Good girlfriend

My boyfriend's birthday is coming up this weekend. We'll spend it in Kentucky visiting his amazing little sister. She secured a rather prestigious equine vet internship and I am very, very proud of her. :)

I have to say that shopping for Muse is rough. If he wants something, he goes out and gets it. (Thank goodness he doesn't want much, otherwise we'd be broke.) I convinced him to pull together an Amazon wishlist, but not many of the items were fun. I had to improvise.

Gift one: The Watchmen. He found the movie rather off-putting (what with the gigantic glowing blue genitals and all - Google it yourself if you're that interested), but is curious to explore the world of graphic novels.

Gift two: Comic Book Tattoo. Muse's favorite female musician is Tori Amos. The book is an award-winning collection of stories based off of her lyrics (written by a variety of authors).

Upcoming anniversary gift: Lakers tickets. Sure, our anniversary isn't until November, but these things are really hard to get a hold of. Presents for him are hard to figure out, so I suck at keeping them a secret*.

* He doesn't read my blog, interestingly enough. He says it makes him feel like a creepy voyeur. The secret spilling happens when I blurt it out excitedly.

Truth

Pugs not drugs, found at dELIA*s.

Musings and happenings

Some of this weekend was great.

• I felt good enough to voluntarily go for a hike.
  
  
• I walked Cheeto.
  
  
• I had my first official press junket experience (I'd link you to that, but it's embargoed).
  

Some of it was deeply upsetting.

Some of it was productive. (I'm excited that Chanpory has started posting again after a long hiatus.)

Some of it was introspective.

• I'm still thinking about Getting Things Done. I believe part of my issue with it is that I feel like I get plenty done. I just want to keep increasing the quality of what I spend my time on, which means saying no to the stuff that won't increase my happiness/satisfaction levels. I also need to be better about setting boundaries - I deserve guilt-free free time to just spend as I like. I can't help everyone and I can't do everything. I *shouldn't* do everything. Will I regret not finishing something a smidge earlier when I'm old and gray, or will I regret not spending more time enjoying the people and the world around me? Some folks absolutely need a better system for keeping themselves organized, but I don't think I'm one of them. I'm happy with what I have in place and need to cut back on the quantity of what I'm doing.
  
  
• Perhaps it's less that I dislike GTD and more that I dislike the idea of implementing a whole new system of organization. I'm pleased with what I've created for myself and suppose I feel a bit protective of it.
  
  
• It's too bad that cutting back on the quantity of what I'm doing means that I have to choose between: a) cutting back on my activities that bring in income, b) cutting back on the activities that help people I care about, and c) cutting back on things that I find emotionally rewarding. Saying no to income is a luxury of the well-off. Cutting back on helping people makes me feel guilty and selfish. Not doing things that I find emotionally rewarding means that, if I'm hit by a bus tomorrow, I die unfulfilled.
  
  
• I also have to consider the fact that doing too much can have negative effects on my physical and mental well being. I can't help anyone if I'm too frantic and frazzled to function.
  

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming ...

My mind just won't quit. I want to redecorate, try new recipes, go to the beach & boogie board, write, draw, sing, act, go horseback riding, move, get more degrees, read, rant, relax, explore ...

Lots.

Too much, probably.

Thoughts and lynx from my weekend:

- Towel bars should be hung at 48 inches off of the ground.
- Bunnies with stuff on their heads bring me joy.
- Years after first happening upon Wordle.net, I still adore it.
- "Righty tighty, lefty loosie," and other such nuggets of wisdom help me out constantly. It blows my mind that I never learned these things until my 20s. (Mom & dad, I'm looking at you.)
- I thought a political debate was going quite well, until the person I was arguing with referenced this guy.
- V for Vendetta dude's hair/beard is out of control.
- There exists such a thing as a collection of short stories based on Tori Amos songs. It's called, "Comic Book Tattoo."
- Ikea Hacker and Apartment Therapy inspired me to add legs to my bookcases. I cheated the back legs in a wee bit, so they now fit flush against the wall above the molding. I can finally earthquake proof the bejesus out of them.
- I want to take some classes, but I have no idea which ones. And it seems silly to take classes and not pursue an additional degree. What I want to study doesn't seem to exist.

Gosh Golly

Dear Internet,

Life has been quite busy.

- April has been full of birthdays. Cousins, aunts, mom, little bro, and several dear friends.
- I wrote for a Facebook game and it was recently released (some, not all of the writing). It's called Big City Life.
- A family friend passed away.

My to-do list is ginormous. (And it includes paying more attention to you, dear readers.)

Hope to see you again soon!

XOXOXOXO,

Cat

Random Thought

Games that have a lot of on-screen text really, really, really need to allow for changes in font size for those of us with bad vision or lower-res tvs.

(Fable 2 and FFXIII, I'm looking at you.)

That is all.

Oh my sweet little blog, how I have neglected you!

Fear not! You have not been forgotten.

No.

I have been planning a makeover!

Brace yourself for more content. Hopefully something a little more focused. ;)

*Hugs & Smooches*

-- Cat

At this moment, I feel ...

very busy, very tired, and very happy.

Curse you, Photoshop

So, Photoshop stopped working on me. I'd create something gorgeous (as usual) and I'd go to save my masterpiece.

It would freeze. Every single time.

Luckily, the Google just gave me a fix:

Go to Edit>Preferences>File Handling and turn off Version Cue.

Phew!

Underappreciated (imho)

- Into the Wild Soundtrack (Thanks Eddie Vedder)
- Bread and butter pickles
- 6 a.m.

The Trouble with LinkedIn

I like LinkedIn. I really do.

It's a great place to have a serious, strictly business web presence, with the advantage of some social networky action. Nice and polished, like a pinstripe suit.

I like to tailor my resume for the job I'm applying for. Sometimes I need to highlight different parts of my experience, rather than overwhelm the HR person with a nineteen page block of text.

But what if I miss out because my LinkedIn profile is too limited?

I hesitate to tell my entire life story (well, entire work history) to everyone on the internet. Why tell all the people who happen by that I was paid to dance in the Nutcracker ballet in San Francisco,? Not enough people would care to make it a valuable addition to my resume. But then again, if I don't list EVERYTHING, I might miss out on amazing position with a person who would care.

LinkedIn makes it incredibly hard to balance "enough" with "too much."

The end.

What has two thumbs and ...

Went to see Eddie Izzard this weekend, watched 500 Days of Summer, had her lakeside stroll interrupted by an L.A.P.D. helicopter yelling at everyone to evacuate the park, and desperately hopes that the diet Dr. Pepper that exploded in her laptop bag didn't damage her laptop, phone, and brand new camera, but she can't check and see yet cause they're still drying?

(points at self)

Fail weekend

Whoops. My inner blonde showed up this weekend. Eddie Izzard wasn't this past Saturday, it's this upcoming Saturday.

Internets failed - the boyfriend and I made the call and we're switching ISPs soon.

My allergies went nuts after I bathed and pedicure-a-fied our guinea pig. Coughing ensued.

Successes included getting a *lot* of work done and watching too much TV. It looks like I may be caught up by the end of this week. Maybe. Hopefully. :)

Overspecialization Leads to Weakness

Then again, without specializing enough, I'll never feel like an expert.

Or maybe it's better to know enough about a lot of things to be able to coordinate/oversee/lead the experts. Then I won't get bored/stuck.

Maybe I could be an expert at that.

Hmm ... possibilities!

Ah maaaaan!

I may be looking forward to Valentine's Day, but it just clicked in my little brain that I have to *plan* something for it.

Yikes.

Paintball maybe? Bowling? Princess-Leia's-gold-bikini-clad ninjas?