Category Archives: Musings

Oct29

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One thing I haven’t figured out yet is how to juggle my hobbies. I almost envy people who have NO interests and spend their time just watching tv or listening to music in a friend’s attic.

On any given evening, I have to choose between knitting, cross-stitching and reading. This is assuming that I’m not in the mood to play any of the half dozen half-finished video games I’m needing to beat. Also assuming that I’m being a bum and not writing (which I’m having a hard time getting myself back to work on), or making blog posts, or redesigning a website for the dozenth time. I’ve abandoned every online social group I’ve been a part of, because there’s just not time. I also have to find time to cook, clean, and take care of my dog. Plus, particularly because I’m part of this weight loss challenge at work, I need at least an hour of working out time in the evenings –unless it’s one of the evenings I have Irish Dance or fencing, or am doing a particularly active volunteer event. Let’s not forget that I’ve let my photography skills get downright rusty. My “need to sew” pile is a mile high, and I still haven’t done the odd jobs around home like reupholster our dining room chairs or make curtains for the dining room.

Not to mention the long list of things that I meant to do but then didn’t –learn Spanish, practice piano, practice guitar, brush up on my French and German, improve at ASL, update our photo albums, teach Nellie a new trick.

Between NaNoWriMo, the 11th month of my “100 books in a year” challenge, the weightloss challenge, friends visiting, Thanksgiving, my two jobs, my first month of doing Fly Lady cleaning, ISD and fencing, November’s going to be an even busier than month than October was.

And I don’t even have kids to juggle! How do people LIVE with only 24 hours in a day?

Sep20

My fall schedule

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My fall schedule

I just signed up with BostonCares to start volunteering and am SOOOO excited about it. I have orientation in the morning, and then after that I can just selectively pick from the hundreds of volunteer opportunities that BostonCares oversees. This is exactly the kind of volunteering that I want, since my schedule doesn’t really allow me to commit to a certain number of hours each week.

Oh, why is that?

Because I’m busier than I think I’ve been since high school.

I’m currently working two jobs –one full time as a community manager for a video game company, the other part time as the web content editor for a furniture company. The first job requires random evenings or occasional travel; the second is almost exclusively late night work.

On Tuesday nights, I have fencing class.

On Wednesday nights, I have dance class.

On Sunday afternoons, I have kickboxing (at least for the next couple weeks).

Every couple weeks, I have book club.

I’m trying to run a clean, organized house and take care of my boyfriend and my puppy.

I’m trying to get back to work on the photography book project I started senior year of college (I just bought octopus tentacles over the weekend! BE EXCITED!)

I’m trying to get back to work on my writing (halfway through the novel I’m going to try as my first official publication!)

I thought I finished scheduling myself with this many activities after I burned myself out in high school. Maybe I’m about to burn myself out again. But in the meantime, I’m so thrilled to have this many things going on again. It makes me feel useful and accomplished and like I’m doing something with my life again, instead of just sitting around waiting for something to jumpstart my life for me.

Not to mention, in the next two months, there will be apple picking, fair attending, Texas visiting, Halloweening, fall decorating, pumkin carving, and pie backing!

FALL IS MY FAVORITE!

 

Mar27

A month?

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A month?

Has a month really gone by since I last blogged? But I suppose it makes sense. I’ve started my new job, which takes up almost all my time. Frequently work days are 10-12 hours of sitting at the computer, which makes me unlikely to come home and sit at the computer again, you know? But work is getting better and hopefully will continue to get better.

Those of you who are keeping track (which is everyone, yeah?) know that Frank’s and my 2 year anniversary is this coming Wednesday . . . or Thursday . . . I can never really remember. My 23rd birthday is ALSO approaching, which I am less excited about actually because 2 is my favorite number and it will make me sad to no longer be double my favorite number.

To celebrate these two things, Frank and I will be using tax refunds to vacay in BELIZE.

Robbers take note that though I’ll be out of town, my dog and a house sitter and our landlord will all still be here.

Though I am broke, I’ve realized that travel is to me what medication, food and therapy are to other people. Since booking this trip, everything looks better. Granted, everything is getting better, and I still have panic attacks sometimes. But in general, I am so much more capable of handling the stress and anxieties knowing that I have this trip to look forward to. It’s my mental health trip and, selfishly, I feel like after the past two years of robbery, cancers, senior year, layoffs, new jobs, moves and illness, I frigging deserve a tropical vacation, okay? :)

Between now and the trip I have SO much to do, so while I plan to blog . . . no promises until I’m back. However I will probably blog at least once about knitting and reading because really that’s all that’s going on when I’m not working.

Oh, wait, except getting ready for Belize!!

Now there is almost NO food left in my house, so I need to go do a mini-grocery shopping trip. I need some new cookbooks though or a subscription to a cooking magazine because I am cooking right through these recipes and I don’t like internet recipes as much as cook books.

 

Feb10

Times they are a-changing

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Times they are a-changing

I went another long time without blogging.  I know.  If you’ve been at all reading into my absences, you’ll have noticed that it’s been an overwhelmingly crappy seven months.  The bad has significantly outweighed the good for quite some time.

The latest surprise came last week, when I was told my contract needed to be terminated six months early. And the lame part of being contract is that you don’t get severance, so I had two weeks of employment left during which to find a new gig, preferably one that would be a step up.  I could have covered one month of bills if I ate up my entire emergency savings fund.  Plus, I’d be gone for a quarter of those two weeks while I go home for a parent’s surgery, which makes interviewing tough.

But go figure, I did it!  After submitting 17 resumes in three days (and, keep in mind, i never actually stopped applying for jobs because I needed a second job, so this is actually after submitting probably 50-60+ applications over several months), I snagged a job as a content writer for a quickly growing company.  In eight days.  So not only will I now actually be doing something in line with my degree, but this is hopefully the beginning of a career for me in an industry I can actually move forward in, one that actually lines up better with my own personal career goals.

My actual last day as an employee in the game industry is Wednesday, and it will be bittersweet.  I’ve loved being a part of this industry for seven months, and have become a part of a culture I never saw myself scratching more than the surface of.  It’s been frustrating at times, it’s been awesome most of the time, but hopefully this change will be a positive one for me.  I never thought I’d be slipping on the business attire to head to the office downtown, but it looks like that’s where I’m heading, and I’m hopeful that it’ll be great.  I now even have enough business clothing to get me through one week without repeating tops . . .

Though I continue to believe in signs only with part of my being, I’d like to think this is a sign that things are on the mend now.  Finding a new career in eight days is about as lucky as it gets, with as many people struggling to find work as there are.  I’d like to think this means my “luck” has changed and, while I continue to plod along, circumstances around me will get better, making being happy a lot easier.  This possibly seriously life-messing-up situation wound up being (hopefully!) a good thing.  Now I feel empowered to get fit, finish that novel, clean the house, walk the dog, and hopefully take my life in a much more positive direction than it’s been headed for the past half year.

For you guys, that means less whiny posts and more happy posts!  Hurray for everyone!

Also, mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be contract workers . . .

 

 

Jan10

Why I spent the first 10 days of 2011 not blogging.

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Why I spent the first 10 days of 2011 not blogging.

A lot of people in my family have been diagnosed with cancer in rapid succession which is stressful enough that I’ve shied away from writing, photography, blogging — anything which requires me to tap into the part of my brain that analyzes feelings and reactions and creativity.  Because let’s face it, when it’s cold and dark outside, when you have no money, when you don’t have hardly any social things to do because you don’t have many friends in your city anymore, and meanwhile family half a continent away needs you and you don’t even have the money to just hop on a plane and go –

I mean, dark things come out of periods like that.  So I’ve taken notes for the future, but mostly I’ve let myself escape through video games, which I would argue are much more useful in times like these than movies, and possibly more than books.  In movies, you’re mostly passive.  In books you’re as involved as you let yourself be.  In video games, you are required to be involved.  You literally cannot progress if you do not engage.  So I’ve got 18 hours of Okami, about 3 hours of Costume Quest, and half an hour of Kirby’s Epic Yarn under my belt, all during a very short period of time.  I still have Mario Galaxy 2, Super Mario Bros. for Wii, and Chrono Trigger all going, and my ever beloved Sims (although haven’t played in a surprisingly long time.)

But most importantly, I have the new Professor Layton game all ready to be played when I go home for my mom’s surgery.  The importance of this is because every time I have a major life crisis, there is a new Professor Layton game to see me through it.  After my apartment was robbed, I played the first one.  Around the time we found out about my stepdad’s brain tumor last summer, I played the second. Now I will play the third when I go home for my mom’s surgery.

I’m hoping that because of the “rule of three”s, this means I am done for a while.  One one hand, I have had three major life crisis (robbery, stepdad brain tumor, Mom cancer), and on the other hand, three of my immediate family members have had cancer in a 6 month time spin.  That should give me, like, double protection from bad things for a while.

Coincidentally, the palm reading I did on myself just for fun two years ago continues to hold true.  The tarot card reading I had done by a professional at the Renfaire a couple months ago . . . does not.

[Also, before anyone feels like awkwardly avoiding my blog because they don't know what to say, so far all said diagnosed-family members are doing really well.  No impending deaths, just surgeries, chemotherapy, and lots of waiting rooms.]

Dec29

I took a break for the holidays

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I took a break for the holidays

It had to happen. Perhaps this weekend I’ll write a bit more in detail about my first holiday as hostess. I’ll do that right between taking down all my festive Christmas decorations and realizing that we’ve entered that time of year where I have nothing to look forward to and fall into an abject pit of frozen despair.

On the plus side, I survived the holidays, I got awesome gifts, the snow is beautiful, and after doing little other than cooking and reading for several days, I’m super motivated to organize/write/knit/sew/file/clean/exercise. Still no second job but I may go wandering around David Square in search of employment this weekend. Or I may ferret myself away and organize/write/knit/sew/file/clean/exercise because if there’s one thing my Kindle with it’s awesome pink case that has a built-in light is teaching me, it’s that people these days will read just about anything if there is love and suspense in it. Eesh.

Now, I must clamber through the snow to work. But fear not. Puppy snow pictures and videos coming soon! (And some Christmas pictures, but I didn’t take hardly any [with my awesome new point and shoot camera] and I’m pretty sure I look like I’m with child in a few of them, which means very few will probably see the light of the internet.)

Also, the other day I thought briefly about reviewing books on here, but then I realized most of my comments would be “man up and learn to write a novel that doesn’t rely on coincidences” and “WHERE HAVE ALL THE EDITORS GONE?” So I decided not to do that. You’re welcome.

Dec14

Income suggestion

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Income suggestion

My hunt for a second job is not going well. As it turns out, so many people are trying to find even just one job, that it makes job hunting far more difficult for those of us hunting for a second job that can be flexible around our first job.

But let’s not get started on the economy OR student loans, because both will just enrage me.

Instead, let’s talk about the thing I’ve been doing in the meantime, which is turning myself into a test subject. That’s right. See, I have the good fortune to be wedged in amidst a number of excellent colleges, all of which need people that they can ask inane questions, put through brain-cramping computer exercises, or force to define in only a couple of words their religious and world views.

So far I have participated in an online survey with BU which took me about 35 minutes and netted me $10, and three studies with Harvard which have taken a total of two hours (not including the commute, which isn’t that bad and gives me a chance to pretend I went to Harvard instead of Emerson) for a total of $30. Typical pay adds of to $10, with tests ranging from 30 minutes to an hour and a half. I’ve discovered they overestimate their test time lengths.

Not a solid solution to my financial woes by any means, but a creative one that puts a little drop in the bucket — I mean, that basically is my cab ride to the airport Friday morning . . . which is actually kind of depressing . . .

Was this a good idea I had? I don’t really seem to remember anymore . . .

Sep21

I’ve been neglecting a lot of things

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I’ve been neglecting a lot of things

Not my boyfriend or my dog, and not my job . . . but almost everything else.  I’ve been simultaneously too busy and too not busy . . . that makes no sense.  Migraines have returned with a vengeance.  There was a period of time where I was job hunting, but now my internship has been extended, so I’m job hunting still but on a longer time scale.  Health insurance is a bummer because it’s costing me more than I can actually afford, and my bad tooth got infected so now I have to get a root canal as well as two cavities filled — all with no dental insurance.  I’m trying to find time to go home for a weekend while also trying to work as much as possible.  Writing has fallen by the wayside due to a combination of self-imposed pressure to produce lots of publishable material quickly and . . . well, mostly just that.  I’ve been sewing and cleaning and cooking and researching all these crummy things that you suddenly have to deal with in adulthood that you never really were prepared for, even though you knew they were coming.

Anyway.  I’ll try to be better.  I had fallen into a routine I wasn’t happy with and now I’m doing my best to break the parts I don’t like and focus on the parts I do like.

For instance: every day when I get home from work, I take Nellie for a walk around the neighborhood.  Not only is this a chance for me and her both to get a bit of fresh air (I think part of my mental stunting lately is that I’m basically inside all day everyday: I wake up and go to work and then go straight home to take care of Nellie, so no running or long walks or even errands), but it’s enabling me to meet the neighbors — and their dogs.  She has a dog she’s particularly fond of named Bentley.  He’s a medium sized fuzzy white dog, not sure what kind, but very nice.

Also, to break up the routine, I’ve started taking Irish Step Dancing again.   My first class was last week, and I was embarrassingly bad and I think the teacher thinks I’m an idiot.  But it felt good to work out again for the first time in a long time, and it brought back such happy memories of my dance classes when I was in high school that I went ahead and enrolled for the 10-week course.  Of course, this was before I knew I’d be paying for a root canal and two cavities out of pocket, but perhaps it will be good for my mental health.

Aug8

Off of hiatus!

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Off of hiatus!

This blog had gone on a temporary hiatus, though I guess  I didn’t announce it.  Things just were too crazy between Jerry’s health stuff (he’s doing great and is now starting a year of oral chemotherapy to get what the surgery couldn’t of the brain tumor), being super busy and traveling for work, moving into my new apartment, and preparing for Frank’s birthday.

So as an introduction: Frank and I have moved into GORGEOUS first home together, part of a two family house.  It’s a HUGE place, two bedroom (one of which is our office), living room, dining room, giant eat-in kitchen, walk-in pantry, front porch, back porch, small yard, large foyer.  Hardwood floors, great paint job, a washing machine in the kitchen, and in a truly wonderful little neighborhood.  Our landlords, who live upstairs, are a wonderful family.

I’ve become insanely domestic since moving in.  Aside from having to work our butts off to get this place set up as quickly as possible.  We’ve managed to actually buy very little of our furniture, since we’ve collected quite a bit, Frank’s parents gave us some, and our workplace has a pretty awesome intraoffice exchange.

So aside from setting up home (we still aren’t totally done; my office is in shambles), doing laundry (which we line dry), applying for health insurance, and transferring all our accounts and addresses, I also decided I needed to do “once a month cooking.”  I’m trying to find the cheapest way to healthily feed Frank and myself, although I’m not doing full once a month cooking (we only have a freezer that’s so big), so essentially I just bought a giant amount of food, enough to feed us for over a month, and some of it’s frozen while some of it I cook fresh.  Anyway, it means I’m doing a LOT of cooking.

More on all of that as time passes, though.  I’m just trying to quickly bring everyone up to speed on things.  The new tag for my current and future domestics will be “The Somerhouse,” which is what I’ve named our current abode because it’s pretty.

Oh, also, I’m getting Frank a puppy for his birthday . . . so as if things weren’t already crazy busy . . . hurray.

More to come!