, it is smaller than a penny. In my defense, that's not how it looked in the online photo when I placed the order. However, if I had clicked photo number 2, I would have seen this guy, and that might have clued me in...




I am still going to strap this baby to my thigh, with a piece of scotch tape. Can you say sexxxxxxy?