I drew the cartoon above this morning for
Illustration Friday. This week's topic: "Smitten."
So I finally got curious about the phrase "
muoi rayes" because it kept coming up in spam headers, so did a Google search for the phrase. Turned up nothing. Anyone out there have any idea about why this phrase is so popular in spam e-mails?
After meeting with my sister to plan her Web site revamp, I spent time working on
NaNoWriMo cartoons. For most of the cartoons, I'm taking
Inkygirl comics and revamping them to make them more NaNoWriMo specific. I'm also creating some new comics specifically for the event. The comic above is one I created when I was doing NaNoWriMo several years ago. I made it more generic for Inkygirl afterward, but have recently restored it to a NaNoWriMo theme. The NaNoWriMo site will be posting one of my comics every weekday, but I'm hoping to come up with enough they can post them on weekends, too. :-)
I was quite tickled at the number of people asking if they can re-post
my most recent Will Write For Chocolate comic in their own Web sites as well as post a print-out on bulletin boards at schools and libraries. My answer: Please feel free! I don't mind the occasional re-posting with appropriate credit if you let me know, but I'd have a problem with someone who re-posted my comic on a regular basis without asking first.
In the afternoon, I did some yard work with Jeff. We were thinking about watching some DVD episodes of Lost but decided to do something together
outdoors instead. I'm very glad we did. Good exercise, but I also enjoyed the autumn colours and textures in the garden. Like these leaves on one of our serviceberry bushes, just starting to turn colour:
And these sedum blooms, which have turned from pale pink to a deeper rose in recent weeks:
It's funny. Some of our friends were worried about Jeff not being able to handle house owner chores. He's THRIVING on housestuff, always fixing and raking and building and installing. I benefit, of course. He recently replaced our kitchen tap, getting a new one at Home Hardware and installing it himself. It works wonderfully (MUCH easier on my tendons), has a dual spray feature AND a built-in dish soap pump. I never thought I'd get excited over a new tap, but there you go.
Anyway, Ray came over for dinner after all the outdoorstuff and we had take-out sushi....yum.
In the past few years (since
Inkspot, actually) I've found myself wanting to simplify. I used to thrive on being busy all the time...the busier, the better. I'm realizing that deep down, I was making the mistake of equating being busy to being happily productive. It's true I was productive in some ways...but I wasn't really working towards my longterm (life) goals.
Also, the happiness part was lacking...I was feeling stretched too thin, not having enough selfish-time for myself. I had trouble saying no, and as a result was juggling far more plates than I could really handle longterm. Plates were already starting to fall when I decided that I had to sell Inkspot.
These days, I find myself drawn to like-minded people, who are moving towards simplifying their lives and lifestyles; I wonder if it's because of my life experience or my age? Probably both. I enjoy new experiences and learning new things, but I'm finding myself being far more selective, asking myself: "Is this something that I
really want, or am I just going along because there's nothing better to do or I'm afraid to say no?"
I'm also finding that I increasingly value my alone-time. I love doing things with friends and I always value my time with Jeff, but I go crazy if I don't have solitary creativetime to myself on a regular basis, time where I can read books and write music, or draw for fun instead of for clients. I admire people like my sister (and you other work-at-home parents) who manage to carve out selfishtime despite an overwhelmingly busy life.
I could ramble on much longer about practical ways I've tried to simplify my life, but I'll save that for another Blathering. But meanwhile, I'm curious...what about the rest of you? Do you feel that your life is too busy? Do YOU need selfishtime and if you do, how are you managing to find it? (even for a few minutes a day?) I'm especially interested in hearing from parents.
Livejournal comments
Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at 7:26PM 
by Shannon Hale. Excellent sequel to The Goose Girl, which I also recommend, and not just because of the gorgeous cover art by Alison Jay. The next book in the series, River of Secrets, appears to be only available in hardcover so far.
