This past week has been a week of planning and scrambling. Tahoe Donner doesn't have any work for me ever since the snow to ski on melted out, and now I'm on the job hunt again. There's light on the horizon though, because I've been set up to do some property management work as an independent contractor through the graces of a friend. I've never been an independent contractor before, which is a scary and stressful thing to research. There are a lot of warnings online about making sure you know what you're getting into, and tricky tax filing requirements to take care of. So there's that. Plus, I'm always nervous when I don't have money coming in at a time when money needs to be spent on bills, rent, gas, and food.
In light of all that, I have resorted to doing what I usually do when things get stressful: sleeping a lot, training a little, and distracting myself with books, music, and crafts. The picture above is the most recent incarnation of the crafting distraction. I like knots and rope now. I didn't used to. They used to be a bit of a stressful thing themselves. Growing up in a boating family, ropes and knots were important. My dad used to try to teach me how to tie up the boat at random intervals throughout my childhood, and I never quite got it. The ropes never made sense with all that twisting and tying, and along with the overarching impatience of my father's frustration, ropes were a constant source of dread. I went with the "if you don't know a knot, tie a lot" approach; tying convoluted overhand knots that may or may not have actually come untied again. Come to think of it, it probably runs deeper than just boats. I had a hard time learning to tie my shoes as a kid too. And with each re-teaching, my parents patience ran a little thinner- until learning those loops felt a lot like tying my own noose.
In light of all that, I have resorted to doing what I usually do when things get stressful: sleeping a lot, training a little, and distracting myself with books, music, and crafts. The picture above is the most recent incarnation of the crafting distraction. I like knots and rope now. I didn't used to. They used to be a bit of a stressful thing themselves. Growing up in a boating family, ropes and knots were important. My dad used to try to teach me how to tie up the boat at random intervals throughout my childhood, and I never quite got it. The ropes never made sense with all that twisting and tying, and along with the overarching impatience of my father's frustration, ropes were a constant source of dread. I went with the "if you don't know a knot, tie a lot" approach; tying convoluted overhand knots that may or may not have actually come untied again. Come to think of it, it probably runs deeper than just boats. I had a hard time learning to tie my shoes as a kid too. And with each re-teaching, my parents patience ran a little thinner- until learning those loops felt a lot like tying my own noose.
About two years ago, living on Fire Island as a camp counselor, I decided to take up knot tying again. I got myself a book and practiced in the evenings while sitting on the porch of the yacht club watching the sun set over the Great South Bay. That's where I started to really get it. There was no pressure and no hurry. Life just flowed from sunrise to sunset, everything else was just the slow island-time BS in-between.
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