Sunday, January 11, 2009

My Semi-Risky Businesses


MENU OF THE DAY:

Music playing: Jakob Dylan's "Valley of the Low Sun"
What I am drinking: Earl Grey tea
Mood: Good
Exercise: Running in the park with my sister-in-law
The best thing that happened: Finished running
News I read : there were a lot of obituaries in today's paper.

* * * * * * *


One of the things I should put in my profile is that I am NOT a risk taker. Cause I’m not. And so I was trying to think of ways I DO take risks. And this is ALL I can come up. It’s a pretty far reaching list and probably cannot even qualify as a risk.


1. Loaning out books: I love my books as if they were children. I love them more than shoes, I love them more than wine. And every time I loan one out I worry that it won’t be returned or that someone will bend the pages. So loaning them out is a risk for me.

Quite awhile ago I loaned the book “Marley and Me” to my friend Dick at work. When he returned it last month, this is the shape it was in. His dog, Maddy chewed it up! He knows how I feel about my books but waited for my reaction before he handed me over a brand new copy too. I was laughing so hard at the chewed up copy. And in the end I gave him back the brand new copy. I’m keeping the copy that Maddy the dog chewed up. (The publisher should have found a way to market the book so that it looked like this!)

2. Chardonnay Risks: Sometimes after drinking more than a couple of glasses of chardonnay I go on iTunes and shop for music. The last weird song I bought was Fatboy Slim’s song “Rockafeller Skank”. If I had not been drinking wine, I also probably would not have bought the whole Instant Karma Amnesty John Lennon cd set, (not to mention the songs I buy that I already own!)

Also sometimes when I have been drinking wine I decide to tweeze my eyebrows. (Luckily my eyebrows are like Ernest Borgnine’s or I should say one of those Jonas Brothers - they are so thick that any mistakes can be sort of hidden.)

3. Phone Risks: Every time I pick up the phone when I see on the caller ID that it’s my mother calling…well, that’s definitely a risk.

4. Self image risks: Looking in my 7 x magnifying mirror everyday. (No one over 40 should own such a mirror.)

I keep trying these new skin care products from Estee Lauder, Murad Laura Mercier. And it keeps wreaking even more havoc with my skin. Not to mention what a waste of money. (FYI Murad, is definitely overrated.) My skin is just getting old and I have to accept that.

5. Getting old is a risk.

6. Running & Flyfishing Risks: I suppose you could say running and exercise is a risk. You know, I could get bit by a dog or even kidnapped. Though in my 29 years of running (my 1980 new year’s resolution!) I have never been in any danger. Same with flyfishing. I could fall in the river or get eaten by a cougar or struck by lightning. (I do worry about these things too but taking Xanax while flyfishing would be an even bigger risk!)

7. Driving Risks: I have a two mile commute to work but sometimes I do have to drive I-5. It’s a dangerous interstate. I think someone dies on it every day.

8. Honesty Risks: Telling the truth when someone asks you for an opinion is a risk…i.e….”do you think I look good in bangs?”

9. Food Risks: Eating raw oysters.

See what I mean? Ok so what are the risks that y’all take?

23 comments:

IslandPearl said...

I love your copy of Marley!!

My risks are:
1. Flying a lot - especially in the winter. Flight delays; God-knows-what viruses; ending up in the middle seat in any the last 5 rows; and, of course...the fate that shall not be named.

2. Being on Facebook. Blurring the careful distinctions that I've successfully maintained between family, IRL friends, on-line friends, people I work with and others gives me the willies sometimes. And yet I do it.

3. Buffets. I try to avoid them at all costs -- do you have ANY idea what lurks in a seemingly innocent bowl of jello?? :-P

4. Reaching out. The risk of rejection...that's why I rarely reach out. I can't help but take some things personally. I'm a person.

5. Honesty is a risk for me too. I've found that there are few people out there - precious few - that really want the truth. To paraphrase Jack Nicholson -- They can't HANDLE the truth. Apparently (see #4) neither can I...

furline said...

1. I hope this time I don't delete my post after ten minutes of typing and thinking and posting.

2. I just finished one of those sappy Twilight books and between the Nyquil and my mood I was crying like a baby. But the problem is I cried all over the book and it's Amanda's. And I've been teasing Amanda about getting all worked up about those silly books. Now she'll know. Let's just say Bella is an idiot and Jacob should have been the one. I don't care what happens in the last book.

3. I'm reading Loving Frank and I love that the author fleshed Mamah. She was much more interesting than Wright (kind of like Anne Morrow was much more interesting than Lindbergh).

4. I'm sick. That stupid cold/sinus thing I get every so often. At some point it will get so bad I'll need to get treated for an infection..but I have to wait till it gets that bad because no one wants to prescribe antibiotics anymore.

5. Furline has posted.

6. I guess you could say living in Atlanta is a risk. I live in a safe part of town..well, as safe as it can be. The highways are horrible and the side streets are bad. I work in a bad part of town but I rarely think about it. I just do my thing. I'm truly oblivious to that kind of thing. That's probably my training as a social worker. I got used to it.

7. Crap...I'm still logged in as Furline.
Well, it's not Furline...it's me. I knew this was going too smoothly.

8. I need to find a good Chinese place. I need some soup.
.

Ummagumma said...

1)I feel weird too, about having my friends, family, and a few people from high school all together on my facebook. for some reason I want to keep them all separate.

2)I think its partly that I am such a different person then I was in high school, and I just dont feel like high school people can let go of that loser image they have of me.

3)I guess I will see how it goes.

4)then again, I may just be a hypocrite, one of the girls from high school, a girl I ran track with, seems to have changed, but I still have this image in my mind of who she was in high school.

5)for instance her 6 year old son, she took him and a little girl friend to a local ball game, and she caught them kissing, and she commented in the comment section that she was kind of disturbed by it, and reminded her son that only married people and and adults can kiss.

6)I realize he is 6, but I had a really hard time not commenting to her reminding her about the time that I got into serious trouble for covering for her when her and her boyfriend had sex in the girls lockeroom in high school.

7)maybe she doesnt want her kid to make the same mistakes she did! lol.

~ T (grits) ~ said...

OMG! I just found that you have a blog!! Im so happy!!!

Ummagumma said...

yay! Its grits!

KatKit13 said...

Risks.

1. getting out of bed in the morning. In an Asperger's household, you have NO idea what lurks to present itself upon your feet.

2. Skin? ha. Mine's so bad I've given up.

3. Giving up on endocrinologists. I know I need to find another new one, who will listen, but for the moment, I've given up.

4. Facebook - friends, family and coworkers. It's an odd mix, but I'll make it work by not swearing too much, not divulging too much, and playing endless games of Wordpath, Scramble and Word Twist. And if it starts to not work, the delete button is always there.

5. Food risks - too much chocolate, too much vino and I happen to love raw oysters. Milk products are a nasty risk for me these days.

I love the copy of Marley. Somehow, it just seems perfect.

Modern Hippie said...

hmm this is a tough one.

1.) speaking my mind is a risk, you never who your going to offend when you pipe up with your praise and hates on certain politicians

2.) living the in city. deffinitley; i have my pepperspray though!! i should take self-defense classes since i'm so scared of everything in the world already lol

3.) being honest!! i know you said you hated when i said that but really theres stuff my mom doesnt wanna know theres stuff i dont need to say to my sister, its a risk.

5.) walking in high-heels outside on the streets

6.) online shopping

7.) the more things i learn. ignorance is bliss. but i like being educated; i dont wanna be blissfully ignorant lol


p.s. yours about the freeway is soo wrong lol I-5 is soo not dangerous i drive it all the time. more accidents happen in parking lots than the freeway and i bet its more like one death a year on 1-5 i'm google it right now and leave a post after to see lol

Modern Hippie said...

courtesy of wikipedia:
"Freeways reduced travel times and accident rates,though the higher speeds have increased the severity and death rates of the collisions that do occur."

okay so were both right, if you did get in an accident i'd be bad but you probably wont be in one casue the accident rate is so low i dont feel like looking up and quoting the whole thing.

1-5 specifically said nothing about danger (on wikipedia.)

jojo cucina cucina said...

1. pearl, i always wondered how you could fly so much. I also share your reaching out risk too. But you actually DO that, which is why we've met!

2. i loved the book "Loving Frank", susie/Furline. I think i heard about it from your first. I think I am going to have to see what all the fuss is about with the Twilight series. (I feel like the only person at the water cooler on Friday who didn't watch Seinfeld the night before.)

3. umma, i hope we are ALL different people than we were in high school by the time we are in our late 20's. You couldn't give me millions of dollars to repeat those years. (I wouldn't mind repeating my 40's though!)

4. TXGrits, it's about time! You're like the Pat Conroy of the blog world! I've not heard from you in ages. ;)

5. Hey Kat, it's good to see you!

6. Kylee/Hippie - what did i tell you about walking in high heels on the streets of Seattle? lol. RE: I-5 ...wait until someone sideswipes you on the freeway (as happened to me in 2002) and a car behind you rolls over and hits the other cars, (as also happened to me in 2001) then you'll experience post traumatic I-5 driving, (not to mention my mom's big car accident when in 1967). I never thought about it before. I love driving my car but I just wish there was no one else on the road. It goes along with my premonition that i have always thought that would be the way i would die. (You know the whole Highway 18 East of the Mountains Living Will and Testament! lolol)

OK, gotta go to work. It's fun to see everyone respond. I love the participation!

Ummagumma said...

1)thats amazing! ;-) my brother is the Ernest Hemingway of bullshit. I cant take credit for that line, it came from 'Housesitter' with goldie Hawn and steve martin. lol.

Cat said...

I love these!!! Hey Grits! It's good to see you! I need to get organized and figure out who is where! Live Journal, Blogger, wordpress, message boards, HELP! (I obviously haven't figured out Blogger at this point other than how to sign in.)

Risks:

I identify with what Pearl and Umma said about blurring lines with online friends, IRL friends, work friends, etc. It's tough. I also tend to love to talk and it's hard to know when to STOP talking, which means restricting a lot of what I say.

I also relate greatly to what Jojo said about loaning out books - loved that you kept the chewed copy of Marley and Me, though! Here are some items I've loaned out in the past month I have a feeling I will never see again: 1) cat carrier, 2) exercise bra (yes, bra) 3) 2 books I love (Handmaid's Tale and Angels and Demons), 4) flash drive. I have a new gal-pal and it's a lot like having a sister that likes to borrow stuff. With the exception of the cat carrier, I can write off the stuff I've loaned her.

Texting. I hate texting, but same gal-pal got me into texting. Now everyone texts. However, I HATE IT when I'm out with someone and all they do is text. I'm a little ADD myself, but I think texting when you are with someone is rude. You are essentially taking a phone call. However, texting is a great way to communicate without committing to a long-winded phone call. So I'm torn.

Ren For The Roses said...

Hey... it's Renée AKA Sister Mary Bad Girl.

I took a big risk and applied for a job that I'm not qualified for, and I got it. Yikes. My mouth mighta written a check my ass can't cash.

Last night I had a dream and you were in it. (That's not a risk, I'm just mentioning it.) We were night security at a resort hotel, and instead of patrolling the property or something, we just slept in the rooms. We caught a maid sleeping in a hall closet (on the wire shelf up top, instead of the floor, which makes no sense but it was a dream so maybe it wasn't supposed to make sense). I convinced you not to call 911 because she told me she was homeless and hungry and I felt sorry for her, and then you and I were afraid we were going to lose our jobs if we got caught. You were mad and wouldn't talk to her when she came in our room to say thanks for not turning her in.

troutbirder said...

I like the flyfishing risk. Ok so I go up Slough creek in Yellowstone. Definitely Grizz county. Otherwise am a timid as a churchmouse.
troutbirder

Ummagumma said...

1)Grits, you might like this: I keep all my cards family, friends, and yayas send me. Ariel found the card you sent me a couple of years ago, the one with the sunflower on it, that plays that 'sunny' song, I know it from the radio, but I cant quite make out the words. Anyway, he loves that card, and figured out that if he opens it, it plays. he does that, over and over...and over. lol.

2)thats it actually.

equeyaya said...

I've always been a risk averse person, but I've become braver over the years. I think being a parent does that because you are presented with more choices where doing nothing can be a greater risk than doing something.

The one area where I hate to take risks is financial. And whenever I do, I regret it (particularly with college savings in mutual funds in the current economy with a high school senior making college plans - arrgh!). In our business we need to take on a lot of debt for a repositioning and I am so glad I am not the CEO having to make that decision, because if I was, I think I would be too paralyzed to do it.

But this is about risks that we DO take, so here goes...

1. Horseback riding can be dangerous. Heck, just being in the stall with that big heavy thing moving around is risky. But I love it.

2. Travel. Particularly traveling to remote areas on horseback, but again, something I can't not do.

3. Parenting, as I mentioned. When you open your heart to anyone, but particularly to a child, you risk being hurt, and usually are at some point. But you do it anyway. And sometimes you need to confront people in the process of looking out for your kids. I've always hated confrontation, but, between parenting and working in HR, I think I've gotten pretty good and doing it in a constructive way.

4. Driving. Sometimes I feel riskier than others. There are days when I gauge my timing just right and pull out on a busy street in cross traffic, and others when I'll wait and wait until there's plenty of room. It all depends on where my head is. I feel fortunate that I haven't been in a serious accident.

5. I've been watching the Dog Whisperer and tried one of his techniques with a dog at the farm last week. It's a Jack Russell that can be friendly but is also pretty aggressive. So I arrive at the farm and he and Rudy the Rat Terrier come running up. Rudy gets to me first so I'm loving on him, and Jackson (the Jack Russell, of course), starts snarling at Rudy and trying to move in on his action. So I tried Cesar's technique and pushed Jackson away and said "NO!" As I expected, he made a move like he was going to bite me, but I held my hand against his shoulder like I saw Cesar do. He did not bite me, but stayed back and sat down while I continued to pet Rudy. Then I came over to him and petted him. Ha! I am the pack leader!

That may seem kind of silly, but I thought it was really cool!

That's all I've got!

equeyaya said...

Oh, and I eat raw oysters, too, lol!

Swiss said...

I want to say so much so happy so see your blog and everyone here. Just will wait- you know me I blab right off and make a ton of typos etc! Oh, I do so much love the chewed book. That is how the editors should have made it!

Swiss said...

And I did make a typo anyway - so happy TO see your bog etc - gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Swiss said...

Here is something I do when I do not care - I just say "Jimmy Crack Corn" I found the weirdest way to say it too....on youtube. Mostly it is at work when people call about the most trival complaints -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LSxsrWpL-A&feature=related


gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Swiss said...

Oh and I wasn't saying I do not care to your blog of course. Thought of it more about my typos....I should not care so much - the gahhhhh that Yoda says at the end is what I like.....and it is funny because some people made this at their work place and it is a puppet representing their boss.

Swiss said...

AND I hope you are still checking Sherman's site - he keeps up his favorites a lot more and always has something interesting to share.

sam said...

1. The older I get the less risky I've become. Makes for boring but, then again, long-lived might not be so bad.

2. Beocming a single parent - and an old one, at that - for the next nine months is pretty risky. Even when I've disagreed with the hero husband's ways of dealing with the kids, at least there's been someone to deal with the kids besides me.

3. The only thing is, NOT letting him take a job out of country means we really take risks with where and how we live. Without a significant income we'd have to live in the cars and I'm fairly certain I would hate that.

4. Is it a risk to decide what furniture and appliances I'd like to have without input from my spouse? Probably the risky part is not telling him until he comes home in October.

5. See? I told you I didn't take many risks. Even in the food area the riskiest behavior I exhibit is eating a hamburger from time to time.

Ummagumma said...

1)I need help, anyone that has pictures of me, or Ariel,can you please scan them, and send them in an email to me?