Power Pose

I'm Parental Leave right now, but due to the nature of my business (and, uh, my personality) I have a really hard time staying completely Hands Off.  One of the ways I am keeping a toe in the game (who... who is writing these metaphors?) is by staying involved with my networking group (this is aided by the fact that I am allowed- nay, encouraged- to bring the Youngest Spawn along).  Well this past week we had a fun little "challenge" during our meeting, in which we were to swap 60-second "elevator pitches" with one of our peers.  We had about two weeks to prepare, and I was pretty excited to do my Bit.  So excited, in fact, that I volunteered to go first, and my attempts at humor were a great hit (or else my friends have gotten really good at making Pity Laughter sound genuine).

The next person went, and then the next, and we're all cracking up at the impersonations and different twists on the familiar presentations, and it's great good fun.

And then we got around the table to the gentleman who had taken on the role of Jenny O.

He stood up as he normally does but then- then a giant grin split his face as his chin went up, his chest went out, his legs took a dynamic stance and he slammed his fists onto his hips, proclaiming loudly "I'm Jenny Owens!" and I about died laughing (as did the rest of the room).

Try not to judge me too harshly, Gentle Readers who know me in Real Life, when I tell you that until that moment I was actually unaware of the percentage of my life spent in various Power Poses.  I've been to my fair share of Corporate Rah Rah Events where they talk about the importance of Power Poses to confidence, and encourage you to get up and get into one, and I've always complied and thought, "Yes, it would be good to do this more often," without realizing that... uh... I do.  But as soon as he started his impression of me something clicked in my brain and I realized, Oh my gosh I do do that!  Later on one of the others in the room laughed and informed me, "Basically you're Wonder Woman at all times!"

I think I can live with that.

Old Habits Die Hard

Many of you are probably aware that today was the day that the first (legal) recreational marijuana shops opened in Washington State.  Well we here in Vancouver (aka Vansterdam) are lucky enough to have one of the (very few) shops (Main Street Marijuana) in our uptown district.  The shop didn't open until 1100, but I heard from one of my clients that there was already a long line at 0800.

I'm amused by the whole thing, but also admittedly interested in this little bit of history, so during my afternoon walk I went ahead and mosied on by, just to see if the line was persisting throughout the day.  Sure enough, even by 3pm there was still a line to get in:

Whatchoo Lookin' At?

I was tickled by this, and decided to take a photo- but knowing that people might still be a little twitchy about their faces being photographed in front of a store that sells (only recently legalized) drugs, I moved around to the back of the line to get the impression rather than the individuals.

As you can see, however, one guy did not trust the redhead with the camera phone, and chose to keep an eye on me, regardless.

The Mark

"...no one will dare injure a person who has been kissed by the Witch of the North..."

Forgot that I'd put on bright red lipstick to facilitate cleaning the house... whoops...

It is Late and Possibly This is Being Phoned In

I found an old pen today... old and un-used, which was awesome, because it was my favorite kind of doodling pen... and thus did I doodle.

We at it again...

(If you do not realize that this is a doodle of Rihanna, you need to educate yourself.) (or maybe I need to get better at drawing?)