Getting Back on Track

by Crazy Ivan

It's so good to be home.  All the distractions that I'd longed for over the summer are suddenly at my disposal once again.  My guitar, my keyboard, my juggling toys, my unicycle, my movie collection, my pets, my books and, most importantly, my physical ability to do something other than play Myachi at Dollywood.

But there is, of course, a price for this renewed availability.  It's all the harder to remember that I still have work to do.  Over the weekend I spent a great deal of time napping, walking the slackline, practicing scales and watching Buster Keaton flicks, but I didn't spend any of it working.  I didn't field a single blog post and, much worse, didn't film the Saturday trick of the day I promised.

The trick of the day thing was a byproduct of more than mere divertissement, though I can hardly claim an iron-clad excuse.  I'd left the camera at the office over the weekend and never worked up the motivation to drive up there and get it.  I could have used my webcam, of course, or my iPod (though I'd have had to dub the sound afterward) or I could have just committed an hour and a half to going out and getting the camera.

But I didn't.  Instead I spent the weekend relaxing with my wife (who I've seen every day for the last two months but still haven't spent any time with) and my cats (who are finally back to "normal" after my long absence).  Basically, I spent the weekend being lazy.

On some levels I feel that I earned that right.  It was a hard summer; I worked for 58 days with only 5 days off and an average of 12 hours a day (not counting time spent blogging or filming/editing the trick of the day videos) and I did it all in 95 degree weather with high humidity and no wind.  If ever there was a reason to take a lazy weekend, that should be it.

But that doesn't serve as an excuse for neglecting things like the blog and the Trick of the Day.  It's an explanation, sure, but not a justifiable one.  In truth, I'm simply tugging at the sympathy of those who were checking the blog/You-Tube channel over the weekend and hoping that they don't get too upset with me.

I'm back in the office this week and back on my normal schedule so I think it's safe to bet that this hiccup is in the rear view mirror, but I still owe everyone an extra trick of the day, lest we further mar our otherwise perfect record of 5 new tricks a week.  I'll get that done today.  I also owe everyone a new contest and I'll be posting more about that later.

So hopefully this post will be the last mea culpa I need to write this summer.  I'm tired of seeing the trend lines on this blog dipping from our spring numbers so it's no doubt time to turn that around.  Hope you're up for a lot of reading this week...