A Catherine Noon

I drove in today. This might not sound unusual, but I usually take the train, except for Fridays when I drive with my husband.

You’ll note, those of you paying attention, that today is not Friday.

Nope. Not one bit. So here I am, or at any rate, there I was, driving all by myself through the wilds of traffic, when it occurred to me: a) I shouldn’t drive PC (pre-coffee), b) I really want a coffee RIGHT NOW THANK YOU, c) honking my horn does not make coffee magically appear (but it pisses off the prick in the SUV behind me so that’s cool, and d) there are THIRTEEN REASONS WHY I LIKE CHICAGO MASS TRANSIT!

In no particular order:

1. When the bus driver honks, coffee doesn’t appear either. BUT, it does mean that I don’t have to pay attention to whatever it is that she’s honking about.

2. My commute, from my house to my office, is between sixty and ninety minutes. This gives me time to write and knit.

3. I’ve made all sorts of cool stuff on the train. Right now, I’m working on a lace shawl and my Master Knitter homework.

4. I love my AlphaSmart 2000 because I can sit it on my lap and type away. On a one day commute, I can get up to ten pages of material, between 2,000 and 3,000 words.

5. It’s nice to get to work without road rage. (I don’t GET road rage, mind you. That’s what the horn is for.)

6. I get a lot more exercise. I wear a pedometer, and average between five and seven-and-a-half miles of walking daily. The larger numbers happen when I walk to the farther bus stop, that lets me off a mile and some-odd from my house. Walking calms me down, and lets me work out stuff in my mind. It’s strange, but I’ve noticed it helps to slow down if you want to speed up. Zen? Yeah. But hey. It works.

7. Here’s a more serious one. (Yes, I can be serious.) It’s like going through a sort of metaphysical buffer between work and home to take transit. Because it’s an enforced quiet time with me, myself, and three million of my closest friends, I get two hours a day of chill time. It turns out, this is good for my psyche.

8. It works better for my psyche to NEVER EVER EVER FORGET MY IPOD. Jus’ sayin’. Cell yell? Don’t be that person.

9. If you do run into that person, you can bury them by that other one, over there. ~points~

10. Is there a statute of limitations on putting the cell yeller out of my misery? o.O…

11. It’s good for the environment. Yeah, yeah, I know that’s the new black. But really, it is. I used to run a transportation reduction program when I was fresh out of college, so do you WANT a lecture on airborne particulates?

12. It slows down my day. This may sound odd, but in today’s day and age, I really do need it. If I drive very day, I find I feel rushed. If I take transit, I don’t. It’s as though that enforced slow time, one hour in the morning and one at night, help keep me calm.

13. I can do my morning pages in the morning on the bus and train. This keeps me sane.

GARDENING! It’s nearly Spring, and I can’t wait to get back into the garden! Of course, I have to clean up the doggie nuisances that she buried in the snow (!) and that are thawing out – ew. Then I have to get rid of a rusty chair, tie up my yew bushes, and get some more plants to put in the ground. Plant it green side up. Plant it green side up. Plant it green side up.

So, what shall I plant green side up?

1. Cherry tomatoes

2. Pear tomatoes

3. Roma tomatoes (sensing a theme?)

4. Green bell peppers

5. Some sweet peppers of some other kind, and maybe a hot plant for my husband

6. Green chard

7. Ruby or rainbow chard

8. Garlic

9. Onions

10. Genovese basil

11. Marjoram or oregano

12. Opal basil

13. Snap dragons

What? I know I can’t eat them, but they’re my favorite flower next to gladiolus! I live in the city and have no back yard. We installed a five by ten above-ground planter a few years ago and I do French intensive gardening. It works for me. Can’t wait to have some land and a BIG garden! Pumpkins, squash, potatoes, an orchard… But for now, mine your acre of diamonds.

Dig it!

Today is Thursday. As I stared out the train window this morning, noodling on things to write for TT, I found myself musing about the snow. So, my TT today is about what I learned, camping in harsher weather even than today’s Chicago day.

1. If you write it and share it, people respond. Outward Bound International posted my alumni story on their website!

2. I can survive zero degree weather without a tent.

3 The heat triangle, made up of layered clothing, movement, and food, is what keeps you alive in extreme cold.

4. There are few bugs in the Boundary Waters in winter. For this I am grateful.

5. You need a lot more calories when you’re on the ice for 6 days, traveling 35 miles through ice and snow on cross country skis and a dog sled.

6. No one rests on a dog sled. Those fancy seated sleds they use on the silver screen? Pansies. We helped push our sled – the front one weighed 550 pounds, and the rear one 350!

7. I never knew I could smell like that. Exertion, no showers, 7 days = stinkeh Nooneh!

8 The dogs? Yeah, they don’t bathe either.

9. One of the dogs ate a raven out of the sky.

No, I’m not kidding. The dogs are fed raw meat that’s been frozen, with boiling water poured over it to make a kind of stew. This is so they get water, since they genetically won’t drink (they live in frozen areas like Alaska and Antarctica, so they don’t react to water like a pet dog would). The ravens, which are ginormous, want the meat too and dive-bomb the dogs. The ravens know exactly where the edges of the chain allow the dog to get to. One decided to dive-bomb and peck one of the dogs as she slept on her roof. Thwap. Thwap. Thwap.

CRUNCH!

No more raven.

Nuff said.

9. I can camp by myself on the ice overnight, and cut down my own tree. Hoo-rah!

10. I didn’t write the whole time I was out there. I actually found that the writing pulled me out of the moment, and that I wanted to make sure I stayed present. Instead of writing, I hung out and relaxed when we weren’t moving around. It felt good.

11. It’s hard to explain my reality to others, even ones on expedition with one.

12. Snow in Chicago is no sweat after camping in colder and more icy weather.

13. Clearwater Lake is God’s Country. I wish I could write well enough to do it justice.

A lot of people I talk to feel that 2010 is the year to get shit done, myself included. (Not that I talk to myself.) (Nevermind, forget I said that.) ANYWAY…

So, with the “Get Shit Done” theme in mind, here are 13 suggestions from the bossy to the downright drill sergeant. I channeled my inner domme people, so be warned… LET’S GIT OFF OUR ASSES! To quote Larry the Cable Guy, GIT R DONE!

1. Go away, stop reading this, and write for 30 minutes by hand on a clean piece of paper or notebook. Then come back and read #2.

2. Get up, put shoes and socks on (and clothes, yeh slob!) and go walk around the block for 30 minutes. Yes, it’s cold. No, you won’t die of ice poisoning.

3. You still paying rent at the gym? You’re not subsidizing their employment. Go look up the exercise class schedule and schedule one – ONE – class this week. Tell me in the comments which one you pick, when it is, and then come back and tell me you did it.

4. What is the title of your WIP (work in progress)? Your original work, not any derivative works. Go away, set the timer for 15 minutes, and write on it. If you can’t figure out what to do next in the plot, then interview your main character. Tell me in the comments how it went – and if you want, share the interview.

5. Check out Julia Cameron’s website. Consider this year might be the year to try it. If so, let me know in comments; I’m forming new Clusters for late Feb or early March if you’re interested.

6. My focus for 2010 is “Body, Mind, Spirit, Space.” My mantra is “Get my shit together.” As part of Body, I’ve been working out and making different choices about food. I am not paying attention to the weight, because the number started upsetting me since it wouldn’t move quickly. Accordingly, what I’m focusing on is stuff I can control – like movement and food choices. Today I plan to go to the gym at lunch and do some weights for upper body. What is your plan for today, no matter how small?

7. Don’t underestimate your own knowledge. Repeat after me: “I know what I know.”

8. No, #7 isn’t optional. Go back and do it again.

9. You know what thing you are avoiding admitting you know? It may be a writing-related thing (should write my WIP today), exercise (should go to the gym), food (should buy a vegetable), space (should wash that pile of laundry before it sues for separate maintenance)… Pick one. ONE. (Yes, I said one. Can’t you count?) What small step toward that one can you take before 9:00 P.M. local time today?

10. Tell me what your one thing is for #9.

11. Then do it.

12. Stop. Breathe. No, really. In…two…three… Out…two…three… In…two…three… Out…two…three… Notice the shift in your thinking from the beginning of this list to now. If you are feeling conflicted between panic (Oh shit, I have stuff to do) and resolve (Yeah, yeah, I know what I gotta do), you’re doing it right. Part of getting shit done is the ‘want to.’ But another part is the relaxing and centering. No one can get stuff done when they’re going a million miles an hour in seventeen different directions. Breathe. Deep. Two… Three…

13. JUST DO IT! Pick one thing, any one thing, and do it. You have a lunch break, an evening, maybe even a whole day off today. Today, now, is the only time we own. We don’t own tomorrow, it’s not given to us yet. We don’t own yesterday, it’s gone and won’t return. But now… now is where your power is. Own it. Live it.

Do it.

HOO-RAH!