lost pleasures....

Gardening and reading (two of my favorite activities) have pretty much gone by the wayside, since I took on the store full-time.

I told myself going into this, that there would be a price and that I would have to accept the price.

I thought the price would be tiredness and stress. But I've handled those relatively well, by sleeping and eating regularly, not taking on any outside projects, and because the store has settled in just above the level that would've caused me financial stress. (I've often said, my mood is directly proportional to how much money I'm making.)
That, and not having had a drink since Christmas.

There are some compensations, of course. If it's slower business, then....it's slower energy drain. I actually find myself relaxing at the store more than I did when I had an employee, and I allow myself that luxury. If you catch me playing solitaire instead of filing comics, that's what's going on.

It's my own choice. While I couldn't afford my previous employee full-time or at his level of wages, I could easily afford a part-timer at modest wages. But having made it through winter and now spring without help, and without doing my usual going into debt before summer, I'm sort of inspired to keep going.

I'm just going to go ahead and bull through the summer. Then, this fall, revisit the whole idea.

**********

By the way, ask me if I miss having the Pole, Peddle, Paddle, Puddle, Piddle thing going on downtown. Go ahead, ask me.

I told another downtown business owner this, and he muttered, "You and no one else."

Sigh.

Which brings me to HBM's comment at the Source:

"This is a go-along-to-get-along kind of town, and anybody who had dared to challenge the Doctrine of Bend Exceptionalism back in 2005 or even 2006 would have been ostracized by the "business community." It was like a vast tacit conspiracy of denial."

Which is a great argument for blogs, especially anonymous blogs. (I'm not agin anonymous, but I do wish they were pseudonymous, instead.)

Or...., if you can't be pseudonymous, you need to be an outsider, like me.

Trouble is, the powers that be listen to neither outsiders or anony--mouses....

**********

Speaking of reading. I was getting tired of huge books that take a month to read. I went to the .50 cent section at my wife's store, and started grabbing 200 page or less books, mostly thrillers.

What I was wanting were short, punchy novels -- like the Richard Stark books. Seems as though they quit writing those around 1985 or so.

Problem is, most of them are kind of dated. Amazing how many thrillers would be solved with cell phones. And the KGB and IRA aren't quite the threats they once were.

After several false starts, ended back up with a dense and long science-fiction novel again...