So, I'm lost out here in the wilderness of my childhood. I don't know what I want to be when I 'grow up', and saying that lost its novelty years ago.

A friend of mine suggested that I look at all of the things I enjoy doing in my spare time, and have a look at those activities, and figure out what I could do with them that would be profitable and... actually I forget what the other part was. Profitable and... fun? ...worthwhile? ...feasible? Hard to say, really. I've been getting so much advice lately (the majority of it unsolicited), that most of it dribbles down the side of my face like so much egg yolk.

(Minor complaints aside, I warrant that most of it has been good advice, and positively motivated.)

Anyway, here is a list of things I like to do:

Read
Research
Write
Correspond (mail, email)
Paint
Draw
Sit in the hot-tub
Swim
Canoe
Camp
Explore
Take photographs
Visit
Travel
Snorkel
Cook
Eat

Seriously... don't you think this could be just about anyone's list? I guess the glaring omissions include "talking on the phone" and "partying"... I'm not a natural socializer like my mother. I love animals, but not in the way I used to; these days, I can't imagine having a dirty, smelly zoo of pets, like I used to fervently wish for when I was seven years old. As much as I love animals, I don't like to have to feed them, take them to the vet, clean their hair from my clothes... or pick up their poo.

Anyway-- I'm getting off track, and I had said that I was only going to write this blog if I had something worthwhile to say. So-- I'm actually soliciting advice today. If you look at my list, and you think, "I know what she should do!", by all means, tell me.

In the meantime-- while I'm still waiting desperately to hear if I have the contract for the mural I want to paint or not-- I'm doing acrylic portraits of children and pets and what-have-you. I also (maybe) scored a Phantom of the Opera style job at a local theatre. I would be there like a ghost, opening and closing doors, and coming over the sound system to spook the renters into keeping the exits clear, and sweeping up the stage after all the performers have gone home. I wonder if I have to check the seats for spills and stains too?

I have an interview on Tuesday with a school in Vietnam. I have mixed feelings about teaching abroad again. On one hand, it's something that I think I really, really want to do, and on the other hand, I'm curious about what life would be like if I stayed in B.C. and really, really applied myself. You know, if I actually USED my god-given talents, rather than sitting on them as though they could be stolen or used up. It's funny-- I may have pointed this out before-- but I think there are a lot of creative people that feel that way. That if we use our talents, we may be spending non-renewable resources. Pure foolishness. Where did I ever get this idea, this fear of my own potential?

I wonder if I can do it all? Teach, create, travel, write, make a difference... I'm sure I can. But how?

Self-centered ramblings aside, my dad's birthday is coming up, and my mom and I don't really know what we should do for him. It strikes me as funny (and sad) that I don't even know what my dad's favorite restaurant is, or what his favorite food is. I know he'll probably say that it doesn't matter what we do, but I think it does. He's going to be sixty-one this year, and I wasn't there when my parents turned sixty last year. I do wish I had the money to fly him to Truk for his dream scuba trip, but the last time I mentioned that, he was saying that he was getting too old to scuba dive. "But dad," I said, "look at Jaques Cousteau! How old was he when he was making his scuba-movies?". Dad grudgingly agreed that maybe he did still have a few good scuba years left in him. But I can't send him to Truk Lagoon this year. Maybe we can take him for fish and chips instead?