Noticing that I have at least 1/16 inch of white on my fingernails and very little cuticle rawness due to my laying off my main nervous habit.
Wonderful dinner with wonderful companionship.
Having an awesome friend who can readily repair a broken home computer network.
Partner-programming with colleague to kick the ass out of a programming problem I’ve been muddling through.
Discovering that one of the problems I had with said programming problem was because “client” gave me incorrect information. Annoying, but still good because I discovered it and discovered it wasn’t anything wrong in my programming.
Working my spawn through a very stressful situation without allowing myself to get caught up in the stress and making it possible for him to achieve his original goal.
The unbelievable scent in my car after having left in it the tea Phill gave me for my birthday.
Having my feelings validated, even if they don’t need to be.
Advocating for my own self-interest, knowing that doing so is much more important than any risk of loss.
Delightful lunch conversation with a very intelligent young man with a very different background than me.
Very yummy oatmeal with apple nut compote.
Practicing willpower.
(of which I consider myself to be becoming a part)
Please always remember that one of your main strategies toward achieving your goals is growing your numbers – engaging new people in the struggle.
Perhaps, like me, some of these people have not engaged in any organized protest since the last century. Perhaps this is the first time ever. Perhaps they are not attending your events at the urging of a friend, but are jumping into it on their own. More than a little nervous. Still just beginning to understand the issues that you have been pondering for months or years.
If you haven’t seen a face around before, a face that perhaps looks a bit puzzled, stop by and say “hi – are you new here? Do you have any questions?” It is quite impossible sometimes for the noob to figure out who they should ask about what is going on if the gathering has no evident leader.
If it is an official, but open, meeting – have a sign on the door or perhaps a few copies of a simple handout briefly describing the rules and procedures. After the last vote of the meeting today, I finally got the guts to say “excuse me, but who exactly is allowed to vote”? Two women next to me thanked me for asking, because like me, they had no idea. Or any idea of whether it was ok to interrupt in order to ask. The vast majority of the people there threw out, with apparent exasperation, “why everyone, of course.” Well, duh!
Except I’ve been part of organizations where anyone could attend but only certain folks could vote. This was my first time there. Why would I assume I could vote?
Anyway, I think I am going to dedicate myself to working toward making groups a little more understanding of the plight of the noob and this is my first step.
Watching Phill’s last kyu test on video. Really made me want to take up aikido again after I have developed a bit more my ability to be in the moment, detaching from and letting pass the occurences of my well-wrought, too-practiced self criticism.
Sharing a wonderful sushi lunch reconnecting with Phill.
Various gorgeous pieces of art in the poetic prose of Ursula LeGuin in The Telling.
Spa
Body scrub
Massage
Nummy breakfast of raisin bran with bananas and pecans.
Twice coming up with good ways around solving major work problems.
Localizing a major bug first thing this morning and asking my staff to put up an out of order notice on the page because I was going to be in meetings until much later, only to get out of my first meeting to discover that they had instead actually fixed the problem.
Maureen will be spending my birthday with me. w00t!
Felt great during and after yoga.
Found awesome new cafe. Think I know where I will be eating on therapy nights!