Thursday, March 27, 2008

Work / Life Balance....

.... has never been my best strength. One week and a half in to the new job, and it's clear that I'm not incorporating a regular work schedule into the rest of the things I want or need to do very well. The truth is that all those other things have pretty much dropped off the radar altogether. I'm not writing, exercising, cooking & eating healthy meals (last night's dinner was a Peanut Butter Cookie Luna Bar with some extra crunchy peanut butter smeared all over it), reading, putting away my laundry, vacuuming, socializing (much), or anything else -I'm just trying to get up on time, get ready, go to work, learn everything I need to learn, not mess up anything, and get home..... So far, I haven't been able to do much after work except watch TV.

I'm trying to give myself a little bit of a break. Hey, it's only week two and you all know how draining that disorienting feeling of a new job can be. On the other hand, the patterns & routines I set now might really stick and be even harder to break later when I feel more oriented and energetic.

The getting up an hour earlier and writing idea has not been working thus far.... OK - I'm going to shoot for half an hour instead and see how that goes. Baby steps, right?

Much love, people. Keep the pressure on. But not too much pressure 'cause you don't want me to get all rebellious!

PS - Today at work, I have training sessions until 3pm and then have to try again to do a full Oracle 10g install on my laptop, which I wasn't able to do yesterday. Wish me luck.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

As if we don't already have enough to worry about...

Seriously. Now we have to worry about flying stingrays smashing into our face? Now that's just too much. That just crosses some sort of line, don't you think? Not that I expect to be on a boat in stingray-infested waters any time soon, but still, for people like me that worry about pretty much everything (including highly unlikely events), this is not good news. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a link to the news story from this week.

Week One at The Big New Job went well. The training was more formal and organized than I expected, but I was alternately overwhelmed and confused and bored out of my mind. Pretty normal. Too soon to tell how it's really going to be, but I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Lastly, Happy Birthday MEG! Queen of all Sisters! Hail to MEG!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Damn You, Jason Castro!

Damn you for singing Hallelujah on American Idol Tuesday night. I vaguely remember hearing that song sometime before, but now I'm obsessed. I thought if I listened to it a couple of times I'd be able to let it go, so I got an exquisite 9-minute live version from Jeff Buckley's first album off iTunes, but I only want to listen to it more. Over and over and over and over again. When I'm not listening to it, I'm hearing it in my head. When it is done playing, I hit the back button and listen again. I'm making up errands so I can drive my car and listen to that stupid song since I have no other way of playing my iPod.

I've tried listening to something else. I've tried singing something else. I've tried watching TV. I've tried reading. I've tried cooking. I've tried eating. I've tried exercising. But no, it's been two days and I can't get that song out of my head. I'm obsessed and it's starting to get annoying. I woke up at 2am with that song in my head.

Damn you, Jason.

And damn you too for being so darn cute, but only 20 years old. I hate you now.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Just in the Nick of Time

I got a job, people! Let me tell you, it takes a load off my mind to know I'm going to have some regular money coming in. Yes, I will admit to some very mixed emotions, though -- I mean my days of total freedom are coming to an end.

I haven't been really writing at all lately, which is worrisome. So very, very, very easy to find even more excuses if I'm working full time. So, prepare to seriously kick my ass and keep me on track.

On another note, Meg & I are going to do the Breast Cancer 3-Day in September. I've sent pretty much everyone I know an invitation to donate, but if you are randomly coming across this page while scrolling through blogs, then hop on over right now to our Team Page and donate $10 for this important research. Or more than $10, of course, if you can!

My sister, Meg, was apparently thinking of fuel-efficient cars when she named our team The Hybrids. Click on this link right now and help us out. We are walking in honor of our mother, Amelia Dunkle Libby, who died at 50 after ten years of battling this disease and also for Luray Hodder, my sister's best friend from high school, who just died last year.