Mr. November

Well, we're starting to hit the dreariest months of the year here in rainy Victoria and I must admit that I'm feeling it a bit--it must be because we spent a chunk of time in Maui! November has been a process of readjusting to real life, catching up at work, encouraging Caitlin as she looks for part-time work/starts up her ESL tutoring business, trying to write more (and generally succeeding), and working to sort out some of the stuff in my head.

One of my better qualities is that I am a pretty optimistic guy, but when I am disappointed or hurt by something, it really stings me and I struggle to 'shrug it off.' I am not really someone who does the important things in life halfway; I either invest my energy completely or I don't really at all, whether it is in ideas, projects, or people. When something goes pear-shaped on me it is not always that fact which bothers me most (though it sure can bother me!), but rather why it happened--I can drive myself meshugganah trying to reason through those failures and disappointments, even those over which I have no control nor played no part. A colleague of mine says that she carries a Q-Tip in her pocket to remind her about failures for which she cannot be held responsible: "quit taking it personally." Good call.

I am hoping my quasi-insomnia disappears and that as I head into December work will slow down a bit, as my boss has predicted. I am also going to do my best to block out all Christmas music until December 1st at the very earliest. Fingers crossed...