There she goes again...

I think my current blog paralysis stems from the fact that I just got too ambitious and spread myself too darn thin. I think splitting Growing Up into three blogs was a mistake, for one thing. I did it thinking I could expand on my paid adverblogging opportunities, but the fact is, I get burned out pretty quickly doing sponsored posts on just the one blog. Plus it makes me neglect my novel in favor of paid writing (such as it is). And then I just get sick of blogging altogether and go silent for days or weeks on end. That won't do, children. That won't do at all.

Since I sold my punk puppy sweater, I'm feeling inspired to get back on track trying to sell my knitting and other crafty pursuits. My Etsy shop needs a major overhaul, though. Today I spent my free time studying up on shop improvement tips and, better yet, digital photography tips, and I think I finally understand how to take the pretty, pretty pictures that are so prominent over there. I just need to whip myself up a light box and take some practice pictures.

I'm going to be mulling all of this over this weekend. I think it's time for a major overhaul of my entire web "presence" once again. Or at least streamlining it so I don't feel so scattered. I don't know. I just know I've gotta change something.

Anyway. I'm out for the weekend. Have a good one, folks.

Previously on Planet Earth...

I'm slowly -- oh so very slowly, because I'm doing it all from scratch, and it's a learning process -- building a new template for this blog. It's mostly for fun, and to teach myself what I need to know about building blogger templates that I didn't know five years ago, and so it's being done in my spare time, which doesn't happen very often. Maybe I'll finish it next month. Maybe I'll finish it next year. But I'm working on it, and when it's done, I'll be proud. For about two weeks until I get bored with it and decide to redo it all over again. Because that's how I roll.

Fizzgigg has a hole in his leg again. I don't know if I ever mentioned the first hole here, but last fall a sore on his front right elbow turned into a gaping, open hole through which you could actually see bone. It looks even grosser than it sounds, believe me. We bandaged it, we kept various ointments on it, we spent a large sum to have the vet sew it up only to have it open up again after the stitches came out, and finally, it closed up on its own and completely healed. And now, almost overnight, it's back. I got another tube from the vet of the post-op ointment that we were putting on it when it healed the last time, and we're keeping it clean and covered and hoping for the best. And Fizzgigg acts like it's the most traumatic thing ever when we change his bandage. This from a dog who was apparently kicked around before we got him, and who has fallen down stairs and chewed his own leg almost to the bone and broken limbs and once had a cat very nearly claw his eyeball out. He's a tough little guy, but man, he hates having to lie still and have his bandage changed.

He hasn't been in the greatest health lately, either. His thyroid is whacked out, and he's lost so much hair and weight that if you saw him and didn't know any better, you'd think we were like those scumbags on Animal Precinct who never feed or take care of their animals. Of course, once you saw his cushy digs, his food bowl that's constantly filled with expensive organic gluten-free dog food, his tiny sweater wardrobe and all of his various vitamins and meds, I'm pretty confident you'd know better. That dog lives better than we do. But he deserves it, because, see above. He's had a rough little life. I just wish we could get him healthy and keep him there.

Speaking of tiny sweaters, I finally sold one. Now I just have to make it. So that's what I'll be doing with my weekend. I need to find better beads than the one I used on Fizz's sweater, though, preferably ones that the silver doesn't rub off of when they come in contact with the yarn.

And that's what's happening in my world. Here's some of what happened elsewhere while I was resting my brain and morphing into a YouTube blog:

Remember when I mentioned that Tor was giving away free e-books in exchange for signing up to their newsletter? Apparently, this is just phase one in their re-branding project. The next phase will reportedly launch them into the social networking stratosphere and also offer original short fiction and non-fiction on the web site. The Nielsen Hayden's tend to be pretty awesome, so I expect good things from just about anything they put their collective hand to.

Did you know that George Romero made a new zombie movie? I sure didn't, and I'm not sure how I missed it. Speaking of zombie movies, did I ever mention Fido? It's no Sean of the Dead, as zombie comedies go, but it has its moments, some of which are surprisingly poignant.

The Indiana Jones trailer has already been all over the internet, but it's squee-worthy enough to post again.

Ditto the fact that CBS is offering free streaming videos of the entire run of Star Trek: TOS.

And that's all I've got. Hasta, pasta.

"But don't talk back to Dawth Vadew, 'cause he'll getcha!"

Meet the most adorable Star Wars geek ever:

Ennui and YouTube go together like a 'burger and fries. Mmm, fries.

Sometimes I get burned out on putting out (creatively, that is) to the point that just the thought of writing or blogging another word almost causes physical pain. In those times, it's generally best if I take a break for a few days and just absorb other people's output. This week has been one of those times.

Of course, it doesn't help that I've felt fairly crappy for most of the week. I didn't catch the plague, thank goodness. I think my problem has just been a great big stew of reacting to the dismal weather, allergy headaches, indigestion and not enough sleep to be able to take those things in stride. I mean, cold, wet weather pretty much makes me want to do nothing but sleep, eat and read anyway, without figuring sleep deprivation and physical ailments into the equation.

Today I'm no less useless than I have been all week, and my short attention span has been kept occupied by YouTube hilarity and other forms of video wackiness all day. To wit:



and



See also:

The Guild: Episode 7

and

The Clooney who Came to Dinner

and also

Big Girl, You Are Beautiful

and finally

Bad Day at the Office.

And that's about as much blogging as I can stomach for now. Hopefully by Monday I'll be ready to start putting out (creatively! Sheesh!) once again.

Happy weekend, everybody.

Good news for creepy people!

Because, apparently, they need love too. (contains NSFW language)



Hee.

I sure am glad I got that flu shot. >:|

I'm having one of those cranky-sleepy-funky Super ADD days wherein I can barely keep my eyes open, let alone focus on anything for more than two minutes at a time. Good times all around. I don't know why I feel so tired--I got plenty of sleep last night, or at least no less than I usually get. I really, really hope this isn't a sign that I'm coming down with the ubiqui-flu that it seems everyone's getting these days. Like I hope the bought of chills I had earlier also isn't a sign.

I'm downing Airborne (pink grapefruit flavor! Yum) and plugging along, but nothing non-essential is going to get done today.

Boo.

In case you need another reason to grock Spock

Leonard Nimoy appeared on the Colbert Report recently to promote his new photography book celebrating beauty in women of all shapes and sizes. Because the standards set by Hollywood culture and the fashion industry are, in a word, illogical.

Yes, I had to go there.

Thursday Thirteen: 'Shipper edition

Thirteen Most Romantic and/or Heartwrenchingly Tragic TV Couples (a.k.a. the main reasons I love television) 1. Buffy & Angel - Not my favorite, but even I can't argue that their Season 2 arc takes the crown in both categories. 2. Buffy & Spike - I know a lot of people would raise an eyebrow at calling this paring "romantic," but they had their sweet moments, especially in Season 7. At any rate, even at their worst I couldn't stand not to see them together. 3. Willow & Oz - Most people would say Willow & Tara, but that pretty much goes without saying, and that's the only reason I'm going with Oz instead. I still can't watch the end of Wild at Heart without my heart breaking for Willow. 4. Zoe & Wash (this whole list won't be Whedonverse characters, I promise...although it easily could be; nobody does romance and pain like Joss) - Of course Whedon couldn't let a happily married, functional, fun and sexy couple stand. From the moment we realized how well they got along and truly loved each other, we should have known that one of them was doomed. 5. Wesley & Frillyria - As horrible as Fred's death was, and as heartbreaking as it was for Wesley, I just never really got into their romance, and I never really cared that much for Fred. That is, until her soul was burned out of her body and replaced by a demon goddess who turned out to be completely awesome. Wesley's anguish at having to be the keeper of the thing that both killed the woman he loved and looked like her was gutwrenching to observe, but none of it was as heartbreaking as watching some sliver of humanity surface in Illyria, causing her sincere grief as Wesley died in her arms. Excuse me, I have something in my eye. There. Moving on... 6. John Chricton & Aryn Sun - Everybody's favorite leather-clad interspecies couple were all over the romance map, and I loved following them every step of the way--even the parts that broke my heart. And then they got a happy ending. Nobody can say they didn't earn it. 7. Mulder & Scully - The last few seasons kind of fell apart, but their reunion won back some brownie points from me. Even so, it was the deep, deep regard and love that the OBVIOUSLY felt for each other before we even had a hint that they had ever acted on it that constantly made me swoon. 8. Jack Devereaux and Jennifer Horton - If you watched daytime television in the late '80s, then I probably don't need to explain this one to you. These two were totally my teenage self's Spuffy. 9. Mark Green Doug Ross (der) & Carol Hathaway - Two words: surprise ending. Made me cry. 10. Chandler & Monica - When these two hooked up I was almost as weirded out over it as they were. But it didn't take long to realize that they made total sense. And their proposal scene was hands down one of the best proposals ever seen on television. 11. The Doctor & Rose Tyler - Nine or Ten. Both versions had their own special chemistry with Rose, and it broke my heart and left me in tears when each of them had to say goodbye. 12. Lois & Clark - Okay, after they got married it kind of degenerated into corny fluff, but up until then this was one of the most romantic pairings ever. My early-twenty-something self's Spuffy. 13. D'Argo & Chiana - Another pairing that I didn't expect, but once they got together I liked it--at least while it lasted. But even if their relationship died, their love for each other stuck until the very end. Chiana's grief at having to leave D'argo behind to face certain death was nearly matched by my own.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Joy for the season!

The TV season, that is, which is not completely shot to Hades by the writer's strike. Ausiello is keeping a frequently updated chart of when to expect new episodes for all our favorite shows.

The good news: Battlestar Galactica will kick off ten new episodes in April, and LOST will finish out its season. Supernatural will also be shooting new episodes to air late spring. Yay!

The bad: Heroes is on hiatus until next fall. Boo.

ADDlepated

I spent the better part of today setting up and organizing my new Wikispace. See, I've been on the verge of a bit of an ADD meltdown lately, coming up with one neat idea (at least, neat to me) after another that I IN NO WAY have time to do, getting overwhelmed and feeling like since I don't have time for new things I don't have time for ANYTHING, because I have no filter sometimes when it comes to deciding what's the most worthy of my time at a given moment. Instead of freaking out and doing something stupid and potentially publicly humiliating (again), I managed to step back, take a deep breath, and experiment with ways to track my ideas so that they can leave me alone and let me get on with my life until I have time for them.

I started out with multiple Tada Lists for every potential project that's been nagging at me, but the to do list structure made me feel pressured and wasn't helping at all with the prioritization part. From there I clicked on over to Back Pack, a promised "information organizer." Eureka! This was exactly what I was looking for! I opened an account and started dumping my brain into it right away, but then I discovered it only had room for so much of my brain unless I wanted to pay a monthly fee. Bummer.

Really, said fee was pretty reasonable ($5/month for up to 25 pages) for such an awesome service; but if you read my personal finance blog, you already know I'm cheap frugal. So I hunted around for a free version.

After checking out several Wiki-type sites, one of which is exactly the same platform used by Wikipedia, and most of which confused the poo out of me, I stumbled upon Wiki Spaces. It's just as easy to use as Back Pack, and you get to create an unlimited (up to 10MB) amount of pages for the low, low price of FREE! And we have a winner.

I actually only set up what's there so far in less than half an hour. The basic idea here is that when I get an idea for a project, story, article, new blog, whatever, I add it to the list on the main page, and then as those ideas start to flesh out I can give them their very own page for brainstorming, etc. The big hope is that A) once I get these ideas down, they'll shut up and leave me alone so I can work on what actually needs doing, B) fleshing them out in this manner will help me decide which are worth doing, and C) new toy! Shiny!

At any rate, whether it works in the long run, it's gotten me down off the ledge for the time being. And I'm feeling much better now, thanks.

TVBFT: Boys of LOST, 3rd in series

James "Sawyer" Ford
Con man. Crook. All around bad boy.
Broken.

Monday Memeage: Blog Meme Deluxe

This is an old meme I found trolling Google.

Ten Favorites

Favorite Color: Depends.
Favorite Food: Also depends. If I can pick an entire ethnic group's cooking, I'd have to go with Asian.
Favorite Month: October.
Favorite Song: Depends some more. I'm not really one for committing to favorites.
Favorite Movie: Standby answer: Empire Strikes Back
Favorite Sport: Thumb wrestling
Favorite Season: Autumn
Favorite Day of the week: Saturday
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Half Baked
Favorite Time of Day: Bedtime

9 CURRENTS

Current Mood: Hungry
Current Taste: Lotiony
Current Clothes: Gray trousers, polka dot shirt, pink cardigan, black mary janes
Current Desktop: The Bauhaus building in Dauchau, Germany. Also, messy.



Current Toenail Color: chipped, mostly bare and in desperate need of a pedi
Current Time: 11:25 AM
Current Surroundings: Work cubby
Current Thoughts: I'm hungry. Man, this meme is long. My back hurts. Oh, hey, my foot's asleep. I'm hungry.

8 FIRSTS

First Best Friend: Meredith...something. I called her Mer-mer. I was two.
First Kiss: Dusty Rhodes in the bowling alley nursery. Unless you mean adult kiss, then it's my husband at the end of our third date.
First Screen Name: harley_quinn
First Pet: Patches (cat), Prissy (miniature poodle) and Ginger (German Shepherd) were all around when I was born. The first animal that was entirely my responsibility, not a fish, and not a family pet was my budgie, Polly, handed down from my grandma when I was nine. She died tragically the same day my grandma did. :(
First Piercing: My ears, on my thirteenth birthday, were my first and only piercing.
First Crush: Luke Skywalker
First CD: Uh... heck if I know. First one I can recall buying was Sarah McLachlan's Surfacing.

7 LASTS

Last Cigarette: I tried a cigarette once. Once was enough.
Last Drink: Sam Adams Boston Lager, last night after supper.
Last Car Ride: To work this morning.
Last Kiss: Last night at bedtime.
Last Movie Seen: Cloverfield
Last Phone Call: My husband, with a grocery list.
Last CD Played: Muse - Black Holes & Revelations

6 HAVE YOU EVERS

Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Guy/Girl Friends: I married my best friend. But we weren't friends yet when we started going out, so that probably doesn't count. So then, no, but I did crush on a couple of them pretty hard.
Have You Ever Broken the Law: Who's asking?
Have You Ever Been Arrested: No.
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: Yes.
Have You Ever Been on TV: Yes.
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: No.

5 THINGS

Thing You're Wearing: My wedding ring.
Thing You've Done Today: Pilates.
Thing You Can Hear Right Now: The electronic hum of a dozen or so computers and printers, and occasional key tapping. My boss digging through his stuff.
Thing You Can't Live Without: God.
Thing You Do When You're Bored: Dream up stories to amuse myself. Fidget.

4 PLACES YOU'VE BEEN TODAY

My apartment
My gym
My car
My office

3 PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL ANYTHING TO

My husband
Tess
Lisa

2 CHOICES

Black or White: Black
Hot or Cold: Depends on the weather.

1 THING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:

Finish my novel.

Fill out some forms.

These are worth your five minutes:

Firefly Season 2 - this one is gathering fan demographics and testing the feasibility of a possible "on demand" independent production of everybody's favorite unjustly canceled space cowboy show. Shiny!

Get free e-books from Tor--including Scalzi's Old Man's War--just by signing up to their newsletter.

In completely unrelated news, todays woot! offering is a pretty decent 1GB mp3 player for under $10. I just ordered two of them. Woot!

But before I go...

I think I've got enough nephews now to assign them all Borg designations. So from henceforth they shall be referred to in the blogosphere as 1 of 5, 2 of 5, and so on.

Yes, that's probably the nerdiest thing I'll write all day.

But mostly downs.

This week has chock-full of ups and downs. It started with the birth of my new nephew (number 5!), and will end with Fizzgigg getting tested for hyperthyroidism--and possibly thyroid cancer. I'm trying not to think too much about that last part until and unless it becomes absolutely necessary.

Add to that the focus issues I've been having, and the overwhelmingly-even-under-normal-conditions huge project I got handed this week, and you can see that even if I had TIME to blog for fun, I'm not exactly feeling up to it. So I hope you'll excuse me a brief absence from this space. I'm sure you will. I know y'all really just come here for the pretty.

TVBFT: Boys of LOST, 2nd in series

CHARLIE PACE
One hit wonder. Hero. Dead now.
...or IS he????



Image credit: Moldova

LOST really is a good name for this show.

It's back, and I'm more confused about what the heck is going on than ever. But there were plenty of moments to love, and a whole new mystery to not get any real answers about, and I'm still totally JJ's bitch.

In other news from the Slusho-verse, we met up with a friend of Husband's to see Cloverfield again this weekend. This time, I made Husband stop at a drug store so I could get some Bonine to take before the movie started. Also this time, I tossed my Otis Spunkmeyer a third of the way through. I'll spare you most of the details, other than to say I tried to make it to the bathroom first, but didn't quite. The custodial crew was overjoyed with me, as you can well imagine.

I'm not sure whether the moral of this story is that Bonine doesn't do a dadgum thing for shaky-cam sickness, or that you shouldn't have coffee and a cookie right before going to endure a shaky-cam movie, or both. But if we try to see it a third time, I'm bringing along a barf bag.

I hope you weren't eating anything when you read this post.

Your inner grammar Nazi will "cry."

But you'll get a good "laugh," all the same.

The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

Monday Memeage: Random Album Meme

Via Lurking Rhythmically:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.
2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.
3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result as a comment in this post. Also, pass it along in your own journal because it's more amusing that way.



Of the band name and album title, I approve. Of the cover art, not so much. Although I do like the ponderousness of it all.

Tag! You're it!