Perforation Problems

Guys. I think I'm going to stop doing 365 posts. I'm just not spending time on them, and they're not serving the purpose they were meant to -- to get me to write. I'm just doing them to get them done, which is not really writing. It's typing. It'd be one thing if I were writing about the pictures right after I took them, when the experience was fresh and I could focus on one and really do it justice. But that's not what's happening. I have 60 more pictures that do not have posts. I could continue to do half-hearted posts for them and probably finish in about two more months, or I could try to turn this into something a bit more productive and that will help me become a better writer. So...instead of finishing those posts, I'm going to adapt it into a new challenge: 60 days of writing every single day. Don't think I'm copping out -- this is going to probably be harder. A couple rules / guidelines: 1) I have to write everyday, but it can...

This is a little more interesting, though not a very good picture. My friend and I drove down to Bloomington tonight to see David Sedaris read from Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls .

I am 100% unsure why I took a picture of my almost-empty ice tea. I told you the pictures were going to get even more boring than normal. Only 61 more days of Project 365. Hang in there.

It sucks when someone puts something delicious in your bowl (Is that cheese and bread? Why are we wasting that on Clyde?) and then makes you wait until they say you can eat it. Poor Clyde.

At work we're encouraged to spend one work day a year volunteering, whether it's at a company-selected event or something of our own choosing. A few of us ended up volunteering at the humane society on a day they supply needy families with pet food. Most of the day was spent handing out bags of Kibbles n' Bits, but we did get to visit the kittens inside. Kittens are pretty great.

My hands were cold, so I'm writing this while underneath a blanket. All the way under a blanket, with the screen of my laptop tenting the fabric and creating a bright glow to light my little cave. It's a good 10 degrees warmer in here, so even though Michael just scratched at my roof and essentially said, "What are you doing, weirdo?," I'm going to stand by my work environment choices.  After my poetry spasm the other day, I've been thinking about how one brings about a creative mood. I've always agreed with the thought that creativity is a muscle -- you have to exercise it, or it's harder to use -- but now I'm reminded that you also have to surround yourself with inspiration, as well. You have to get yourself in the mood, if you know what I mean. Heh heh. So basically I have to search out creativity porn.  Ugh, now it's getting too hot in my blanket cave. I made a "window" with my leg. Guys, being a writer is hard.  Let's g...

I was sitting on the couch tonight, reading The Mermaid Chair and obliquely watching the Olympics, avoiding writing because it just seemed like so. much. work. So heavy, so hard. It's been rough, lately. This endless winter. Whine, whine, whine. And then an iPad commercial came on, and that, of all things, knocked me out of it. Welcome, commercialism. But I'm grateful for it. I'm sitting there, half reading, half letting my mind wander to all the little worries floating around my brain, when I hear familiar words. Have you ever had that feeling, when you hear a phrase you know, a song, a line from a poem, a quote from a movie, and it turns something inside you, something warm, something that says, "here's what's worth it, here's what's true, what's beautiful, what's important." I guess it's joy. It was a voiceover from Robin Williams' character in Dead Poets Society , quoting Walt Whitman. One of my favorite movies, and one tha...

In reality, it's February 17th, 2014, and I'm finally opening up Blogger again, though it feels like making myself go to the dentist. I haven't written much in the last four months -- and I think I'm suffering for it. The writer in me has crusted up. In blog picture land, it's November 1st, 2013, our last full day on Eleuthera. It makes me sad to remember it. The last day of vacation is the worst. I just took 10 minutes to track down this little piece I wrote back in July when it was almost time to leave the cabin: On the last day of vacation you try not to count the hours – 24 hours left…18 hours left...10 hours left…one more swim…one more dinner… one more time to fall asleep reading in the sunroom, the night breeze covering your skin. But part of you counts, and part of you is sad. No, no, you say to yourself. Don’t think about it. Just enjoy it. The last ice cream sundae, the last evening walk. I feel different on long vacations. I turn ...

There are a few more days of Bahamas pictures. My set from October 31st is pretty bad... It took me awhile to realize I was probably trying to get a picture of the sunset as it ducked behind the trees. You can just barely make it out if you move your head up and down and look from different angles.  At least there's a moon in there? I guess this is fitting for Halloween.  By the way, guys, it's January and it's dismal outside. I haven't taken down the Christmas lights, which helps some, but it mostly just feels like I'm lying to myself. It's not Christmas, anymore, Haley. Time to move on. 

Anyone who knows me or has read more than a post or two on this blog will know that I love food. It's psychological and physical and emotional -- I know there are those of you out there who feel the same way, because you're my friends -- but there's nothing better than knowing there's something delicious in your future. I probably could write a book analyzing my relationship with food, but let's just say there's a direct correlation between my mood and the availability of good food around me. And by "good" I mean "Haley good," which is usually two steps below what other people think is good. The difference between a horrible 12 hour car ride and a completely fine 12 hour car ride? A stop for french fries and granola bars readily available in my purse. Have to go to a meeting that's going to be really boring? Totally fine with it if there are good cookies present. There were not many grocery stores or open restaurants on Eleuthera -- in ...

Well, this post may say 10/29/2013, but it's really 1/6/2014, which is officially 365 days since I started Project 365. I'm not sure if I can consider myself a success, since I missed several days and I'm 10 weeks behind on posting my pictures, but I'm not going to call myself a failure, either. The goal was to make myself feel more present in the day-to-day -- to have some kind of "bookmark" for my time -- and to be more creative/write more. I'd say that goal was accomplished. This will be my 331st post on a blog that until 2013 was mostly ignored. I also have THOUSANDS of pictures, though I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing. There's a balance between recording what happens /  what you do and spending so much time recording that you're experiencing everything through the filter of a camera lens. I read something somewhere the other day that said people remember more when they don't take pictures, which makes sense to me. I'...

Took walks along the beach -- picked up a coconut, some weird fruit I didn't recognize, and some shells. Saw a piece of metal that looked like it'd been ripped off a plane. Went swimming, ate hot dogs. Read.

Sunset over the pond on our first anniversary. We laid around all day, reading and swimming.

3:30 a.m, waiting for the airport shuttle. Cold but excited, because we're on VACATION. No work, no obligations, no stresses for a whole week.

This is the only picture I took today. It was a really good cookie. I went back for another.

I almost ate one of these cookies today, thinking they were chocolate chip. You can see where I started to pull back the wrapper. They are not, in fact, chocolate chip. They are oatmeal raisin. This is the subtle, cruel trickery of the oatmeal raisin cookie.

I like the discount barrel of flowers at Kroger. These purple tulips were $2. I've noticed that I go on color kicks. Red was my thing for awhile, then yellow. Purple didn't really do anything for me until recently. Now I want to see it everywhere. Does this happen to other people?