A weekend of not chasing rainbows

So, there I was Saturday morning lying in bed. I only sleep, at best, about 7 hours a night. I just don't seem to want/need/desire much more. So, I wake up and I'm thinking to myself, "self, what are you going to do today." I have had a feeling lately of malaise. It is a real feeling based on the fact that I haven't accomplished that much this year. Not for a total lack of trying or wanting. I have wanted to accomplish a lot this year, but every effort seemed to go nowhere. I mean we spent efforts chasing every rainbow that came our way. If there was a chance of revenues we pursued. Ultimately, every rainbow we chased seemed to dissipate into whatever rainbows dissipate into when you get right there.

When I was a kid in Hawaii I actually remember chasing a rainbow and actually having the feeling of running right through it. I can still remember where I was when that happened. It was pure childlike magic. Anyway, for 2009, I didn't or haven't caught any rainbows. Somewhat frustrating, but then about a month ago a friend sent me this email with a powerpoint presentation. I didn't look at it, but then about a week or so ago I remembered getting it and thought I should look at it. Don't ask me why, but I did. Well, the powerpoint is one of the most viewed in the world and it provides perspective to suffering and challenge by juxtaposition western life with the conditions in most third world countries. Having lived in Haiti and revisited it a few times, I can attest to the suffering part. The Powerpoint is called Melhor_mail2.pps and should be viewed if you need perspective.

Anyway, so I've been lamenting my "suffering" and failure to catch financial rainbows these past few, well, months when I realized that even my lamentations don't measure up to anything of value. How's that? Even my lamentations are weak. So, there I am on a cold, but rather nice weatherwise December morning lying in my bed, which, by world standards, is fantastic. Anyway, I was thinking to myself (wait, now I'm repeating myself), well actually by now I was answering to myself, I'm going to do something today. I thought through the various projects and decided on one that I thought that with some effort I could finish in one day. I could remodel our sad little half bathroom (which I visit about every blue moon, but it does come in handy for kids). So, with the help of "my boys" we went to it. I really hadn't even thought of doing the bathroom till that morning, but as I got going on it around 8:30, it just felt right. By 10:00 we had the walls cleaned, by 11:30, we had fixed the holes that I put in back in 2008 to fix the sliding door that had broken. We patched the holes with this cool spackle that is pink when it goes on and whites as it dries. Very nice stuff. Anyway, then I replaced the faucet (awful looking) and started painting.

I'm a terribly fast painter. Not that good, but then I realize that most people don't really focus on paint and even a rushed paint job is a lot better than the mess that was in that room. Anyway, I'm fast, but a lot of it gets on me. I see those pro painters and am amazed at how little paint they get on their clothes. Well, first coat was done about 4:00 p.m. and I started installing a new light and some fine other fixtures. About 7 pm I was pretty darn tired, but wanted to finish. I had to blow off a fun night at a comedy club, which my brother chastised me for not going. But, I was going to see this challenge finished. Put the 2nd coat on and then started decorating it around 9:30 pm. I have to say that the bathroom is pretty sweet and fantastically awesome if you saw how awful it looked before.

More importantly, I reestablished that I can actually accomplish something. Sometimes you have to do that even if for yourself. Kind of like this blog.