Fighting the prevailing westerlies

I'm not feeling all that great of late, mentally, physically, financially, what have you. I'm worried about a few things, people close to me are not feeling well, a bunch of stuff. Teetering on the edge of a serious spin.

D.A. has chided me for spilling like this, says that a retailer should always project perfect contentment and never show the world the warts and downside. Bad for business. But I have always let it hang out, up or down, probably why I am not Mr. Success. Tried to always be honest on the blog and that is probably not going to change.

I was thinking about an old zen proverb, something along the lines of "if things are looking grim, go do the dishes." Get your mind off the things you can't control and move forward. I am trying my best to do just that.

Yesterday I hired a wonderful guy I know, Brandon, to  help me clear out the back of my shop. He organized it as best as he could and did a great job. 

I knew he could do it because he was the last person to do it, about ten years ago. You can actually walk through my store room now. Thanks, Brandon.

A lot of the problem was cardboard and he moved it out and broke it all down. We had a gigantic pile, which I took to the recycling center today in the van.

This bin is completely full of all of my cardboard. Amazing what you can accumulate. 

I left a couple large bags of trash out on the porch too but I think a homeless person went through it and now I have to clean it all up and it is now wet and will be even more miserable.

I called my friend Bob the Carpenter yesterday. 

He is going to build new racks in the store rooms so I can have a place to store the overflow.

Only took twenty seven years or so.

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We watched the Aztecs game at Renée's house. The ladies put on quite a feast, chicken and orzo, really wonderful meal. we taste tested our respective sour dough toast.

Surprisingly, the girls are getting into the basketball game.

One more tonight, fingers crossed.

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It is cold and drizzly. My little portable heater is warming me up. I am fasting for a blood test. I have to get a catscan and a scope this week, that is, if I can get all the results to their proper positions in time.

Another hour to go. Haven't eaten or drank since last night. We tried out the new Le Creuset griddle pan with the red wild caught Argentinian shrimp.

I marinated the shrimp in olive oil, garlic, red pepper and cilantro. 

Vlad was the first person I knew who really perfected this. Lena does it really nicely as well. You don't add the lemon or lime until the end because it cooks the shrimp.

So good. Love this griddle. Broke it in with a ribeye the other night.

I threw the I ching the other night. Providing nourishment changed into the hexagram of Deliverance. And my first thought was well, deliverance is well and good but what if instead of getting relieved of my burdens it means I'm about to hear banjo music and get an arrow or two whizzing by my head in the canoe?

Had a dream the other night that the white supremacists in town were comin' to get me. World is so poised for conflict and destruction, everybody pickin' sides, no relief in sight. You ever feel alone in this world?

I will try to keep moving forward, dodge all the incoming, still have the middle room to organize. Wish me luck. I'm hungry and grouchy.