Blood pressure
Two weeks ago I got up and went to key desk. I worked all day, read some played a few video games and went to bed. I ate when I was hungry. I had some headaches, but nothing huge.
Now I’m in bed. When I got up earlier, I did something wrong. Not surE what. But I had a tiny TIA as a result.
Which, according to the hospital’s count, makes ten.
Apparently, I’m stressed.
After two cat-scans, an MRI, and about thirty vials of blood, they found that I am very healthy and it’s confusing because I’m so big. I should have all sorts of things wrong with me that I don’t.
What I do have is dangerously high blood pressure. Like, scary high. Because I’m stressed.
So now I’m blogging on my ipad, on my bed, because I’m afraid to sit at my desk. I did earlier and that turned out to be a very bad idea. Even typing this is giving me a headache.
It really is amazing how fast everything can just turn on it’s ear.
I was FINE two weeks ago.
Read MoreI’m Totally Using My iPad!
OK, so when I first got an iPad it was kind of under pressure and not exactly of my own free will – but when a prospective client doesn’t hire you based on the fact that you have no iPad, you wake up to certain realities: One, I’m too young to be in this field and not look completely and totally successful, and two: as a society we judge success based on whether or not we have the fancy new gadgets.
Both of those are rants for another date.
I’ve had the iPad since April. APRIL. And yes, for work, it is handy. I keep contracts on it and I can adjust them at any time and sign and send them off right there! Very useful. But other than work functions and meetings there hasn’t been a lot of call for it, and to be honest, I still take better notes by hand even though I have a cool Jot stylus, which makes the whole shebang easier on a tablet.
None. NONE of this has anything to do with what I wanted to talk about, though – which is that suddenly, in the last week or so, I notice that I’m actually using the thing on a regular basis.
I got a recipe app, and I’m using that way more than I thought I would. Well, ok, that’s reasonable – I don’t have to sort through little cards and I can just import anything I find online.
There’s also the fact that I now have a few games on there that I’m actually PLAYING. See, before, I had stuff like Draw Something and such. You spend a few minutes a day playing them if you remember and then you’re done. But then Nyx got me into Temple Run: Brave and I started playing that. And while I was updating things the other day, I got My Singing Monsters. It was like getting a candy bar in the checkout line! Total impulse download, figured I’d never touch it.
Yeah, can’t stop playing it.
I also had long ago set up a second email for my iPad because I hate, HATE attaching my main to devices. I do not like being that available – as I’ve said before, my email is closed. So I put a new email address on the iPad so I could share pictures and such through email. See? Makes sense.
Ok, but I recently started sending out some resumes and one-pagers looking for gigs and opportunities in Seattle. And I ended up using that email address because it was professional sounding without being attached to a website or company, which I kinda needed for this venture.
And then, of course, I proceeded to forget to CHECK that email because it means signing out and back into a different gmail account and I tend to forget to do that. This is why I takes me so long to build up my MyPoints and get my B&N gift certificates, which is kinda all I use that system for.
Hey, I like free books, what can I say?
Back on topic, the iPad’s always signed into that new email address. So I started using it to just check that email.
Which leads me back to today, when I realized that I’m actually using the thing. Like, a lot. Like, way more than I ever really expected to honestly USE IT. I figured it was an expensive loss and I’d just have to deal with it because it’s good for business. I really didn’t think I’d be USING IT.
But I am. Using it. It’s kinda scary.
Now excuse me, I have to check my iPad – think I just finished breeding my drummer monster.
Read MoreI read too fast.
Seriously. I got so used to reading three and four-hundred word files in a day or so that faced with a slightly-longer-than-average novel, I ate through it in a single day.
Here’s the thing: Ender’s Game was daunting to me in file form at one point, so I held off. I bought the ebook because everyone said it was a great book, but I never got around to reading it.
So when I pulled it up on a whim last night, I thought “I’ll read this over the next week” because I like to have something up in the background to read.
Except that lately, I’ve been reading through SERIES’ of files, and it didn’t occur to me that the fact that I had to change files two and three times a day meant I was reading faster and faster.
I started really READING at around two pm. At nine, I was done. This is with normal background reading while I did other stuff through the day.
I wanted to have something to read over the week.
I did not meet this goal.
Read MoreThe pressure of TV
I like watching certain television shows, as many of us do. But since my office is in the…well, office, and the TV’s in the livingroom, I find myself falling behind
And look how fast we’ve arrived at my current topic.
See, first it’s just a week or so.
“Have you seen the new Once Upon a Time?”
“No, I’m gonna just watch it on Hulu or the DVR next time the TV’s free.”
OK, but I work all the damned time. So soon I’m not just behind a week, it’s been four, and the old one’s gonna fall off Hulu and end up on HuluPlus soon, and it’s in HD so it’s taking up a TON of room on the DVR and we need to get that off there – my not watching is now keeping OTHER people from watching THEIR shows and I need to sit my ass down and watch the thing already except I really don’t have the time so I tell them to delete it and I’ll real fast watch it on Hulu tomorrow but tomorrow I get a call from a client or get caught up in the budget and now I have a day before the oldest one’s going to fall off…
…
When I reach this point, the major part of my brain is going “Oh, fuckit. It’s just TV. In a year you can buy the freakin’ DVDs. This is just not that crucial.”…but the other part of my brain is pointing out that I said the same thing about Royal Pains, White Collar and Leverage, all of which I am also now so behind on that if I don’t buy the DVDs, I’ll never get caught up.
So I should watch them. But I really don’t have the time or energy to do that. It’s attention taken from the things I want to give my attention to during the hours that I don’t HAVE to be working, and as much as I want to know how Emma’s going to break that curse, I also kinda wanna level that IronMan challenger on Wyrmrest to 85, and I’d like to get my Sims together already, maybe without using a cheat this time, and I’d really, really like to finish that book I’m reading because I’m so very much not reading enough lately and as a professional WRITER I kind of need to be reading on a regular basis.
So TV tends to lose, and once again, here’s a show I really DO like, and everyone else in the house is into and watching regularly…and I’m not. For god’s sake, I still have the Doctor Who Christmas Special sitting on my harddrive waiting for me to watch it, and the new season starts up soon. And really, after allll that nagging to get my mother watching it, and she finally IS, I seriously need to stay caught up on that show if absolutely nothing else.
I have this picture in my mind – six months down the road, in my new apartment with Tyger, we’re sitting in front of the TV, DVD boxes stacked up in order of importance, watching through every show I fell behind on over the last three years.
I think she’s gonna kill me.
Read MoreMy laptop is death for the uninitiated
Someone asked me recently if they could check something via my laptop, and I said yes. It didn’t occur to me what that would entail, until I saw them sitting there, eyes wide, staring at the screen, seemingly afraid to touch the mouse.
My setup’s just a bit different. My sidebar’s on the far left side instead of right, but that’s really just the tip of the iceberg.
I don’t have a taskbar.
I hate the taskbar. Seriously, I do. I hate it’s uniformity, I hate the way the start button looks, I hate everything about it, and I hate that it doesn’t MOVE. So I took it off. Now, other people do this as well; but mostly, people HIDE their taskbar. And then when you hover your mouse at the bottom edge of the screen, it pops back up again!
Mine’s gone.
Instead, I have a program called Object Dock. I paid for this program many years ago, along with WindowBlinds and several other Stardock products, because I’m a customizing freak – but really, the only one I find irreplaceable is Object Dock.
And therein lays the biggest problem people find, sitting down cold at my computer.
There are no icons on my desktop. I like to see the picture. Therefore, I have what’s known as a tabbed drawer docked at the top of my screen, and more shortcuts than god EVER intended to sit on a desktop will fit into it, neatly tucked away, sliding out whenever I hover over it.
This doesn’t solve the issue of the taskbar, but that’s my favorite part. I have a dock, far right of the screen, attached at the top, piling down, of all my open programs. This, in fact, is the major reason I will probably always use Object Dock. Always, always, always: I can reorder the icons so that like programs are together, or stuff I want to get to in a hurry are easier to reach. Do you understand? I can drag and drop the icons into any order I want.
But that’s not the best part!! I spent a lot of time IMing, and you know how a window blinks a color at you when you get a new IM on a normal taskbar. It blinks a bit, then stays lit, and there’s this bright color glaring at you…and that I missed after the first four times, since I got used to random programs doing that.
These icons bounce. Why? Because I told ’em to. They can do any number of things, but it really gets my attention when an icon starts dancing around at the top of my screen, looking for my attention.
And of course, I have a small dock at the bottom of the right edge of my screen, with a start button.
Apparently, this is where I confused my friend. They sat down, stared at the screen, and couldn’t find Start. I clicked it, and eyes got somehow wider. Apparently, it’s completely unnatural, and horribly evil to have a start button in the bottom right corner. I was unaware of this fact.
What this has brought to my attention is that I clearly cannot sell this computer to buy a new one. See, I’d have to write down what every single shortcut in my tabs were, and redo them by hand and just…hope they’re right. There’s no way. So I have to figure out a way to get a new computer before I sell this one. At which point, there’s no much use in selling this one – I can hand it off to my mother, so she can take it to her classes.
OH! Speaking of classes! Head over to Claudia Suzanne’s site, and check out her early bird special for Ghostwriter Certification Training! If you want to make a living as a writer, there’s no better way!
And I promise, when she walks in with a computer, it’ll be a perfectly normal setup. But that’s likely the only normal thing about her – just a warning.
Read MoreAs a tribute to Bill Larkin…
Bill Larkin is a friend of my father’s, also one of the funniest men I’ve EVER met.
I am posting the lyrics to “I’m Just Your Mom” here…these lyrics are NOT my property, and you ABSOLUTELY should buy this song (here or here – and here’s his site). I pulled these lyrics from listening to the thing over and over because I COULD NOT stop laughing.
The Italian portion is what I hear. :p You may hear somethin’ else.
There’ve been women through the ages who have really left their markCleopatra, Emilia Earheart, and of course, there’s Joan Van ArcBut my mother tops them all, and here’s the reason why;Whenever I do one thing wrong, I can hear her cry:Why don’t you throw me in the winter snow and leave me there to freezeOr I’ll just die of fear or stress or maybe catch a rare diseaseOr stick my head inside an oven set at twelve-hundred degreesHey, don’t worry, please, I’m just YOUR MOMYou never ever wash the dishes, clean your room or mow the grassEvery sunday you’re satanic when I drag you off to MassAnd boy it was heaven every day I wiped your ass!Oh, forgive me if I’m crass, I’m just YOUR MOM!She wants me to be happy! And to let me have my freedomAnd then we’ll bake some cookies – and she tells me I can’t eat them.She buys me all these…I…wanna say “shirts”…wth the ninty-inch lapelsAnd when I say “I will not wear them!” this is what she yells:You’ll wear exactly what they tell you to, if not I’ll get a gunand I will shoot you if I have to I don’t care if you’re my son,and don’t think I can’t take you just because I’m five-foot-one,I could’ve been a goddamn NUN, but I’m YOUR MOM!!And if you EVER disobey, I’ll grab a treebranch from above,and I’ll stick it in your eye, and I’ll give it such a shove,then I’ll throw away the evidence and hide the bloody glove,but I do it out of love, ’cause I’m YOUR MO!She’s always at the hair salon where they know her by name,and later when she comes back home, her hair is JUST THE SAME!She tells me dad is great in bed…in fact, he’s such a stallion.She always shares too much. She can’t help it…she’s ITALIAN!(aproximated)Es patchimos patchim vastaprim qualita, schootcha menda galbacosamala omacastamocha pota mackapita pota masapia eye yi yi kikikikiI don’t know what the hell she’s saying, she’s MY MOM!I do the cooking and the cleaning and the shopping and the banking!After all I’ve done for you I think it’s me you should be thanking!Instead you’ve taken magazines to bed and started wanking!I should give you such a spanking, I’m YOUR MOM!Why don’t you just set me on fire and then shove me off a pier!Every time I tell you something it goes out the other ear!I can’t believe I carried you inside my body for a year!Just forget I’m even here! I’m just YOUR MOM!!There’ve been women through the ages who have really left their mark
Cleopatra, Emilia Earheart, and of course, there’s Joan Van Arc
But my mother tops them all, and here’s the reason why;
Whenever I do one thing wrong, I can hear her cry:Why don’t you throw me in the winter snow and leave me there to freeze
Or I’ll just die of fear or stress or maybe catch a rare disease
Or stick my head inside an oven set at twelve-hundred degrees
Hey, don’t worry, please, I’m just YOUR MOMYou never ever wash the dishes, clean your room or mow the grass
Every sunday you’re satanic when I drag you off to Mass
And boy it was heaven every day I wiped your ass!
Oh, forgive me if I’m crass, I’m just YOUR MOM!She wants me to be happy! And to let me have my freedom
And then we’ll bake some cookies – and she tells me I can’t eat them.
She buys me all these…I…wanna say “shirts”…wth the ninty-inch lapels
And when I say “I will not wear them!” this is what she yells:You’ll wear exactly what they tell you to, if not I’ll get a gun
and I will shoot you if I have to I don’t care if you’re my son,
and don’t think I can’t take you just because I’m five-foot-one,
I could’ve been a goddamn NUN, but I’m YOUR MOM!!And if you EVER disobey, I’ll grab a treebranch from above,
and I’ll stick it in your eye, and I’ll give it such a shove,
then I will throw away the evidence and hide the bloody glove,
but I do it out of love, ’cause I’m YOUR MOM!She’s always at the hair salon where they know her by name,
and later when she comes back home, her hair is JUST THE SAME!
She tells me dad is great in bed…in fact, he’s such a stallion.
She always shares too much. She can’t help it…she’s ITALIAN!(aproximated)
Es patchimos patchim vastaprim qualita, schootcha menda galbacosa
mala omacastamocha pota mackapita pota masapia eye yi yi kikikikiI don’t know what the hell she’s saying, she’s MY MOM!
I do the cooking and the cleaning and the shopping and the banking!
After all I’ve done for you I think it’s me you should be thanking!
Instead you’ve taken magazines to bed and started wanking!
I should give you such a spanking, I’m YOUR MOM!Why don’t you just set me on fire and then shove me off a pier!
Every time I tell you something it goes out the other ear!
I can’t believe I carried you inside my body for a year!
Just forget I’m even here! I’m just YOUR MOM!!
Bill Larkin, you’re my hero 😀
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