Two Haikus

Today is too busy
So enjoy this little haiku
Because there’s nothing else.

And one I wrote for my company's CEO about our students:

No more excuses
Now get your learning online
Clothing not needed

5 Dirty Words

Caught your eye, didn’t it? I know it caught mine. And no, it’s not what you think.
Like most Portlanders I tend to have an eye toward conservation: I take public transportation to and from work, I combine trips when I’m out driving around, I recycle, I even compost.

In the first part of May, MINIGirl and her family took a trip down to Southern California so I had the opportunity to “sublet” her parking spot in the garage next to our office building for a week. In the two and a half years I have worked in that office I hadn’t once driven myself to work. In fact I frequently extolled upon the virtues of taking MAX to work daily, and for the most part those still hold true.

After the week was over I gave MINIGirl her parking pass back and went back to my daily commute on Max. I hated it. I’d had a taste of freedom and now I was locked back in to the schedule that the MAX set for me. So I began to think to myself: “What if I drove to work everyday?” But logic hits me upside the head noting all the money I save by taking the MAX, and how virtuous for the Earth it is. So I quietly take my seat on the MAX and contemplate what another few months of light rail commuting would mean.

In between podcasts I looked up at the posters that line the walls inside the car and I see one from TriMet: “5 Dirty Words: POLLUTION. Fact: 4.2 tons of smog-forming pollutants are avoided every day by leaving our cars at home and riding TriMet.”

GUILT. Pure and simple. How selfish of me to want to shave ten to fifteen minutes off of my commute home and contribute to global warming.

If you would like to read the rest of TriMets 5 Dirty Words look here.

What is My Subconscious Trying to Tell Me?

I had a dream in the very early hours of this morning that I couldn’t help but wish was true. I had made these earrings that were essentially red yarn crocheted to look like a stem of coral with seed beads mixed in. In all honesty, the earrings were heinous. Who wears crocheted things hanging from their ears? But I digress. I posted them in my Etsy shop, and *boom* I got ten sales, just like that. I was flabbergasted. It felt so real. I hoped it was real. In fact, when I woke up I checked my email for sale notifications but alas, there were none.

I feel like I’ve been trying so long and so hard to get my Etsy shop off the ground. But really ten months isn’t that long, and I’ve put more effort in to it recently than in many of the past few months. I’ve gotten a lot of great advice, but I think the reality of it is that I’ve got to buckle down and start making a lot of jewelry and post it to see what happens.

My Etsy Shop: Willow Works

Carry On, Nothing to See Here

Apparently I’m not doing so well at this “blogging every day” thing. Two days and I have already failed, but I can say now that I will try my best to continue on.

Perhaps this answers my question from a few days ago: what hobby should I focus on? Last night when I got home after a lovely dinner with FishSticks, I turned on my computer and then proceeded to sit down and work on another necklace.

I’m going to keep trying at this blog though. See if I can get 30 entries in 31 days. Wish me luck!

Sushi Me Sushi Sakura!

I’m going to take this opportunity to do a restaurant review. As you may have noticed, I’m not a restaurant critic but I enjoy eating well.

I’m a big fan of sushi and when the sign went up for Sushi Sakura I don’t know how many months ago now I got excited. A sushi-go-round so close to my office? I was nearly giddy. And no, I’m not over stating. MINIGirl was on vacation last week and made me wait to go try it out.

So, today was my first endeavor in to Sushi Sakura. When we first walked in the place was packed, and that says a lot at 11:30. When we sat down and I started to eye the sushi passing by on the conveyor belt I couldn’t help but want just about everything that went by, and everything I did grab was very yummy. I have to say that I’m very glad that it was, because after waiting and building the anticipation for nearly six months they could have easily disappointed me and I would have never gone back.

Is there such a thing as TOO crafty?

I had some one tell me that I was too crafty for my own good. At first, I wasn’t sure what she meant, and then I thought about it. I realized what she meant was that I’m dividing my focus among too many things trying to be amazing at all of them with only being good at most of them. I love to make jewelry, I love to write, I love to travel, I love planning events. I like to sew, I like to garden, and at times I enjoy working for an online high school, but where do my passions fall? I know I’m not one dimensional, no one is, but for me to be ultimately successful with any one of my endeavors involving something I love to do, then it’s quite likely I’ll need to buckle down and focus on the thing that I want the most.

So my good friend, and coworker, MINIGirl asked me: Why do you have to choose? My initial thought was: Yeah, why do I have to choose? But the reality is: do I want to be a Jack of all trades, but a master of none?

So, how do I decide? Why does it feel like so much of what I decide is going to define me as a person? A big part of me wants to just cut loose from the traditional work world and endeavor to pursue all of the things I love and some how make a living by doing it. What would my life look like if I did do that? Do I really have that kind of drive an initiative to achieve what I feel like I deserve? How long am I willing to be the starving artist before I can achieve something that may never come?

MAX Annoyance

Normally I like taking the MAX to work. It's usually consistent. I know if I get to my station at a certain time I'll get a specific train and get to the office on time if not early. But in the last two weeks it hasn't been the max that has been the cause of irritation, but people on the MAX. It causes me to wonder if there’s such a thing as common courtesy any more, or if people’s own needs and wants come before doing something kind for someone else. Does the golden rule no longer apply?

Just this morning I was sitting playing with my phone, listening to music, generally entertaining myself during the thirty minute ride in to down town. This woman was standing, holding on to the bar behind me and repeatedly elbowed me in the head, so many times in fact I was beginning to wonder if it was accidental.

Last Friday on the way home we pulled in to a stop that many people get off at in order to catch a bus. A kid (I use this term lightly as he was probably 15 or 16) instead of waiting for all of the people to offload before he got on pushes through with his muddy bike hitting me and a few other people putting the bike on the rack.

On the Monday prior, usually a busy day for the light rail system, an older frail looking gentleman climbed on to the train. He looked in the priority seating area for a seat, which common courtesy and general concern for another person would have dictated that one of the six people in these seats should have offered him their seat, but none did. In fact, they all seemed to purposefully avoid eye contact and hope that one of the other passengers would give him their seat. Finally a man standing nearby asked one of them to give up their seat and they did so. That shouldn’t have had to happen.

After riding mass transit to and from work for over two years I still appreciate the system for it’s finer points, but there are days when I just shake my head and can’t believe what I’m seeing.

Spring Fever

Around Portland the signs of Spring are popping up every where, a robin hopping around in my yard looking for worms, the cherry blossoms bursting out. Even though it’s only February I can’t help but start planning my garden and imaging it bursting forth with produce. I was reading my Father-in-law’s blog this morning and it made me yearn for my quiet time in the garden every morning while I water and check the progress of the plants. That quiet alone time is something that I don’t get much in the cold of winter when I barely want to crawl out from under the covers to start my day. It feels like it takes me just that much longer to get my mind in to the start of the day.

My Spring fever has likely been sparked by the tendency of Oregon-in-February to have a few weeks of really nice weather giving the rain soaked city a teasing taste of the seasons yet to come. Never the less, my garden line up for this growing season is shaping up nicely. I already have some spinach seeds planted and they started poking their heads through the soil over this past weekend. I have on order three tomato plants and two bell pepper plants. I have also decided to try to grow fingerling potatoes for the first time. My strawberry plants from last year are already starting to come back and I’m likely to start my herbs seeds this weekend.