Change Sucks

I was all positive sunshiny sweetness here a bit ago with my goody goody change list.

uuuggghhh...

Okay, so I have had some good stuff come from getting my lazy ass up going outside of my comfort zone. Well, here's the update...

Practicing the guitar every day has, in fact been happening. It has, however, collided with my accidental mullet and blasting hot air. Let me 'splain... I tend to have really chatty conversations with my stylist. Apparently, it can be distracting. So the last cut I got, she kinda did something funky. I had to go back to her so that she could make it less triangle-y. But she left the back with zero texture and the front/sides all poofy. The lack of poofyossity in back necessitates *ahem* a few passes with a large round brush and blow dryer to give it the same volume that my too short front hair is taking full advantage of. And because my guitar practice has worn off the skin on the pads of my finger tips, blowing hot air on the raw skin has proven to be, well... mmm... ouch!

I'm keeping my mouth SHUT during my next cut.

Some challenges... Tuesday Park Day is now going to be on Thursday. We've been getting so much accomplished on Mondays that it seems silly to halt the momentum. Plus, there has been no surfing happening over the last few weeks. If I haven't been getting ready for homeschool or tracking down packages at our old house, I've been shaking with chills from random illnesses and the cold air blowing through our townhome. The cold air is blowing because The Pilot has been around a lot these days. He and his cute little offspring seem to have their internal temps set about ten degrees higher than mine. So while they are wearing shorts and t-shirts, I'm walking around the house with a blankie. Anyway, I'm starting to feel a lot better and hope to paddle out soon.

Shooting (a camera, Suzy... not a moose...) something every day has actually been a lot more difficult to keep on top of than I thought. I missed Day 13 of my 365 Day Project and have yet to upload the last six days. Too much Twitter, I guess. I'm not going to give up. First because I made a commitment. Second because I want to look back on a mosaic of my year. I've taken a couple of lame shots. I need to make this project more of a priority. It's kind of hard because we had some hiccups in our group... get chicks together and there's always a wee bit of drama... but that has all been successfully resolved by our administrator, Sarah. And it's all good.

So quit whining then, right?

The best part of the change list was throwing stuff away. That has been such a release. The only thing is that when you start, you just can't stop. I started digging through other nicely stacked boxes to see what else could be thrown away. Now, my basement-like garage/play room looks all chaotic all over again. I shouldn't have opened any more boxes, but hey... eventually, I'll be done, right?

So now for some more changes:

Lose the infamous Last Ten Pounds. Now that The Pilot and I are seeing each other more, there's a lot more eating. Like, a LOT more. Plus it's football season which means wings and fried cheese in front of me saying, but you look good fat... uugghh... so I'm returning to my Points counting. This time, not only do I get to return to my goal weight and maintain my health, I'm also doing some good. It's the Lose For Good campaign. Check out the button on the side... I'll do some updates on the weight loss, but any of your stories on your own weight loss would be highly motivating for me and others.

Maintain (read: USE) Personal Calendar. Twice last week I got called to reschedule appointments that I forgot about, once with someone I couldn't even remember. I returned the call and bluffed my way through it all until I could remember who the heck she was and why she was so stressed out for running late. I was like, "Oh, don't worry about it. Why don't we reschedule... I'm easy." How sweet of me, she cooed. Yes. Yes. That's me. Sweet Sugar.

Yeah... I'm thinking it's time to tame that paper tiger...

Well, that's about all I can type. My fingertips are screaming for some Lanolin... I'd love to hear some good reports on any changes that might be happening out there. Or even some struggles.

Changing sucks... but the results are still worth it. Except for the mullets.

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Make Change Happen

Make Change Happen...

That has been the message that I have received loud and clear from all corners of the Universe and from right under my nose. Make change happen. MAKE it happen. Not, hang on a little bit, something's coming, looks like a little change... Nope. The message has been MAKE change happen. Not Make Change, like can you give me four quarters for this dollar because I just saw Ms. Pac Man and dammit if I'm not a wiz on that game, and could you watch my kids 'cause I'm probably gonna be on that thing for a while. Nuh-uh. Make change HAPPEN. Not Happenstance. Happen.

That means it's up to me.

Damn.

Not that I couldn't do it alone, but wouldn't it be fun to Make Change Happen with a little help from my friends? And by that I don't mean for you to cheer me on, though I must say, your cheers have been the wind in my sails for the last several months. What I'd really love to see is a whole bunch of change. A whole bunch of people shedding fears or over-committed calendars or dream stealers. I'd love to see a whole bunch of people changing something. I don't mean like returning your calls that day instead of waiting a week. I mean like setting up a regular dinner night with friends you never see. Or picking up an instrument you always wanted to try. Or defying an old myth of not being good at baking.

I think I just gave away my list.

Damn.

So these are sort of promises that I'm making to myself. Nothing huge. I'm tackling the huge things one day at a time. But the little things... those little things that nag at me reminding me that I too easily break promises to myself. I don't like that feeling. That feeling is the crack in the foundation of all the larger changes. And it's these little changes that will bring more joy into my world. Here are my first five:

#1: Practice the guitar every day. Even twenty minutes. I love the little I've learned. Why not keep going? It's sitting right there in the corner. Go on, Shoog... pick at it!

#2: Shoot something EVERY DAY! I am joining a 365 Project. I'm excited to have this commitment with a larger group. I'm even more excited to make myself find something simple or amazing or amazingly simple every single day for a whole year. Whew... I'm getting butterflies just thinking about it!

#3: Tuesday IS Park/Beach Day. No school. No work. No appointments. The Park or the Beach only. I'm sure this seems like a no brainer, but life gets busy and we forget to give ourselves that bit of time to just enjoy life. And then all of a sudden, we're grumpy... the whole lot of us. Because, you know... if Mama's not happy, nobody's happy! This will also help with the next item on my list.

#4 Surf. I can paddle out pretty far. I could probably paddle to Australia. I can get up on a board in the inside waves. All day. No problem. Between paddling out and the inside waves are the waves you see on TV. That's where real surfing happens. Until I'm in that zone regularly, I can only say that I "swim with a board."

#5: Throw stuff away. I know... we should recycle and not leave a massive footprint. The problem is that most of the stuff I hang on to I have rationalized into being useful, but it really is just trash. I don't know if this is something I picked up from my Depression Era Grandma who kept sugar packets in her purse. I'm pretty sure it was. The other day, I had to throw out salt and pepper packets from my purse. I guess I had them "just in case" I ever came across a restaurant that somehow didn't have S&P at the table. ???

Okay, that's about all for now. There will be more. These are my changes for now. I'm going to start by going to the garage and purging some junk from our lives. YAY!

What about changes elsewhere? What one thing do you want to start doing? Throw it out! Public accountability is the best way to keep a promise to yourself. Trust me!

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Guitar Hero

Okay, so a few months back, I was TURNED ON to Rock Band. I was having so much fun "playing" the bass guitar and belting out Blondie's Call Me that I completely forgot it was just a game. I was no longer in my friend's media room with my kids eating a year's worth of M&Ms in the next room... no... I was on stage... at The Whiskey! YEAH! After a few sets, I was forced to relenquish the guitar and the mic and take my Sugar Babies home to sleep. It was, after all, nearly midnight.

One of the things I've always loved is the sound of a guitar. At a campfire, usually. I used to make moon eyes at the guys playing. Somehow, knowing those few chords seemed to elevate their handsome factor by leaps and bounds. I mean, how else do you suppose Tom Petty gets 'em? My new favorite guitar heroes are Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson. Those guys are already pretty cute. Strap on the guitar and oh-my-my.

My husband, The Pilot had always wanted to learn, so this year he bought not one, but two guitars. An acoustic one and an electric one with a whammy bar that the Banana Girl loves to rock! (I wonder how much of his hours of practice had to do with the way I stare at Jack Johnson on VH1?) So the other night, I was at church watching a chick play. Since I've been kind of picking along as The Pilot learns, I could actually follow what this girl was playing. I was like, wow! When she was done I pulled her aside and started asking her about the music, so she gave me what she had. I knew how the song was supposed to go and just needed to play the three chords that went along with it. I went home and miracle of all miracles, I could play a song! Not all rockstar, but I could play just the same.

I always wanted to learn an instrument, but I had tricked myself into believing that it was too late or that it would be too hard to learn something like that at my age as opposed to learning as a child. Then I thought, what the hell? What's the worst that could happen? I could get a couple of blisters and realize it wasn't for me. When I put my plucking and the song together, the combo confirmed that I could learn. So here I am... plucking away at this thing... I was thinking about shooting some video of it... but it's Monday and I just don't have it in me to practice chords AND shoot video. But hey, I get to check off another thing on My Life's Wish List.

#37: Learn to play an instrument.

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Here's a shot of The Pilot at play:



UPDATED 08/07/08: Apparently, we've all been infected by Guitar-itis... this just came today for Banana Girl. She has decided to call her band "Daisy Rock" after her new pink guitar. How cute is that?! I'm askin'!