I relied upon my brain this week instead of jotting down my normal list of topics, and yes, I know I should know better than that.
But here's what I can recall of the list:
Mastering the art of the treadmill
Luke Skywalker's cousin
CSI on the storm door
Sometimes the world sucks
Books
MASTERING THE ART OF THE TREADMILL
I would like you to know that I've gone another week without falling off the treadmill and/or dropping my iPod on the treadmill. In fact, I have conquered the need to cling desperately to the grab-bars and can now walk freely on the treadmill as though I were simply on a moving sidewalk...a really fast moving sidewalk. This is better because now my arms aren't tired from holding on so hard. : ) I also broke down and bought more workout clothes. Unfortunately, the cute little yoga pants I bought are way too comfy and far more suited for laying on the couch than working out.
LUKE SKYWALKER'S COUSIN
It finally occurred to me, after who knows how many viewings of Star Wars, that Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru had no children of their own, or at least that we're told of. (Feel free to tell me otherwise, fellow Star Wars geeks). But it makes me wonder, why not? I mean, was Luke such a whiney brat that they didn't want to have to deal with another kid around? Were they afraid good old D.V. would coming looking for a custody visit? I'm thinking this is yet another sign of how things changed from the start of the series to the end. In the beginning, I think I always assumed that Luke was placed with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, an older couple who could have no children of their own. And yet, according to the new movies, they were very young and presumably fertile people who could have had their own kid(s).
Yes, these are the kinds of things that scamper about in my brain when I should be thinking of other things. (Also, I know that technically any child of Owen and Beru's would not really have been Luke's cousin as Owen is something more like his step uncle or something. Owen's father married Anakin's mother, which would make Anakin and Owen stepbrothers, in theory. So Owen's kids would really have been no relation to Luke, except by marriage...or something.) I don't know why, but I feel like Owen and Beru had kind of a cool story (well, except for the end of it, of course) that we don't know much about. I want to know why Owen agreed to take in the child of his stepmother's kid whom he didn't seem to particularly care for when they met initially.
CSI ON THE STORM DOOR
We have a storm door leading into our house that is basically one big sheet of glass in a metal frame. The other night I was fascinated to discover that you could see all the finger and palm prints on the door from our comings and goings. I then proceeded to entertain myself by distinguishing between full on palm prints, side of the hand prints and just plain old fingerprints. Yeah, I think maybe I need to cut back on my CSI intake.
SOMETIMES THE WORLD SUCKS
This is for you, Stacy G.! You're better off without them. : ) And rest assured, what goes around comes around, it always does. For those who don't know, Stacy just had a bad week job-wise (and she gave me permission to commiserate with her here). She worked really hard for some people, and they didn't appreciate it at all. In fact, they did pretty much the opposite of appreciating it. So everyone, please send positive and reassuring thoughts in her direction, m'kay? I always hate reminders that the world isn't fair (a sucky lesson that I'm forced to keep learning) and that bad things happen to people who don't deserve it.
BOOKS
Just finished a very funny one called Stupid and Contagious by Caprice Crane. I have absolutely no book news of my own which is a little frustrating. I have two unrelated books out and about, and yet, I have nothing to report! Ugh. Wait...actually, that's not true. I did send out the marketing plan for Bitter Pill (thanks for the edit, Stacy G.), and I'm now waiting to hear back. I'm hoping that the three weeks it took me to find time to write it all down hasn't caused the publisher to forget about me. Eeek! Hopefully, there will be something official to report soon.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
*Insert cool entry title here*
So, in order to be able to remember what the heck I wanted to write about here, I've started keeping a list in my planner. That means, generally speaking, you're going to get short little blurbs of nonsensical stuff here instead of a complete entry...Oh, well. What's funny is that the list looks completely ridiculous and would make no sense to anyone else, and yet apparently out of some fear that my life is so fabulously interesting that people wouldn't be able to resist snooping, I cover the list with an inconspicuous post-it note. Like, "Oh, no, there's nothing written on this planner page, just a post it note. Just keeping flipping pages to get to the good stuff."
Here's what my list says for this week:
Parking garage
Big windows
Treadmill incident
Like Monk--pen washing
PARKING GARAGE
At my new day job, there's a parking garage, which is typically a nice thing. Except for the birds that tend to make a home there. Flying and flapping overhead, which isn't very far overhead unfortunately because of the low ceilings. *shudder* Anyway, there's a dead bird there that obviously got hit by a car or died and then got run over a car. It's basically just feathers and a bright yellow beak now, but for some reason, I'm both completely freaked out by it and drawn to it at the same time. Gross, huh? Like I'll be walking into work, not thinking and I'll step on a leaf or something and think, "Oh, sh*t, I just stepped on that stupid dead bird." But I didn't. At least not yet. And then when I remember to look for it, I'm obssessed with finding in it on the floor, not just so I won't step on it but also because I'm curious about exactly how long maintenance will just leave it there.
BIG WINDOWS
On a related note, I now have big windows in my cubicle that overlook the forest preserve behind the company. Very nice! Plus, I can actually verify the weather before stepping outside. However, I am informed that this pleasing view does have its downside--apparently when the weather gets cooler, birds smack into the windows all the time. Great. Something to look forward to. I did, however, try to explain this to my new boss but it came out like this, "I have a big bird phobia." It probably sounded like this, "I have a Big Bird phobia." As in the Sesame Street character. *sigh*
TREADMILL INCIDENT
We joined the neighborhood gym a few weeks ago and I finally worked up the nerve to go in. I usually hate gyms. They're always full of people who don't actually need to be there, the really skinny people and the intimidating musclebound weightlifters. I want to go to Average Joe's Gym, where you can look like a total spaz on the equipment and no one cares or even really notices. The gym near my house, fortunately, is full of normal people of all shapes and sizes, and while there are body builders there, they aren't the intimidating, grunting, dropping weights on the floor sort. (In fact, there are rules against both grunting and dropping weights--yea for the gym near my house!)
But none of this kept people from staring at me when, on my second trip to the gym this week (I went three times!!!), my iPod fell out of its little holder at my waist, hit the treamill and flew off backwards. Um, yeah. In my panic, I kind of forgot I was on a moving sidewalk, essentially, and tried to bend over to pick it up and nearly flew off myself. In my clutziness, however, I managed to hit the stop button on the treadmill quite accidentally and therefore saved myself major embarrasment. I did, however, experience minor embarrassment when the edge of my shoe treads rubbed against the still moving belt and made a really loud noise. And I felt compelled to break the unspoken gym rule and say something aloud to everyone. It's true, no one talks to anyone else and no one looks at anyone else either. This is a problem for me as a natural people-watcher. Pretty soon, I'm not only going to be the weird treadmill girl, I'm also going to be known as the girl who stares. Ugh.
But I'm finding that I like going on the treadmill. I turn on the iPod and tune everything else out. It's peaceful, makes my brain go blank for awhile. Love that! : ) So, I'm going to try to go three times a week or so.
LIKE MONK--PEN WASHING
As I've mentioned before, if I'm not careful, I can lean a little into the land of hypochondria and obsessive compulsive disorder. This week, I had to shake hands with a person who had this totally phlegmy cough and it completely grossed me out. But I had no choice but to shake hands and then watch as the person continued to cough phlegmily into their hands. *full body shudder* I made sure not to touch my face or anything until I could wash my hands. Unfortunately, though, before I could wash my hands, I was forced to use my favorite pen to write something down. So, after I scoured my hands, I was confronted with the issue of my pen. What to do? The phlegmy germs that were once on my hands were now on my pen. Hmm. Logic (and OCD) suggests getting rid of this perfectly good pen as it is clearly tainted and no longer good for anything. However, it is a favorite pen and those are hard to come by. So, what did I do? I whipped out the travel size bottle of hand sanitizer from my bag and squirted a blob of it on a napkin and then, after carefully wrapping the pen in the napkin without touching the pen itself, I cleaned it off with the hand sanitizer-soaked napkin. Yeah. I know. Craaaaazy. The worst part is that, later, a perfectly normal, non-sick person asked to borrow my pen and I allowed it. And then thought about sanitizing the pen again...just in case. It's a slippery slope, folks!
: ) More later...Hope to have some "official book news soon." Bitter Pill is out and about with a publisher and I've been asked for a marketing plan, which I've written and Stacy G. is reviewing for me. So hopefully, I'll get that sent out soon!
Here's what my list says for this week:
Parking garage
Big windows
Treadmill incident
Like Monk--pen washing
PARKING GARAGE
At my new day job, there's a parking garage, which is typically a nice thing. Except for the birds that tend to make a home there. Flying and flapping overhead, which isn't very far overhead unfortunately because of the low ceilings. *shudder* Anyway, there's a dead bird there that obviously got hit by a car or died and then got run over a car. It's basically just feathers and a bright yellow beak now, but for some reason, I'm both completely freaked out by it and drawn to it at the same time. Gross, huh? Like I'll be walking into work, not thinking and I'll step on a leaf or something and think, "Oh, sh*t, I just stepped on that stupid dead bird." But I didn't. At least not yet. And then when I remember to look for it, I'm obssessed with finding in it on the floor, not just so I won't step on it but also because I'm curious about exactly how long maintenance will just leave it there.
BIG WINDOWS
On a related note, I now have big windows in my cubicle that overlook the forest preserve behind the company. Very nice! Plus, I can actually verify the weather before stepping outside. However, I am informed that this pleasing view does have its downside--apparently when the weather gets cooler, birds smack into the windows all the time. Great. Something to look forward to. I did, however, try to explain this to my new boss but it came out like this, "I have a big bird phobia." It probably sounded like this, "I have a Big Bird phobia." As in the Sesame Street character. *sigh*
TREADMILL INCIDENT
We joined the neighborhood gym a few weeks ago and I finally worked up the nerve to go in. I usually hate gyms. They're always full of people who don't actually need to be there, the really skinny people and the intimidating musclebound weightlifters. I want to go to Average Joe's Gym, where you can look like a total spaz on the equipment and no one cares or even really notices. The gym near my house, fortunately, is full of normal people of all shapes and sizes, and while there are body builders there, they aren't the intimidating, grunting, dropping weights on the floor sort. (In fact, there are rules against both grunting and dropping weights--yea for the gym near my house!)
But none of this kept people from staring at me when, on my second trip to the gym this week (I went three times!!!), my iPod fell out of its little holder at my waist, hit the treamill and flew off backwards. Um, yeah. In my panic, I kind of forgot I was on a moving sidewalk, essentially, and tried to bend over to pick it up and nearly flew off myself. In my clutziness, however, I managed to hit the stop button on the treadmill quite accidentally and therefore saved myself major embarrasment. I did, however, experience minor embarrassment when the edge of my shoe treads rubbed against the still moving belt and made a really loud noise. And I felt compelled to break the unspoken gym rule and say something aloud to everyone. It's true, no one talks to anyone else and no one looks at anyone else either. This is a problem for me as a natural people-watcher. Pretty soon, I'm not only going to be the weird treadmill girl, I'm also going to be known as the girl who stares. Ugh.
But I'm finding that I like going on the treadmill. I turn on the iPod and tune everything else out. It's peaceful, makes my brain go blank for awhile. Love that! : ) So, I'm going to try to go three times a week or so.
LIKE MONK--PEN WASHING
As I've mentioned before, if I'm not careful, I can lean a little into the land of hypochondria and obsessive compulsive disorder. This week, I had to shake hands with a person who had this totally phlegmy cough and it completely grossed me out. But I had no choice but to shake hands and then watch as the person continued to cough phlegmily into their hands. *full body shudder* I made sure not to touch my face or anything until I could wash my hands. Unfortunately, though, before I could wash my hands, I was forced to use my favorite pen to write something down. So, after I scoured my hands, I was confronted with the issue of my pen. What to do? The phlegmy germs that were once on my hands were now on my pen. Hmm. Logic (and OCD) suggests getting rid of this perfectly good pen as it is clearly tainted and no longer good for anything. However, it is a favorite pen and those are hard to come by. So, what did I do? I whipped out the travel size bottle of hand sanitizer from my bag and squirted a blob of it on a napkin and then, after carefully wrapping the pen in the napkin without touching the pen itself, I cleaned it off with the hand sanitizer-soaked napkin. Yeah. I know. Craaaaazy. The worst part is that, later, a perfectly normal, non-sick person asked to borrow my pen and I allowed it. And then thought about sanitizing the pen again...just in case. It's a slippery slope, folks!
: ) More later...Hope to have some "official book news soon." Bitter Pill is out and about with a publisher and I've been asked for a marketing plan, which I've written and Stacy G. is reviewing for me. So hopefully, I'll get that sent out soon!
Sunday, August 13, 2006
More B.S.
I read an interview with Bryan Singer (creator of House, Superman Returns, etc.) in which someone asked him what part of the movie making business he was best at. He said casting even though he hated it. When the interviewer asked why, he said that the only thing harder than rejecting people all day long is being rejected yourself.
Initially, I kind of thought that was crap. I mean, as a writer, I'm quite familiar with rejection. And being rejected sucks. Never have I thought that it was hard on the people doing the rejecting.
But then on Friday, I went to an ad agency for my day job. They had several models come in to meet us so we could try to find the look we wanted. But you know, it was hard to meet all of them and know that even with their exceptional beauty (talk about a bad self-esteem day, these women were gorgeous!) not all of them would be hired. And it was hard not to want to hire someone because I liked her.
So, okay, now I know what he's talking about. You can like someone, and that has nothing to do with why you have to reject them. It really isn't personal. It just feels like it on the rejecting side.
Hmmm. Learning new things. Who'd've thought it? : )
Initially, I kind of thought that was crap. I mean, as a writer, I'm quite familiar with rejection. And being rejected sucks. Never have I thought that it was hard on the people doing the rejecting.
But then on Friday, I went to an ad agency for my day job. They had several models come in to meet us so we could try to find the look we wanted. But you know, it was hard to meet all of them and know that even with their exceptional beauty (talk about a bad self-esteem day, these women were gorgeous!) not all of them would be hired. And it was hard not to want to hire someone because I liked her.
So, okay, now I know what he's talking about. You can like someone, and that has nothing to do with why you have to reject them. It really isn't personal. It just feels like it on the rejecting side.
Hmmm. Learning new things. Who'd've thought it? : )
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Hey, it's me!
MORNINGS MAKE ME STUPID.
Seriously, getting up early is damaging my brain cells or something. Tonight, after running in to Borders to pick up a book (okay, two--I'm so going to have to skip lunch or try to get a freebie for a few days to make that up), I found myself stopping in front of the doors to wait for them to automatically open--you know, like at the grocery store and Target? Only Borders doors don't do that. So, I'm the moron standing in front of doors that require an actual push to move them. I'd have been waiting a long time had my brain not finally kicked in.
READER EMAILS
I got the nicest email yesterday from someone who read my book. It really brightened my evening yesterday and my whole day today. It means so much to get emails like those because sometimes it feels like we're writing in a vacuum ("But it's a little dark inside this here Hoover." Ha, see, I'm getting slaphappy because I should already be sleeping!), entertaining nobody but ourselves. So, next time you finish a book that you really liked and the author lists a web address or email, contact him or her. If only to say "I liked it and keep up the good work." You don't know how crappy a day that person is having and what difference a few little words can make! : )
More later...
: )
Seriously, getting up early is damaging my brain cells or something. Tonight, after running in to Borders to pick up a book (okay, two--I'm so going to have to skip lunch or try to get a freebie for a few days to make that up), I found myself stopping in front of the doors to wait for them to automatically open--you know, like at the grocery store and Target? Only Borders doors don't do that. So, I'm the moron standing in front of doors that require an actual push to move them. I'd have been waiting a long time had my brain not finally kicked in.
READER EMAILS
I got the nicest email yesterday from someone who read my book. It really brightened my evening yesterday and my whole day today. It means so much to get emails like those because sometimes it feels like we're writing in a vacuum ("But it's a little dark inside this here Hoover." Ha, see, I'm getting slaphappy because I should already be sleeping!), entertaining nobody but ourselves. So, next time you finish a book that you really liked and the author lists a web address or email, contact him or her. If only to say "I liked it and keep up the good work." You don't know how crappy a day that person is having and what difference a few little words can make! : )
More later...
: )
Sunday, August 06, 2006
"Giraffes are the new duck."
The title of this entry comes from something my friend Deb said yesterday at a baby shower, and it totally cracked me up. So I thought I'd share. It was relating to the sudden dominance of giraffes on baby clothing and accessories over the previously unchallenged reign of the duck. Hee. : )
It's hard for me to write during the week with working, at least until I get back into the swing of things. So you're probably going to get a long rambly entry a couple of times a week. : )
THE WEEKEND OF EMERGENCIES
It was a hectic weekend here at the Klemstein residence. Late Friday night, we had to take Joe into the emergency vet office because he'd broken one of his toenails (a fairly common event, thanks to his thyroid condition) but this time he didn't want to put any weight on his foot. So we brought him in to be checked out and got done at about 1:00 a.m. or so. That's after getting up at six a.m. that morning. Saturday I was gone at a baby shower and came home to get a message that my mother-in-law had been taken to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy--but she's doing okay now! Later last night, after grabbing a quick bite to eat, my husband had an allergic reaction to something, and his eyelid puffed up! So I made a quick run to the store to stock up on Benadryl.
EARLY MORNINGS
So, as I said before, I like being up early in the morning, just not getting up. It's neat to be in my writing room with the sun just coming in, landing on the carpet in pale squares. But the other cool part, which I'd never thought about, is that I'm getting to work early enough that I don't have to worry about being late. That's a huge stress reliever. I don't have to worry about hitting the lights just right or getting stuck behind someone slow. And on Friday...I made it to work in 32 minutes. Awesome.
VALPO
My sister is looking at colleges. She is the age now I was when I was starting my freshman year in college (they changed the cutoff dates for starting school in the thirteen years between us). It just make me feels nostalgic and sort of homesick. I'm going to go with her to visit Valpo, and I'm going to try not to be pushy about it. : ) But I just loved it so much. I remember my first visit to Valpo very clearly. It was in the fall. I burned my tongue on hot chocolate I got at the Chapel. I was wearing one of those multi-colored rugby shirts that were popular back then, and as it was one of my favorites, it featured prominently in pictures of the next couple of years. My jeans were Levis, of course, because that's what they were wearing on 90210. I wore a long wool trench coat and leather boots that, after much loving use, would disintegrate a year or so later and one of the sole nails would actually puncture my foot while I was wearing them. That would require Julie, the one with a much steadier hand and stronger stomach, to use tweezers and a needle to remove the fabric of my sock that the nail punched into my heel. Yeah, okay, that's probably a little gross, but looking back on it, it strikes me as one of the many memories that make us--my college friends and I--family, you know?
This weekend, I was at a baby shower for a college friend and a baptism for the son of a couple of college friends, and at both events, I got to hang out with more college friends. They're all part of my family, and any place, any school that can do that is a good one in my book.
SPEAKING OF BOOKS
How cool is this? On my first day at my new job, they took me out to lunch, and a few of us started talking about books. The next day, I came in and found one of the mentioned books--one that I'd said I'd like to read--on my desk. One of the women I will be working with brought it in for me. How nice is that? : ) I was just so excited and touched by the gesture.
It's called The Jane Austen Book Club and I'm really enjoying it so far. I also just bought Sloppy Firsts, which is one of those books that was allegedly copied in that whole plagiarism thing with the Harvard grad. I was curious! : )
More later!!!
It's hard for me to write during the week with working, at least until I get back into the swing of things. So you're probably going to get a long rambly entry a couple of times a week. : )
THE WEEKEND OF EMERGENCIES
It was a hectic weekend here at the Klemstein residence. Late Friday night, we had to take Joe into the emergency vet office because he'd broken one of his toenails (a fairly common event, thanks to his thyroid condition) but this time he didn't want to put any weight on his foot. So we brought him in to be checked out and got done at about 1:00 a.m. or so. That's after getting up at six a.m. that morning. Saturday I was gone at a baby shower and came home to get a message that my mother-in-law had been taken to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy--but she's doing okay now! Later last night, after grabbing a quick bite to eat, my husband had an allergic reaction to something, and his eyelid puffed up! So I made a quick run to the store to stock up on Benadryl.
EARLY MORNINGS
So, as I said before, I like being up early in the morning, just not getting up. It's neat to be in my writing room with the sun just coming in, landing on the carpet in pale squares. But the other cool part, which I'd never thought about, is that I'm getting to work early enough that I don't have to worry about being late. That's a huge stress reliever. I don't have to worry about hitting the lights just right or getting stuck behind someone slow. And on Friday...I made it to work in 32 minutes. Awesome.
VALPO
My sister is looking at colleges. She is the age now I was when I was starting my freshman year in college (they changed the cutoff dates for starting school in the thirteen years between us). It just make me feels nostalgic and sort of homesick. I'm going to go with her to visit Valpo, and I'm going to try not to be pushy about it. : ) But I just loved it so much. I remember my first visit to Valpo very clearly. It was in the fall. I burned my tongue on hot chocolate I got at the Chapel. I was wearing one of those multi-colored rugby shirts that were popular back then, and as it was one of my favorites, it featured prominently in pictures of the next couple of years. My jeans were Levis, of course, because that's what they were wearing on 90210. I wore a long wool trench coat and leather boots that, after much loving use, would disintegrate a year or so later and one of the sole nails would actually puncture my foot while I was wearing them. That would require Julie, the one with a much steadier hand and stronger stomach, to use tweezers and a needle to remove the fabric of my sock that the nail punched into my heel. Yeah, okay, that's probably a little gross, but looking back on it, it strikes me as one of the many memories that make us--my college friends and I--family, you know?
This weekend, I was at a baby shower for a college friend and a baptism for the son of a couple of college friends, and at both events, I got to hang out with more college friends. They're all part of my family, and any place, any school that can do that is a good one in my book.
SPEAKING OF BOOKS
How cool is this? On my first day at my new job, they took me out to lunch, and a few of us started talking about books. The next day, I came in and found one of the mentioned books--one that I'd said I'd like to read--on my desk. One of the women I will be working with brought it in for me. How nice is that? : ) I was just so excited and touched by the gesture.
It's called The Jane Austen Book Club and I'm really enjoying it so far. I also just bought Sloppy Firsts, which is one of those books that was allegedly copied in that whole plagiarism thing with the Harvard grad. I was curious! : )
More later!!!
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