"...Run mad as often as you choose; but do not faint.."

I have been making deals with myself. I am trying to bargain myself into a life that I can be proud of, stand by, and cheer on.

I have now conceded that time is an illusion, there is not a perfectly organized life waiting for any of us 'if only we had the time' to take control.

There is happiness to be had and I have had some, and I plan to have more.

Does anyone remember laughter? Because I am taking a healthy side order of that as well.

I have some commitments to take care of, and one of them is this first 'trimester' of school. I have a school assignment that is in blog form, and you can follow that blog by going here:

http://combsalr706.blogspot.com/

I tried to use another blogging platform but I did not enjoy the experience. The blogger site is called 'edublogs', and I wanted to put in a link but even that caused me trouble, I signed up last Thursdays and have received nine (!) emails from them, and each unhelpful. I am trying to untangle myself from them as I got permission to just use blogger instead, which I find to be much more user friendly.

My aspiration involves more letter writing, less Internet, breaking the reflex of utilizing a search engine when a book can provide an answer just as easily.

I am going to get back what I am missing, and this includes a wide focus, and an open horizon.

"Little sister on your rollerskates, its Friday night and you've got a date."

Friday? Really? How did Monday through today slip by me? I vaguely remember 'library lock down' to get an assignment posted by the end of Monday, and I know there was a day that I coached Roller Derby, and two committee meetings, and new assignments...Okay, the picture is becoming clear to me.
Believe me when I tell you that I want to be the person who stays home, in her routine, sleeping, reading, and listening to records. Yet, tomorrow after I coach I am flying to Melbourne and going to Geelong. I bought the ticket on the cheap months ago and although Jetstar allows changes, the change fee is more than the original cost of the ticket.
I think I can use the tune up of skating with Geelong, because the longer I am away, the more I feel as if I am just playing make-believe as opposed to actually helping to create a sports team. By being there I can soak up some new skills, and reaffirm to myself that I know the ones I have well enough to be imparting them to others.
Our Convict City Roller League is poised on the brink of making things happen. We now have numbers showing up to practice, and there is a gleam of hope in even the most tired of us. Dot Dash has organized a fundraiser, happening this Sunday to off set the costs of the skaters that are going to Adelaide for the Southern Slam.
http://greatsouthernslam.com.au/

This event will give the skaters here a chance to see Roller Derby in action and actually be part of the action.
Partially in preparation for the big Adelaide event; Riff Raff Saff, and Ref Fink were my house guests and the leagues guest coaches over the weekend. The rapt attention they were given by our group was commendable but also showed me that I need to step up and try to command some of that attention for my own coaching sessions.
They were great coaches and great house guests, and I even got a present! G.R.D.L. sent me a jacket for guest skating in the two bouts. I now have three items with 'Sookie Smackhouse' and my number printed on them. Hopefully when I am in America no other Sookie's will try and steal it from me. I check my email daily for a response from the fan club of Charlaine Harris regarding the 'saga of the Sookies', but so far I have met only the disappointment of no response. Perhaps not everyone wants their intellectual property turned into a Roller Derby moniker...

Like the white rabbit

Two assignments are completed and posted. Yesterday I was late; all day long, miraculously just by a small amount, I only forgot one item which I will get today on the way to skating.
Riff Raff Saff and Ref Fink are here to coach for the weekend.
I feel relief to have a weekend off from coaching, and of course to get to skate, although I know I will be on the ground for most of the sessions.
Actually letting the other skaters see me take a hit, will be good for them. There is a lot of excitement, hopes, and dressing up that happens for many in Derby before that bubble is burst by being slammed to the ground so hard that your eye sight is marred by stars swirling around making it difficult to find your way back to your pack.
Because we had guests coming Zok and I went back on the fruit grift, to a pear tree we saw on our neighborhood walk.
Sadly, I am too nervous for pie.

"She's got high-heeled shoes and an alligator hat"

My friend Mark is insanely talented, he is not just talented, he works his talent and keeps it sharp.
Sometimes when I think of him a voice in my head, an Austen sort of Mr. Bingley voice saying "...they all paint tables, cover screens, net purses, do such needle work and I don't know what all..."
Why does this come to mind? Because he actually can draw, paint, sew, make patterns, custom design, create, and execute costumes and clothing for men and for women. Embroider, needlepoint, tattoo, and quilt.
Plus he is accomplished, he can do all these things and do them all well.
He makes all this look effortless, and so when I was living in the same city, I just asked for and received all I needed to be the belle of which ever ball I was trying to dominate. Surely he has some hidden talents as well, that he kept from me, knowing I would bleed him dry...
I deeply regret only taking and not learning from his skill set.
However, if you are in the Seattle area, you can learn from my mistakes and not do the same.

He has a new website where you can read a bit about him, and see some of his sewing creations. This is just the first step, he has been and is indeed teaching sewing classes, as well as making custom pieces for people.

Please check out his website:

http://www.itsmarkmitchell.com

"Words (Between the Lines of Age)"

I find the experience of a sudden memory coming back, triggered by a sight, sound, or smell to be startling. The memory will come on, and I remember something that I really think I have not thought about for years.
Is this a biological preposition to take all the new events, new locations, new technologies as 'common', as if ones life has always been lived as one is living right now? Do our memories need triggers, or is our focus narrow in a way that can only sustain the here and now?
Surely I hear people say "What did we do before mobile phones or laptop computers"? I say this, but when I try to recall exactly what I did, I find those memories hard to conjure up on command.
Sometimes, I know I think idly about how when I was young we had a telephone on a 'party line', so that each phone had its own ring, our ring was long-long-short. A different ring meant the phone call wasn't for your home. The party line also meant that people living in neighboring houses would pick up while you were on a phone call. I believe that this thought is not a thought that takes up any space in a teenagers head.
The other day I went to the bank and saw this Platypus bank. An incentive for kids to open an account, save their coins (which by the way a common Australian coin is a coin worth two dollars), and learn about banking.
As I recognized the platypus figurine as a bank I remembered the 'Crocker Dog'.
The Crocker dog was a bank, in the form of a Crocker Spaniel, for Crocker Bank, a Californian bank that was later folded into a bank which still remains in business called 'Wells Fargo Bank'.
How had I forgotten my dog bank? How had I forgotten going through the drive through, and the money going into a clear tube, and that tube air vacuumed though pipes into the bank? Or how the tube would return not just with a receipt for the transaction but a lollipop!

..."the thorn, the veil, the face of grace, the brazen image, the thief of sleep..."

As I sit in my neighborhood which is unusually quiet due to the Australian Easter Lock Down, as I fondly call the closures of banks, post, school, libraries (!) and many businesses, not just for Easter Sunday, oh no! from Good Friday until the Wednesday after Easter Sunday. The Australians do not joke around with their vacation time. If for some reason you are unfortunately working on this holiday, believe me, you are getting paid a fat hourly rate for that inconvenience.

Last year I posted about 'The Easter Bilby'-
(Don't know what a bilby is? Just type in bilby to the search field and you will be directed to my informative post.)
I did mock him a bit, this year though I'd invite him in for a place by the fire, because the night is so cold, that I have lit my first fire of the autumn season.
Are you with me? Easter-Autumn-Cold enough for a fire?
These are harsh Australian conditions, that a girl has to deal with while trying to get her Easter spirit going.

I did my best, I brought out my Easter doll, and the last remaining peep.
(Once there were many peeps, you know 'peeps' as in small, fuzzy, pipe cleaner creatures with small button eyes. I used to put them all around, but as the days would go on, I would be unable to control myself from trying to dust them. Usually with the vacuum which isn't as silly as it sounds because I you know, glued their little plastic feet to the surface so they would not fall over all the time. Well, you can guess the fate of the peep brethren. )
Anyway- I also went shopping, not online shopping, actual get dressed, and interact with people shopping.
So, there are fancy (bilby shaped of course) chocolates in the cupboard, and Zok's basket is hidden in his closet (shhhh do not tell him).

I will wish as I have for every year before this one for a warm day so I can picnic. However, as the season is autumn and not spring, I will be content with no rain so I can go bike riding to the reserve, because although this is a bad season for tulips and lilacs, the season is perfect for spotting platypus.

If you have sunshine and no platypus, dye some eggs and hide them in your yard, have a picnic, and eat whatever you fancy.