Beading on the job

Once in a while I print art or sewing-related stuff on my office computer (shhh!), but otherwise, I don't mix the kinds of work (paid and unpaid) I do.* Today I had to attend a conference-type event at a big hotel in the way far-west suburbs. I dreaded driving to the hotel and sitting through the sessions [long story--I'm usually okay with this stuff], until I decided to pack something to do with my hands while I was there. I told myself that I probably wouldn't even take the stuff out of my backpack, but ten minutes into the first session, I whipped out the Zip-loc back with my bead embroidery, and I happily, happily worked on a beaded button cover. Somebody else at the meeting was knitting, so I didn't feel bad at all. (Actually, I still felt pretty guilty, but my whole being so resisted sitting there at all that the trade-off [looking inattentive versus running out of the room screaming] seemed worthwhile.)

(Okay, this is a goofy thing to say. I wear the clothes I've sewn to work almost every day, and I cartoon in any meeting where I don't have to talk or make sense, so I'm constantly mixing the two. But I don't sew in my office.)