Where the line?

Have I created a busy life for myself, or am I engendering chaos?

My day-to-day work is stressful and full...and I often spend the day on the computer, wrenching my brain around concepts, rationales, and budgets.

In my private life

• I bowl on Wednesdays. **Update 2** I'm dedicated to finding us a sponsor for t-shirts this year!
  
• I chair a Board of Directors of the best event in town, the Okanagan International Children's Festival.
• I'm a member of the Board of the networking organization Penticton Women in Business.
• I'm going to be directing a short, one-act play for performance the first week of December.
• I'm helping to organize a local congregation's annual Walk to Bethlehem (a 3-day re-imagining of life in the Ancient Near East, complete with children's pageants and anachronisms).
• I periodically write book reviews.
• I (try to) have a social life.
• I'm presenting at BookCamp Vancouver on Friday.
• Oh, and I'm married, and trying to have a relationship that's more than coffee in the morning.
  

Where can I draw the line? What do I prioritize?

Then there are the things that I want to find time to do:

• Work on my book idea with my buddy who lives in Korea.
• Start work on a MBA.
• Catalogue my movies.
• Spend more time studying French.
• Blog more often.
• **Updated** Organize my photos, make albums even.
• **Updated** Learn to use Photoshop.
• **Update 2** I want to get a conversation salon started in town.
  

It has been an amazing Thanksgiving weekend, where my absolutely perfect turkey was consumed by a small group of close friends. I am grateful for the activities in my life, but I do wonder if I should pare them down.

I would welcome your thoughts and suggestions.

Lori

Cheating or Convenience?

Through the wonders of a Flickr-friend's holiday pictures, I've had an Aha! moment.

I must admit, this picture did not surprise me, instead it made me think: "Of course!!"


Of course there are professional teepee-makers. Why wouldn't there be?

My meeting-addled brain can't think of any parallels in other cultures at the moment...Please help below in the comments!

Lori

What will 2009 bring?

For me, it's bringing a job shift in 4 weeks. Literally packing up my stuff, and shifting to a different work location -- 4 blocks away and a level of government down. Talk about mixed feelings.

But 2009 is also a year of intentions I have set for myself. Would you like to hear them?

• I will be producing and directing a play. I've decided that I just have to create my own opportunities to direct in this town. (More on that later, as it unfolds.)

• I am going to get more physically active -- just 'cause it is going to happen. Raincoaster is attempting to share her exercise video fetish with me, by giving me a wealth of DVD workout fromage: Cardio Burlesque, Tahitian Cardio, and Belly Dance with Veils, to name just a few. I also intend on getting into snowshoeing, and back into X-country skiing.

• I'd like to go camping this summer. We totally missed out this last year, because Metro misunderstood "I don't like setting up in the dark and dining on lukewarm canned stew heated over a tiny burner, shivering" to mean "I don't want to camp ever" so he proceded to fill his weekends with plays, poker and sailing. What this intention really says is that I intend on filling as many weekends this year with activities my husband and I do together.

• Speaking of activities I'd like to do more of...I want to do more roadtrips, preferably with the hubby. I found this fabulous article on How to Road Trip that includes invaluable rules such as "The driver controls the music" and "No bogarting the Twizzlers"! Reading this just makes me want to go!
  

Here's a piece of open road from one of our recent day trips:


So what are your intentions for 2009?

Share with us, we'd love to know!

Lori

Donkeys

Do a Google search of the word "donkey" and some delightful stuff comes up:

The Donkey Sanctuary of Canada (who knew?)

Guidelines for Using Donkeys as Guard Animals with Sheep (provided by the Gov't of Ontario of all places)

Lately, I've been hearing the word a lot, as my man Metro is playing poker and is picking up the jargon. A donkey is a specific type of player: a bad one.

Today, a friend of a friend, visiting from out of town, started telling me a story out of the blue...about how, when she was a young girl, she saw the most amazing thing: Donkey Baseball. A fundraiser in her little town. All these years later, this memory has stayed with her, vividly.

I smiled to myself, went to my friend's computer and hit Youtube. Two seconds later I called her over to see this:



I love the Internet.

Lori

"If Men...."

Remember the quote "if men bled, tampons would be free?" (variously attributed to Erica Jong, Jello Biafra (WTF?), among others...)

How 'bout a variation: If men wore bras, they'd come with little repair kits.

Yesterday, I picked up one of my bras and almost put it on...stopped, because I knew this one had a broken underwire. (Girls, we've all been there, haven't we?) I said, "Oh, I can't wear this one, it's broken."

Metro reaches out for it, saying "What's the warranty like on these things?"

You know, he may have something there.

Lori

Take a chance...

...you just never know!

(Source)

Would anyone like to share a story of a time you took a chance?

Lori

Rule #78 in Life:

(Source)

One of my favourite silly movies is Airheads...a 1994 rock'n'roll comedy. (Brendan Fraser's appearance in this film is merely a coincidence!)

And here for your viewing pleasure is the immortal Lemmy in a video with clips from the movie:



Turn up the volume and rock out!

Lori