Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life. - Sophia Loren

I'm not so hot at taking risks.

I'm very good at assessing a situation and determining the best course of action given the circumstances and intended outcome. This would probably make me a good actuary. Hmm, maybe in my next career.

But this isn't really risk-taking. This is logical and critical thought. Not leaping into the unknown with arms wide open.

And I'm thinking about this because:

1) I was reminded recently of Alexie's great line: "the dream he needed most was the dream that frightened him more."

2) at lunch a couple weeks ago, baer said, "Gretzky, you need to take some risks."

And I agreed.

In theory, anyway.

Not entirely in practicality.

But it did get me thinking about imagination and creating and how taking risks are bound up in these things.

I'm probably never going to pull a BeCky and move around the world, butI think I might try an experiment like Scandrette suggests...mine might not look like anything they do in San Francisco, but I wonder what would happen if I experimented in taking risks. Hmm, i have to think more about what this might look like in actuality.

More to come.