Talented Technical Guy Rob ( the guy who keeps me from blowing up this web site) spent hours last night working with The Hub on his negatives for the CMPG gallery show that's coming up in October. He was going to work on my pictures too, but we ran out of time. Rob is a fascinating guy to listen to: he knows what he's talking about on a wide range of technical topics, in this case, photo developing. I know so much more about the process now & even feel more comfotable using my little dinky version of Photo Shop. The Hub was just green with envy over Rob's sophisticated photo processing equipment. Men never feel intimidated by technology, it seems: they feel they can master any beast as long as it has a logic system at its heart. I, on the other hand, didn't want to sit too close to Rob's machine, or accidentally touch anything, for fear that my strange bio-chemical impulses would cause the whole thing to go down in an electro-magnetic fit.

But the thing I learned that is most eye opening was not a technical lesson at all. It was about time. Rob took his time on every one of The Hub's negatives, The Hub took his time putting them together. I took my time sitting there, in a "support" role to The Hub. I didn't go do something else, even though it wasn't my pictures on the screen, because The Hub said he wanted my input, and I wanted to let him know that he has my support in his artistic endevour. I stayed with the project, engaged, in a way that I am not with any of my own work.

I still feel very guilty about taking the time for any creative persuit of mine. Writing, photography...it all just falls to the bottom of my to-do list until it falls off. Even the things I have done for my businesses have involved very minimal investments of time. I didn't spend hours at EmbroidMe pouring over the logo book. I found one that I could use and said, "That's good enough". It was the artists there who encouraged me to slow down, change the colors if I wanted to, etc. It could simply be said that I am a decisive person, and I suppose I am. For instance, I wouldn't have settled for a logo that didn't fit in with what I had in mind. If I hadn't seen something, I would have said, "Thanks for showing me what you have" and left. But it wouldn't have entered my mind to say, "Well, this is almost, sorta-kinda it - what can you do for me?" ( and a testament to their high level of skill as business women that they offered and asked)

These guys, Rob and The Hub, and Friend Will are showing me by example that all good work on any level requires that time be unstintingly invested in it. That I can't have been in business 4 months and invested a total of $240 dollars ( but infinate earwax, sweat, and tears) and expect to have All Around the House going like gangbusters, especially when one month I was stuck reading Estonian at the Big-Deal-Job-in-a-Box. I've only devoted part time effort to it. That it has any results at all is a miracle.

If only there wasn't the financial crisis. If wishes were horses than beggers would ride. And, because I'm sharp and anybody who's known me for more than 5 minutes can see that I'm hard working, there's always an opportunity to Make Money Now, not invest the time in the seeds of a dream.

The latest temptation comes from Bill at the tile shop. I love working at the tile shop on Saturdays, and I really like Bill. He needs an outside sales rep since he's started importing stuff from Italy and Spain. He's a good fair man. He would never cheat me on commission. But a 60 mile radius territory is a large terratory. That's a lot of tile shops to canvass and service....and I'm not sure about this idea that I could do "that and my other things" as he put it. It's a good opportunity, repping a product I like....but I don't feel that The Lord called me to rep-tile in the way I felt called to start AATH. Maybe I ought to drop the Avon....but I can eventaully get health insurance through there....Arrrrghhhhh!

Money really is the root of all evil: or at least all compromise.