Pseudotherapy

And this is just in the past week!

The brown lines are known faultlines.

Seriously, dude. For the love of god, cash your spellcheck and buy a vowel.

Today is Pi Day! I encourage everyone to celebrate by eating 3.14 pieces of PIE!!!

A few things I’ve noticed lately:

• Sometimes the blogosphere reminds me a bit too much of junior high. And I fully include myself in that remark. Are we not (wo)men?
• I recently realized I have a severe blog crush on someone, someone I have been in total denial about. It’s interesting to note that one of my bloggirlfriends pegged this months ago.
• Blog design seems to run in cycles. When I first started, most people I read were using a template from their service. Then there was a minimalist phase, the “cleaner” the better. Now I’m seeing a movement toward sidebar exploitation. I’m wondering if there’s a contest I don’t know about: who can come up with the most items to stack in their sidebar. Among my regular reads, I think Karl Belinda would win. By the way, I’ve also noticed that a 3-column layout with dual sidebars is all the rage. I know, I’m so outmoded.
• Another hot trend is having your own show on blogtalkradio. Several of the A-listers* have done so, and you can now spend all Sunday afternoon tuned in to Karl, Hilly, Mr. Fab and Turnbaby. I don’t know how they do it. There’s no way in hell I could be sparkling and witty for a solid hour live even one time, much less week after week. Even listening to their shows makes me anxious. I must have serious dead-air phobia.
• As far as I can tell, I’m the only blogger who doesn’t own Guitar Hero. I think I’m also the only blogger without an iPod. Before you ask, yes, we do have electricity and indoor plumbing at home.
• It stands to reason that many bloggers dream of being a published writer someday ? published as in, print. After all, blogging is writing on a deeply personal level. I’ve been trying to get back into my “serious” writing for about a year now, with little to show for it. Now I’m thinking I may steal an idea from one of my blogfriends who, like me, is a frustrated fiction writer. Besides her personal blog, Carolyn maintains a writing blog called Drops Of Blood. I’ve been hanging out there a lot lately, and find it quite inspirational. I wonder if setting up something similar for myself would motivate me to get serious again?
• When you become aware that you’ve lost one of your most loyal, longtime readers, how do you feel? This happened to me recently, and saddened me greatly. Trouble is, I have no clue why. Should I ask this person? Would you, or would you just accept that they were “over you” and move on?

*My blog, my lists.

1. Making soup from scratch is not nearly as difficult as I thought ? and is definitely worth the trouble.
2. Do not subscribe to Avitable’s comments unless you’re prepared to come home to 187 emails about butt-crack hair, masturbation and religious figures on biscuits.
3. Sometimes it has to be enough to just be clean, neat and on time.
4. Gamer’s thumb is unbelievably painful.
5. “Ghost Hunters” is sneakily addictive ? even when you think it’s all a load of twaddle.
6. It is possible to feel both hot and cold at the same time.
7. I haven’t made much progress in building self-confidence.
8. There is no brand of panties within my price range that fits me comfortably. (Anybody have a recommendation?)
9. My novel-in-progress is not nearly as good as I used to think it was.
10. More women enjoy viewing porn than you would imagine.

And how was your week, dear readers?

[tags]Lists, Ghost Hunters, panties[/tags]

Oh man, what a week! My job has totally whupped my ass this week, but in an ohsogood kind of way. See, I got fully fed up with falling further and further behind in my workflow, so last weekend I brainstormed ways to remedy the situation. And they worked! Re-structuring priorities, delegating, farming some stuff out and just plain hunkering down paid off in a clear desk and empty inbox by 4:00 Friday. AND I made both my Friday deadlines! I walked out the back door of Incognotorious Inc. yesterday floating on an absolute high. What a sweet drug accomplishment is.

The downside is that I’ve been exhausted and basically brain-dead every evening, too wiped even to blog. All I’ve managed is Twittering and Flickring. But yay! It’s Saturday! Time to clear a few thoughts from my cluttered mind:

Do you know what the #1 drawback is to having a job you truly love? The fear of losing it. Even though I know I’m doing a good job, I keep getting paranoid that I’ll be canned. Like the other day, one of the portfolio analysts called me and ran a 20 Questions on my duties and how I handle them. I could tell I was on speakerphone, and envisioned this group of people sitting around grading my answers. Then yesterday, I got a letter in the mail from our benefits rep, explaining COBRA and how to use it. I freaked out a little bit. But on the other hand, I also had an email from HR congratulating me on completing my 90-day probation. So there ya go.

* * *

Speaking of benefits, the HR email also informed me that I can now begin using my personal days. I have 27 for the year. TWENTY-SEVEN. Not counting the ten paid holidays we get. Also not counting the fact that all Incognotorious Inc. offices close at 3:00 the day before any paid holiday. Also not counting our birthdays, on which we’re “expected” to work only a half-day. Seriously, this company is all about the time off! I just don’t get how I’m expected to keep up with my workload while incorporating 39 days off into a single year.

* * *

Last night we stopped by PetSmart to restock the prescription diet our cats have been on since the scare with Lynksis. The clerk, who definitely seemed to be on something other than the clock, charged us for the big bag of kibble and one can of wet food. We had a case of 24. Bret thought the total seemed way off, but wasn’t sure until he looked at the receipt, at which point he turned back around and pointed it out to the clerk. The woman next in line, listening, interrupted to gasp incredulously, “Forty-four bucks for a bag of kibble and one can of food?!?!” It took all my self-control to not spout off what our vet told us about feeding cats a steady diet of Fancy Feast (of which she was buying two cases) ? it’s the feline version of McDonald’s. But I kept my mouth shut. Our investment in the kitties’ health has paid off bigtime, however, and we have no regrets about the high caliber of feed they’re on. All three have never looked so healthy and beautiful ? and we credit it with saving Lynksis’ life. It’s worth every cent.

* * *

I am very behind on my blog-reading, which is pretty sad considering how few I follow (compared to the rest of you, anyway!). Please, no one take it personally. It’s an energy issue. Oh, and Flickr. Flickr, which has me addicted to guessing titles of movies and songs. Well, everyone has to have some kind of vice.