A New Day

What do you do when you wake up in the morning? Do you think about what you will need to get done at your job? What you need to make sure that the kids make the school bus on time? What you will eat for breakfast? The first thought that goes through my mind is what day of the week it is. That determines when I can leave and how much computer work I can get done at home before I leave for the shop. Fridays are good days - I can hang at the main computer until 7am. I do try to think of creative activities for as long as I can before I dive into the day's work. Thinking creatively is my way of thanking the Creator for my life. But thinking creatively and living creatively are very different things. It is very difficult, in the US at least, to live a creative life.

The world would be a happier place if people would allow themselves to live a creative life. Does that mean that no crops would be grown, no stores would exist, no buildings would be built? No...it means that crops would be beautiful - as they are. The fields would be plowed in a creative manner that was kind to the earth. The crops would respond to that care by flourishing in their own right (climate not appearing as part of this equation at this time), and the harvest would be bountiful. Stores would exist because creativity for some people is in product display and the sales process. It is a valid creative outlet. And buildings would be built to be kind to the environment. Not to dominate, but to co-exist. And that's where the world would repay us by allowing us to continue to live in this beautiful and multi-faceted world of ours. So...start today by thinking in a creative fashion for the day. Spread happiness creatively.

Tires and Social Networks

(Not my tire, but just as flat as mine was yesterday)

Have I mentioned lately that it's been extremely COLD here in Minnesota? Even though we are in a warming trend now (the temp is actually above 0 degrees F), it's still pretty crispy. Yesterday, my car was acting a little squirrelry on the way in to work. I looked at the tires when I parked at the shop, and sure enough, my rear passenger's side tire was flat. Fortunately, a Rapid Oil Change shop is less than one block away from the shop, so after dropping off my stuff, I drove the block to them. (I was due for an oil change in a week anyway, so I am that much ahead of the game .) They changed the oil and filled all of the tires - no problem. Now I have to keep a sharp eye on it - if I have a slow leak, I can probably get the tire patched. But if it's flat again quickly, then it's time for new tires - an expense that I really can't swing very easily right now. I'm hoping that my tires are full of air this morning and that yours are also!

And then there is the subject of social ties. I blog Monday through Saturday because I want to, not because I have to. And although my stats do tell me that people read my blog, I really write it for myself instead of a physical journal. But I must admit to being a bit mystified about Twitter, Facebook, etc. I belong to Facebook and have a fairly extensive group of friends on there, but I find it a collosal waste of time. I don't twitter at all. My internet social networks tend to be far more interest-specific - a variety of yahoogroups that are topic specific for areas that I am interested in (enameling, costumery, beading, painting, metalworking) and a delphi forum group that a friend established a few years ago for beading. I generally devote more than two hours every morning to catching up on the posts of my more important lists, and I start the day out by blogging after I look at my Astronomy Pic of the Day. That fully fulfills my social desires for the day. Maybe I would be happier as a hermit with a good workbench at hand and my kiln hot and waiting. I've always had a lot of acquaintences, but very few people that I consider friends. I'm choosy. I think that's actually a very good thing.