The Quest

I like what I do... most of the time. But lately I've been happiest when thinking genealogy. A church member just mentioned in passing that she was needing someone to make a photocopy of a page in their family Bible, which is in the archives at Abilene Christian University. Well, you can't just make a comment like that to me without expecting a conversation... so we spent the next 20-30 minutes standing at the bottom of the stairs talking about lost lines and 19th century travel habits and internet vs. foot-to-the-ground research. I'm sure if my job was genealogy research I would find my mind wandering to graphic design, web design, publications, etc. But right now I would just rather be doing anything but that... including stalking dead people.

I was in a fairly good mood this morning. Meg let me sleep about 6 hours straight. Vertigo fairly under control. Only a mild headache. Got some stuff done this morning before work. Then... got to work and checked my e-mail. Really rude and critical e-mail from a church member about the new website. Bye-bye good mood. I'm trying to talk myself down. Take it with a grain of salt. Consider the actual content and ignore the rudeness. Maybe e-mail is just a rude medium.

I saw a t-shirt today with this saying on it... "You'd Be More Interesting If You Were Dead." Ha. Love it. Next up for bid in this year's church auction... genealogy expertise. I've done the Greek Feast for two years and have had enough of that. This time... I'll do something that I would do anyway. Stalk people. But with permission.

Sometimes I would just love to quit my job and work from home. Stalking people. Or something. As long as it doesn't involve working with actual, live people. There are all kinds of problems with live people. But chief among them is emotions. When you're exploring your family genealogy, you can imagine what they might have thought or felt, but you don't have to actually deal with their feelings. I hurt someone's feelings yesterday... completely unintentionally and I'm really not quite sure how or why. But today I can't stop thinking about it and it bothers me. It was all about work. So the solution: don't work with people. Problem is... there are no jobs that don't involve working with people. At least a little. It would just be much better if they were dead people who, I imagine, don't get their feelings hurt.

Kef asked me yesterday why I hadn't blogged in a while. So here are my excuses: It's too hot for me to go on quests over my lunch hour. Since Ken died, my routine has never been the same. All of my best blog ideas come to me in the shower. Although my laptop is handy in lots of ways, it is not water-proof. Nothing is happening. I haven't been pursuing any family lines (for myself or others) in a while. I lack self-discipline, and therefore just don't get around to it. Maya. I have my hands full with this little caninite {props to Ron Hettler for the hybrid of canine and termite} . I'll try to be better. Promises.

If it weren't for my tight family connections, I wouldn't know my second-cousin-once-removed Bryan and his bride Kendi. (Most people don't , I'm told, have a clue about their second-cousin-once-removed.) I find Bryan and Kendi interesting because they are so cute... so young... and sooo doing just what they want to. Some people wait their whole lives to do what they love. These two dove in right out of college. Bryan is a photographer (among other things) and Kendi is a fashion blogger (among other things). The family grapevine tells me that Kendi has bought a dress shop on the square in a suburb of DFW. Who does that? Especially at such a young age? Umm... I guess people who are brave enough to live their dream. Now, I haven't really talked to Kendi about this venture, but I can only assume that running her own shop is a dream of hers. And I admire that. Have a dream. Do it. I used to dream about doing some things. In fact I have a whole list of things I wante...