Friday, November 19, 2010

Dead Batteries

I really enjoy checking in on foursquare and gowalla.  Unfortunately the internal GPS runs my phone battery down in a heartbeat.  My charger was a 1/2 mile hike away so I had to live with a dead phone. 

Life is kind of like that, too.  We can sometimes do the things we really enjoy, but we have to see if the toll they take on our mental, physical, and spiritual batteries is worth it.  

And sometimes we can get an external boost.  I need to break down and finally buy the iGo charger that @superjennblogs raves about.


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Listen to Your Self

I had a chiropractor appointment this morning. These interactions are very interesting to me as she's reintroducing me to a person I've known for years: me. My chiropractor serves as a combination translator and medium for my body. She takes what I'm feeling (I feel bad) and clarifies it (where, when, how bad). She also has me move in certain ways and then listen to my body to see what it tells her.

I've been very insensitive.

That's the only conclusion I can come to. Some of the "I feel bad" sensations I can clearly attribute to the collision. Some of the "I feel bad" sensations I only notice when she has me pay attention and feel for them. It really makes me wonder what other messages my body has been sending me that I haven't been paying attention to.

Thanks to her, I've realized I need to schedule more conversations with myself.

I used to meditate fairly regularly. I had some deep relaxation sessions on my mp3 player and I'd use the time during kid practices or my lunch to just completely and totally immerse myself in my breath. It really helped me refresh and renew my focus. It looks like it might be time to start meditating again.

I'll look for the links to the meditation podcasts I used to use. If I can find them again I'll share them in the comments.

Oh, and my chiropractor has one more very important job: she makes me feel better.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Busy = Happy?

I think I'm happiest when I'm busiest. With a few footnotes...

  • I need to be working on something I believe in
  • I need to maintain my work/life balance

Other than that, life never seems quite so good as when I'm knee deep in stuff to do. It even makes the infrequent days on the beach so much sweeter because I can appreciate the feel of a job well done.

I hope you are happy with the level of busy-ness that today finds you at.
Do the Pieces Fit Together in Your Life?

Monday, November 15, 2010

Making My Own Touch Screen Gloves- Take 1

180s Women's Weekender Tectouch Glove,Black,Medium
Tectouch Gloves
I love my phone. I hardly go anywhere without it. But there's a small problem. It's getting cold outside and my hands really hurt when the temperature drops. I'd love to buy a pair of touch screen gloves, but I'm a little on the cheap side (If you're not, check these out!) I read this Instructables post a while back and have been planning to make my own touch screen gloves.

Mise En Place
Gloves, Thread, Needle, Phone
I was so excited about this project because I figured it was a perfect project to blog, too. It's simple, it's a good way for me to demonstrate some of my living with ADD steps, it's tech-y, and I figured it would also photograph well.

I've learned that it's a really good idea for me to practice Mise En Place aka "Everything Set Up." The process of gathering my materials and getting them in one spot seems to center my mind. It also ensures that I have what I need at hand. Today that meant getting my gloves, the roll of thread, and a needle. I put my phone in the pic because I knew I'd be testing the gloves on the phone.

Didn't Work :(
It Didn't Work!
A couple of quick stitches and I was ready to go!

Actually, I wasn't. Even though I followed the Instructables guide, my "new" touch screen gloves didn't work.

And I'm still blogging it.

I'm taking this as my daily lesson in humility. I figure it's much more interesting than telling you about how I messed up dinner because I forgot to get the super important ingredient that was whole reason I went to the grocery store in the first place. Plus that kind of story doesn't have cool pics.

What? Still reading? Well, as you probably expected, there's more to this story. I found a neat overview of the different types of Conductive Thread at Fashioning Technology. As for me, I'm thinking about buying a 10 ft thread card from Lamé Lifesaver.

That's it for today. Have fun and thanks to #NaBloPoMo I'll see you tomorrow, probably right around this same time.

#NaBloPoMo

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Sunday is Funday

More pics from the photo contest.  He's not entering these, and I know they're not perfect, but it warmed my heart that my son stopped to smell the roses.
Blinded by the Brilliance

A Rose by Any Name Would Smell as Sweet
I hope you have a wonderful weekend

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Picture My Day

I read this article earlier this week and by chance ran into one of the organizers at lunch the next day. I've been wanting to get to know the island better, and participating in the SI 350 photography contest seemed like a great way to do it.

The photos have to be taken at one of the Staten Island locations listed at http://www.si350.org/History-Trails-Themes and submitted by midnight Sunday 11/14/2010.

Since I had to be out and about on Saturday (chiropractor's appointment really unkinked my shoulders!), we grabbed a camera on the way out the door and got snap happy as we did our errands.

It was a gorgeous day to be in New York City and these are a couple of my favorite shots:

Gargoyle at Work
I've always had a thing for Gargoyles.  I may start a photo collection :)


On a clear day you can see forever
I see this bridge every morning and evening when I'm out walking the dog.  Today was so beautifully clear I just had to get a shot


Diamonds in the Sky
This is my absolute fave.
Kiddo will be picking some of his favorite shots and entering them tomorrow.  Wish him luck!

http://www.si350.org/Contests/Digital-Photo-Contest

Friday, November 12, 2010

Sleep? What's that?

It's a vicious cycle: I fall behind on life and start cutting into my sleep time so I can catch up.  Then I'm so rough around the edges that I can't keep up.  Giving up even more sleep just makes me less effective and then...

If I'm lucky, a weekend comes along and I get to catch up on that delightful thing we call sleep. 

If I'm not so lucky I survive on coffee.  

I'm tucked into bed and blogging this on my phone.  In about one minute I'm going to put this down and catch some shuteye.  

Looks like I'm getting lucky tonight. 

Thursday, November 11, 2010

I Get It

Malcolm Gladwell wrote in Outliers that it takes 10,000 hours or approximately 10 years to get really good at something. I'm pretty hard headed, so it might take me an extra 5,000 hours. But I think I'm starting to get it now.

You have to understand first of all that sometimes my brain amazes me. The other day I punched in the number of an old high school friend...even though I'd last dialed that number in 1992. And sometimes my brain disappoints me, like when I forget what I came into the kitchen to get even though it's just a few steps away from the living room.

Finally "getting it" also means that I'm not arguing with myself that I oughta know this already. It means accepting that for me it sometimes takes a little bit more effort. Or a lot.

I get that I have to write everything down or it may not stick in my brain.

I get that I need to have a combination of a distraction and a focal point to get repetitive tasks done. Hello Podcast!

I get that I miss interpersonal cues. For me to get a message I either have to have all my active listening skills set to "ON" or have someone hit me over the head with a 2x4. The good news is that after 15000 hours of practice I'm getting better at this. The bad news is that it's still work, and it probably always will be.

I get that sometimes I have trouble stopping myself. Those are the days when it's better to go shopping at the flea market than at the mall.
I get that adding people to my mix increases my stamina and enthusiasm. If Aunt Polly asked me to whitewash the fence by myself I'd totally pull a Tom Sawyer and try to get out of it. Well, sorta.* But if I'm working with someone else I'm like the energizer bunny and just keep going and going.

I get that I have no concept of time. Not only does everything have to go on my calendar, I have to set every single reminder option so that time doesn't get away from me.

Most of all, after 15,000 hours of turning on my ears and using my calendar and grocery shopping list and doing a load of laundry a day and checking for my keys every time I walk through a door ... I get that this is who I am and that I'm really good at being me. You see, along with the distraction comes some really cool creativity and amazing energy. Since everything new draws my attention I've had the chance to meet all kinds of really cool people and do some really neat things. I am so thankful that I've been able to remain positive through everything. Even though I haven't always been thrilled with every thing that has come my way, things really work out once you rub a little persistence, creativity, and positive energy on it.
And I finally get it.
*I couldn't exactly do like Tom and collect marbles and a dead cat while my friends whitewashed the fence. But I might tweet about it

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Oh My!

Guinea Pigs and Oscars and Pythons and Boas and Pyrenees and Iguanas and Ferrets and Owtcharkas and Crawdads Oh My!

I may be addicted to twitter, but someone in my house has a pet addiction. Over the years this unnamed person has adopted, fostered, raised, bred and in a few cases barely tolerated just about every kind of pet known to man. For the most part none of these pets were bought, they sort of came our way as people we knew moved away or had changes in their living situations. In one case it was literally saved from the boiling pot.

Several intrepid culinary adventurers got together and had two massive bags of live New Orleans crayfish delivered to our local airport. The gentlemen proceeded from the airport to the home of the lucky hosts where they then dumped the whole bag into the boiling water.

Except for one plucky fellow who held onto the mesh bag with all his might.

A certain young scamp pleaded for the life of the crustacean and that night introduced the mudbug to his new life in a small fish bowl.

By the next morning all the original inhabitants had fallen prey to the new predator in the bowl. We began regular trips to procure feeder fish for the ravenous creature until one day we came home to an empty bowl.

I need to stop here for a second. Don't get me wrong, I love my 100 lb South Russian Owtcharka pound puppy. Ferrets are still my absolute favorite pet. But after a while I find that I have things to do that keep me from sitting in front of a cage or a tank and watching a python stalk a feeder rat or a male Flame Tail cichlid dance for the female. You know, things like laundry and dishes and filing and lawn mowing and sweeping and vacuuming. Little things, really, they just have to be done over and over and over again.

The other thing I try to do to make the repetitive tasks go a little faster is catch up on phone calls. It's not an uncommon sight to see me with a phone headset on and a basket of laundry going up and down the stairs.

On this particular evening I brushed past the pet detectives and brought in the last load of groceries. As I did so I pulled on my phone headset to return a call. Then I made a quick stop in the bedroom to kick off my shoes, grab the dirty laundry, and finally a trip downstairs to empty out the dryer and get a fresh load going.

As I was pulling out the clean dry laundry I felt something tickling my toes. I looked down and saw what I thought was the biggest scorpion on earth trying to get a hold of my big toe. I screamed with all the breath in my lungs. I scrambled backwards and was only stopped by the doorframe. Above me I could hear my stalwart heroes thundering towards the stairs to see what was distressing me. As I drew in another deep breath to scream I realized that I recognized the wayward wanderer. With my next breath I bellowed "WHY IS THERE A CRAWFISH UNDER MY DRYER?!"

I could hear the footsteps on the stairs slow. I heard a chuckle and "So that's where he went"

I was not amused.

Let me say this again. With emphasis.

I. Was. Not. Amused.

In other news, apparently I terrified my friend and neighbor. In the middle of our phone conversation she heard me scream bloody murder and then the phone went dead. Just as she was debating whether she should call 911 directly or walk over to check on me I called back to explain the situation. Unlike me she was greatly amused. and relieved.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my blog. And if a small pet ever turns up missing from your house, check under your dryer, especially if it's cold blooded.






Tuesday, November 9, 2010

It's a Hard Knock Life

Today was a rough day. It was totally a climb back into bed and pull the covers over your head kind of day. I definitely felt like calling it quits and doing just that multiple times. And yet I didn't.

Did I accomplish anything? I don't know. I'm pretty sure I made a positive impact in the lives of some high school students, and I'm fairly certain that I kept our family from making a bad financial decision. I took steps to preserve some memories of my son's school life and I performed a few random acts of kindness here and there.

Overall, I'd say I did good.

But it wasn't fun.

If the balance sheet is on the positive side at the end of the day but you feel like crap, do you call that a good day?

If you have a great day with lots of laughter, but you know you'll pay for it tomorrow, is that a bad day?

I wish I knew the answers.

And so I leave you with the song that's been running through my head all day. I hope your bed is warm, and that you have a loved one or three to kiss goodnight, and even if you feel it's a hard knock life that you indeed keep putting up a fight instead of throwing the towel in.

It's a Hard Knock Life


[ORPHANS]
It's the hard-knock life for us!
It's the hard-knock life for us!

[ANNIE]
'Steada treated,

[ORPHANS]
We get tricked!

[ANNIE]
'Steada kisses,

[ORPHANS]
We get kicked!

[ALL]
It's the hard-knock life!
Got no folks to speak of, so,
It's the hard-knock row we how!

[ANNIE]
Cotton blankets,

[ORPHANS]
'Steada of wool!

[ANNIE]
Empty Bellies

[ORPHANS]
'Steada of full!

[ALL]
It's the hard-knock life!

[ANNIE]
Don't if feel like the wind is always howl'n?

[KATE AND TESSIE]
Don't it seem like there's never any light!

[DUFFY AND JULY]
Once a day, don't you wanna throw the towel in?

[MOLLY AND PEPPER]
It's easier than puttin' up a fight.

[ANNIE]
No one's there when your dreams at night get creepy!
No one cares if you grow...of if you shrink!
No one dries when your eyes get wet an' weepy!

[ALL]
From all the cryin' you would think this place's a sink!
Ohhhh!!!!!!!
Empty belly life!
Rotten smelly life!
Full of sorrow life!
No tomorrow life!

[MOLLY]
Santa Claus we never see

[ANNIE]
Santa Claus, what's that?
Who's he?

[ALL]
No one cares for you a smidge
When you're in an orphanage!

[MOLLY]
(Making a whistling sound and imitating Miss. Hannigan)
You'll stay up till this dump shines
like the top of the Chrysler Building.

[ORPHANS]
Yank the whiskers from her chin
Jab her with a safety Pin
Make her drink a mickey finn
I love you, Miss Hannigan

[MOLLY]
(whistle) Get to work!
(whistle) Strip them beds!
(whistle) I said get to work!

[ALL]
It's the hard-knock life for us
It's the hard-knock life for us
No one cares for you a smidge
When your in an orphanage
It's the hard-knock life
It's the hard-knock life
It's the hard-knock life!

#NaBloPoMo Rocks

Monday, November 8, 2010

The Support of a Forest

I read voraciously.  I love that my phone allows me to read anywhere I go at any hour of the day or night.  The drawback is that I don't always know where I read or heard stories. This is one story that I would love to be able to track the origin of.

The story of the majestic oak tree is very powerful for me.  We are humbled by the ancient gnarled tree that grows on the mountain top.  Buffeted by wind and clinging to the bare rocky soil with every one of its twisted roots it somehow manages to eke out an existence at the very edge, sometimes for hundreds of years.  Yet its twisted and knotty wood is useless to the carpenter.  The carpenter seeks the long tall trees that live in the forest.  Forced by each other to stretch for the light, the wood of the forest tree is smooth and knot free.  The trees protect each other from wind and storms by their sheer numbers, and their interlocking branches and roots provide food and shelter for all manner of wildlife. Each year their falling leaves contribute to the fertile soil and help start the cycle all over again.

I believe that people are kind of like the trees in the forest in that we need each other to reach our fullest potential.  Alone at the edge of the mountain it is too easy to curl into ourselves and become twisted and immersed in our own survival.  It is in the company of others that we reach for the light, support those around us, and nurture those that come after us.  

Unlike trees, we people can move around and find a forest to join or build our own from scratch.  With our recent move I'm currently looking for a new community that will help me stretch out and reach for the light.  I'm very thankful that I have such a great online "forest", too.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Taxonomy

Our church takes the kids on a museum or cultural experience the first Sunday of every month.  This month we spent a couple of hours at the Staten Island Museum learning about their collections. The Museum was founded 128 years ago by a group of amateur naturalists with an astounding interest in education and study - local history, art, and more. The museum is the last remaining interdisciplinary general interest museum left in New York City.  It's way cool.

Taxonomy Worksheet. I sorted by shape :) 
The sheer number of varied items that the museum has is boggling.  The director, Diane Matyas, worked with the young and the young at heart in attendance to explain how items are sorted into categories. She gave each of us a big pile of candy and a taxonomy worksheet.  We spent some time talking about how different items can be categorized, as well as about visible and invisible characteristics (like how the candy tastes!)

I was amazed at how similarities and differences jumped out at me once I some structure in front of me.  Next time I clean out a junk drawer or the hall closet I'll use something similar to help bring order to the chaos.

Oh yeah, and taxonomy is the science of sorting. How cool is that :)

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Ow

I'm sore from tip to toe.

One thing that is very ironic is that usually I can't focus on anything.  Pain doesn't go away for things like ADD though.  It yanks your attention right back to - ow - hold on, it's calling my name.

The impact was on the driver's side of the vehicle, and the side airbags deployed.  I have a colorful bruise on my left arm and I can feel a swathe along the left side of my back that is probably doing a rainbow impression, too.  I haven't looked at it yet.  Yes Jenn, I will go in and get checked out.

Have I mentioned how happy I am that we're doing #NaBloPoMo this year instead of #NaNoWriMo?  I don't think I could create any fiction at all this year.  Maybe next year I'll just write a daily journal.  The last three Novembers have been far more twisty and turny than any fiction I've ever read.

Now if you'll please excuse me, I'm going to go conduct some research on the effectiveness of Ibuprofen, Aspirin and their relatives Tylenol and Aleve. One at a time, of course.

Surfing Sandbar Style
I'd much rather be at the Sandbar.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Smashing Pumpkins

I've been grumbling lately about how my cell phone always runs out of juice part way through the day and how all my stuff is in storage and I need a winter coat and how I don't know anyone here. My car isn't getting the mileage I expected when I bought it, none of my shoes are comfortable enough to walk the 1/2 mile to work every day, grumble grumble grumble. It wasn't a full on pity party, but I had definitely started hanging the decorations.

< * C R A S H * >

On the way home from my son's school we were hit by another car. My side airbags deployed. My son called out "I'm ok"

< * The Dust Settles *>

I noticed powder in the air and on the dash from the airbags. I called 911, I got out to check on the other car. It was freezing outside, so I pulled my new coat out of the shopping bag. Yeah, that's right. Less than an hour before I had bought a knee length 100% wool coat with a delicious collar that curved up around my ears. My dad recently sent a care package with a pair of wool lined leather gloves and I pulled them out of the glove compartment where they'd been waiting for the really cold weather to hit. I was warm and cozy as we walked up and down looking at the cars and calling our insurance agents and in general wishing we were anywhere else but there.

< *Waiting * >

And then we waited. And waited. and waited some more. I was thankful that I was wearing a comfy pair of shoes that I miraculously found this morning in one of the boxes crowding our temporary apartment. Modest heels, rubber soled. Just the thing for standing on the shoulder of a busy road.

My insurance agent emailed me a copy of the car's proof of insurance. My phone somehow managed to work perfectly as the police officer pulled the relevant information off the PDF.

My phone went dead. Turned out that my son had his cell phone on him. All of the gentle reminders about putting it on the charger every night and taking it with him every morning had been heeded. It was fully charged and I was able to make a seamless transition with my insurance agent, my dad, my son's friends.

Apparently I've got people: my agent arranged for a body shop to stay open late so that I could have the car taken straight there. Arrangements were made for a local car rental place to pick me up at the body shop and put me in a rental car. I was turning down offers from my son's friends to come and pick us up.

< * What was I so unhappy about again? * >

In just a few short hours I realized that things weren't as bad as I thought they were. There's always something to grumble about, but there was also a ton of stuff to be grateful for. Here's my short list for today:
  • God's watching out for me!  
  • My loved ones and I are alive and have no broken bones
  • I got my coat, gloves, and comfy shoes right as I needed them.
  • My phone stayed alive for the important part, and then a replacement phone was close at hand
  • I'm not alone. Everywhere I turned tonight people were kind and helpful, even going out of their way to take care of us. 
And the car mileage? Well, if it turns out that the car is totalled, I may be getting a second chance at a car with great mileage. I hope it isn't totalled though. There's something to be said for being able to call my car a smashing pumpkin.
Smashed Pumpkin

So much to be thankful for today

I was in a car accident today, and this is a placeholder post 'til I get back from walking my oh so patient dog.  Suffice it to say that I have found so very much to be thankful for, and once I get back from the dog walk I'll share some of my reasons why.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Distractions

I've been trying to post during my lunch hour, but today somebody popped open the "Alarm Will Sound" door on my floor.  Did I mention I'm highly distractable?  Consider this a placeholder.  I'll post later some of the "Why's" of living with ADD

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Where am I?

Have you ever been completely mentally “away?” Not just daydreaming, but mentally fully immersed in a completely different situation? This happens to me a lot. My understanding is that this is why what my brain does is called Attention Deficit Disorder . It’s not that I can’t maintain focus, it’s that I have a disorder that makes it difficult for me to switch between a deep focus when intermittent focus is needed or switch out of intermittent mode when I need to be focusing deeply on something, like you know, my next blog post.
Something that has helped me understand this brain mechanism better is meditation. Apparently there are two basic kinds of meditation – I’m going to call them the orange and nitrogen because I have no idea what they’re really called.

The Orange:

In this form of meditation you take a single item, like an orange or a raisin or an action (your breath) and you focus everything on that. You consider the folds and the valleys and the color and the stem and every single thing related to that orange. You train your mind to exclude all other stimuli so that you can deeply concentrate on the scent and the weight and the texture of that orange. Just like a muddy stream settling after a storm, gradually all the sediment in your mind settles and you’re completely clear. It’s amazingly powerful and I’ve finished this kind of a meditation feeling as though I’ve awaken from the deepest most refreshing sleep.

Nitrogen:

In this form of meditation you focus on everything in and around you. It helps me to think of nitrogen – it’s everywhere in our environment, and as a gas it gets into our bloodstream and our lungs and fills every space that we move in. When meditating like this you keep yourself grounded in the here and now, becoming deeply aware of all of your thoughts and your feelings and all the sights and sounds around you. I have deep trouble doing this. For whatever reason I start out focusing on the mundane activities of life around me and the next thing I know my mind is a million miles away. I pull it back and bring my focus back to the spaces that nitrogen has crept into and I’m gone again, thinking about how I need to add fertilizer to my plants. My personal theory is that I’m already uncommonly aware of the things around me, and as such this kind of meditation doesn’t help my brain settle.

So what’s my point?

Anchors help me. As I write this I have a printed sheet of paper across the room with my top three priorities on it. As my mind wanders off my gaze lights on my priority list and it narrows my focus back onto my priorities. At home I’ve taken a slightly different tack: rather than have a priority list tacked to the wall, I remove the distractions. The TV set is tucked into a back room and I keep the computers closed up unless I specifically need them for a task. My phone ringer and calendar reminders are on, but text message notifications are off. I know where my mind goes, and I’m learning how to direct it where I want it to go.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Today’s Question: Who am I Not?

I’ve worked with a lot of people in various stages of life. One of the techniques that I’ve seen help some people figure out what direction to go in is to first eliminate the options they don’t like. Horribly paraphrasing Sherlock Holmes, once you have eliminated the unwanted, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, is the direction you should take.

I know I’m easily distracted from the boring task at hand by the promise of a hilarious tweet or another news story or yummm chocolate. The Buddhists call this state of mind “Monkey Mind” meaning unsettled; restless; capricious; whimsical; fanciful; inconstant; confused; indecisive; uncontrollable". Ok. Um, this is not who I want to be.

So, taking Sherlock Holmes advice, who do I want to be? I want to be consistent and responsible. I want my decisions to be reasoned and thought out and made in a timely manner. I want to be dependable and clearheaded. Those of you who know me in real life may say “But this is who you are” If so, Hooray! But I do want to mention how much effort it takes me to be like this.


  • I write everything down or text/email it to myself. Very simply, if it isn’t recorded, I don’t consider it “known”
  • I schedule everything. If you look at my calendar, you’ll see a lot of 1 minute appointments for random things.
  • My “appointments” have multiple reminders
  • I work with my strengths – For example, I know that I like being around people. Rather than try to do things that I’m bad at by myself, I schedule them with people, or in conjunction with things I like to do.
  • I realize that some things are going to take me a lot more time to do and I’ve learned to accept that.
  • I apologize a lot. Unfortunately, even with all the tips and tricks I use, I still say things in the heat of the moment that I probably shouldn’t say, forget things I’ve promised to do, and miss events. Still, a humble heart is supposed to be good for you, and I figure all of the oops’es have definitely made me more humble.

This article is what inspired today's blog post, even though I didn't really stay on topic. Still, it’s worth a read because basically this is what I try to do – outsmart my baser self by setting up “tricks” that keep me productive.

“Capable psychonauts who think about thinking, about states of mind, about set and setting, can get things done not because they have more will power, more drive, but because they know productivity is a game of cat and mouse versus a childish primal human predilection for pleasure and novelty which can never be excised from the soul. Your effort is better spent outsmarting yourself than making empty promises through plugging dates into a calendar or setting deadlines for push ups.” Thanks David McRaney for the quote that I've been thinking about all day.

Monday, November 1, 2010

National Blog Posting Month



I tried to do NaNoWriMo'09, which ended in a major crash and burn when our life was turned upside down and shaken, not stirred.  I simply didn't have it in me to create new stuff when real life was demanding every ounce of creativity I had.  I WANT to write, and I love the community of NaNoWriMo, life just got in the way.

Somehow November showed up on my doorstep again.  I'm still trying to figure out how that happened, but one thing I do know:  I want to write.  I need to write.  When I write I feel better in my skin.  I just don't want to commit myself to 50K words.  Debbi suggested I try NaBloPoMo instead, so here I am (and Jenn insisted that I capitalize it NaBloPoMo)

The other reason I'm trying for NaBloPoMo is that I'm not sure what direction to take Phera's Focus, and I'm hoping a month of writing and interacting will help me figure this out.

Questions I'm going to try to answer:

  • Who am I?  <-- this one's a hard one for me!  You know those bio snippets on every social media site?  I hate'em.  
  • What do I value?
  • What inspires me?
  • What do I fear?
  • What do I desire most?
  • What are my talents, interests, and strengths?
  • Where will I be 15 years from now?

Will you explore these questions with me?  Thanks! I need the encouragement :)