Tag: random

Tonight is Earth Hour. Join this global awareness effort by turning off your lights for one hour at 8:30 pm your local time.

Updated to add:

What it looks like in my office as of 8:30 p.m.

He’s gay; I’m straight. He’s dead; I’m alive.

Sound like the beginning of another vampire book?

Not really. After being on a break, I’m ready to resume my relationship with Marcel Proust. To that end, I’ve finally finished Swann’s Way in Volume I of Remembrance of Things Past, and I’m moving on to Within a Budding Grove.

I suspect the reason I kept putting this off is because I thought so much time had passed since I started reading Proust that I’d need to go back to the beginning. The whole thing seemed daunting.

Then Linda published a meme/list called “101 in 1001.” These are 101 things she plans to do in 1001 days–that’s about what, 2.75 years? At first I thought it was 101 things in a year, and I was all, Good grief; how’s she going to do all that? The timeline finally penetrated my numb-to-numbers brain, and I thought such a list might help me with one of my biggest challenges: time management. I can manage my time, but there are always so many things to do that I get distracted. Maybe a bigger-picture list will help me refocus after daily distractions and duties.

Possibly first up is to actually complete the list of 101 things. I’m not sure what number I’m up to, but maybe I’ll publish it when I reach the magic number. And then I’ll start ticking things off, because I’ve already been working on some of them (even before I decided to create a list). There’s the added benefit that as things get done–those things that can be done–I’ll feel some sense of accomplishment or completion. Anyway, it’s all worth a try, and since Proust fell from the shelf onto the list (not literally), I started reading him again, and I’m enjoying the reading and the sense of making progress on this first of three volumes.

Many years ago, I bought a sewing machine cabinet (sans machine) that was the ideal stand for our TV, because it took up little space and hid the VCR, DVD player, tapes, DVDs, whatever. Then, when I got the larger TV for Tom a couple of years ago on our anniversary, I moved that sewing cabinet into my office, where it became a home for my printer and whatever I could cram inside it.

I recently found exactly the filing cabinet I wanted to take its place, so the sewing cabinet became–a sewing cabinet! Something I never thought I’d need. But when I was working on my most recent PR design, it was heavenly to do it in one area with all my supplies at hand and room to cut, and fit, and sew. Organizing that room is still in progress (and is also on my list!), but I’m getting there.

That’s my old PC and my Kodak digital on the work table. The Nikon is generally wherever I am, and the new PC is in my office, which is also an area in transition (so no photos yet). I’m hoping that setting up different and specific work spaces for my sewing, painting, and writing/editing will also help me stay focused. Right now, it’s a happy theory!

One thing that probably won’t change: no matter what room I’m in, I’ll never rush to deal with those pesky phones. I’d have to believe phone aversion is a flaw before I could change it. Not likely.