I've been wearing glasses since I was 6, contacts since I was 15. One year shortly after that, the doctor was going to move my right contact to my left eye and order a new right contact. But then he kept getting it backwards, and wouldn't listen to me. I got upset—like, verge-of-anxiety-attack upset, and my mother couldn't figure out why.
I realized it was because the doctor hadn't given me my contacts back, and I couldn't see. That ramped up my anxiety to 11, and ever since, my most common recurring nightmare has been fuzzy vision.
Today, I started living my nightmare.
Okay, that's overly dramatic. But I'm very nearsighted, and clarity is literally 6 inches in front of my face (I just measured). I wear rigid gas permeable contacts, which change the shape of your cornea, and my glasses prescription is set for that shape. So when I'm out of my contacts even overnight, the glasses aren't strong enough. Which is why I never wear my glasses. Five minutes in the morning, half an hour at night, that's it.
But because those contacts change my cornea, I have to be out of them for 4 weeks before pre-op testing for LASIK, which is a week before the operative consult, which is a week before the surgery. So six weeks of the entire world being slightly out of focus.
it's almost enough to make me forget about doing it!
I got up this morning with a low-burning anxiety over this. You know how they say people don't like clowns because their real faces are hidden? Try completely featureless blobs. THAT'S truly freaky. Of course, the glasses are good enough, so it's not that bad. But I'm on edge, working too hard to accommodate it.
I tell myself six weeks will fly by, but on this end of it, it seems like forever. The worst part is that there's a chance they tell me I'm not a good candidate, or they can't correct enough to be worth it. THAT would seriously suck.
So what's your worst minor nightmare? Have you ever had to live it?
Showing posts with label Redundant and Boring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Redundant and Boring. Show all posts
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Sunday, February 27, 2011
In Over My Head
Yesterday was a pretty productive day, culminating in a meeting to revise and finalize the Policy and Procedure manual for my local writer's group, something that's been in the works since 2003.
Unfortunately, none of my productivity was the stuff on my list. And the same thing happened today! I spent hours darting (figuratively) here and there, getting ready for The Month of the Hero. And I'm still doing it! I stopped writing this post to go set up that page at my website, then created a few more bit.ly links, then posted on Twitter, then took a deep breath and came back here.
I still have to set up my posts for the week and schedule them to go. They're written, but need some additions and tweaking. I also have mail to prep to send, some revisions on three chapters to enter and print so I can mail them tomorrow, a contract to finish reading so I can mail that tomorrow, too, a checkbook to update, an insurance policy to review and file, and the aforementioned P&P manual to proof, since our overachieving committee chair already made the 26 pages of changes we discussed over 3 hours last night. OY!
I have a synopsis to finish by the end of the week, some phone calls to make, and my annual mammogram tomorrow. Oh, and the Carina marketing plan to complete for my March 28th release!
I'm a little worried about my ability to get that all done. I mean, it's already 5:22 p.m.!
What's your go-to defense for drowning in "must get done NOW"s?
Unfortunately, none of my productivity was the stuff on my list. And the same thing happened today! I spent hours darting (figuratively) here and there, getting ready for The Month of the Hero. And I'm still doing it! I stopped writing this post to go set up that page at my website, then created a few more bit.ly links, then posted on Twitter, then took a deep breath and came back here.
I still have to set up my posts for the week and schedule them to go. They're written, but need some additions and tweaking. I also have mail to prep to send, some revisions on three chapters to enter and print so I can mail them tomorrow, a contract to finish reading so I can mail that tomorrow, too, a checkbook to update, an insurance policy to review and file, and the aforementioned P&P manual to proof, since our overachieving committee chair already made the 26 pages of changes we discussed over 3 hours last night. OY!
I have a synopsis to finish by the end of the week, some phone calls to make, and my annual mammogram tomorrow. Oh, and the Carina marketing plan to complete for my March 28th release!
I'm a little worried about my ability to get that all done. I mean, it's already 5:22 p.m.!
What's your go-to defense for drowning in "must get done NOW"s?
Monday, January 24, 2011
A Peek Into My Brain
How on earth do some people find something to say on a blog every single day? Especially super busy, super stressed people? I can barely think of something every week lately.
When you don't read blogs for 3 weeks, they pile up. Duh. And when you read "I can't believe it's Wednesday" and get excited, then realize it's really Monday, you're just way behind, well, that's sad.
I don't find as many stinkbugs as Vicki, but I have found one every couple of days for the last few weeks. My question: It's been 20 degrees or colder since before Christmas. Where the hell are they coming from?
I miss Doctor Who. And Supernatural. But that's coming back this week, and I have to wait wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too long for Doctor Who. And Torchwood.
I'm loving this:
It heats water so blazing fast, I've used it for a few weeks and it still delights me every time. :)
Two hours later and that's all I've come up with. :( I'm so boring.
When you don't read blogs for 3 weeks, they pile up. Duh. And when you read "I can't believe it's Wednesday" and get excited, then realize it's really Monday, you're just way behind, well, that's sad.
I don't find as many stinkbugs as Vicki, but I have found one every couple of days for the last few weeks. My question: It's been 20 degrees or colder since before Christmas. Where the hell are they coming from?
I miss Doctor Who. And Supernatural. But that's coming back this week, and I have to wait wayyyyyyyyyyyyy too long for Doctor Who. And Torchwood.
I'm loving this:
It heats water so blazing fast, I've used it for a few weeks and it still delights me every time. :)
Two hours later and that's all I've come up with. :( I'm so boring.
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Sunday Stuff
"Farther" and "Further" are both acceptable to use to denote physical distance. Some editors prefer "farther," and sometimes it's house style. But I HATE that word and will always, always use "further" unless forced to change it. Which I will do without argument, but then never read my own work again. :)
~~~~
I started reading a book on Friday that got a lot of attention recently, including bestseller status and critical acclaim. It had an interesting premise, so I picked it up, despite it being something that was way outside my usual interests. *sigh* I should have ignored all that other stuff. I got one page into the book and was bored out of my mind. The dialogue was mundane and stale and I had no sense of the people saying it, except that they both seemed like twits.
Luckily, the book I read after that was the extreme opposite, and I finished it the same day, which hasn't happened in a really long time.
~~~~
I finally caved, and I'm on Twitter. The main reason is because Brenda Novak is having a Cyber Launch Party on Twitter for her new release, and will be giving away great stuff, including iPads. I considered not mentioning who was giving the event, to avoid beefing up the competition, but that would just be wrong. So good luck! :)
Setting up a Twitter account was pretty gratifying. I followed a few people/groups, and some immediately followed back and mentioned my new account, one even saying "Hey, everybody, Natalie's here! @NJDamschroder (Finally)." I love the "Finally," as if they've been waiting for me. LOL I also got followed by some people I don't know, which was flattering.
Still, I doubt I'll use it much. It will languish for long periods of time, like Facebook does, in part because my cell phone? Is just a cell phone. And probably always will be. Also, I rarely have interesting things to say.
~~~~
So that was one thing I did this weekend. Others include such boring stuff as:
*BG is our big fabric clawer. (Maya prefers gouging wood, and Frisbee enjoys picking at the screens in the front window.) BG destroyed Number One's old box spring, so I told the girls we were getting bed skirts to protect the new mattresses. The protests hurt my ears. So I decided to get cheap sheets to put over them instead. Turns out I could get an entire sheet set for $5–10 less than a bed skirt, anyway.
**After four hours of non-stop running, my feet and legs are killing me. I've tried three different pairs of my better shoes. One pair is too battered, and my feet were overall okay but the toes were tender afterward, because my feet slide in them too much. One looks best with capris, but the edges of the leather chafe my feet too much, and the unbroken leather makes them sweat, which doesn't help. One pair is the most comfortable, but even with a cushioned insole, isn't giving enough support, so I hobble out of work at the end of the morning.
I tried a few things on yesterday. The problem is that I have weird feet. They measure about a 6.5 EEE (in good shoe measurements) but I really wear a 9.5 or 10 D (wide). Not many shoes are made wide, so I end up getting them longer than I need, and they're still too snug. The most promising pair of shoes I tried on were Keds that had decent support and cushioning but looked like giant, glowing boats on my feet. I don't know if I can walk around the office like that. I'll blind patients when they lie down for lumbar stim.
***I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I've decided to give Kindle and Smashwords a try—as an author, that is—and self-publish my first paranormal romantic adventure, Soul of the Dragon. It never found a home with a traditional publisher for various reasons, and I still love the story. I've been reading through it (editing as necessary), and it holds up, despite how long its been since I wrote it. It was the first book of my heart, and as such, deserves to see if it can find an audience. So stay tuned for more as I head toward publication!
~~~~
I started reading a book on Friday that got a lot of attention recently, including bestseller status and critical acclaim. It had an interesting premise, so I picked it up, despite it being something that was way outside my usual interests. *sigh* I should have ignored all that other stuff. I got one page into the book and was bored out of my mind. The dialogue was mundane and stale and I had no sense of the people saying it, except that they both seemed like twits.
Luckily, the book I read after that was the extreme opposite, and I finished it the same day, which hasn't happened in a really long time.
~~~~
I finally caved, and I'm on Twitter. The main reason is because Brenda Novak is having a Cyber Launch Party on Twitter for her new release, and will be giving away great stuff, including iPads. I considered not mentioning who was giving the event, to avoid beefing up the competition, but that would just be wrong. So good luck! :)
Setting up a Twitter account was pretty gratifying. I followed a few people/groups, and some immediately followed back and mentioned my new account, one even saying "Hey, everybody, Natalie's here! @NJDamschroder (Finally)." I love the "Finally," as if they've been waiting for me. LOL I also got followed by some people I don't know, which was flattering.
Still, I doubt I'll use it much. It will languish for long periods of time, like Facebook does, in part because my cell phone? Is just a cell phone. And probably always will be. Also, I rarely have interesting things to say.
~~~~
So that was one thing I did this weekend. Others include such boring stuff as:
- Shopping for work shirts suitable for embroidering
- Shopping for household stuff like box spring sheets*
- Trying on shoes I didn't buy**
- Grocery shopping
- Cleaning the house
- Moving furniture out of the living room
- Reading through Soul of the Dragon to ready for publication***
*BG is our big fabric clawer. (Maya prefers gouging wood, and Frisbee enjoys picking at the screens in the front window.) BG destroyed Number One's old box spring, so I told the girls we were getting bed skirts to protect the new mattresses. The protests hurt my ears. So I decided to get cheap sheets to put over them instead. Turns out I could get an entire sheet set for $5–10 less than a bed skirt, anyway.
**After four hours of non-stop running, my feet and legs are killing me. I've tried three different pairs of my better shoes. One pair is too battered, and my feet were overall okay but the toes were tender afterward, because my feet slide in them too much. One looks best with capris, but the edges of the leather chafe my feet too much, and the unbroken leather makes them sweat, which doesn't help. One pair is the most comfortable, but even with a cushioned insole, isn't giving enough support, so I hobble out of work at the end of the morning.
I tried a few things on yesterday. The problem is that I have weird feet. They measure about a 6.5 EEE (in good shoe measurements) but I really wear a 9.5 or 10 D (wide). Not many shoes are made wide, so I end up getting them longer than I need, and they're still too snug. The most promising pair of shoes I tried on were Keds that had decent support and cushioning but looked like giant, glowing boats on my feet. I don't know if I can walk around the office like that. I'll blind patients when they lie down for lumbar stim.
***I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I've decided to give Kindle and Smashwords a try—as an author, that is—and self-publish my first paranormal romantic adventure, Soul of the Dragon. It never found a home with a traditional publisher for various reasons, and I still love the story. I've been reading through it (editing as necessary), and it holds up, despite how long its been since I wrote it. It was the first book of my heart, and as such, deserves to see if it can find an audience. So stay tuned for more as I head toward publication!
Friday, February 05, 2010
Ranty McRanterton, and TV Comments
So the northeast is about to be blanketed with a storm system. It's pretty certain we're going to get the snow, since the system is massive and will definitely pass over us. But the predicted snowfall range is huge, from 5 to 15 inches. And there IS a precedent for the forecasters to be totally wrong. Several years ago we were supposed to get a similar dumping, and got not a flake.
That makes things tricky, I know. Here in central PA, we're on an edge whereby if the storm tracks just a few miles north or south of the prediction, it has a huge effect on how much we get. And someone half an hour south or east could get three times as much snow as we get here in my neighborhood.
So I always take a wait and see approach. I TRY not to be all superior and obnoxious about having to plan ahead. Like, a neighbor's son was supposed to have a sleepover, with activities at a nearby sports facility right around the time the storm will be ramping up. So it makes sense to play it safe and reschedule.
But what REALLY gets me in an uproar...I'm just glad this wasn't my school...A couple of local school districts—and I mean just up the road, one of them AWAY from the approaching storm—announced an early dismissal for today. Last night, before 9:00 p.m. Despite the consistent forecast that said nothing was going to start until rush hour, and the heaviest snow will be overnight. No, they had to get their kids home at 12:30. Those buses are driving around right now, in the ZERO precipitation. For what? Nothing. So they can inconvenience parents who had to scramble to make arrangements for their kids, so they can make some of those kids wait outside in the cold or be home alone because their parents never dreamed there'd be an early dismissal because NOTHING IS HAPPENING.
I've lived here 18 years, I'll never get over theidiocy obsessive overcaution.
~~~~~~~~~~
Enough of that. Some comments on recent TV:
1. I love the way Booth looks at Brennan.
2. I hate the way our local affiliate (I guess) decided not to air Better Off Ted this week, replacing it with an hour-long Ford infomercial.
3. Some people took my comment about Lost as an indicator that the show is over. I won't tease them for not seeing the massive amounts of promotion and media attention the last season premiere has been getting over the last two months. :) They don't watch anymore, why would they pay attention? Anyway, just to clarify—no other show I've ever watched in my life makes me feel the way I feel watchingLost. Tuesday's episodes bore NO resemblance to past seasons, even the first one, but watching it was exactly like watching season 1 again. I had all these "Frogurt! Arzt! Boone! CHARLIE!" moments. I struggled to decide if the timelines were simultaneous, what-ifs, or neithers. I mourned Juliet, and totally knew Jacob was going to take over Sayid's body when he was standing over him, talking to Hurley (unless that's not what happened, then I guess I was just being led by the trickery—and I don't care!). I'm so glad the show is back.
4. Because last week was massively busy, and I went away for the weekend, and I've been super-tired this week, my DVR is filling up. As of tonight, I'll have (may not be accurate, it's off the top of my head): Jimmy Kimmel and Nightline with Darlton; Life Unexpected; Human Target; 2 Numbers; 2 Fringe; The Mentalist; Modern Family; 2 White Collar; and 2 Leverage to watch.
5. Favorite lines of the week (so far):
"You shouldn'ta done that. I was supposed to die."
"You're psycho." "Lapsed."
"It appeals to the schizophrenic in me. Both of them."
"I don't understand that reference!"
6. I loved how they did the Dollhouse finale, though not what happened to Paul. It had its shock value, of course, but *sob*. It was intriguingly awesome that Alpha was "okay." I love seeing Tudyk in a heroic role again, even so short. He's been quite the bad guy lately.
7. Supernatural. Ohhhh, Supernatural. I know what I said about Lost, but don't worry, honey, you're still my favorite. I still love you best. If I had to choose, I wouldn't even hesitate to pick you. Talk about shock value—I totally sucked all the air out of the room when Michael showed up. And there wasn't much, after Anna shoved that pipe through Sam. (Did you notice the blood coming out of the pipe as he lay on the floor? Nice touch!) I knew Mary was pregnant as soon as she opened the door. My heart broke for Sam as he watched her, and when he talked to John. Castiel is cracking my sh** up every time he's on screen, which is not enough, let me tell you. Last night was a mean tease, breaking him and hiding him in a hotel room all episode.
So that's all I have right now. I have to go finish up some work in preparation for being holed up in the house all weekend. Yes, I'm succumbing to the weight of hysteria for the coming snowpocalypse (credit to my brother for that one). But I'm showing them. I'm NOT joining the hordes descending on the grocery store. I already HAVE milk and bread. So, HA!
Pbbbbbt.
That makes things tricky, I know. Here in central PA, we're on an edge whereby if the storm tracks just a few miles north or south of the prediction, it has a huge effect on how much we get. And someone half an hour south or east could get three times as much snow as we get here in my neighborhood.
So I always take a wait and see approach. I TRY not to be all superior and obnoxious about having to plan ahead. Like, a neighbor's son was supposed to have a sleepover, with activities at a nearby sports facility right around the time the storm will be ramping up. So it makes sense to play it safe and reschedule.
But what REALLY gets me in an uproar...I'm just glad this wasn't my school...A couple of local school districts—and I mean just up the road, one of them AWAY from the approaching storm—announced an early dismissal for today. Last night, before 9:00 p.m. Despite the consistent forecast that said nothing was going to start until rush hour, and the heaviest snow will be overnight. No, they had to get their kids home at 12:30. Those buses are driving around right now, in the ZERO precipitation. For what? Nothing. So they can inconvenience parents who had to scramble to make arrangements for their kids, so they can make some of those kids wait outside in the cold or be home alone because their parents never dreamed there'd be an early dismissal because NOTHING IS HAPPENING.
I've lived here 18 years, I'll never get over the
~~~~~~~~~~
Enough of that. Some comments on recent TV:
1. I love the way Booth looks at Brennan.
2. I hate the way our local affiliate (I guess) decided not to air Better Off Ted this week, replacing it with an hour-long Ford infomercial.
3. Some people took my comment about Lost as an indicator that the show is over. I won't tease them for not seeing the massive amounts of promotion and media attention the last season premiere has been getting over the last two months. :) They don't watch anymore, why would they pay attention? Anyway, just to clarify—no other show I've ever watched in my life makes me feel the way I feel watchingLost. Tuesday's episodes bore NO resemblance to past seasons, even the first one, but watching it was exactly like watching season 1 again. I had all these "Frogurt! Arzt! Boone! CHARLIE!" moments. I struggled to decide if the timelines were simultaneous, what-ifs, or neithers. I mourned Juliet, and totally knew Jacob was going to take over Sayid's body when he was standing over him, talking to Hurley (unless that's not what happened, then I guess I was just being led by the trickery—and I don't care!). I'm so glad the show is back.
4. Because last week was massively busy, and I went away for the weekend, and I've been super-tired this week, my DVR is filling up. As of tonight, I'll have (may not be accurate, it's off the top of my head): Jimmy Kimmel and Nightline with Darlton; Life Unexpected; Human Target; 2 Numbers; 2 Fringe; The Mentalist; Modern Family; 2 White Collar; and 2 Leverage to watch.
5. Favorite lines of the week (so far):
"You shouldn'ta done that. I was supposed to die."
"You're psycho." "Lapsed."
"It appeals to the schizophrenic in me. Both of them."
"I don't understand that reference!"
6. I loved how they did the Dollhouse finale, though not what happened to Paul. It had its shock value, of course, but *sob*. It was intriguingly awesome that Alpha was "okay." I love seeing Tudyk in a heroic role again, even so short. He's been quite the bad guy lately.
7. Supernatural. Ohhhh, Supernatural. I know what I said about Lost, but don't worry, honey, you're still my favorite. I still love you best. If I had to choose, I wouldn't even hesitate to pick you. Talk about shock value—I totally sucked all the air out of the room when Michael showed up. And there wasn't much, after Anna shoved that pipe through Sam. (Did you notice the blood coming out of the pipe as he lay on the floor? Nice touch!) I knew Mary was pregnant as soon as she opened the door. My heart broke for Sam as he watched her, and when he talked to John. Castiel is cracking my sh** up every time he's on screen, which is not enough, let me tell you. Last night was a mean tease, breaking him and hiding him in a hotel room all episode.
So that's all I have right now. I have to go finish up some work in preparation for being holed up in the house all weekend. Yes, I'm succumbing to the weight of hysteria for the coming snowpocalypse (credit to my brother for that one). But I'm showing them. I'm NOT joining the hordes descending on the grocery store. I already HAVE milk and bread. So, HA!
Pbbbbbt.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
One Lovely Blog!
A few days ago, Susan Gourley/Kelley generously gave me the One Lovely Blog award! I'm very honored, because as most of you know, I mostly just jump on here to be a know it all or spew about my day or rant about my problems (which are annoyingly minor) or brag about my kids (who are obnoxiously awesome) and stuff like that. There's no theme, no cohesion...it's just me. So being named for a grass roots award like this is very personal. Thank you, Sue!Okay, first I'm supposed to list 10 facts about me, then nominate some new recipients of One Lovely Blog. Luckily, I followed the trail back a ways, and could find no rules about how many I can name. I don't think I can stick to three. :)
1. I'm overweight. That's the not the "interesting fact." A lot of weight loss material references eating massive amounts of food, like a whole cake. I've never done that. I never had binging issues. With one exception: Pringles! I can eat a whole can sometimes, though I never do it in one sitting. One day, occasionally.
2. I spent the summer after my sophomore year of college in Michigan, working at the Sarett Nature Center. I taught kids with a barred owl (Joey) on my wrist or a 6-foot boa (Charlie) over my shoulders, got bit by a wee little mouse, helped get a baby fox (Whizzer) and bunches of raccoons and an American Kestrel back into the wild, and mowed a lot of trails.
3. I spent the summer after my freshman year of college working a concession stand at the beach—Valentine's by the Sea. I took my breaks on the beach (lunch was usually a very awesome hamburger with bacon and onions, with fries) and when I remember it, I can recall smell of the salt breeze and the feel of the rough wood.
4. Vying with the previous two items for Favorite Job Ever, I worked at National Geographic Society for five months after I graduated. It was just an internship, and my sexist boss hired a guy for the permanent position I wanted, but as much as I love DC, we probably would have been less happy as a family, living down there instead of here in suburban PA.
5. I won 3rd place in the Ruth Davies Award for Excellence in Writing my sophomore year of college. It was for a paper on deforestation, which is very clearly not what I write now, but that award, combined with the articles I wrote for the paper when I was at Sarett, are what led me to become a writer, and to decide that at a relatively young age.
6. The job at National Geographic was mostly editing nonfiction abstracts for the 27th International Geographical Congress. I did my share of 500, split with one other guy. The abstracts were mostly written by non-native English speakers, so that job directly led to my freelance work.
7. I played the violin in 4th grade. I convinced my mother to let me stop after that because it made my arms tired and I wanted to grow my nails. I was a classic nailbiter in grade school, and it bugged me a little that I'd started to outgrow the habit but I had to keep clipping them so I could finger the strings. Every time I listen to "The Marriage of Figaro," I regret quitting.
8. This one might be a repeat: I was on the Equestrian Team in college. If I recall correctly, over the two years or so I showed, I won two fifths, a third, and a first. The horse I rode for the first was a retired Michigan State Police horse, and he's the sole reason I won.
9. If we'd had a boy, we'd have named him Mason James. Whichever of our daughters has children first is assigned that name for a boy child.
10. Every time we play Band Hero, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, or Rock Band 2 as a family, I have the lowest score. On easy.
That was harder than I expected it to be. Okay, now to pass on the award! Any of the ones in my blog roll are worthy. (Shoot, I just realized I didn't reinstate that when I changed my template. Bugger! Hang on while I update it...)
Well, good thing I had to do that, actually! Some of the ones I'd have awarded already got it. No sense doing it twice, right? So here are mine, chosen for how much they amuse me and brighten my day, and because my primary contact with them is online:
Meankitty/Jody Wallace/Ellie Marvel
Shannon Stacey
The Bandwagon
SciFi Chick/s
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Last Post of 2009
This week has not been normal at all. In the sense that it's not abnormal the way it's supposed to be abnormal.
In addition to being way busy when it's supposed to be quiet, I don't feel like it's The Change. At all. My kids keep reminding me that it's New Year's Eve and I go "oh, yeah" and promptly forget again.
I have no sense of anticipation for 2010, except that I like the number. It feels right and 2009 already feels wrong, which, again, is backwards. Though I posted something like that on Facebook and then read on Vicki Smith's blog that she keeps typing 1010, and then just now when I tried to type 2010 I typed 1010, then 2030, then 200 before I got it right. Heh.
I could talk about things I'm looking forward to in 2010 (writing retreats, Salute to Supernatural, books, movies) or things that went right or wrong in 2009, but...I just don't wanna. It doesn't feel necessary for me (though I do enjoy reading everyone else's, especially the book lists—I keep adding to my TBB list!).
So I'll just say this. Next Tuesday, go buy Kismet by Monica Burns and Breaking Daylight by M. J. Fredrick. I have it on good authority that they're awesome books, and I'll be buying them myself. Also, MJ is starting a great contest tomorrow, so click the link on her title and check it out.
If anyone else would like me to tout their imminent release, hit me up! I don't want to overlook anyone, but my brain is too distracted to remember if you don't remind me. :)
And hey. Have a great New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Start 2010 off right. I mean it, now.
In addition to being way busy when it's supposed to be quiet, I don't feel like it's The Change. At all. My kids keep reminding me that it's New Year's Eve and I go "oh, yeah" and promptly forget again.
I have no sense of anticipation for 2010, except that I like the number. It feels right and 2009 already feels wrong, which, again, is backwards. Though I posted something like that on Facebook and then read on Vicki Smith's blog that she keeps typing 1010, and then just now when I tried to type 2010 I typed 1010, then 2030, then 200 before I got it right. Heh.
I could talk about things I'm looking forward to in 2010 (writing retreats, Salute to Supernatural, books, movies) or things that went right or wrong in 2009, but...I just don't wanna. It doesn't feel necessary for me (though I do enjoy reading everyone else's, especially the book lists—I keep adding to my TBB list!).
So I'll just say this. Next Tuesday, go buy Kismet by Monica Burns and Breaking Daylight by M. J. Fredrick. I have it on good authority that they're awesome books, and I'll be buying them myself. Also, MJ is starting a great contest tomorrow, so click the link on her title and check it out.
If anyone else would like me to tout their imminent release, hit me up! I don't want to overlook anyone, but my brain is too distracted to remember if you don't remind me. :)
And hey. Have a great New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Start 2010 off right. I mean it, now.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
I’m a Slacker
I was just catching up on blog reading, and now I feel like a slacker. I have a friend who has twice as many kids as me, her day job takes her outside the house, she has fifty family and school and extracurricular obligations a week, and she STILL manages to blog every day.
Obviously, I’m not that dedicated.
She also writes funny and fun posts, while I write about paper towels. It’s a wonder anyone ever reads this thing at all.
*crickets*
My dog is mostly better now, I don’t remember if I’ve said that here. Her head tilt is almost gone, and she can walk and eat and everything is fine. Except for the residual effects that have nothing to do with the vestibular syndrome itself.
First, there’s the eating thing. She doesn’t want dog food anymore. We hand fed her real meat at the worst of the condition, and she’s gradually gotten back to eating dog food, but she clearly prefers not to eat it. She’ll snarf around the kitchen looking for crumbs and she’ll eat the cat food, so I’ll put her dish back down, and she’ll turn away. Too bad. She can starve. (Not really—we actually have plenty of crumbs on the floor.)
The other thing is that she can’t walk on non-carpeted floors anymore. She avoids them, and when she can’t, she dashes across them. Now, even when she was healthy, she wasn’t the most graceful dog. You could call her, in fact, one of the least graceful. So when she dashes down the hall or across the kitchen, she inevitably slips, her feet splay out, she crashes into the wall, and down she goes.
I haven’t been able to take her for grooming because of her balance issues, so I bought nail clippers. Oh, yeah, you can see where this is going, can’t you? I bought nail clippers with the plan to clip her nails, thinking if they weren’t so long, maybe she wouldn’t skid so much. They didn’t have a styptic pencil, though. So I just decided to be really, really careful. And I was. Despite her wiggliness, I was really careful, and didn’t cut down very far at all. Of course, on the eleventh nail, the blood vessel must have come all the way down to the point, because…yeah, she bled. All over the carpet, the tile…me. I sat holding her down as she was desperate to get up and run from me (no pain, she just didn’t like me holding her foot!), trying to get it to stop. I thought it had, but it hadn’t. Then I used flour, and that worked. Phew. Kept a newspaper bag over her foot for an hour, though, just in case.
Guess who’s never using clippers again?
Friday, December 04, 2009
Frugality Sucks
Before I launch into my rant, LOL, take a moment to check out Monica's tribute to her Aunt Bev (video made me cry, in a good way), and Tanya's take on Dean's letter to Santa.
I grew up without a lot of money. I don't like to say "poor," because we never went without anything important, and my mother was very successful at her work even if it didn't bring in very much money. But we wore hand-me-downs and got government butter and cheese and lived in veteran's housing. And we bought generic for pretty much everything. If it wasn't generic, it was the cheapest brand there was. When my mother remarried, my stepfather eschewed generic. And though I'd been told my whole life that it's the same stuff, OMG, I never knew frozen corn could taste so good. (Experience has taught me that they may PACKAGE the generics in the same factories as the name brands, it's not always the same stuff.)
So as an adult, I strive to balance saving money with quality. I clip coupons, I price-shop, I look for sales, and when the quality is less important or is good enough, I buy cheap.
One of those cheap items was Scott tissue. You know the kind—sold in single rolls, touts its 1,000-sheet length even though it's only one-ply. I kept using it once I grew up, because it's super cheap! But then I gave birth, and no more. Cushiness became my buy-word. :) When my mother was dying of cancer and still using Scott tissue, my brother and I were appalled. We went out and bought her the good stuff. She deserved it!
Recently, I got coupons for Scott Naturals paper towels, and even though it took a really long time, I finally decided to set aside my snobbery and give them a try. I mean, nothing stays the same forever, right? Maybe in the face of all the competition they made some improvements. Plus, I don't paper towels on my skin, so it was worth the test. I bought a big package with my $2.00-off coupon.
What a mistake.
These towels are like notebook paper. They are stiff and rough and don't absorb worth sh**. I've reverted to my basic Bounty or cloth-like Viva towels (whichever the coupon/sale combo makes cost the least) because of time-tested success. Plus, they have pick-a-size, which also saves money. Or at least allows me to only use what I need, which isn't necessarily the same thing. I'll save pennies in other ways, thanks.
On a related and disturbing topic...
I did a survey recently about store brands, which is the new "generic," I guess, which used to be white boxes, black lettering, no brand of any kind. The questions were taking the temperature of people's tolerance for, desire for, and reaction to store brands.
Maybe there's no connection, but if there is, I'm pretty pissed at all the other people who did the survey, because when I was grocery shopping yesterday, I went to get some Eggo waffles. My favorites are the minis, which they have always had in the giant box, and Legos. Well, now my grocery store has only TWO kinds of Eggo-brand waffles--homestyle and buttermilk. That's IT. No Lego, no minis, no stuffed or flavored. Instead, they have case after case of...store brand waffles. And none of THEM were minis or fake-Lego-style or anything good.
Maybe the store brand homestyle waffles are just as good as Eggo. But in defiance, I bought the Eggo kind. So there!
I grew up without a lot of money. I don't like to say "poor," because we never went without anything important, and my mother was very successful at her work even if it didn't bring in very much money. But we wore hand-me-downs and got government butter and cheese and lived in veteran's housing. And we bought generic for pretty much everything. If it wasn't generic, it was the cheapest brand there was. When my mother remarried, my stepfather eschewed generic. And though I'd been told my whole life that it's the same stuff, OMG, I never knew frozen corn could taste so good. (Experience has taught me that they may PACKAGE the generics in the same factories as the name brands, it's not always the same stuff.)
So as an adult, I strive to balance saving money with quality. I clip coupons, I price-shop, I look for sales, and when the quality is less important or is good enough, I buy cheap.
One of those cheap items was Scott tissue. You know the kind—sold in single rolls, touts its 1,000-sheet length even though it's only one-ply. I kept using it once I grew up, because it's super cheap! But then I gave birth, and no more. Cushiness became my buy-word. :) When my mother was dying of cancer and still using Scott tissue, my brother and I were appalled. We went out and bought her the good stuff. She deserved it!
Recently, I got coupons for Scott Naturals paper towels, and even though it took a really long time, I finally decided to set aside my snobbery and give them a try. I mean, nothing stays the same forever, right? Maybe in the face of all the competition they made some improvements. Plus, I don't paper towels on my skin, so it was worth the test. I bought a big package with my $2.00-off coupon.
What a mistake.
These towels are like notebook paper. They are stiff and rough and don't absorb worth sh**. I've reverted to my basic Bounty or cloth-like Viva towels (whichever the coupon/sale combo makes cost the least) because of time-tested success. Plus, they have pick-a-size, which also saves money. Or at least allows me to only use what I need, which isn't necessarily the same thing. I'll save pennies in other ways, thanks.
On a related and disturbing topic...
I did a survey recently about store brands, which is the new "generic," I guess, which used to be white boxes, black lettering, no brand of any kind. The questions were taking the temperature of people's tolerance for, desire for, and reaction to store brands.
Maybe there's no connection, but if there is, I'm pretty pissed at all the other people who did the survey, because when I was grocery shopping yesterday, I went to get some Eggo waffles. My favorites are the minis, which they have always had in the giant box, and Legos. Well, now my grocery store has only TWO kinds of Eggo-brand waffles--homestyle and buttermilk. That's IT. No Lego, no minis, no stuffed or flavored. Instead, they have case after case of...store brand waffles. And none of THEM were minis or fake-Lego-style or anything good.
Maybe the store brand homestyle waffles are just as good as Eggo. But in defiance, I bought the Eggo kind. So there!
Friday, October 09, 2009
Not All of the Problems are Obvious
For the last few days, discussion about the new FTC explanations of certain regulations has been rampant. You can Google it. I don't have any links handy and I'm kind of in a hurry. Today's post is a case of random collection of tidbits of info and opinion reaching critical mass, requiring me to offer my own thoughts on the matter.
Hey, that could actually describe most of my posts!
Anyway, the basics are that the Federal Trade Commission has stated, among other things, that any blogger who reviews a book or other product and received that book or other product for free must disclose such receipt for free or face a potential fine of $11,000.
Some people have talked about the difference between paid advertising (i.e. guaranteed endorsement/screen time) and reviewing, where even if the person got the item for free, doesn't guarantee you won't get a total thrashing. Some have mentioned how even though we think this is unenforceable on a grand scale, all we have to do is come to the attention of the FTC (be reported by an enemy, for example), and come under fire.
Some people have asked what the big deal is, just say "I received this book for free." It seems pretty simple, doesn't it? But it's not. It's far more complicated than that, especially when some of the regulations apparently will hold the author liable if the blogger doesn't disclose.
First, "free" doesn't automatically mean the publisher or author provided the book. Free could mean borrowed from a friend or the library, it could mean it was the fifth book in a buy-four-get-one-free promotion. It could mean a charitable person bought the book and donated it to a prize basket raffled off to attendees of an event, completely without the publisher's or author's knowledge. Then there's that book-in-the-wild program, where you leave a book on a train or in a restaurant and track its travels.
Second, the FTC doesn't seem to be defining what a "blogger" is. If, as has been asserted in a few places, the FTC is aiming to control certain types of commercial bloggers who are inundated with free stuff but act like they're just regular users or something, that's great. Say so. But the blanket use of "any blogger" includes hundreds of thousands of regular people, most of whom will have no freakin' idea of this regulation.
Plenty of "book reviewers" aren't official reviewers, but normal readers who enter contests or ask authors for review copies. I often provide free copies of my book to places like The Romance Studio. Sometimes I'm given the name of the winner and I send the copy directly to them; sometimes it's part of a package and I never even know. But if they say "Hey, I liked this book by Natalie J. Damschroder" and don't say how they got it, I could be reprimanded by the FTC as the party who most directly benefits from that endorsement.
My mind just boggles at the scope of this. I mean, my teenage daughter could blog about Rosemary Clement-Moore's newest book and get fined for it, based on the vague, broad application of this regulation.
Okay, let me throttle back out of the hysterical paranoia a bit. The people at the FTC have a job to do, and they have a pretty focused view of what that (important) job is. They are targeting a certain segment of business and industry, a certain segment of the Internet. They probably had no inkling of the fog-like effect of their explanation, where it seeps into vast areas they might not even know exist. And enforcement IS going to be impossible, if by enforcement we mean making sure everyone who possibly falls under this regulation complies with it. I mean, are they really going to pay someone to patrol the Internet, pounce on a blog that mentions a book someone read, then force them to prove they paid for the book? Hardly!
Which makes this entire post probably pointless.
Hey, that could actually describe most of my posts!
Anyway, the basics are that the Federal Trade Commission has stated, among other things, that any blogger who reviews a book or other product and received that book or other product for free must disclose such receipt for free or face a potential fine of $11,000.
Some people have talked about the difference between paid advertising (i.e. guaranteed endorsement/screen time) and reviewing, where even if the person got the item for free, doesn't guarantee you won't get a total thrashing. Some have mentioned how even though we think this is unenforceable on a grand scale, all we have to do is come to the attention of the FTC (be reported by an enemy, for example), and come under fire.
Some people have asked what the big deal is, just say "I received this book for free." It seems pretty simple, doesn't it? But it's not. It's far more complicated than that, especially when some of the regulations apparently will hold the author liable if the blogger doesn't disclose.
First, "free" doesn't automatically mean the publisher or author provided the book. Free could mean borrowed from a friend or the library, it could mean it was the fifth book in a buy-four-get-one-free promotion. It could mean a charitable person bought the book and donated it to a prize basket raffled off to attendees of an event, completely without the publisher's or author's knowledge. Then there's that book-in-the-wild program, where you leave a book on a train or in a restaurant and track its travels.
Second, the FTC doesn't seem to be defining what a "blogger" is. If, as has been asserted in a few places, the FTC is aiming to control certain types of commercial bloggers who are inundated with free stuff but act like they're just regular users or something, that's great. Say so. But the blanket use of "any blogger" includes hundreds of thousands of regular people, most of whom will have no freakin' idea of this regulation.
Plenty of "book reviewers" aren't official reviewers, but normal readers who enter contests or ask authors for review copies. I often provide free copies of my book to places like The Romance Studio. Sometimes I'm given the name of the winner and I send the copy directly to them; sometimes it's part of a package and I never even know. But if they say "Hey, I liked this book by Natalie J. Damschroder" and don't say how they got it, I could be reprimanded by the FTC as the party who most directly benefits from that endorsement.
My mind just boggles at the scope of this. I mean, my teenage daughter could blog about Rosemary Clement-Moore's newest book and get fined for it, based on the vague, broad application of this regulation.
Okay, let me throttle back out of the hysterical paranoia a bit. The people at the FTC have a job to do, and they have a pretty focused view of what that (important) job is. They are targeting a certain segment of business and industry, a certain segment of the Internet. They probably had no inkling of the fog-like effect of their explanation, where it seeps into vast areas they might not even know exist. And enforcement IS going to be impossible, if by enforcement we mean making sure everyone who possibly falls under this regulation complies with it. I mean, are they really going to pay someone to patrol the Internet, pounce on a blog that mentions a book someone read, then force them to prove they paid for the book? Hardly!
Which makes this entire post probably pointless.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wandering Wednesday
Saw two movies recently, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Fame. Both, of course--following today's trends--based on old materials.
When we first found out Cloudy was being made into a movie, my kids were all excited.
Number One: I love that book!
Number Two: Me, too!
Mom/Dad: What's it about?
Number One: I forget.
Number Two: Me, too.
So we got the book from the library and all read it, and then a few weeks later we saw the movie, which had lots of funny parts (including Neil Patrick Harris voicing STEEEEVE!) and good casting but a pretty mediocre storyline. It just strayed too far sometimes, I thought, and instead of a hero who had good intentions but screwed things up through no fault of his own, we got a hero who was really an idiot. The "be yourself, even if you're a dork" subplot was incredibly sexist and kind of missed its own point.
Overall, fun movie, glad I paid matinee fees.
Fame was a little disappointing. Well casted, well acted, some tremendous production numbers, but no plot, no really strong character development/growth, too many things left hanging. It was a bunch of scenes just thrown together, albeit in chronological order. At one point I thought, "this would work great as a series." Heh. (For those of you too young to know, Fame was a movie that became a series, so I won't be surprised if they do that again.)
All of that makes it sound like it was terrible. It wasn't. There were some small messages that worked, even if they lacked substance because there wasn't anything supporting them. I did buy the soundtrack immediately, as well as the original theme song, and parts of the movie have stayed with me over the week.
Unfortunately, the part that has stuck hardest isn't a good one. MILD SPOILER ALERT. There's one character, a dancer, who for some reason is accepted into the school even though they don't meet the instructor's standards in the audition, and she even says to expect to go home sooner than expected. But this person does get a slot, and the only bits we see of them is demonstration that they aren't very good at what they do. Near the end, the dancer is told the instructor can't write a letter of recommendation for them, that they never met the potential they originally demonstrated, and maybe they can teach instead of perform.
That's been resonating a lot with me. Any creative performance-based industry has a tiny percentage who succeed. The vast majority don't. There's no formula, no way to tell who will make it and who won't, who will overcome a talent deficit through hard work or who will get the lucky break because circumstances align. So we all just keep plowing away, working hard, never giving up even though the obstacles are inches apart so you barely get over one before the next one is in your face.
You can't succeed if you don't assume that you won't be one of the ones who doesn't live up to their potential. But how long do you maintain that assumption? When do you realize that you can't learn enough, practice enough, produce enough to run out of obstacles? When you hit rock bottom, when you start to think that might be true of yourself, do you quit? Or do you stick a cushion on that rock to make yourself comfortable and just keep plugging away because that's what you do? Because you don't know any other way?
What's perseverance, and what's delusion?
Just some light thoughts for this wandering Wednesday.
Verdict's in already for my fall TV Schedule:
Monday
The old standbys, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, while not superb so far, do put a nice cap on the hardest day of the week. Castle, on the other hand, has been great. Much, much better writing this season--last week's episode was their best one yet.
Tuesday
I have nothing. The Forgotten is...god, I don't want to say it, but it's true!...unmemorable. It was okay. Not horrible by any means. But I have no interest in watching it again.
Wednesday
Talk about waffling. I decided to try Eastwick but didn't have high hopes. Almost deleted the premiere unwatched, but turned it on, saw hot and sweet Matt Dallas, and settled in. But I'm not going to watch any more. I hate Darryl Van Horn, and I think it's both the actor and the character (I'd like the actor in another role, probably). I don't like a character who really grabs my sympathies turning into an immoral, selfish thief in less than an hour. I love the actress who plays the put-upon, married-to-an-ass doormat, but I hate that storyline. So I'm deleting that show from my season pass.
Modern Family and Glee I'll keep, but I ended up not watching them last night even though I could have. I'm sad that I feel that way. I prefer to be driven excitedly to the TV. Which brings me to:
Thursday
I've been catching up on Fringe on DVD, and I don't feel any differently about it than I did when I stopped watching last season. I'll continue watching because I love the characters, but if I had to stop, I wouldn't miss it. The Mentalist didn't leave me happily satisfied like it usually does, but I'll keep watching because it's better than The Forgotten. Bones I still love, and I'm hopeful the things I want to happen, will. Funny thing: Number Two's teacher is fresh from college and very tall and thin with a long neck. Every time she tells me about her day and I picture him, I'm picturing Sweets. :)
FlashForward was all it was hyped to be and I'll probably stick that one out for the duration. Even Number Two is dead curious about the answers, and made me promise to tell her every week what happened, since she's too young to watch it.
Vampire Diaries? Gone.
I don't think anything needs to be said about Supernatural. :)
Friday
Nothing new here. Numb3rs and Dollhouse, providing the same things they provided last year, giving me enjoyable TV. Actually, it's interesting to juxtapose these two. Numb3rs offers the same thing every week. I know exactly what to expect and always get it. (I often disdain that about TV shows I don't watch, but this one gives me stuff *I* like, so it's okay. LOL) Dollhouse, on the other hand, is the opposite. It makes me think, sets up surprises and excitement--I never know what I'm going to get, and I love it.
There. I just spent an amazing amount of time I don't have on stuff that probably is of no interest to anyone. But then, I suppose that's what this blog is all about. :)
When we first found out Cloudy was being made into a movie, my kids were all excited.
Number One: I love that book!
Number Two: Me, too!
Mom/Dad: What's it about?
Number One: I forget.
Number Two: Me, too.
So we got the book from the library and all read it, and then a few weeks later we saw the movie, which had lots of funny parts (including Neil Patrick Harris voicing STEEEEVE!) and good casting but a pretty mediocre storyline. It just strayed too far sometimes, I thought, and instead of a hero who had good intentions but screwed things up through no fault of his own, we got a hero who was really an idiot. The "be yourself, even if you're a dork" subplot was incredibly sexist and kind of missed its own point.
Overall, fun movie, glad I paid matinee fees.
Fame was a little disappointing. Well casted, well acted, some tremendous production numbers, but no plot, no really strong character development/growth, too many things left hanging. It was a bunch of scenes just thrown together, albeit in chronological order. At one point I thought, "this would work great as a series." Heh. (For those of you too young to know, Fame was a movie that became a series, so I won't be surprised if they do that again.)
All of that makes it sound like it was terrible. It wasn't. There were some small messages that worked, even if they lacked substance because there wasn't anything supporting them. I did buy the soundtrack immediately, as well as the original theme song, and parts of the movie have stayed with me over the week.
Unfortunately, the part that has stuck hardest isn't a good one. MILD SPOILER ALERT. There's one character, a dancer, who for some reason is accepted into the school even though they don't meet the instructor's standards in the audition, and she even says to expect to go home sooner than expected. But this person does get a slot, and the only bits we see of them is demonstration that they aren't very good at what they do. Near the end, the dancer is told the instructor can't write a letter of recommendation for them, that they never met the potential they originally demonstrated, and maybe they can teach instead of perform.
That's been resonating a lot with me. Any creative performance-based industry has a tiny percentage who succeed. The vast majority don't. There's no formula, no way to tell who will make it and who won't, who will overcome a talent deficit through hard work or who will get the lucky break because circumstances align. So we all just keep plowing away, working hard, never giving up even though the obstacles are inches apart so you barely get over one before the next one is in your face.
You can't succeed if you don't assume that you won't be one of the ones who doesn't live up to their potential. But how long do you maintain that assumption? When do you realize that you can't learn enough, practice enough, produce enough to run out of obstacles? When you hit rock bottom, when you start to think that might be true of yourself, do you quit? Or do you stick a cushion on that rock to make yourself comfortable and just keep plugging away because that's what you do? Because you don't know any other way?
What's perseverance, and what's delusion?
Just some light thoughts for this wandering Wednesday.
Verdict's in already for my fall TV Schedule:
Monday
The old standbys, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, while not superb so far, do put a nice cap on the hardest day of the week. Castle, on the other hand, has been great. Much, much better writing this season--last week's episode was their best one yet.
Tuesday
I have nothing. The Forgotten is...god, I don't want to say it, but it's true!...unmemorable. It was okay. Not horrible by any means. But I have no interest in watching it again.
Wednesday
Talk about waffling. I decided to try Eastwick but didn't have high hopes. Almost deleted the premiere unwatched, but turned it on, saw hot and sweet Matt Dallas, and settled in. But I'm not going to watch any more. I hate Darryl Van Horn, and I think it's both the actor and the character (I'd like the actor in another role, probably). I don't like a character who really grabs my sympathies turning into an immoral, selfish thief in less than an hour. I love the actress who plays the put-upon, married-to-an-ass doormat, but I hate that storyline. So I'm deleting that show from my season pass.
Modern Family and Glee I'll keep, but I ended up not watching them last night even though I could have. I'm sad that I feel that way. I prefer to be driven excitedly to the TV. Which brings me to:
Thursday
I've been catching up on Fringe on DVD, and I don't feel any differently about it than I did when I stopped watching last season. I'll continue watching because I love the characters, but if I had to stop, I wouldn't miss it. The Mentalist didn't leave me happily satisfied like it usually does, but I'll keep watching because it's better than The Forgotten. Bones I still love, and I'm hopeful the things I want to happen, will. Funny thing: Number Two's teacher is fresh from college and very tall and thin with a long neck. Every time she tells me about her day and I picture him, I'm picturing Sweets. :)
FlashForward was all it was hyped to be and I'll probably stick that one out for the duration. Even Number Two is dead curious about the answers, and made me promise to tell her every week what happened, since she's too young to watch it.
Vampire Diaries? Gone.
I don't think anything needs to be said about Supernatural. :)
Friday
Nothing new here. Numb3rs and Dollhouse, providing the same things they provided last year, giving me enjoyable TV. Actually, it's interesting to juxtapose these two. Numb3rs offers the same thing every week. I know exactly what to expect and always get it. (I often disdain that about TV shows I don't watch, but this one gives me stuff *I* like, so it's okay. LOL) Dollhouse, on the other hand, is the opposite. It makes me think, sets up surprises and excitement--I never know what I'm going to get, and I love it.
There. I just spent an amazing amount of time I don't have on stuff that probably is of no interest to anyone. But then, I suppose that's what this blog is all about. :)
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Too Much Sleep?
I've been trying to be responsible lately, with the whole sleeping thing. So the last two nights I've gone to bed early. Today I even slept until almost 6:30 because Number One needs nothing from me, Number Two only needs my presence most mornings, and even that's not until we're ready to go to the bus stop. But I've still been tired mid-afternoon, and there have been other odd effects:
Like, this morning, I conditioned my hair twice.
And then, after I returned the dog to the house, I went out to do my morning exercise walk--in flip-flops.
Actually, those could be explained by a busy brain as much as a tired one. In the shower, I was deep in thought about a client's manuscript. I rinsed my hair, and somehow that was triggered as "shampoo out, conditioner in" even though I was actually ready to get out of the shower.
The flip-flop thing was just unthinkingness. I realized it on the second hill. I was working way too hard to keep my shoes on. LOL I have these Adidas flip-flops that have cushioned insoles and silky fabric, so when I've had them on for a little while, the cushion compresses and they're roomier and also therefore slippery. It actually made for a decent walk, though, because I used all the muscles in my legs more. But I had to come down the last hill barefoot--it's so steep, I was afraid I'd break the thong of the flip-flops, and they're new.
Anyway. My brain doesn't feel like it's working right today.
I also had this weird dream last night. It was a "back in school" dream, though not one of the typical anxiety ones. I was in a big room stuffed with stuff. Kind of like on Fringe, where the lab they're given is a storage room for old furniture and equipment? One of the things was a big unit of old-fashioned mailboxes. They took a key but also had a combination--you put in the key, then turned to the proper numbers. I had three mailboxes and opened two of them (my mother had sent me some weird stuff) but for the life of me, I couldn't open the third one. It had something important in it, I knew it...or hoped it, though I always have hope there's something important and there never is. So I think I understand the metaphor. *sigh*
So I guess we can come to the conclusion that it's not "too much sleep" so much as my brain is weird. And I'm sure no one is surprised by that.
Like, this morning, I conditioned my hair twice.
And then, after I returned the dog to the house, I went out to do my morning exercise walk--in flip-flops.
Actually, those could be explained by a busy brain as much as a tired one. In the shower, I was deep in thought about a client's manuscript. I rinsed my hair, and somehow that was triggered as "shampoo out, conditioner in" even though I was actually ready to get out of the shower.
The flip-flop thing was just unthinkingness. I realized it on the second hill. I was working way too hard to keep my shoes on. LOL I have these Adidas flip-flops that have cushioned insoles and silky fabric, so when I've had them on for a little while, the cushion compresses and they're roomier and also therefore slippery. It actually made for a decent walk, though, because I used all the muscles in my legs more. But I had to come down the last hill barefoot--it's so steep, I was afraid I'd break the thong of the flip-flops, and they're new.
Anyway. My brain doesn't feel like it's working right today.
I also had this weird dream last night. It was a "back in school" dream, though not one of the typical anxiety ones. I was in a big room stuffed with stuff. Kind of like on Fringe, where the lab they're given is a storage room for old furniture and equipment? One of the things was a big unit of old-fashioned mailboxes. They took a key but also had a combination--you put in the key, then turned to the proper numbers. I had three mailboxes and opened two of them (my mother had sent me some weird stuff) but for the life of me, I couldn't open the third one. It had something important in it, I knew it...or hoped it, though I always have hope there's something important and there never is. So I think I understand the metaphor. *sigh*
So I guess we can come to the conclusion that it's not "too much sleep" so much as my brain is weird. And I'm sure no one is surprised by that.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Nature Wins Out
I'm a pretty self-aware person. I think it comes, in part, from being a writer, and having to dig deep into what makes people who they are. But there are some fundamental things I know about myself:
1. I need 8 hours of sleep a night.
2. I am required to get up at 6:20 a.m. on weekdays, and sometimes even earlier on weekends with away soccer games that the bleeping officials set for first thing in the morning even though we have to travel nearly 2 hours to get there.
3. I am not a morning person. It's difficult to struggle out of bed any day, never mind when I'm operating on too-little sleep.
I've known these things for a very long time. Before my kids started school. Before I had a 45-minute commute to an early day job. Before I scheduled 8:30 classes in college (frosh mistake--I hate being a cliché!). So why is it such a challenge for me? Simple equation:
Bed at 10:00 + Up at 6:20 = full complement of sleep = happy Natalie
But there are a couple of other factors that trump this self-awareness and solid logic. I'm not only not a morning person, I'm very much a night person. My body tries very, very hard to follow its preferred pattern: Stay up until 3:00 a.m., sleep until 11:00 a.m., repeat cycle. Some nights this summer I was up until 4 or even 4:30, and it was easy. I wasn't tired! Not at any point during the day!
Yes, some of it is a matter of training. If I force myself to go to bed at 10:00 or 11:00, I can maintain the week with no trouble. So far, I haven't been able to make that happen. The problem is work.
Any of you who freelance or work for yourselves know that one of the drawbacks is constant availability. It's okay if I don't do this data entry while the kids are at school, because I can do it after they go to bed. I'll critique this friend's manuscript over the weekend, which will let me work on my own book Monday...until the proofing jobs come in, pushing the writing back to after the football game. That kind of thing.
So what happens is I come back down to my office after the kids are in bed, and that's it. I keep working and working until it's stupid time, then I need unwinding time (pleasure reading, and--an unfortunate side effect--a snack, because it's been 5 or 6 hours since dinner and my stomach is growling).
It wouldn't be so difficult if I got progressively tired. But I don't. I'm at my most tired between 3 and 7 in the afternoon/evening. But I have to push through, because of after-school stuff and soccer practices and meetings and school events and kids' bedtime activities. Then I have my second wind, and if I'm not tired, I should be productive!
Then the alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m., and I want to stab somebody in the head for being such an idiot.
After three solid years of this with no real change, I've come to decide that imposition of a "smart" pattern is impossible. Nature is winning, and all I can do is hold on until the kids are both old enough to not need me, and then I can follow my own pattern...for the rest of my life, if I'm lucky.
I know Mary either has the opposite nature or has greater control over her natural rhythms (as evidenced by daily 4:00 a.m. blog posts). How about the rest of you?
1. I need 8 hours of sleep a night.
2. I am required to get up at 6:20 a.m. on weekdays, and sometimes even earlier on weekends with away soccer games that the bleeping officials set for first thing in the morning even though we have to travel nearly 2 hours to get there.
3. I am not a morning person. It's difficult to struggle out of bed any day, never mind when I'm operating on too-little sleep.
I've known these things for a very long time. Before my kids started school. Before I had a 45-minute commute to an early day job. Before I scheduled 8:30 classes in college (frosh mistake--I hate being a cliché!). So why is it such a challenge for me? Simple equation:
But there are a couple of other factors that trump this self-awareness and solid logic. I'm not only not a morning person, I'm very much a night person. My body tries very, very hard to follow its preferred pattern: Stay up until 3:00 a.m., sleep until 11:00 a.m., repeat cycle. Some nights this summer I was up until 4 or even 4:30, and it was easy. I wasn't tired! Not at any point during the day!
Yes, some of it is a matter of training. If I force myself to go to bed at 10:00 or 11:00, I can maintain the week with no trouble. So far, I haven't been able to make that happen. The problem is work.
Any of you who freelance or work for yourselves know that one of the drawbacks is constant availability. It's okay if I don't do this data entry while the kids are at school, because I can do it after they go to bed. I'll critique this friend's manuscript over the weekend, which will let me work on my own book Monday...until the proofing jobs come in, pushing the writing back to after the football game. That kind of thing.
So what happens is I come back down to my office after the kids are in bed, and that's it. I keep working and working until it's stupid time, then I need unwinding time (pleasure reading, and--an unfortunate side effect--a snack, because it's been 5 or 6 hours since dinner and my stomach is growling).
It wouldn't be so difficult if I got progressively tired. But I don't. I'm at my most tired between 3 and 7 in the afternoon/evening. But I have to push through, because of after-school stuff and soccer practices and meetings and school events and kids' bedtime activities. Then I have my second wind, and if I'm not tired, I should be productive!
Then the alarm goes off at 6:00 a.m., and I want to stab somebody in the head for being such an idiot.
After three solid years of this with no real change, I've come to decide that imposition of a "smart" pattern is impossible. Nature is winning, and all I can do is hold on until the kids are both old enough to not need me, and then I can follow my own pattern...for the rest of my life, if I'm lucky.
I know Mary either has the opposite nature or has greater control over her natural rhythms (as evidenced by daily 4:00 a.m. blog posts). How about the rest of you?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
We Now Welcome You to the Survival Portion of Our Summer
My former boss called me on Friday in a panic. She needed me to fill in while a former colleague was on leave. I worked all day yesterday, and...yeah. After three years, I don't remember anything. Especially stuff I never did. It was quite a challenge. Looking forward to Friday. Right.
I currently have five animated teenagers playing Wii while they wait to leave for the midnight showing of Harry Potter. We found out that the theater had sold out theaters 1 through 9 by 6 this evening. That line will be fun. Right.
Tomorrow I have to get 5 kids to different locations, four of them after they were up past 3:00 a.m. Then I have to try to finish a formatting job before I drive to DC, mainly because I'll be in DC all day Thursday, too, and much of the night. Which will be awesome while I'm there, I'm not complaining, but oy.
I'm just hangin' on, taking everything one minute at a time. I don't know how the heck other people manage even busier schedules. I guess they just do it.
Right.
I currently have five animated teenagers playing Wii while they wait to leave for the midnight showing of Harry Potter. We found out that the theater had sold out theaters 1 through 9 by 6 this evening. That line will be fun. Right.
Tomorrow I have to get 5 kids to different locations, four of them after they were up past 3:00 a.m. Then I have to try to finish a formatting job before I drive to DC, mainly because I'll be in DC all day Thursday, too, and much of the night. Which will be awesome while I'm there, I'm not complaining, but oy.
I'm just hangin' on, taking everything one minute at a time. I don't know how the heck other people manage even busier schedules. I guess they just do it.
Right.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Quick Hit
Wow. I didn't realize it had been a whole week! Sorry about that. Dead air is stupid.
Check out my word meter for Under the Moon! After being stagnant for a really, really long time, it's finally moving. Notice (yeah, like you pay any attention at all to that) that the total number is about 4k larger than it was before. The first number didn't move for so long because I was struggling to get chapter one right. I finally did ("so, so, so much better" and wasn't that music to my ears!) so now things are progressing much more easily.
I did start a post on Friday, when my kids were off school. This is what I got:
I prefer yellow over any other highlighter color. No idea why I have 18 highlighters here in my pencil holders, none of them yellow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I suck at DDRE. Actually, I'm brilliant, but only on the "beginner" setting. The kids and I were doing it today, and I did "Pump Up the Volume" (I think) on Light and nailed a "complicated" step, cheered, and promptly missed a couple of simple ones. Number Two says, "I think you got a little overexcited, Mom."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yeah, dull stuff. Again, sorry.
So, last week's goals. I got them about half done. Didn't exercise every day, didn't get as much of my own work done as I intended, but did get more critique done as well as the entire editing project, which included creating a bibliography (easy) and an index (God, don't let me have to do one of those again!).
This week is so far much quieter, so hopefully the progress bar will keep moving. I'd like to be done by the end of the month so we can get this puppy submitted!
How's your week look from here?
Check out my word meter for Under the Moon! After being stagnant for a really, really long time, it's finally moving. Notice (yeah, like you pay any attention at all to that) that the total number is about 4k larger than it was before. The first number didn't move for so long because I was struggling to get chapter one right. I finally did ("so, so, so much better" and wasn't that music to my ears!) so now things are progressing much more easily.
I did start a post on Friday, when my kids were off school. This is what I got:
I prefer yellow over any other highlighter color. No idea why I have 18 highlighters here in my pencil holders, none of them yellow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I suck at DDRE. Actually, I'm brilliant, but only on the "beginner" setting. The kids and I were doing it today, and I did "Pump Up the Volume" (I think) on Light and nailed a "complicated" step, cheered, and promptly missed a couple of simple ones. Number Two says, "I think you got a little overexcited, Mom."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yeah, dull stuff. Again, sorry.
So, last week's goals. I got them about half done. Didn't exercise every day, didn't get as much of my own work done as I intended, but did get more critique done as well as the entire editing project, which included creating a bibliography (easy) and an index (God, don't let me have to do one of those again!).
This week is so far much quieter, so hopefully the progress bar will keep moving. I'd like to be done by the end of the month so we can get this puppy submitted!
How's your week look from here?
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Wrapping Up 2008
I have no posts in 2008 labeled "Goals."
None.
Of course, according to my final post about 2007, I didn't set goals. I made plans.
Let's see how I did:
Exercise
I did very well through May, when I got swamped with work. From May through August I occasionally missed my goal of 2.5 hours per week, and then I was totally inconsistent, with some weeks in the fall good, some bad, and then nothing at all in the entire fall.
Compared to previous year: 126 days of exercise compared to 301 in 2007. Ick.
Goal for 2009
I dunno. I started again this week, went to the club yesterday and today. I'm just going to try to go every day, except when I can't.
Weight
No change. Nothing different in my plans for 2009, either.
Entertainment
I read 95 full books, a falloff from last year's actual 107. I also started but didn't finish 40, and tracked 7 additional novellas.
I saw 22 movies in the theater, 8 fewer than last year, but 35 on DVD, up from 17 in 2007. Plus two on TiVo, two on TV, and two on DVD that I didn't finish.
I won't go into the TV I watched live or TiVo'd, I do that during the year. I also watched the following on DVD:
All the Buffy seasons
All the Angel seasons
Prison Break season 3
Entourage
Roswell season 1
Goal for 2009
I always strive to read 100 books, but I think I'll keep better track this year so I can push myself if possible and make the goal. I don't expect as many movies in 2009, probably about the same amount of TV. Once I finish Roswell, I might give Bones a try.
Work!
Okay, this is the biggie. Here's what I accomplished:
Overall writing
Fiction: 184,486 words (includes totally new text and added words during revisions)
Nonfiction: 57,855
That's a total of 242,341 written words in 2008. That's more than 60k less than 2007!
Goal for 2009
Whatever I manage to do, based on my circumstances.
Project breakdown
Fiction:
Submitted 8 projects
Sold 2 novellas
Wrote three novellas
Revised three+ novels
Compared to plan: Did two of the revisions I planned, started both of the sequels plus another book, though not the one I intended to.
A reminder of my plan for 2009:
1. Revise Under the Moon until it's ready for submission
2. Process critiques for Hummingbird and prep for agent review
3. Revise Fight or Flight again, if Agent Awesome so decrees
4. Do first round of revisions for More Than You Know and submit to critique partners
5. Finish Zoe WIP
What else did I do, that caused me to write so much less in 2008? Well, let me tell you:
Nonfiction:
1 20-page report
58 articles
74 biographies (short ones, not book-length!)
21 autoresponders, 4 ads, and a few miscellaneous things
Editing/Proofreading:
Approximately 3,579 pages, some being full editing in hard copy transferred to computer documents, some being small projects that I typed a list of corrections for.
Critiquing:
40 pages for LM
55 pages for M2
184 pages for M3
402 pages for TM
491 pages for JW
506 pages for VB
783 pages for VS
1,011 pages for M1
for a grand total of 3,472 manuscript pages! That amounts to roughly 868,000 words, though it's probably more than that because some people don't use standard format.
I think I only sent one full book out for critique in 2008. I'll make up for it this year!
Judging:
I judged 9 stories with just a scoresheet, and 279 pages that required comments as well as the scoresheets.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, I'm tired just adding that all up! I will no longer feel like a slacker! Such occasions are surely few and far between, with that kind of tally, wouldn't you say?
So that's all. Goodbye 2008 (a few days late) and hello 2009! May it be better than productive for all of us!
None.
Of course, according to my final post about 2007, I didn't set goals. I made plans.
Let's see how I did:
Exercise
I did very well through May, when I got swamped with work. From May through August I occasionally missed my goal of 2.5 hours per week, and then I was totally inconsistent, with some weeks in the fall good, some bad, and then nothing at all in the entire fall.
Compared to previous year: 126 days of exercise compared to 301 in 2007. Ick.
Goal for 2009
I dunno. I started again this week, went to the club yesterday and today. I'm just going to try to go every day, except when I can't.
Weight
No change. Nothing different in my plans for 2009, either.
Entertainment
I read 95 full books, a falloff from last year's actual 107. I also started but didn't finish 40, and tracked 7 additional novellas.
I saw 22 movies in the theater, 8 fewer than last year, but 35 on DVD, up from 17 in 2007. Plus two on TiVo, two on TV, and two on DVD that I didn't finish.
I won't go into the TV I watched live or TiVo'd, I do that during the year. I also watched the following on DVD:
All the Buffy seasons
All the Angel seasons
Prison Break season 3
Entourage
Roswell season 1
Goal for 2009
I always strive to read 100 books, but I think I'll keep better track this year so I can push myself if possible and make the goal. I don't expect as many movies in 2009, probably about the same amount of TV. Once I finish Roswell, I might give Bones a try.
Work!
Okay, this is the biggie. Here's what I accomplished:
Overall writing
Fiction: 184,486 words (includes totally new text and added words during revisions)
Nonfiction: 57,855
That's a total of 242,341 written words in 2008. That's more than 60k less than 2007!
Goal for 2009
Whatever I manage to do, based on my circumstances.
Project breakdown
Fiction:
Submitted 8 projects
Sold 2 novellas
Wrote three novellas
Revised three+ novels
Compared to plan: Did two of the revisions I planned, started both of the sequels plus another book, though not the one I intended to.
A reminder of my plan for 2009:
1. Revise Under the Moon until it's ready for submission
2. Process critiques for Hummingbird and prep for agent review
3. Revise Fight or Flight again, if Agent Awesome so decrees
4. Do first round of revisions for More Than You Know and submit to critique partners
5. Finish Zoe WIP
What else did I do, that caused me to write so much less in 2008? Well, let me tell you:
Nonfiction:
1 20-page report
58 articles
74 biographies (short ones, not book-length!)
21 autoresponders, 4 ads, and a few miscellaneous things
Editing/Proofreading:
Approximately 3,579 pages, some being full editing in hard copy transferred to computer documents, some being small projects that I typed a list of corrections for.
Critiquing:
40 pages for LM
55 pages for M2
184 pages for M3
402 pages for TM
491 pages for JW
506 pages for VB
783 pages for VS
1,011 pages for M1
for a grand total of 3,472 manuscript pages! That amounts to roughly 868,000 words, though it's probably more than that because some people don't use standard format.
I think I only sent one full book out for critique in 2008. I'll make up for it this year!
Judging:
I judged 9 stories with just a scoresheet, and 279 pages that required comments as well as the scoresheets.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, I'm tired just adding that all up! I will no longer feel like a slacker! Such occasions are surely few and far between, with that kind of tally, wouldn't you say?
So that's all. Goodbye 2008 (a few days late) and hello 2009! May it be better than productive for all of us!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Blog Year in Review
I stole this idea from Gail, who took it from someone else, who probably got it from someone else. Such is the nature of blogging. :)
The idea is to look at the first few lines of the first post from each month and comment from the current perspective.
January 2007
I've been working on and thinking about my goals all day, and I liked the way one author I know laid hers out, so I'm emulating her. It's quantifiable and means I can do another spreadsheet. I like spreadsheets. :)
I do like spreadsheets. My life is ruled by them. They've made it really easy to see just how far off I am from meeting my goals next week...
February 2007
Thirteen Things I Have To Do Constantly That I Hate
Not a very positive topic, huh? At least they were all minor things. Like dealing with kitty litter. I still have to do all of them, BTW.
March 2007
I'm not going to say "I can't believe it's March first already!" Not only is that cliché, I CAN believe it and I'm GLAD it's March.
Apparently, the shortest month of the year in 2007 felt really long. I can tell you that every single month this year someone said, "I can't believe it's X already!"
April 2007
I tried to log in to my bank today and they have tightened security so it's no longer my access ID and pin, they ask a security question, too.
That hasn't happened again. I removed the question "What is your dream job?" from the list.
May 2007
Thirteen Ways I'm Not Like "Most" Women
Another Thursday Thirteen, another topic with a negative word in it. I wonder how often I did that?
June 2007
MaryF tagged me again. Good thing, too, 'cause I've had nothing to say for too long.
Hmmm. Apparently, that was the year for this.
July 2007
A few years ago, not too long before my mother died, I was picking on her about her "address book." It was probably 20 years old or older.
Will it surprise anyone to know I still haven't gotten a new address book? It's falling apart, some of the sections have no more room, but every time I use it, I remember people I no longer see. Also, I'm lazy.
August 2007
Thirteen Reasons I Haven't Posted In A Week
No comment.
September 2007
I want to know what the hell is up with our commercial aviation system. I mean, out of four flights I took this weekend, every single one was early.
This was really funny, because since I posted this, I've heard at least once a month about what a mess the airlines are, with on-time rates at all-time lows. I guess I just got lucky.
October 2007
I was looking at my tags, or labels, yesterday, and I realized I've been remiss. This is my 450th Blogger post (not sure which for MySpace and LJ) and I have three tags I use a lot: Writing, TV, and Supernatural. But I have 16 labels I've used only once. And that's appalling.
I did manage to get rid of all my one-post labels. Now I have 11 labels with only two posts each.
November 2007
These Made Me Cry: This one, because it was so good and we'll never get to see more (idiot suits):
I had videos of the Veronica Mars episode they pitched around before getting yanked--you know, the one where VM was a rookie FBI agent?
December 2007
These are the last topics that have only one post labeled such, so I'm finishing my boost in one fell swoop.
Okay, so what have we learned from this year in review?
I'm redundant and boring.
Gah.
The idea is to look at the first few lines of the first post from each month and comment from the current perspective.
January 2007
I've been working on and thinking about my goals all day, and I liked the way one author I know laid hers out, so I'm emulating her. It's quantifiable and means I can do another spreadsheet. I like spreadsheets. :)
I do like spreadsheets. My life is ruled by them. They've made it really easy to see just how far off I am from meeting my goals next week...
February 2007
Thirteen Things I Have To Do Constantly That I Hate
Not a very positive topic, huh? At least they were all minor things. Like dealing with kitty litter. I still have to do all of them, BTW.
March 2007
I'm not going to say "I can't believe it's March first already!" Not only is that cliché, I CAN believe it and I'm GLAD it's March.
Apparently, the shortest month of the year in 2007 felt really long. I can tell you that every single month this year someone said, "I can't believe it's X already!"
April 2007
I tried to log in to my bank today and they have tightened security so it's no longer my access ID and pin, they ask a security question, too.
That hasn't happened again. I removed the question "What is your dream job?" from the list.
May 2007
Thirteen Ways I'm Not Like "Most" Women
Another Thursday Thirteen, another topic with a negative word in it. I wonder how often I did that?
June 2007
MaryF tagged me again. Good thing, too, 'cause I've had nothing to say for too long.
Hmmm. Apparently, that was the year for this.
July 2007
A few years ago, not too long before my mother died, I was picking on her about her "address book." It was probably 20 years old or older.
Will it surprise anyone to know I still haven't gotten a new address book? It's falling apart, some of the sections have no more room, but every time I use it, I remember people I no longer see. Also, I'm lazy.
August 2007
Thirteen Reasons I Haven't Posted In A Week
No comment.
September 2007
I want to know what the hell is up with our commercial aviation system. I mean, out of four flights I took this weekend, every single one was early.
This was really funny, because since I posted this, I've heard at least once a month about what a mess the airlines are, with on-time rates at all-time lows. I guess I just got lucky.
October 2007
I was looking at my tags, or labels, yesterday, and I realized I've been remiss. This is my 450th Blogger post (not sure which for MySpace and LJ) and I have three tags I use a lot: Writing, TV, and Supernatural. But I have 16 labels I've used only once. And that's appalling.
I did manage to get rid of all my one-post labels. Now I have 11 labels with only two posts each.
November 2007
These Made Me Cry: This one, because it was so good and we'll never get to see more (idiot suits):
I had videos of the Veronica Mars episode they pitched around before getting yanked--you know, the one where VM was a rookie FBI agent?
December 2007
These are the last topics that have only one post labeled such, so I'm finishing my boost in one fell swoop.
Okay, so what have we learned from this year in review?
I'm redundant and boring.
Gah.
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