The season finale of Big Bang Theory airs tonight. This clip is my favorite moment of the season, ranking right up there with Sheldon in the ball pit. I don’t subscribe to the notion that every girl wants to be a princess, but Amy Farrah Fowler does, and my heart moved when her dream came true. Plus, it’s hilarious.

One can’t write a blog called “Go. Do. Be.” without agreeing wholeheartedly with Geraldine Brooks’ call to writers to get out into the world and live a little. But her advice is directed at “young writers,” aimed at those likely a dozen years younger than I. I’ve long struggled with the conflict of writing what you know when all you know how to do is write (and edit and consult)—who wants to read another story about a writer? Brooks’ prescription, while motivating me to look to my future, also inspired me to look to my past. What have I already done that could be mined for material? Thus this list of my work/life experience, sans writing and editing, in roughly chronological order:

• office cleaner
• bean sprayer
• athletic field groundskeeper
• babysitter
• medical transcriptionist
• chiropractic clinic receptionist
• church pianist
• string quartet violinist
• wedding musician
• movie theater cashier/concessionaire/ticket taker/usher/projectionist/manager
• bookseller
• graphic designer
• writing center consultant
• standardized test tutor
• social media manager
• production assistant

Read

• “How to Do What You Love” by Paul Graham:

“It’s hard to find work you love; it must be, if so few do. So don’t underestimate this task. And don’t feel bad if you haven’t succeeded yet. In fact, if you admit to yourself that you’re discontented, you’re a step ahead of most people …”

• “Dog” by Mark Slouka inPloughshares, about a man and his dog, which grows a coat of razor blades

Watched

• Pogo’s mesmerizing movie remixes:

Listened to

• RIP MCA

Super moon

20x40 #6—Write a Children’s Book: Nephew Logan turned one a few weeks ago. I’d been working on this gift idea pretty much since he was born but finally finished it in time to see him (well, his mom) open it. He’s a little too young for it yet—as his GramE pointed out, “succulent” is perhaps too advanced a word for a one-year-old, and Logan’s in the page-tearing stage, so it’ll go on the top shelf for now. But I look forward to reading it with him some day.

Caught wind of this inspirational short film on the interwebz yesterday, and am just as delighted by Caine and his cardboard arcade as everyone else who’s linked to the video. Curiosity, ingenuity, passion—and a dad who let his kid take over his used auto parts store with a labyrinth of DIY contraptions. Love it!

Anton Chekhov

(Reading the plays now …)