Last week scored off the charts in my personal "Worst Week Ever" rankings. Sure, everybody has a bad day here and there, but the events falling like dominos around me made for a horrible series of painful days I hope never to experience again any time soon.

The week started innocently enough, but then an unresolved love of my recent past apppeared unexpectedly: at first reaching out to me with words of love, regret, and longing, but then revealing the dagger he would ultimately plunge into my heart after stepping into his twisted web of selfishness and ambivalence.

I am so grateful to three of my wonderful friends for being there to help me pick myself up when surely it seemed like I was dying inside. Thank you, Mike, for being the first on the scene with CPR and intuitively sensing the intricacies of applying plaster to the cracks of my heart... thank you, Denise, for allowing me to cry and talk for hours and for understanding me as only you do... and thank you Paula, my wing-girl, sounding board, and "Voice Of Reason", who inspires me to look beyond the confines of my box of sadness, and to celebrate the things that bring me joy in my life.... and create my Joy Manifesto... especially at times when the clouds seem so dark.

                                

My Joy Manifesto:

Everyday things that bring me joy

Hearing my young cat Slash run thru the house and trying to "roar" like a jungle cat

The sounds of frogs in the spring and crickets in the summer

A full moon, starry night

A double pack of Reese's peanut butter cups

A good bottle of Riesling or White Zinfandel

Watching my daughter draw in her sketch book, designing fashion

A nighttime bonfire on the beach

Finding a dollar or two in the dryer while doing laundry

Knowing James has now made it home safely after his year in Iraq

Turning on the radio in the car to discover they're playing a favorite song

A game winning field goal, free-throw, or double play

Summer thunder storms at night

Warm sand and onshore winds

A bouquet of Black-eyed Susans

Hearing someone say "I love you"

A well-executed riff on a Fender guitar

My mom's lasagne

Sleeping in on Saturday morning

Friends who know all about me, but love me anyway...

...and this is only the beginning of my Joy Manifesto!

-Six 

                                         

Okay, in compliance with Ms. Polar B's Friday Directive from a week or so ago, I am posting my Friday Facts. I'm either a day late, or several days early...it's hard to tell when you live on "Beach Time"! :)

1. My favorite food is seafood, especially steamed shrimp, crabs, and lobster tail.  Toss it around in Old Bay seasoning, dip it in butter, and it's pure Six Nirvana. To me, frying seafood is blasphemy! :) I am not much of a meat eater.

2. Some of my favorite movies are "Shakespeare in Love", "Napoleon Dynamite", "Sabrina", and "Top Gun".  Obviously, I dig The Queen's English, geeks, ugly duckling love stories, and military dudes.

3.  I have a tattoo across my lower back of a red heart with black tribal wings, and my navel is pierced with a diamond stud.  I'm wanting another heart tattoo in the near future.

4. Not surprisingly then, my favorite television show is "Inked" and "Miami Ink" whenever I can find them on.  I love watching Comedy Central and MTV2 (when they actually have music videos playing)  Okay, I like Donald Trump's "The Apprentice" too... but PLEASE don't make me watch "The Bachelor"!!!

5. My "Achilles' Heel" would be guitarists with long hair and tattos... and Marines in "anything". ;)

6. If having the talent was a given, and I could be anything I wanted, I'd have to be the "front woman" of some rockin' metal band.  Until then, I'll just stay working at the surgery office!

-Six :)

              

"Please excuse Six for missing school last week...."

About this time each year, I wonder why I have never bought stock in the Kleenex corporation. In the last week alone, I have gone thru at least 3 boxes of tissues at work, and a similar number at home. Make mine the type with aloe, please. Nevertheless, I've got that oh-so-attractive Rudolph nose thang goin' on. Add to that my sore throat and new-found "sexy" flu voice, and I coulda got my own 1-900 number rolling for a week's stint and racked in some healthy buckage.  Not that any masculine caller could have seen me in my jammies and my "I don't feel good" poinytail, anyway... but that "voice" coulda earned Momma a new pair of shoes or five, and a couple dozen new CD's for her collection, baby! :)

Alas, I have been too wiped out by the end of the day to persue said entrepreneurial endeavor. [Note to self: check into that when feeling better] Thank goodness for the Clear Your Stuffy Head So You Can Rest Medicine Which Will Totally Knock You Out At Night! I have been taking care of myself and going to bed at a modest hour (the likes of which I've not seen since I was about 10 years old) in order to conquer the common cold. And I am definitely winning this battle!

 

Okay, okay... so maybe I have been a little slack in my Exec VP duties over at The New Residencia Newspaper. According to Editor IC Mann, I apparently only worked 23 minutes total last week at his Rag, and he has put up a reward of $40,000 for anyone who can submit photographic evidence that I'm actually "working." :) HA! See above!

"ONLY" 23 minutes? Well, what with Dazey having recently been hired in the VP office across the hall from me, and all the shopping we need to do (January is a great month for sales!), and then there's all the PR work I have been doing in the Islands and other tropical beach locales to promote this Rag...not to mention all the rock bands I need to schmooze with... a girl only has so many hours in her day!

Alas, I do feel slightly guilty. And I would really like to make it up to Editor IC Mann by hitting the streets and landing an exclusive interview, which would catapult this Rag over the top in sales... ahead, even, of the Terra Haute Tattler-Picayune!! No easy feat there, I might add!

However, it is freezing outside this evening, and I wouldn't wanna ruin my shoes in the sleet... and there is an interview on Rockline on the radio tonight with Seether about the Sno-Core Tour I don't wanna miss... and I am waiting on Dominos to deliver a thin crust pepperoni pizza in about 30 minutes from now... and I really did want to watch the latest episode of Nip/Tuck...

Well, to show The Editor I'm a hard worker... I caught up with myself and decided to ask me some hard-hitting, tough questions, on par with the best reporting ever at The New Residencia. At first I was a bit wary, however, that I might be a victim of some kind of personal bias or spin on answers I gave myself... but then I was assured by me that my professional integrety is above reproach, and I should feel to be open with myself. (Okay now, Abe Lincoln understood exactly what I said. BTW, do we have any more of that "special" NR coffee brewing around here?)

ME: Hello, Six! What up tonight?
MYSELF: Not much, just waiting for Dominos to bring my pizza.
ME: We already saw your more serious "Truths" post... can I ask you questions with more levity?
MYSELF: Sure, bring it!
ME: Right on. (sipping special NR coffee) So, do you have any cool scars?
MYSELF: Why, yes I do! (pointing to left knee) This zipper on my knee cap is from the ACL surgery I had in Y2K after blowing it out in a volleyball game.
ME: Ouch, that hurt! Speaking of pain...got any tattoos?
MYSELF: Yeah, but it's kinda personal.
ME: Come on... I see you nekkid every day.
MYSELF: Then I guess you know what it is and where it is, now dontcha?
ME: Good point. Ever been anywhere exciting?
MYSELF: I lived in Wales for 2 years in the 80's, and have done the whole "UK Tour", as well as Ireland. Went to Paris once, the Bahamas, and Alaska. The French suck, by the way.
ME: What's the craziest thing you've ever done in your travels?
MYSELF: Oh my! (blushing) I got pretty uninhibited those two weeks in Alaska during the summer of 2003. I spent more than one day "butt nekkid" on a beach in Cook Inlet (it did get almost 70 degrees). The other things are between me and Abe Lincoln, and that's all I got to say about that!
ME: I hear crops grow pretty big in Alaska.
MYSELF: ;) No comment.
ME: What do you dream about?
MYSELF: Well, if it's a bad dream, it always seems to feature snakes, zombies, or tornados. If it's a good dream, it seems to feature musicians I've known or would like to know.
ME: What about if it were Rob Zombie playing the guitar?
MYSELF: Um, no. He makes some pretty freaky movies though, and that will give you nightmares.
ME: What were your favorite toys growing up?
MYSELF: My "Etch-A-Sketch" and my Barbies. In my world, Barbie loved GI Joe, btw, and not Ken.
ME: I can dig it. BTW, have you heard from your Marine friend James in Iraq lately, and when is he coming home?
MYSELF: He wrote me yesterday that he was extended for about 10 more days, unfortunately. He was supposed to have come back home last weekend. Darn it!
ME: Yeah, dammit all. So, what kinda car do you drive?
MYSELF: I have a cute lil Toyota Tacoma 4WD chick-truck. Great to take to the beach and drive in the sand.
ME: Yeah, I've been to those beach parties of yours....
MYSELF: Shhhh!! ;)
ME: What's your favorite color?
MYSELF: I would say black, white, and....jeans.
ME: Currently attached?
MYSELF: Nope, but sifting thru a handful of gig applications at the moment.
ME: If you could have one of Dazey's coupons, what would you get?
MYSELF: My coupon would eliminate the ability for humans to be violent.
ME: Right on....

DING DONG!!! Get the door.... It's Dominos!!
Abe... get us some more o' that coffee, would ya?

The Six Truths of Six

One: Becoming a mom was the best thing I have ever done. I have loved every minute of this journey thru parenthood, good times and bad, laughter and tears. I would not trade this experience for the world. Becoming a single mom seven years ago forced me to get my priorities straight. When you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders by yourself, you quickly learn what is important in life, and what isn't so important. I went from a borderline "Type-A Personality" to the opposite laid-back extreme, which I refer to as the "Type-D" I am now.

Two: Mother-Father God answers prayers, and will speak the truth to you in the way that YOU best understand, if you are open to receiving your answer. Those epiphany moments could be an Angel in the form of a stranger on the street who tells you something and then seems to "vanish"; or a song on the radio which suddenly speaks to you out of nowhere and tells you what you need to know; or spiritually being "hit over the head" and shown the answer so that you will finally "get it" in a tough-love fashion to spare you further hurt later on... Be still, and you will know.

Three: I am ever the optimist, and I will never say NEVER! My motto is "anything can happen!" If I keep focusing on doors behind me which have closed, I will certainly miss the doors ahead of me which could be opening. Yes, anything can happen... and usually does!

Four: The greatests lessons I've learned have always been the hardest, and graced with tears of sadness and pain. There are no crib notes or shortcuts in the syllabus, unfortunately.

Five: Nothing on earth is sweeter than love, and will bring the highest highs, and the lowest lows. The Buddhists say that our hearts are meant to be broken at least once, because that is how they truly open. (I believe I've more than met my quota on that one.)

Six: I try to be ever mindful of the karma I create, and periodically check my ticket. When that karma train pulls into the station, it's better to be a thru-passenger to a rewarding destination than to have the conductor look you dead in the eye and announce: "this is YOUR exit". The darkness can be as seductive as the light, so I try to keep my spiritual flashlight with me!

-Six