i am sorry to say that the main reason i noticed the moon was because atlas was glued to the sidewalk for over half an hour, watching a cat in a tree. my attention span – for cats – is not nearly as long as his. atlas would have kept watching forever but, at the half hour mark, i decided it was time to head home.

did you watch the superbowl? or wait, is it even over? did i miss any fantastic ads?

right now, i feel like life is full of possibility. someday, i might have to tell you about how i discovered a very unhelpful unconscious belief and about the subsequent dissolving of that belief which is what brought me to this place. for now, i am just reveling in all the energy i have to work on my business. (given the belief, it is actually a miracle that i have managed to accomplish anything at all. i am somewhat astonished at what i managed to do in spite of it.) it feels like i have a million ideas and i finally have the motivation and inspiration to work on them. yay for that.

"oh, atlas, you're so cute when you smell things."

i like to dunk cookies in my soup, especially oatmeal raisin cookies. i think this started years ago during a period when i was buying my lunch in the cafeteria. i usually got a cup of soup and an oatmeal raisin cookie. i'd eat the cookie first, to give the soup time to cool, and dip the cookie into the soup a few times to check the temperature. it turns out that soup plus cookie is awfully tasty, so it stuck. (i would just like to say, for the record, that cookies are practically like bread, and most everyone likes soup plus bread.)

i only cut nine nails at a time; i always leave one thumbnail uncut. once i finally had fingernails again – after reiki helped me stop chewing my nails in my sleep – it seemed like every single time i would cut my nails, something would happen almost immediately that would make me wish i hadn't cut my nails. i would need them for something and they would be gone. to solve this problem, i started leaving one thumbnail uncut. whenever i cut my nails now, i just cut the thumbnail that is longer. it is such a handy practice. feel free to adopt it yourself.

when left to my own devices, i am a very strange movie watcher. first, i watch the beginning, maybe a chapter or two. then, i watch the ending, to make sure everything is going to be ok. then, i back up a chapter and watch to the beginning of the ending (because i have to know how they got to that ending!). then, i back up yet another chapter. then, i do this a few more times (though sometimes i'll back up two or three chapters instead of just one). sometimes, i watch the entire movie backwards. sometimes, i'll watch half of it backwards and then go back to where i left off in the beginning and watch the other half of it normally. sometimes, if it seems like the movie might be a little intense, i will look it up on wikipedia and read the entire synopsis so that i know exactly what happens (i love wikipedia for just this purpose) and then watch it in my usual unorthodox fashion. this particular habit got started because, for lack of a better way to explain this, i am sensitive to what happens in movies. i think this helps keep things at a distance. however, i will confess that it's gotten to the point where i watch most movies this way. it's probably a good thing i am not friends with any movie directors, because i feel sure they would not approve. (also, yay for dvds, without which i could not have started this practice at all!)

if you have any quirks you'd like to share, i'd love to hear them, because i say hurrah! for all the things that make us us.

i can’t quite put my finger on why, but i really really like this photo.

remember my year of trust? well, erin at vulnerable pulp is looking for trust this year. i loved seeing her first glimpse of it.

it turns out that ice skating is like riding a bike and also not at all like riding a bike, at least when you haven’t skated in ten or so years. as in, you might not fall, but you might not be able to do much more than remain on your feet either. the ice is a slippery place, and those blades are awfully thin.

atlas is getting up at least twice a night for potty breaks lately. it might be just a habit, but i cannot figure out how to change it. sometimes i wonder why i thought i would die of sleep-deprivation if i ever had children. when i think about it, i’ve been somewhat sleep-deprived ever since i got atlas – over eight years ago – and clearly i’m still functioning. i might not be at peak performance, but i’m definitely functioning.

i stumbled upon a website for someone who creates digital mandalas and i cannot stop watching the mandala movies. watching each mandalas morph and dance and transform is quite possibly the most mesmerizing thing i have ever seen.

how are you? what is going on in your world today?

it occurs to me that if one is invoking the spirit of serendipity because they are hoping it will cause one specific explicit particular exact precise thing to happen that day, they might, in fact, be missing the whole point of serendipity.

and by one, of course, i mean me.

last tuesday night, i hopped into bed and pulled the covers up to my chin.

the sheets get a little messy during the day, what with atlas hopping on and off and on and off the bed, so i used my hands to smooth them out around me.

i felt something hard and round.

i squeezed the hard round thing between my fingers. it was cold (and hard and round) so i figured it was a rock. i wondered why there was a not particularly tiny rock in my bed, but i got out of bed so i could throw it away.

it was not a rock.

it was a hard round cold ball of dog poop.

that is the first thing people do not tell you about having a dog.

the second thing people do not tell you about having a dog is that after years of living with one, this won't even phase you.

you will look rather bemusedly at it (why exactly is there dog poop in my bed? how did it get under my covers?), chuckle at the dog and tell him he's a silly goose, and carry the poop into the bathroom and throw it in the garbage.

then, you will wash your hands three times and go back to bed.

in the morning, you'll wash your bedding, though in all honesty, you won't be sure whether you aren't only washing it because washing the bedding was already on your list of things to do on wednesday.

seriously.

if i were going to write a dog book, this is the dog book i'd want to write: "the things no one tells you about having a dog (& if they did, you wouldn't believe them anyway)".

clearly we haven't been introduced.

my name is atlas. i am a friend to all kitties.

come out from behind the glass and visit me!

i shall love you and sniff you and follow you around adoringly. and we shall be the bestest of friends forever. or at least until you disappear on me.

i went to bed before midnight on new year's eve. yay!

i always want to go to bed before midnight on new year's eve – i am not a night owl – but in the past i have been sneakily coerced into staying awake against my sleepy will.

this new year's eve, i thought about my day and year, spent time with one of my favorite people, ate good food, read most of an excellent book, and went to bed at my usual time.

on new year's day, i ate pie for breakfast, took atlas for a walk in the sunshine, thought about my day and year, spent time with another dear friend, ate more good food, finished the excellent book, and went to bed at my usual time.

life is good. and i am happy.

how are you? really? i'd love to sit next to you and listen.

want to see the faery circle i made next to my front door?

i started making a circle outside my front door this autumn. i’d gather fallen leaves and arrange them in a circle when i left the house for the morning walk with the pup. the trouble was that my leaf circles never lasted very long – pesky winds.

i brought the stones home from the olympic peninsula in may to live in my bathroom sink. they made bathroom tasks feel calmer and more meditative. (also, whenever i spit out my toothpaste, i pretended the white was foam on the rocks. it was very fun.)

one day, i realized that the rocks didn’t want to be in my sink anymore. they wanted to be outside again – in nature. they now have a new home. and i have a faery circle that actually stays put.

by the bye, if you love mail, and want a fun option, my friend amy sends postcards with messages from the faeries! my year of faery post expired earlier this year and i miss it so. they always sent me the loveliest messages. most of the postcards are in my desk drawer so i can pull them out and re-read them whenever my spirit needs a hug.