Life can be so scary and so adventurous and so amazing simultaneously. About twice a year I have these, well, let's call them spells where the squirrels get the best of me. If you haven't been introduced to my squirrels, they live in the frontal lobe of my brain (at least that's where I picture them), and they tread a lovely, noisy wheel there. Most times, they manifest themselves through my long verbal ramblings. But those few times a year, they need OUT. They let me know it in no uncertain terms.

Now, when the needing OUT coincides with external changes or potential changes in my life, it's a volatile combination. The current possibilities involve my life in the next year.

- My very good friend is shipping out for six months. To Turkey. Uh-huh. I'm gonna be a big girl, for his sake as much as for mine, but it's a tough one. Luckily I am more grown up than the last time someone left for an extended period of time, and I have the wisdom to be mentally, physically and pharmaceutically prepared. I'll get through. To paraphrase an old movie, we'll still have the internet.

- I am entering the treatment techniques part of my massage training. This is the pay attention part, the crucial learning. I'm putting too much pressure on myself, which is resulting in my wanting to avoid my homework. After this weekend, I am going to re-dedicate. I'm a big one for re-dedication. If it weren't for that, I would just never get anything done. I will get right on it.

- I have three part-time job offers for when I get out of school, as well as a standing part-time job. The first two are from friends/colleagues already in the therapy biz, who want to refer clients to me to lighten their loads and give their clients the choice of seeing someone who is geographically closer to home. The standing gig is as a sign-language interpreter, working for my friend at a community college. The newest offer is to come up to Doe Bay from late May to mid-September and massage people. I'd get a captive client base, about 20 massages a week, and take 40% of the advertised fee. The general manager at DB said last summer they were turning people away. Oh, the temptation. Oh, the logistics. Oh, didn't I always want a life of adventures? Here is one, plopped right in my lap on a blustery autumn evening as Harreld ate his dinner and I surfed the net.

- I am housesitting for a friend, my next-door neighbor, and I am coveting her apartment. The squirrels took a meeting and have decided that, should this apartment come available, I must move into it. Now, this time I'm in total agreement with the squirrels. The layout is much improved over my unit, with a pocket WC on the second floor (the former tenant called it the "boat bathroom", and indeed it is tiny and cute). There is ample room for my exercise machine, my massage practice, my JUNK and my life. And the kitchen's better, too. And I'd be out of the wind, on the leeward side of the building. So many good reasons.

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Well, that's what the squirrels are grappling with. Between these ideas, the generally cold and damp weather, and a few lovely nuts and berries, we're all a-whirl. We'll let you know when things settle. Slainthe!