gothamgal's Xanga

Monday, July 14, 2008

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:25:36 GMT

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Lifehacker Saved my Life Today

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:29:25 GMT

Okay, so not really... But ever since I added Lifehacker.com to my Bloglines RSS feed, I've been learning a LOT.

Today is no exception.

"If you've been putting off doing a good spring cleaning, today's the day to bite the bullet: March 19th marks the start of "Discardia," the time of year for you to clean out the old to make room for the new. This five-year-old holiday occurs between the Solistices and Equinoxes (today till April 5th this year) and its creator describes it thusly:

Discardia is celebrated by getting rid of stuff and ideas you no longer need. It's about letting go, abdicating from obligation and guilt, being true to the self you are now. Discardia is the time to get rid of things that no longer add value to your life, shed bad habits, let go of emotional baggage and generally lighten your load."

I decided to post to my other journal about this, too. However, I don't really anticipate a lot of response about this particular entry. My other journal is more of a fun place, where I can complain and have crazy ideas and talk about little things. I think Xanga's a little more important than that.

I'm honestly going to give Discardia a try. I think it's a good idea and awesome for me because I have so much stuff.... Be it personal baggage or books that I need to read or stuff I need to get rid of... It could be anything. And it doesn't have to be anything. I guess this is just a formal name for Spring Cleaning, and I DEFINITELY need to do that, LOL.

Anywho, that's my update for now. If anyone wants a free 2 year subscription to readymade magazine, startsampling.com is offering it. You have to sign up for their site (it's free), but you get 12 issues of an awesome magazine for free. My BF actually used to love the magazine when we got it.

Take care, everyone!

BTW, you can totally see that what I'm totally reading means I've come out of the closet as a Star Wars nerd. This new series isn't bad, and I have someone in my local bookgroup who I can pass the books off to, which makes it nice. This is the 8th of 9 books, and I think the next one is going to be just as good. Eeeek! I just said a Star Wars book was good... And I'm going to a Comic Convention at the end of next month... Dude, I'm a nerd!

Sick Day

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:28:11 GMT

After the RCBP meeting last night, the BF bought me a wendy's spicy chicken combo... It didn't taste right, something was off to me...

And so in the middle of the night I woke up and got sick... And then I took a few sips of water at 7 and dry heaved... So I think I officially have food poisoning. I called in for a personal day today, and I hope I can make up a few hours by skipping lunch this week and probably going in a bit earlier for the remainder of this week...

Something cool (besides the meeting last night) that happened was that my little bro (Napolean D GothamLad) called and asked about what his schedule should be year. He's got 6 classes over the year and wondered what he should take. He scheduled some kind of high math (he has an aptitude, weird), American Government, English and Humanities. He was wondering if he should take advanced bio, but I told him that he should probably just work on maintaining his GPA and his sanity by taking Art (which I did) in his senior year and Sociology. Those are probably classes he won't have a hard time with. He definitely is on the college track, and I don't know if they have the AP classes they had when I was there, but, he doesn't know what he wants to do and I told him that was cool. He'd like to take archeology (who can blame him,really?), but it disinhearted to learn that there isn't a lot of practical application in the field, so I asked him to take a look at bio classes or anthropology--he can always minor in archeology and then figure out if he wants to go the primitive human route or the animal route... I told him though, that I am by no means an expert, but to talk with a counselor if possible...

I feel sick again, so I'm probably going to go lay down... Outie!

Hocking Hills Trip

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:41:59 GMT

This is a slideshow of pictures I took during our Hocking Hills trip. Hocking Hills is a beautiful area in Southern Ohio (about 1/2 hour south of Columbus).. This is my first slideshow, so please be kind. LOL.

Do you think living with your significant other before marriage is a good idea? Why or why not?

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:25:42 GMT

I think this actually depends on the person. For me, I live with my boyfriend and have for a few years. I think it's good because it got me out of my parent's house and made me a little less selfish and more apt to compromise. I also learn on a daily basis more about who he is and what he's about.

For me, I don't know if marriage is in the cards. It's a huge commitment and I'm just not sure that, at this time, I could do it. My parents got married just before I was born, and their marriage broke up pretty easily. I can't help but think that I was the reason for their marriage, and that didn't work out very well.

I know there are some people out there who don't think that living with an S/O before marriage is a good idea, and I can understand where you're coming from, but I also think that in my situation, it was the best solution and continues to be. It is truly a test of character, with some really great rewards. I learn more about myself each day as well...

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What are the few things that you must always have in your bag or on you at all times?

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:29:14 GMT

Pens, pencils, gel pens, erasers, pencil sharpener. So I can be prepared to write.
Paper, probably at least a notebook or two. (again, for #1)
Paperbacks, at least two.
Lipgloss, currently my favorite is a toss up between bare minerals plumping buxom (in Sugar) or Blistex Lip Infusion Soothing Splash.
Sunglasses, even at night!
Dayplanner.
Flash drive.
Cell Phone, when I can remember where it is.
Digital Camera, with extra batteries.
iPod and charger.

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Who taught you how to ride a bike, and when?

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 00:17:37 GMT

This is weird that my first official post back would be about this particular subject. Wow, Xanga has changed, but I can't wait to get back into it.

So I tried to learn how to ride a bike in CA, but with the speedbumps and everything, I had a hard time actually getting off of my training wheels. I had a pink Strata scooter that I used instead of a bike that I adored.

Fast forward to moving to Ohio. It's the mid to late 80s and no one on my block has even SEEN a scooter like mine, everyone is riding bikes... ten speeds. Girls and Boys younger than me even ri the ten speeds their older brothers and sisters have cast off. And there I am on my coolest possession, but it's just not cool back east.

So I beg to learn to ride (at the age of 8) and actually persuade the gang of kids on our block (about 10 kids) to help me out. And once they'd heard I really didn't know how to ride, it wasn't really about me persuading as much as me getting on a bike. One of the leaders of the group was a girl named Michelle who was three years older. The shy, tom-boyish sister of a vicarious girl a year older than me, Michelle made it her goal to get me to ride on my bike by myself.

We trained for weeks, on the circular court on the inside of my block. The training wheels came off. One day, all of the kids ran beside me, and I only let Michelle push me as they followed my progress like Secret Service Agents in a motorcade. And suddenly, I was riding. Looking behind me I got one last clear look at Michelle, who stood what seemed like miles away but was really only about thirty feet away as she smiled softly...watching as I rode away.

The weird thing about this prompt is that my Mom saw her recently and said Michelle's been really depressed lately. So I offered to send a card. I wrote 'I hope all is going well and just wanted to let you know that I appreciate being so cool to a nerdy, annoying CA outsider--thanks especially for teaching me to ride a bike. It means a lot.to me.' It's sophmoric at best, but I didn't want the card to be overtly concerned because I think she'd be more nervous about that. She backs off a lot. The card plays "Day O" and it made me smile, so I hope it does her.

I just answered this Featured Question, you can answer it too!

Update

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:27:20 GMT

I think I'm getting to the point of where I've finally kicked this cold, which couldn't have come at a better time. I spent Friday at home, which means I lost 8 hours of work for the next paycheck, but I slept all day, which I apparently needed, LOL. My fever broke Saturday morning, and I instantly felt better. Better enough to do Christmas shopping, that is. I never usually get done with my shopping early, but with a few exceptions, I am done with Christmas shopping for the year. The boyfriend got a digital camera for his birthday/Christmas present. He wanted an SLR, though I'm not sure why in the world he wanted a digital camera because he's not computer saavy. Hopefully this will be a new hobby and will get him out of the house and allow him to focus his energy on something positive. I got myself a few things, which I haven't done in a while. I bought myself a book about CSI for finishing Nano. And I bought a webcam, which I might have mentioned previously. I picked up 3 games for my DS, including Brain Age 2, so that I have something to do while I'm in CA as well as to help my mind. I also picked up WiiPlay and Scene It (for Xbox360). I've started writing a second novel that directly follows this year's Nano. This year's Nano was called "The Last" and was a young adult/teen supernatural novel about a girl from the South West who finds out she's a mermaid, the last mermaid in the Atlantic Ocean. I didn't want to write a teen novel, but it just happened, and I think I did okay. I didn't finish in the 15 days I'd hoped to finish in, but I did write about 5k more than the 50k limit, which allowed me to finish the whole entire book. The one I'm currently working on is called "The Next." Cara, the heroine from the last novel, goes to visit her fiancee and finds out he is under the influence of some strange forces--turns out to be related to the Pacific ocean, and Cara has to decide if she wants to get involved. I'm going to California from Dec. 20 to Jan 3, which will be nice. It will be good to see my Grandmama again. I'm not sure if my father is going to be available, he told my Grandmama he's really busy, but I think I'll get to see some BookCrossing people and maybe hit Disneyland again, LOL. Anyway, that's my update for the day. Oh, and I started playing Pirates of the Carribean Online. It's addictive.

Hey there!

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:00:40 GMT

I'm back, thanks to a client called Semagic. While I've been a faithful reader, I feal I haven't been as faithful a poster. I will rectify this. What's been going on? Well, a lot of work, some writing and reading and such. I've written a movie script through script frenzy, which was totally cool because it allowed me to go outside my comfort zones as a writer. Now, it's not that great, but I feel like it's something I can continue to work on and learn from. I've handled rejection pretty well this year too, but it's all part of the process. I will say that there's a freelancing opportunity that I really want to partake in, just have to clear some time to do some decent articles... Just past midnight, I hope to start writing my supernatural story "The Last" about a young woman who finds she's the last mermaid. It doesn't have any romantic undertones right now, and the genre is really strange for me to write--I've never written Supernatural before, but we'll see. I made a little plot map about an hour ago and we'll see where that takes me. I think I have enough to go into another story, if need be... Okay, she really ISN'T the last mer-person, but she is the last girl, and she doesn't know it because she lives in a desert and she's never been in salt water (yes, I'm going with the Splash-type you have to be in salt water in order to become a mermaid thing). I'm trying a new genre because I didn't really know what to do this year, and apparently I've persuaded people to do it, so the only thing I can do is go ahead and participate, right? Actually, I don't know what I'd do in November without NaNo. I'm trying to take more risks and not being so critical of myself--which is, in itself, difficult for me, but it's causing me to learn so much about myself. Anywho, I want to thank everyone for writing and keeping me up to date with what's going on in your neck of the woods. It's greatly appreciated. Look for more things to come!

The Universe

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 23:55:40 GMT

So I get all of our music onto the external and then yesterday I notice the hard drive isn't responding when it's plugged in. The light is on, everything is plugged in... Not recognized at all. Two of the four pins are broken off, two are just not right... So I have to buy a new replacement cord. Think I found one on Ebay, though, so we're cool. I gave N his Valentine's Day/Anniversary present already (thought he wasn't going to be home for V-Day)--it's a high tech remote that he loves...

I never thought I would spend so much money on a remote, with tax and such, but it was TOTALLY worth it. It uses macros so he pushes one button and it turns on the mammoth tv, the surround sound, the X-box 360...Wonderfulness. And the smile on his face was worth it. He was so happy. He programmed it using the cable (goes into the laptop). The help function gives you a series of yes and no questions to help figure out what to do. It's amazing. We now have an Ipod connection in my Civic, but we need to pull out the radio and add a cable to make it permanent. And I also got one of these: It, too, is amazing. I got Nintendogs, and then picked up Super Princess Peach and XMen... It's a really cool little thing and I'm still wanting to play with the functionality of it. Friday or Saturday I'm sending off packets of info about my novel to 3 different agencies. It's a huge step for me, but totally gratifying. I never would have thought that I would actually take that step and submit. There is so much room for bad things to happen when you put yourself out there, but there is also room for a lot of good things, too. It means that I'm on less, which sucks, but I tend to try and prioritize when I am on. I have a few things I hiope to do tonight. Oh, and did anyone see CSI on Thursday? WTH?!? I can't believe they got rid of him so quick. Liev Shreiber is an AWESOME actor and I really think they should have kept him. Yeah, so I totally spoiled that for people...but it's not like too many of you watch CSI. CSI and Fox Sundays are the only things I really watch on TV anymore. I used to be a slave to tv, and I know I still could be. I miss Cspan, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, The History Channel, TCM/AMC and any amount of bad tv movies spanning the channels at any time. But I also like the fact I have time... Okay, well I have to go read some things and take a bath and such. I'll talk to you later. Okay?