Perforation Problems

Prompt: "Take a moment to dip into the deep well of the past year's 24-hour news cycle. What world event moved you this year? What story, series, or moment fascinated you? Made you scratch your head? Brought you to the edge of tears...or past the edge of your seat? Did an outside perspective change the way you felt, or make you take action? Share the headline(s) that resonated with you." I'm lousy at following the news. I usually have a general idea what's going on, but it's like I treat it with the same concern I do the plot of some reality housewives show I don't watch. It's happening, but it happens outside of my bubble. Why is that? Maybe I'm scared of caring too much, maybe I don't think me caring will make any kind of difference. Maybe I'm just too selfish and unworldly of a person? I'm not proud of it at all. I think it's one of my weaknesses. If I were a better person, I'd care about what's happening in the world a...

Let's not talk about how much of a failure I've been at my Think Kit posts. Let's just see how many I can make up. Prompt: "Nametags and punchbowls aren't necessary (but we're okay with that!) – who did you meet this year? Was it awkward? Enlightening? Was your first impression correct? Was it accidental & meant to be, pre-arranged, or somewhere in-between? Whether you found a soulmate, held a new baby, or finally trusted someone to style your hair just so, write about a new person (or people) in your life." There were a lot of new people in my life this year. A lot of people left the company I work for and new ones came to take their place -- it's amazing how fast the dynamics of a workplace can change when the people change. I got a new boss (again), new people joined the marketing team, new people joined my brand strategy team. The people I worked with most closely changed, and so the day-to-day changed, the atmosphere and mood of everything...

So here are the three prompts I've missed this week: Sunday: " Wave your magic wand – whoosh – what would you transform, create, or make disappear in 2015? Don't be afraid to change the world, or merely alter the mundane. Just be prepared to defend your decision with reason, or irrational emotion!  Monday: "Get on your soapbox. What issue, idea, or stance were you vocal about this year? Or did you let it internally build up? Was there an event, person, or time that triggered your strong reaction? Or was it a slow-burn? Why do you feel so strongly – is it personal? Emotional? Strictly reasonable?"  Today: "The calendar still says 2014, but let's push forward. What are you looking forward to in 2015? Is there an event, special occasion, or reunion that you're counting down the days until? Planning a trip? A life change? A move? Or maybe it's the simple pleasures – the release of a movie, something or someone hitting a stage near you." ...

Today's prompt: "Work, home, and _____. Where was your third place this year? Did you like it, love it, ...or was it out of obligation? What feeling, sense, or vibe did you get from your third place? If someone can't imagine the scene, give the lay of the land in words. Is there natural light? Is there a certain smell? Bring us inside." That's an interesting question, and I'm not quite sure how to answer it. Is this supposed to be a physical place or a metal one? My first reaction was to think about it in terms of mental places, and if I think about what's occupied my time and energy this year, here's the list I would make: My job + specifically the launch of our new brand Olive & Clyde Michael My family Trying to figure out my next step Our attic But on second glance, the prompt seems to be asking more about physical places. That's tough, because really I spend most of my time at work or at home. When we go places, it's out fo...

So I'm supposed to write a post today but I'm about to drive to Cincinnati for a Christmas party, and realistically I know I'm not going to have time. So I'm going to do this real janky style. Prompt: "What did you say goodbye to this year? Was it a bad habit? A '94 hatchback? Or something less tangible? How did you feel the day after? The week after? Or! What did you say hello to this year? Did it enrich your life...or detract? A new favorite possession? A tattoo? Did you decide that your life was missing something, or did you just fall into new-ness? Share your aloha!" I'm about to say a big goodbye -- to my job. And a big hello -- to a new life as an entrepreneur and writer and consultant. The other big goodbye was to our attic...and a big hello to our new TV room/bedroom and my office. Both of those are going to have a big impact on my 2015 :) Happy Weekend!!

Day Four: "Whether you asked for it – or not – what good advice did you get this year? Did it come from an unexpected source? Was it unsolicited, or did you need a word or two after an eventful day, week, or month? Has the advice changed the way you think about the world? Changed the way you think about your advisor? Changed the way you think about yourself? Changed the way you act? Can you distill the message and help the rest of us out, or is it too personal to be universal?" I'm going to try to keep this one short tonight, because I'm tired and tomorrow night we're going to Cincinnati for a Christmas party. But this was the first time this week where I read the prompt and immediately knew what I would write about. I recently made the decision to leave my job, a decision that wasn't easy and which wasn't without some heartbreak. I'd been contemplating it for months and couldn't get myself to the point where I was willing to let go. But then...

Day Three: "Let's loosen up: share a side-splitting story from the last year. What made you laugh out loud until tears formed? What made you giggle every time it was referenced? Whether it's a story, an image, a video – we want to hear about the banana peel on the floor, your best practical joke, or gems from the mind of a three-year-old. Whether it's sassy, sarcastic, or just plain silly: make us laugh!" This is a lot of pressure. Not just a funny story, but a side-splitting story? When I think of the funniest story I know, it's not one from the last year. It's a few years old. I'll tell it to you anyway. I had a friend who, for health reasons, had to get regular colonoscopies. He didn't have any family nearby and his girlfriend was in grad school across the country, so he had to rely on friends to take him to the hospital. A little awkward, right? But my friend is a very good-natured fellow, and he took it all in stride. So one day he a...

Today's prompt: "What did you change your mind about this year? Was it a big deal – the way you feel about an issue? Or something small – maybe you learned to like Brussels sprouts? What was the moment or series of moments that changed how you felt? How did your friends or family react? Have you uttered the phrase, 'I'll never change my mind!' since then?" This is a tough one. I thought about it throughout the day, and at first nothing came to mind, either big or small, though I know really I change my mind all the time. Paint colors, furniture decisions, basically every decision I had to make in connection with the attic renovation we just finished. The thing is, I think I've just gotten in the habit of accepting that once I make a decision, it is what it is, and I'm just going to have to live with it. So you live with life not being perfect, and you ignore that you had a choice and screwed it up in the first place. For example -- we just pai...

Here we go with another blogging challenge! I'm participating in SmallBox's Think Kit , a community writing project that involves a prompt a day for the entire month of December. Here's the first prompt: "Share your year in photos. Was there a moment of unrestrained happiness? An unexpected encounter? What role do photos play in your life – were you more selective with your phone (er...camera) this year? Or are you the King of Selfies? Dig into the deeper meaning of a moment frozen in time." I take a lot of photos. Most of them aren't really worth looking at again. In fact, let's be honest -- most of them are pictures of desserts and my dog. But looking back over the year for pictures worth sharing, I realize just how much I've done this year -- and how fast it's gone. I guess that happens every year, but this year in particular seems to have passed in a haze of constantly-trying-to-get-through, constantly-getting-ready-for-the-next-thing. I...

Though Michael really couldn't care less about whether or not I diet, he's been trying to support me by thinking up ways to incentivize sticking to my plan. What we came up with (naturally) involves chocolate as reward. Shut up, it works. As long as I've eaten healthy the rest of the day, I get to eat a truffle at night. A little chocolate goes a long way.* Except I haven't been able to eat a truffle for the last three weeks because I've been out of control. Pizza and cookies everywhere! Our conversation yesterday: "Do you get to eat a truffle today?" "NO." "Why not?" "Because YOU took FOREVER to get home and I ATE ALL THE GRAHAM CRACKERS." It happens. You feel me. It's not my fault. -------- There are two best ways to eat ice cream. The first: put a couple scoops in a bowl, then stir it up until it gets soft, mushy, and creamy. Trust me -- it tastes better. We used to call it witches' soup, and the s...

I'm in love with my new computer. I'm not kidding. I'm in love with my computer in such a way that I'm sitting here writing a blog post -- the first one in three months -- instead of making my dinner, just because I want to hear the clicky clack of the keys and watch the font tap skip tap skip tap skip across the screen. Omg. I want to hug it to me and rub my cheek against the keyboard. I'm not insane. Swears. See, it's crazy how attached you can get to a computer. They really become something personal -- full of your screenshots and downloads, every URL you visit, the random images you photoshop together to entertain yourself... Have you ever been on someone else's computer and felt slightly dirty? Like you were invading something private? It's like wearing someone else's underwear. When I got my last computer over three years ago, it was in preparation for going to my first real marketing conference, in big old scary Boston. I typed my notes...

It was a bad idea to let myself stop my writing challenge after 60 days. I wrote the very first day after post 60, but I haven't written since, besides the one post driven by my poison ivy agony. Well, that's not true. I have written, but it's all unfinished. Incomplete. Not-even-formed. When I opened up my blog today, I had four unfinished drafts in there from the last two months or so. Here's the first sentence of each: "Let's talk for a minute about the blissful, perfect sensation in scratching an itch." "It's amazing how quickly you get out of the habit of writing." "Is everyone around me really stupid or am I full of myself? Both?" "Today was one of those days where I literally went from meeting to meeting to meeting, all day, from 8:30 - 6:00." All of these would have been serious works of literary genius -- I'm absolutely sure. But I guess my slacking off in this area is to be expected. I've replaced ...

I caught poison ivy last Sunday while clearing out a grassy area in our yard. I had a grand vision of a beautiful, brightly colored wildflower area that would magically take care of itself. That vision went so horribly wrong. It didn't even occur to me that there might be poison ivy in the yard. Come to think of it, I've never even really thought about poison ivy, period. Well, friend, let me tell you -- I've thought about it a lot in the last four days. I have a wealth of knowledge about poison ivy now. For example: did you know that urushiol, the oil in poison ivy that causes these giant red welts that are currently all over my body, is basically an indestructible, immortal, vicious substance that lives forever? I know "immortal" and "lives forever" are synonyms but I really wanted to drive my point home there. You can kill poison ivy by smothering it for a year, but if you take the cover off and touch the dead plant, you'll still get a rash. You...

(Day Sixty) "How's your blog post going? Is it awesome?" I've heard this question over and over again from Michael over the course of this 60 Day Challenge. As I got closer to this, the last post of the challenge, the question turned into, "What are you going to write for your last one? It has to be something special, right?" I hate these questions. I've told him so. I hate them almost as much as I hate being asked if I'm excited about something. These questions ooze with expectations. Is your blog post going to be awesome? No, it's not. It's going to be the most boring post ever. I'm going to write about how Clyde smells . Are you going to write about something special? No. There's nothing special. I'm going to write about every day shit, like how Clyde smells, and it's going to be boring. Are you excited about _____? No. Stop expecting me to be excited. Life is boring. Of course life isn't boring. All my ...

(Day Fifty-Nine) When we were in middle school, my best friend used to get what she called "orange fever." It seemed to be brought on by cheez-its, cheese puffs, and carrots. Orange foods. She'd go into some kind of hyper, drunken state where everything was funny and everything was the most exciting thing that could possibly happen. I have a picture of her in my mind: framed by the refrigerator door, a bag of baby carrots in her hand and a gleeful grin on her face, she's frozen as her 11-year old self, bobbed hair, oversized features and all. I remember laughing hysterically at whatever she was saying. Life was hilarious. We probably went outside after and ate cookie dough while jumping on the trampoline, because that's how we spent our time. My best friends have always loved food like I do. Do you remember that hyper feeling that was only possible as a child? It must have been some mix of sugar and hormones and your brain being unable to contain your emotio...

(Day Fifty-Eight) My poor dog is starving. I commiserate with him because I, too, often feel like I'm starving. And yet I believe him when he says he's more hungry than I am, because I sneak chocolate all the time. He has no access to food to sneak. Seriously, though, he's pretty hungry. This diet is rough on him. He just leapt up on the couch so he could stare at the closed goldfish carton on the table. Today I left work early to go meet with a contractor about our attic, then I had about 10 minutes to eat some Chikfila before my photography class. As I was sitting there, I realized it's been awhile since I've gone somewhere and eaten by myself. I kinda really like it. Is that weird? There's something calming about sitting down by yourself with all that noise and conversation around you and yet knowing you don't have to say one word to anyone. I don't want to do it every day, but every once in awhile is great. And then in my class we learned som...

(Day Fifty-Seven) Michael is pretty good at helping me come up with blog post topics. I'd say I end up taking his suggestions 8/10 times, even when it's something kinda silly like writing about a conversation we had about  shortbread cookies . Today when I started whining about not having a topic, he suggested I write about the sermon from Easter Sunday service this morning. Neither of us are big on going to church or organized religion or anything like that, and on the twice-yearly occasions where I do find myself in church,  I usually end up daydreaming through most the service. But this morning I found myself actually listening, and what's more, appreciating and agreeing with what Larry was saying. I've always liked my mom's church for its liberal bent. When I went through Confirmation, for example, I was required to attend other religious services in other faiths to explore what others believed, and one of my assignments was to write an essay on what I be...

(Day Fifty-Six) So I REALLY almost forgot my post tonight. I've been sitting here like a goomba gluing yarn to a wooden letter and watching TV, thinking I can go to bed in a minute. I have to get up in 6 hours so I can go to church for Easter Sunday. So I'm not going to write a lot. That means it's list time, guys. I'm going to take a cue from a couple people at work who are doing a 100 Days of Happiness challenge. For 100 days, they have to take a picture of something that makes them happy. I won't list 100, but I can list 10. Sunny Saturdays with the windows open and a warm breeze Doggy cuddles Multi-colored roses That relieved feeling when you blow your nose and get all the snot out M&Ms and Goldfish Going to bed when you're really sleepy Foot rubs Packages coming in the mail Knowing what you're going to wear tomorrow so you don't have to figure it out int he morning Vacuumed floors and clean kitchen counters

(Day Fifty-Five) I almost forgot to write my blog post because I was too preoccupied cleaning. It's been a busy evening -- I stopped by the store after work to pick up some last minute things for my future sister-in-law's bachelorette party tomorrow, came home and planted the strawberry plants that distracted me while doing said shopping, made mac n' cheese for dinner, and then spent the rest of the night cleaning and organizing and just generally making myself feel okay about the fact that people will be in my house tomorrow. Now my eyes are tired. With the bachelorette party tomorrow and Easter on Sunday, this weekend's pretty full, but at some point I need to find time to do my photography class homework assignment and work on some Olive & Clyde stuff. There's never enough time. BUT there's chocolate in my future. Cadbury eggs, maybe. Here's something I've been thinking about this week: I've realized that at some point over the last fi...

(Day Fifty-Four) Today's a day I'd like to just escape from reality for awhile -- maybe lose myself in a book or binge watch a couple seasons of a new TV show. But it's already past 10pm, so I know I'll probably spend the next little while writing this blog post and then go play Plants vs. Zombies in bed. Evenings pass too quickly. Today at work somebody said, about a potential candidate for a job opening, "He's too creative to be good at business." This upset me quite a bit. I get very touchy about people not respecting creativity -- writers are notoriously undervalued, low-paid, and overlooked, until, of course, somebody needs something written for them and realizes they can't do it themselves. (And what's the absolute worst is when a writer is asked to write something so someone else can put their name on it.) Writing is hard. In many ways it's much, much harder to write an article or a story than it is to put together a spreadsheet, but...

(Day Fifty-Three) Can I tell you how much I love editing and revising? It's by far my favorite part of the writing process. Writing the first draft is so hard -- you have to basically create something from nothing. It's almost painful, that process of putting words together into something that even marginally resembles what's in your head. But editing. Ahhhhhh. Editing is putting words in their place. It's taking what already exists and organizing it into the best form of itself. It's following rules and guidelines and your gut at the same time to shape a gelatinous mass into a well-ordered platoon. You'd think I'd be a very neat and organized person in real life, but no, everything around me is cluttered and messy. I just like my words organized. I had two friends send me something to look over today, and I'm not gonna lie, it excites me. I feel very satisfied when editing, especially when editing other people's work. It's harder to edit...

(Day Fifty-Two) I have nothing to say today. Seriously, nothing. I've been sitting here staring into space for 30-40 minutes. Whenever I have to write and I can't think of anything to say, I start by saying, "I have nothing to say." And then things start to come out. Are they worthwhile? No. But regardless. I went shopping with a friend today. We went to the mall -- I hate malls. I hate the teenagers that drift around, playing their puberty games with each other and loitering around at store entrances. I hate the old ladies who walk 3 miles per hour and take up the entire walkway. I hate the people who accost you as you're walking by and try to get you to take a survey, and the crowded department stores with the perfume smell you can taste in the air. I hate the yellow, dingy lighting in Payless and the junky center stalls filled with cell phone cases and airbrushed caricatures. I even hate the American Cookie Stand, which sounds like blasphemy -- and believe ...

(Day Fifty-One) This is going to be a burst of random thoughts. I don't feel like writing at all. Michael suggested I get Siri to write a blog post for me, but when you say "Siri, write a blog post," she just does a web search. Totally unhelpful. I went to my first Fundamentals of Photography class today -- it was fun. I have a homework assignment on iso setting and different light exposures. What with this class the next four weeks and then my Ruby workshop on the 2nd-3rd, I'm feeling suitably educational. Someone shared this article on FB today: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative . I like #2: "Don't wait until you know who you are to get started." "You have to start doing the work you want to be doing by copying your heroes; then, go beyond imitation to emulation and finally, you will end up with your own version of the thing you want to be doing." This is good advice. It's daunting to think of starting from scratc...

(Day Fifty) I'm sitting in the backyard swing, Clyde beside me, typing away and listening to the spring breeze through the trees. It's beautiful out. Even though it's almost 11am now, the air and the light still have that early morning quality that sometimes makes me wish I were a morning person. The day just feels so fresh and brand new in the morning. I probably should take advantage of this time to pull up the onion grass already invading the day lilies, or to trim back the bushes colliding with each other under the guest bedroom window, but I just want to sit here and pretend like I have nothing to do. So I'm going to. In fact, in a second I'm going to go find a new book to read so I can just lay here and space out. Nice weather is seriously the best. This year will be our third summer in our house. Our third summer watching the progression of summer flowers, from the daffodils and allium in April to the roses and day lilies in July. Our third year of lawn...

(Day Forty-Nine) I don't know what to write about tonight. I don't want to write about my day. It was a good day, but I just don't feel like writing another post about how I spent my time. I looked through my recent pictures and didn't find anything that spurred any thoughts, either, though I do like these... Clyde and the Swan: On the prowl: Spring Moon:  I feel a little melancholy and sentimental in the way that only summer evenings make me -- and though it's not really summer, yet, today was just as good. Sunshine, shorts, outside, ice cream. It's a good kind of melancholy, if you can imagine such a thing. I feel happy and content with myself and my life, in love with my husband and our little world we've built and the kind of partners we are. The melancholy comes from knowing summer evenings don't last forever, I think. And that's especially true this week because even though it was 75 today, it's supposed to be a high ...