Don,t touch.  No, that’s not a typo.  Check out the sign in the lower left hand corner.  I actually didn’t even notice that when I took the photograph.  I noticed it just now.  Taken in Asakusa, Tokyo last month.

After getting through the new problems that inevitably arise
whenever I get the hair-brained idea to re-design my entire website, it
is finally up and running.  The issues I encountered trying to get the
new pages uploaded are still mystery problems that will someday need to
get solved, but for now I accepted having to work around whatever
glitches found their way into my computer since the last time I sent
new files to my server.  I did manage to solve a few hiccups on my own,
though, and for some reason finding the answers to website questions is
mightily gratifying.  I particularly love the bugs that require me to
delve into the source code to see what might be clogging my work.  It
is the yin to my messy, impulsive, creative yang that ends up covered
in paint and glitter at the end of a day in my studio.  One side needs
the other and they each serve a purpose in my life.

It is an oddly quiet time for me.  There are projects to do, a
couple of deadlines and a few significant personal projects on the
horizon, but this week my calendar is entirely clear and today I am
actually feeling fairly crappy with a sore throat threatening to take
over.  It is tempting to slog through it and stay at my computer
because I don’t feel entirely miserable and sitting here working isn’t
necessarily taxing, but I think the message I am getting at this exact
moment is to take a break.

There have been so many times when I’ve wished I could flip a switch
and turn the world off, just for one day here and there.  Then last
week I got this very opportunity when the power was down on my block
for more than 12 hours.  From 9:30am until who knows when that night -
as I went to bed by candlelight – there was no computer, no lights, no
internet, no nothing.  And it drove me crazy.  I am proud of
the fact that I didn’t let it get me completely out of sorts, for I
reminded myself that there are plenty of other people in the world who
have to deal with these kind of inconveniences all the time, including
my friend/superhero Frida, but I was still caught off guard by how much it annoyed me.  How I couldn’t help but say to myself, "This is messing up my plans!" I not only got irritated, but I was also hell-bent on Getting Things Done anyway.

Today is a different story, and even though the power is up and
running just fine, I am now going to flip a switch and turn the world
off, at least for a few hours.  My method of immediately attaching
myself to the couch when I feel any inkling of illness is a tried and
true practice.  It is almost as if the cold, flu or other random bug
comes looking for all kinds of action and activity so it can multiply
and take over, but instead I sit still and it gets totally bored and
therefore decides to just go away.

Here’s to lying on the couch on a sunny day in order to avoid being
stuck on the couch for an entire week, to hot cups of tea, the wind
singing softly outside and my most comfy sweats.  Here’s to being still.