Maybe I should take more showers. I’m not the only one. No. This has nothing (or very little) to do with hygiene during the pandemic. Like a lot of people, I had an idea in the shower a few weeks ago. Hmm. Let me clarify, I’m Not saying there were a lot of people in my shower, or that a lot of people use my shower to have ideas – let me start again before I get too distracted.

Maybe it is the lack of distractions that does it. Multi-tasking can be a trap. Busy is celebrated, but sages rarely recommend chaos. A shower is simple, essential (at least in the modern world), a difficult place from which to multi-task (though some gadget producers continue to try), but a great place to concentrate on one thing. Sadly, showers are difficult to make last long because they either run out of hot water, or require lots of energy to keep them going, or people turn into standing wrinkles. (Envy people who live near geothermal springs. Hmm.)

See what just happened? Two paragraphs gone by and I haven’t gotten to the point. Usually, I don’t let that happen because it is annoying. Get to the point or it will be TL;DR. Unfortunately, using a shower to remove distractions is counter to using a computer to type a blog post.

Allow me to flash back, (or splash back?).

Maybe you’ve seen those oval decals on cars that use two letter abbreviations to announce where the car’s owners lives. WI is a popular one for Whidbey Island.

I like Whidbey Island. There’s more than enough evidence in my books and photos. I even have a blog that is just AboutWhidbey.com . (Island living from an islander’s perspective) Yet, I don’t have an oval wrapped around a WI on my car. I sell houses on Whidbey Island (so now I’m required to post the following disclosure: I’m a real estate broker at Dalton Realty, Inc. http://whidbeyrealtor.com/); but I confuse some clients because I don’t claim that it is ‘The Best Place On Earth!’ I like it. But I also see why people like the Pittsburgh area (where I was born and raised, and one brother lives), Virginia (where I went to college), North Carolina (where my family went on vacation and another of my brothers lives), and those various places along my bicycle route across the US (Just Keep Pedaling), my walk across Scotland (Walking Thinking Drinking Across Scotland), and, and, and …

Smiling to myself while enjoying the limited supply of hot water in my house, I thought, I don’t need a label, sticker, or decal for my car; but if I did, I’d want one for Planet Earth. At which point I thought, “I bet I can make one of those.” And, “I hope I don’t forget the idea; because there isn’t anything in here to write notes with.

(Aside, A few days ago I posted something about having an idea for a blog post, then not writing it down because it was obviously unforgettable, then forgetting it. Then folks said, that’s age. I disagree. I’ve never had a perfect memory. I’m just wise enough to recognize it now.) Now, what was I writing? Ah, yes.

Yes! I didn’t need a label, but I wondered how many people would like to proudly proclaim that they are from Planet Earth. So; I have experience making stuff on Zazzle. And voila (keeping mind that voila took several days) a sticker (not a decal)!

I have another blog called PretendingNotToPanic, (long story), where it seemed appropriate, so that got added.

Ah, but since I went to college and got an aerospace engineering degree (1980) I have been an advocate of spreading out our population into space to keep from overburdening the planet. So, I wanted a version that recognized that I would consider options. Hence,

One that says Planet Earth, but also includes “But willing to relocate”.

I liked the thought. It made me grin. The entrepreneur in me knew I also had to advertise what I’d created. In the interest of equality, I put both in the same tweet – which had an unexpected effect.

Pepe? Maybe I took optimizing too far. Maybe the message had too many distractions in it. Too late. Too much else to do.

That happened about the same time as a thread about overthinking, but I’ll think about that some more, later.

The classic unanswerable question directed at creative people is; “Where do your ideas come from?” Mine don’t always come from the shower. They rarely come from times with too much going on. Usually I find something I think is simple, wonder why no one seems to have tried it, and if I care enough, I try it. With a few billion people on the planet and thousands of years of documented history, someone usually has tried it; but if they haven’t – well – that’s how inventions are made, photos taken, books, written, – – and creative uses of punctuation born.

There’s more to write about because there are more ideas to describe, but that’s probably enough distraction for now. Though there is this idea for a game about Whidbey and Camano Islands I thought up, drew up, printed out, and might develop (and expand). Imagine where I got that idea…