Happy Monday. I have had a considerably hard week trying to find my way through making decisions about changing my work and housing. I haven't felt like this in fifteen years. What is that saying about indecision being worse than a wrong decision? Well, a lot of that. Indecision contributed to the wrong decision, well actually a few wrong decisions. It has been torturous. I'm not pleased with my living arrangements and I need to change jobs soon. Apperently, these moves should have been made back toward February. Landscaping is over getting old. So when I read this in my horoscope I found it encouraging:

"Sometimes you feel like you're navigating through a thick fog, but the obscurity will finally lift today. The skies ahead are sunny and clear! You can expect an invitation to take a little trip, or an offer to belong to a special group of associates. Don't pass up any opportunities to have fun, dear Sagittarius. You can benefit from a diversion right now!"

I ran with the group on Mercer Island on Saturday and Alicia and I attempted to keep up to the Marathon Maniacs yesterday at Discovery Park in Magnolia. Saturday we went 9 and Sunday almost 12. That was enough. I'll need to put in more miles and drop some weight to keep up with them.

I also need to start writing in my real journal again. This doesn't count really. It is good for keeping y'all back on the east coast up to date with my latest. I'm still mostly up here on the plateau helping Lee get herself out of her condo. I'll get the last of my belongings out of here myself today and this chapter will come to a close. The cat is not happy about the place being broken down and he keeps a close eye on me as if to watch me leave for the last time. I'm not looking forward to that. He has been a good roommate.



So y'all wish me luck, and for Lee and Nicky too.

My move is almost complete. I emptied my temporary storage unit today and parked the stuff in my trailer where it lives in Fall City. The car didn't like hauling the thing up the hill to the plateau and out to Fall City. I'll have to get it looked at when I have a chance. I think it is good enough to drive around without anything in tow. Lee is on her way to packing up her place. I hate all the extras I need to live out here, namely the need to rely on a car and the need to move all my stuff around. What I have I'd like to keep, so I don't have much more I can jettison.

We have had wonderful weather lately and it only looks to get better. That is a good thing too because I'll feel more secure relying on the motorcycle. I have to say that this period has been a trial. What was that saying about you are exactly where you are supposed to be, no matter how things may seem to appear? Take care.

hey, I found a place to live. I'll be in the Kingsgate neighborhood of Kirkland. It seems to be more in Totem Lake to me. It is a room in a house. I hope it is good for me.

Hmmm, so here is my horoscope for today:

Sagittarius
November 22 - December 20
You should use the day ahead to ponder your professional future, dear Sagittarius. Many forces seem to be working together to clarify your ideas on the subject. Rather than rebelling at the slightest provocation, as you have been doing lately, it would be much more reasonable for you to think first of your basic material needs and those of your family.

The thing is that I tried to change my professional future three times already. The clarity came with strike three.

It's funny how music can speak to you so many years later. I was pulling weeds out of sidewalk cracks today on a property in Wallingford and I found myself singing an old Petty tune. It was "Here Comes My Girl" and in it he laments how even though so many things are going wrong, there is still his girl and he describes how she looks as she is walking toward him. That song used to really ring true for me even though I've rarely had that woman in my life. So I'm picking friggin weeds and out of nowhere really here is this song. Right now I'm sitting next to my jig stuff and I'm finishing off a beer and listening to the Big Jangle CD from his box set. It transported me to over 25 years ago. Wow, I'm an old guy. The funny thing is that I'm an old guy in great shape. I can't pass an interview to save my life but if I had to I could finish a marathon tomorrow. I'd be a mess after 20 miles but I think I could finish. Where is this going? Uh, frustration and music. Just as smells are strong triggers frustrations can be music triggers. I was big on Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers back then. He sang, "It just seems so useless to have to work so hard and nothing ever really seems to come from it." So here I am thwarted again in picking a career so late in the game, I still need to find a place to live and to add insult to injury I don't even have the consolation of her look in the eye. I'm hoping that success is the best revenge. I guess I'm still optimistic.

And of course there is some part of me observing my reflective vest wearing, weed pulling crap and saying that this bookmark will be a chapter in a greater story, much yet to be told. This is still sort of hard to take when I'm in the here and now having to wear the vest and pull the weeds and pick up the garbage. And some days I find needles and there are always beer, wine and liquor bottles. Oh, good news! The QFC near The Seattle Center will be closing - meaning no more landscape visits. That place has bottles and needles and always garbage.

Especially in his first four albums, Tom Petty was really effective in communicating his woes. Those four and Wildflowers are the only ones I would go back and listen to now. I've been meaning to make a few compilation Petty disks but I haven't done so. I also want to put together a number of other mixed disks from different parts of my life. I guess I can put this into the category of incomplete projects because I have a general idea what would go on which disk. I need time and motivation. My priority now is housing. Life down here can be so difficult.