Woot... I win!

My daughter, Sarah, has unique ways of celebrating little things.  I can tell if things are going well with her if she just says "woot".  If she says "Woot... I win", or even "Ha... I win", I know that things are going exceptionally well with her.

Today has been a "Woot... I win" sort of day for me.

It really started at about lunch time.  It was too good a day outside not to spend it outside so I decided to tackle a project which had been haunting me for at least two and a half years.  An acquaintance of mine had hidden a Geocache out along Wilson Creek shortly before it contributes to Lake Lavon at a large Sycamore tree which is, perhaps, one of the largest such trees in the State of Texas.

For those of you who are not familiar with my particular hobby, let me tell you that Geocaching amounts to a high-tech game of hide-and-seek where I use multimillion dollar satellites to hunt for Tupperware in the woods.

So anyway, I determined that I would go and find the cache hidden near the Great Texas Sycamore Tree.  This was either my third or my fourth attempt to do so.  The attempt demanded that I drive out to a parking area and hoof it four and a half miles in each direction just to get to the location, knowing that there was a possibility that my prey would elude me.  To make a long story short, I found the damn thing!

Yes, it was worth it.

The walk was long and tiring and my feet hurt and the dog wants a walk, but it was worth it.  Not only did I find an elusive cache, I was able to free my mind up a bit and talk over a few things with myself.  For one, I came up with an exit strategy for the job I love to hate.  That's something I have been contemplating for some time, now.  Part of the reason I have been writing in earnest has been to explore another direction in my life.  I have other options which I will be exploring  here in the very near future, but writing will be among the ways I will attempt to make a living.

Which brings me to the other part of today's "Woot".  I can now say that I am a professional writer.

Amazon informed me by e-mail this afternoon that I will be getting my first royalty payment sent to my bank account in the next few days.

"Woot... I win!"

Mind you, the payment is for roughly $22 and change, but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye.

Now, my problem is what to do with the money... or, more properly, what do I do with the notice sent to me by Amazon?  There's really no way to frame the e-mail other than to print it and put it up that way, but it's not like having a check or a dollar bill to hang on the wall by my desk.  What to do with the money is elementary.  Spend it.  Maybe I'll splurge on a trip to my favorite Chinese restaurant - Wen-Dee's, or put half a tank of gas in the car or go full out and buy something else totally useless.

Maybe I can make a partial down payment on a new pair of decent shoes.  Nine miles of hiking around in the sunshine of a warm spring day looking for a geocache sure can wear down a pair of shoes, eh?

Be Seeing You!


bdharrell