A Whole New World
Self discipline is not a character trait that many people in my life would associate with me. I've always been one for the quick fix, immediate gratification, charge it now and worry about it when the bill comes in a month. Overweight, in debt with a messy house, that's me in a nutshell.

Add to that the fact I'm also unemployed now, and you have double with a capital D and that rhymes with T and that stands for trouble!

My days lack structure, they are no longer filled with bosses giving me useless but happily time consuming tasks. I must do for myself, manage my time wisely and that means not spending the lion's share of my day in chat. Believe me, if I could find a way to drag the computer into the kitchen and hook up from there so I could stay abrest of chat current affairs while I made dog biscuits, I'd do it. Like a shot. But that would simply serve to further shoot down those hours in the day when I'm most able to actually achieve something. I heard some Dr. Phil-type quack on the telly harping about how to make the most of your life, and that was one of the items: identify what time of day you get the most done. My friend Don can usually be seen doing important paperwork around 3:00 a.m. at his dining room table. I personally have waves of energy, and if I can be occupied by something other than Friends between 7:30-8:00 p.m., then I have the gumption to clean out a closet or bake something until 11:00-ish, but after that I'm toast. I'm much like my Gran that way: early to bed, early to rise. Although, since my contract has been up, I've been 'rising' at around 4:00, and it's screwing me up royally.

My diet has also gone the way of the dinosaur, which is causing me some anxiety. When I'm at home on the weekends, I enjoy toast of some variety with my morning coffee. On weekdays (at the office) I only eat fruit with no bread/pasta/rice item until after 5:00 p.m. That was the rule, and I've stuck to it since January 7, 2002. That's unheard of for me, and I was so proud of myself. Now, with no immediate need to get out of the house to be somewhere for an 8:30 start, poof! it's all out the window.

If I want this business venture to blossom and succeed, I'm going to have to make a change. ChangeS. Schedules, diet, spending patterns, the whole lot. I'm going to have to dig deep, (really excavate!) to find the intestinal fortitude I'll need to carry through with it. At least I'm mature(?) enough to know that it's going to be a positive change and I'll come out the other side a happier, more centered person for it.

So, the business. The Reader's Digest version of it is this:

I registered the business with the government,

I registered the website,

I signed up for hosting of the above-mentioned website,

I'm working on a)packaging and b)accounting

I had no idea I'd be spending this amount of money while I don't have anything coming in at the same time. When I was still at the college, I dawdled around with the concept, then the product, then the packaging, but it was all very slow and methodical. I liked it that way. Now that I need an income, I'm itching to get started.

Melesse has been such a wonderful mentor through everything. If it weren't for her, I'd have probably thrown my hands up in disgust ages ago. She's patient and intelligent and funny and kind and doesn't mind repeating things until I get them. All I can say is, it's a good thing I bake a killer chocolate cake! She's so full of these little pearls of wisdom and so intent that I not fall victim to some of the obstacles that she had to hurdle that I'm amazed how easy this process is turning out to be. She should start a small business consulting firm on the side, she'd go far.

I need a shower, and I need to either stop looking at all the To Do items
on my white board or actually get my ass out of this chair and get them done.
Well, maybe after just one more coffee...

Posted at 9:15 a.m.