I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes

state of the chanaleh, March 2026 edition

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 13:57:31 GMT

In general, things here are good, but lately I'm feeling more waves of "stressed and drained" or "lonely and sad" amid the normal "productive and high-energy" states. Work is intense, although at least they love and appreciate me and make it worth my while! Passover is coming, which is never my favorite, but it's good to feel that sort of renewal and spring-cleaning process.

If anyone else is still on Finch (self-care app) and would like to friend me, my code is BHRPQNLDPZ. I downloaded it last week because it seems a lot more fun to have a little round birb chirping "go do some things! you are great!" at me than it is to just sit there doomscrolling for an extra hour every morning while I tell myself "get out of bed, dumbass". I'm not sure it's actually gotten me out of bed any faster, but it is somewhat satisfying, and on the plus side, here I am writing a 5-minute journal entry for the first time in some years.

I'm also about to get out of my chair and go to the gym, but that's more a function of spring break, in the sense that it's the first Sunday in months I don't have to get up and/or roust child out of bed to be somewhere. I started up this gym membership in July of 2024 and I actually went faithfully 6 days a week for about 2 months that summer, but that fell off as soon as school started up. My therapist says "you have to make time for yourself" but my sleep has been so broken for most of that time, I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize it. It's been better in recent months, sleeping through til 6:30 instead of waking up 3:30 - so I really could get myself out of bed and use that time, but see previous paragraph about doomscrolling.

Also, the world is going to hell and it's terrifying. I am trying to plan out another visit to Boston exactly when airport security and jet fuel prices are both going insane, and I don't trust that either of these factors will blow over lightly. I am looking at bringing Ms A the first weekend of October for Simchat Torah at Tremont St., but if I could have my way, I would also come out by myself in June for a certain Beginning-of-Summer party. To say nothing of a bat mitzvah in late April and a friend's wedding over Labor Day, but those are looking less likely.

This past week was the 2026 JoCo Cruise; several people I know were on it, and I think it's fair to say that I was experiencing JoCo FOMO. I actually find that I fantasize a lot lately about traveling, not just to Boston but to other places - and that's making the above factors feel even more wistful.

I did get to Arisia this past January, for the first time since 2014, this time with 10yo Ms A in tow. It was a delight for both of us, but I'm going to punt that to (hopefully) a separate post as my timer is up.

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Year in review, year in preview: 2017/2018

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 14:20:59 GMT

10 goals from 2017 (cf original list: LJ | DW): ( Read more... )

More things that happened in 2017: ( Read more... )

10 goals for 2018: ( Read more... )

In general:

Invest half an hour a day in doing something actually productive, instead of wasting 45+ baby-free minutes (before and after sleep) dicking around on Facebook &c.

The biggest problem there is Aria's still-unpredictable sleep schedule; the second biggest is that once I get up in the morning and sit down at the computer, I end up spending half an hour just to clear the decks (check email, pay bills etc) and then suddenly it's time to get in the shower and start my day. But, the last couple weeks at least (when she wasn't fluey and miserable), she's been sleeping through the night better, and that's been fantastic.

I would love to say things like "Get more exercise", "Drum up more freelance work" and "Rebuild my personal/professional website". But for now I don't feel I would prioritize those above doing more art, really. "Have a monthly date night", maybe that's something to strive for. :-)

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Year in review, year in preview: 2016/2017

Sun, 22 Jan 2017 16:18:14 GMT

Apparently it usually does take me 3 weeks to get this posted, but down the line I won't care how belated it was, so here it is. :-)

( 10 goals from 2016 )

( more things that happened in 2016 )

( 10 goals for 2017 )

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Curses!

Fri, 02 Sep 2016 13:30:05 GMT

My work IT department has apparently been doing some review of employee network use recently, because yesterday while I was meeting with one of my close coworkers, they came to his desk to "uninstall some unauthorized software" -- Spotify. Ooh, he was pissed.

And today I discover that they have blocked LiveJournal categorically on the grounds of "Adult Content" (apparently "Time-Wasters" is not a category in Barracuda). Bah.

... But not Dreamwidth. >:-)

Does this mean I will have to post more often instead of reading? Time will tell, true believers! (It certainly means my DW reading page will get more traction, since I've been using LJ exclusively up til now for reading.)

Shabbat shalom!

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Editors, help...

Thu, 12 May 2016 21:55:52 GMT

This poor sentence is trapped in the wrong language. It is in Marketingspeak and needs to be in English. Can someone please help me translate it?

“Throughout the organization, efforts are being redeployed around member-focused initiatives.”

("Members" = our customers. This line would be tolerable if it were a marketing-internal document, but it's actually being published in a major customer-facing piece of collateral. NO NO NO NO NO just no.)

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Year in review, year in preview: 2015/2016

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 05:04:36 GMT

This one goes to eleven!

~~Ten~~ Eleven things I did in 2015:
( Have A Baby is highest on the list, but not the only thing! )

~~Ten~~ Eleven things I would like to do in 2016:
( each of which could probably make for a whole entry by itself )

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Snowstorm this weekend

Mon, 02 Feb 2015 18:32:51 GMT

The snow started Saturday evening and continued through this morning. Forecast total of 10-14" (not sure how that translated to reality, but etrace's weather gauge measured 7.5 inches as of ~10am Sunday morning, and it's been snowing pretty continuously since). So I got over my East Coast blizzard envy from watching everyone's snow days last week. :-)

This morning:

Work: Still open, but half-hour delay!
Snow: *continues falling in inch-wide flakes*
Me: ...
Nephew: Hey, I shoveled your car out.
Me: <3 *drives carefully to work*
Boss: Well, I HAD to get here, 'cause I have like 50 projects on deadline!
Me: Great, can you pass anything to me, 'cause I have literally none?
Boss: Um, maybe? Let me get back to you.
Me: *finds 2 small projects and completes them*
Boss: *crickets*
Me: Sigh.
Boss: *gets on conference call*
Me: *gets on LJ*
Work: Hey, at least we're ordering in pizza for everyone who made it!

... I swear, I am really loving this job and everything they've had me do. I could just do with some *more* of it.

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Job search front

Tue, 08 Jul 2014 20:04:29 GMT

So, while I'm not in a huge hurry to find a job, I am interested in getting going, as I have enjoyed not worrying about money for the last several years and am keen for us to stay in that zone. :-}

So far, in the last couple days, I have:
- updated my resume (including expanding it from one to two pages, finally bowing to the times and/or my actual 20+ years of work experience) and associated suite of documents (writing samples, references)
- updated and made public my resume on Monster.com
- applied to four jobs, three of them at the same place (the local newspaper)
- perused Craigslist and JewishJobs.com (nothing promising at the moment in either place) as well as Monster and LinkedIn
- answered one email from a recruiter
- glanced at online PHP/SQL programs (this is an area I'm thinking seriously about pursuing further training)
- applied for instant online ordination from the Universal Life Church Monastery (not directly job-related at present, but I've kind of always wanted to do it and figure it might be a direction in which I could expand)

On the to-do list:
- update my website and online portfolio
- add some content to my professional blog
- do the next round of revisions on a book layout job
- work up a new design piece on commission
- on the home front, start working with etrace on our new and expanded business plan, marketing plan, and website

Additional creative (not job-related) projects I would like to do soon:
- add etrace's trip photos to the Epic Road Trip Honeymoon album on Flickr, and add captions to the photos
- pick up again the habit of morning pages (from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way)
- for that matter, actually read The Artist's Way
- beta-read my friend Michael's musical that he just sent me
- overall, stay off Facebook in order to spend more time creating and/or writing (but LJ is OK, because it's more like actual writing ;-)

But right now I'm going to go take a long walk. Back later.

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I am officially unemployed!

Wed, 09 Apr 2014 20:37:34 GMT

... I mean, a full-time housewife!
... I mean, a full-time freelancer! :-D

Because my last day at work was Friday. One more milestone down.

On Day 1 (Monday) I did what I thought was the majority of my taxes, only to find out that I was facing almost $2000 in taxes (federal + state) due to having earned almost $7500 in freelance income in 2013. So I spent the bulk of yesterday going back through my 2013 credit card statements to claim Every Single Possible Deductible Expense, with the help of a shiny new OpenOffice spreadsheet, and succeeded in getting that tax bill down to about $700. Go me!

Also, taylweaver had us over for lunch this past Shabbat, and jessruth came over on Sunday to help us start packing (and eat lentil stew and homemade cookies). And we packed another 5+ cartons of books last night, with more to come tonight.

Also, yesterday was Death of Windows XP Day. Sniff!

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Married life

Wed, 12 Mar 2014 11:43:03 GMT

We've been married almost a month. Four weeks this Friday!

In that time, I've been rereading A Civil Campaign and then Pride and Prejudice, because it's been so delightful reading about other people's successful culmination of their improbable but eminently suitable matches. :-)

It had been some time since I read P&P (I thought about picking it up when theatreatfirst staged it two years ago, but apparently I never did). And nearing the end, I got to this quote from Mr. Bennett on learning that Elizabeth actually wished to marry Darcy:

"I know your disposition, Lizzy. I know that you could be neither happy nor respectable, unless you truly esteemed your husband; unless you looked up to him as a superior. Your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage. You could scarcely escape discredit and misery. My child, let me not have the grief of seeing *you* unable to respect your partner in life."

And reading that, I stood there (on the subway) and went, Oh. My God. That's it. That's me. That's exactly what happened to me the first time. Discredit and misery.

... And now, five and a half years later, I'm standing on this opposite shore where all the pieces have at last, miraculously, somehow come together into their right relation, a new wholeness.

(I came home and explained this to etrace, and he was like, "Wow, no pressure." ;-)

In short, everything would be pretty great right now were it not for my working 10-hour days (plus another 90+ minutes a day commuting). BUT... as of Friday, I will have only 1 week left (gah!) to the big website launch, 3 weeks left at my job (we actually found me a replacement yay!), and 5 weeks til we move.

I booked the U-Haul last night (10' truck) for Thursday, April 17. So the horizon really is in sight. (-- I mean, scheduling my own personal exodus during Passover... why not?)

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state of the chanaleh, late August edition

Mon, 19 Aug 2013 01:53:11 GMT

Things that have been happening lately:

Awesome visits from out-of-town friends (with more on the schedule).
One band gig. Not a lot of audience, but some nice photos. Next one is Sunday evening, Sept. 29 -- watch this space!
Work is kicking my ass. We have entered crunch mode before start of school. I expect it to be running at high gear from now until approximately Chanukah (= Thanksgiving)... except for the part where we have off roughly half of the month of September, due to holiday timing, which will both ameliorate and exacerbate the strain. At minimum, I'm gonna need to get my butt into work closer to 8am all the coming week or two, because there is no freaking way I can hope otherwise to get everything done that I need to by start of school. Gah.
Coworker crush still operative. Awkwardness resulting from certain ill-advised episode* at department retreat 5+ weeks ago finally beginning to die down. (*Seriously, though, I asked for permission a good 12 hours ahead of time, and got it, so it wasn't like I jumped him out of the blue.)
Handful of dates, non-dates, or semi-dates with various people at various levels of interest.
A few surprising episodes of breakup grief being triggered by various things, particularly a couple of the aforementioned *-dates. Okay, THAT part is not exactly surprising, but it's always surprising when things suddenly rise up at you, isn't it?
Awesome beach day yesterday with ZZ.
Some well-received design work for BHT. Also for shul (new member welcome booklet for high holidays). So it begins.
Oh hey, I sold another art piece online recently (this one). I love when that happens.
Working on G&S music for Rockville (Ruddigore and Grand Duke). Also, there was a Pirates of Penzance living-room sing in Brooklyn today, which I did just for fun.
Did I mention that I have a paid gig for the High Holidays? Singing backup again, basically, for the services at Ohel Ayalah. It means I'll have to trade off some time when I'd otherwise be at T&V singing with the choir, but it'll be nice exposure and a really fun thing to do... and I will get to sing one of the three iterations of Kol Nidrei. Solo. For reals. For a congregation of like 200+ people.
Sleep has been poor of late (my body has decided 5 hours at a stretch is all it wants to take in... sort of like when my phone battery was wearing out, and couldn't take or hold enough charge anymore. That, at least, I could replace and give it a whole new lease on life). Running on fumes seems to be catching up with me, as I started to feel noticeably iffy today, and need to go to bed within the next hour in an effort to stave it off.
Got back more seriously on the no-sugar wagon for the past week or so. Not sure if this was related to today's crash or no, but I ended up carbing it up tonight just to see. After which, I am feeling slightly better, so I dunno.
Booked trip to see my dad (and hopefully some assorted friends) in Indiana the first days of Sukkot, Sept. 19-22.

Whew.

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So, I live in Brooklyn now.

Fri, 12 Jul 2013 02:07:29 GMT

The big move took place a few days ago. Huge props to filkerdave for providing enormous moral and logistical support throughout both Saturday (when we basically packed my entire kitchen, then drove over an initial carload of Non-Truckable Things) and Sunday (when the actual movers came). Stats as posted to Facebook on Sunday evening:

Load-out: ~2.75 hrs. Load-in: ~2.25 hrs. Grief-related meltdowns: only 1.5. On the whole, a successful move.

(trowa_barton: "What constitutes half a meltdown?" One full-on, standing out on 116th St. by the truck, to the point where the moving guys asked if everything was OK; one momentary, later, after all the hauling was done, when we made shehecheyanu over well-earned gin and tonics.)

Barbara and Arnold were passing through town and came over Brooklynward just at the right time to see the place and go out for Indian food with us, so that was perfect.

Then two days of work, and then I went on a 2-day work retreat to the Hamptons (which was only mildly eventful, in a nice and not-very-work-related way), so I am now back.

The good news is, as of this afternoon (shortly before I returned), we now have hot & cold running Internet! So I am not just back, but back online. The even better news is, I have a comp day tomorrow, so I will be home to (a) unpack, (a') maybe do laundry, (b) catch up on email, (c) visit with DF, and (d) get the cooking gas installed sometime between noon and 6pm.

But right now, I get to GO TO BED and that is the best news of all.

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to-do

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:17:46 GMT

Goals for Pesach vacation:

~~recover from today's minor periodontal surgery (on which more later)~~
~~submit complete revised final book files (text & cover) for press~~
finish (if not actually order printing of) L&E's ketubah
~~do enough shopping and cooking to keep us thoroughly fed on vegetables and animal proteins~~
~~take justom to 1st-night seder~~
tie up a bunch of pending travel details for Hawaii trip with Mom (suddenly just a month away now!)
update my personal website
do my project for Skillshare's Teach Yourself to Code: One Month Rails
~~have jessruth over for a day of serious closet purge~~
~~go over to jessruth's for an organizational day in exchange~~
~~review my final book proofs (text & cover)~~ and ~~ship jacket files to new bindery~~
~~see la_vie_en_rosie & R when they are in town Wed/Thu~~
if possible, have next date with ZZ :-)
~~visit Boston next weekend (though it may be shorter than I originally thought, due to all the above)~~

Chag kasher v'sameach!

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pant pant

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 04:30:52 GMT

It's continuing to be a month. Here's what's doing:

Book project is close, oh so close, to being done. Finally finished the text file last Thursday and shipped it to the printer... aaand, developments over the ensuing several days are resulting in the distinct possibility that we will switch printers (but still have the original place do the case binding, which is the main thing I really need them for, because hardly anyone does ultra-short-run case binding for a reasonable price). Really hoping that this will get settled in the next day or two, that I'll send the finalized cover files on Monday, and that it will be mostly out of my hands after that (the author will do the proof review).

Blue Hill Troupe's spring show program (which is essentially also a 144-page book) is in fact at the printers! Text and cover proofs are coming Friday, but I won't be looking at those either, as I'll be at Lunacon. But I'll be on call to make any changes or replacement pages they need to send back, so if you see me sitting at the MuffinButtons table with a big laptop out, that's probably why.

I got a reasonable tax refund, which among other things will... cover the gum surgery I'm scheduled to have a week from Friday. :-P

Yesterday was Rosh Chodesh Nisan, and my synagogue organized a special minyan (ETA: video coverage from JTA! and articles in the Forward and the Daily Beast...) in solidarity with the Women of the Wall, which is a group of women in Jerusalem who hold a morning prayer service at the Kotel (Western Wall) each month on Rosh Chodesh -- and because they pray wearing tallit and tefillin, it offends the ultra-Orthodox establishment, so they keep getting arrested. Our minyan was supposed to be held in Union Square Park, but because of the rain, we had it in the sanctuary at T&V after all. I didn't stay long enough to hear any actual rallying speeches or anything, just through Hallel and then I had to scoot out to work. But the really awesome thing is that, as it later transpired, the Women of the Wall had invited three female Members of Knesset to join them at the Kotel that morning -- so they brought their diplomatic immunity and NOBODY got arrested, for a nice change.

And this morning, I successfully unlocked an achievement that was 6 to (technically) 18 months overdue: transferred my Massachusetts driver's license to New York State. (I tried to do this back in October when the MA one expired -- on my 40th birthday -- but come to find out, NYS requires you to present a Social Security card in order to transfer an out-of-state-license. No discussion, no exceptions. I hadn't had a copy of my Social Security card since, like, applying for my first passport in high school... so I had to get a new copy of that first, and, well, delays. But now I have all the things!)

And justom's show opened last week, so paradoxically, he's been home more and earlier in the evenings, and things have been quite mellow and pleasant. I get to go on Sunday night (directly on unloading from Lunacon).

Oh, and, lest I forget: I am suddenly this week also working on a ketubah for sanpaku and gansje, and I just sent them a draft, so now I can finish this entry and go to bed. :-)

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#upgoer5: Putting Things On The Face Book

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 05:04:54 GMT

lyonesse and bluepapercup were doing an #upgoer5 meme, explaining one's profession using only the "ten hundred" most-used words (inspired by xkcd). So I did too.

"I work for a school, putting things that parents and teachers need to know up on the computer so they can find it out. I also take pictures and moving pictures to show parents what fun things their kids do in school, or sometimes I write about things that are going on in the school. Then I share those stories and pictures on the computer, such as on the Face Book. And sometimes I help make pretty paper things that we send out to the houses of parents and friends of the school, so that they will like us and send us money."

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Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:06:34 GMT

This coming Sunday is a major work event for which my entire department is working late nights all week trying to get ready.

The weekend after that is Arisia, when I'll be working 9-hour days at the MuffinButtons vendor table. I am super excited about this, but have also decided that my priority outside of vending hours will be... going to sleep as early as I damn well feel like it. (Maybe I'll get up at 6am on Sunday morning and catch the *end* of the DJ/80s dance, which I totally forgot about last year and kicked myself for missing.) Any other early birds who want to hang out for breakfast in the lobby around 9-10am, please do -- I found that that was one of my favorite times of the con last year.

The weekend after *that* is a Shabbat dinner with my synagogue choir, and special choir performances at both Friday night and Saturday morning services, in honor of Shabbat Shirah (the Sabbath of Song, so named because we read about the Israelites' crossing the Red Sea and their ensuing Song of the Sea). And, um, I got recruited to coordinate the dinner signups, which is cool because it's basically "put together a fancy signup sheet and then hound everybody until I hear from all of them, and then hound everybody some more until I get all their prepayments", at all of which I am an old hand, but... it takes some cycles.

Also, the ASL 2 class (8-week sequel to the 6-week ASL 1 class I took in the fall) starts up tomorrow night.

Also, I am lead program designer for the Blue Hill Troupe's spring show. The hard part of my job is more-or-less-almost done, but I still have to set up a bunch of article templates based on the design specs we've settled on.

Also, remember that book project that I'm trying to get out the door? Maybe by the end of this month?

Also, I, um, agreed to serve as production stage manager for Utopia Unlimited's next opera production, La Fille du Regiment, which is dress-rehearsing the last week of January for performances Feb 1-2.

Basically, I've now decided that if there's anything I haven't already promised to do for someone in February, I am not doing it. (So, BHT yes, ASL yes, shepherding book through manufacturing yes, everything else no.) Seriously -- I had signed up to participate in the synagogue Purimshpiel, but I emailed them yesterday morning to back out, because no. I just don't need a whole new set of Sunday-afternoon rehearsals shoehorned into my month. Even if it is a short month.

March will be Lunacon, and then -- holy crap, it'll already be Passover. Where does the time go?? (But, 10-day stay-cation!!)

... Speaking of Lunacon, I am thinking of vending there too, but I already bought a personal membership, and now the table fee comes with one (and they won't credit me for the existing one). Anyone want me to transfer a membership to them for this year? I'll sell it for the $30 I paid in October; they're already up to $50.

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Year in review, year in preview

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 20:26:09 GMT

10 goals from 2012 ( cf. original list: LJ | DW )
( A mixed bag, but overall, progress was made. )

10+ additional achievements of 2012:
( It was actually a good and stabilizing year for me, despite the ongoing crises in the world at large. )
11. ... And, oh yeah, turned 40 and had an awesome celebration to mark it.

10 goals for 2013:
( Some that build on last year's, and some new ones. )

Wishing all of us a year of physical health, emotional growth, and spiritual abundance.

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Send me a web developer!

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:48:47 GMT

I need (in my workplace capacity) an ASP programmer to help me think through and build a couple of webform/transaction pages. Gentle readers, can you refer me to someone with clue in this area? We'd ideally want them to be NYC-local so they could come in to discuss the project in person, but if it's a friend-of-a-friend, I could deal with them remotely.

Craigslist ad with details: http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/sof/3164003708.html

ASP.NET developer (short-term to possible long-term) (Upper East Side) UES private school seeks ASP.NET developer (C# preferred but VB also OK) for custom web application and possible database integration. Part-time, contract basis. We have a specific short-term project need (probably 10-15 hours over the next 6-8 weeks) but will have more over the coming year, so are looking for someone with whom we can build a freelance relationship. We will want to meet with you in person to review the project scope and specs before moving forward, but most of the work may be done remotely. Please email resume, cover letter indicating position of interest, links to 2-3 sample projects if available, and desired hourly rate.

(I wrote the ad, so if it sounds glaringly dumb and like I have no idea what I'm actually talking about, so be it. Just help me. ;-)

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Stop, my brain is full!

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 12:37:35 GMT

It struck me last night that one of my problems these days with doing any writing (including posting to LJ), or art, or even the freelance (book production) job I've committed to doing, is that I work fairly intensely on the computer all day... so that when I get home, the LAST thing I want to do is sit back down at the computer. Or at least, I can sit there, but all I end up doing is dicking around on the Internets, because I am tired. And all my creative modalities rely heavily on the computer as a tool. (Just like my day job, with its fairly heavy creative component, does.)

The other half of that dynamic is that, although I get up in time to allow for about an hour of computer time in the morning (i.e., right now), that is historically the time I have allotted to dicking around on the Internets. By which term I mean "catch up on everyone's lives on LJ and Facebook and follow a bunch of the fascinating links you people have posted," "answer some emails", and occasionally "get through any banking/financial stuff that needs doing".

Moving that taskspace to the evening slot, when I am more in consumption mode, might free up my creative energy in the morning (and, unlike some, I am enough of a morning person that "getting my brain to wake up" is not the problem; once I'm up, I'm up). The problem is that if I don't clear those particular decks in the morning, it becomes too easy/tempting to dabble in it DURING the workday, which is Not OK. (I've already turned on Chrome Nanny to keep me from accessing Facebook and LJ during most hours of the workday. Unrelatedly, I also have a separate Facebook account that I now use -- in a separate browser -- for work purposes, which, as the in-house Professional Facebook User, I really, truly do have.)

It does occur to me though that walking home from work and cooking dinner (the actual process, not just the nuking of leftovers) are likely to be a more refreshing/relaxing combination than going out to dinner (a frequent post-work social outlet) and taking the train home. Maybe I can work on planning in more of that for this summer. -- That is, when I'm not away on trips or busy running around at auditions/rehearsals, which haven't been much of an issue lately, but are about to ramp up, possibly covering over half of June at this point. Huh.

P.S., speaking of creative work: gilana, you know about this, right? Deadline of Thursday, June 7!
http://www.jewishboston.com/17793-area-events/blogs/3603-project-bread-the-walk-for-hunger-2012-holiday-cards-contest

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June 2012 calendaring

Thu, 31 May 2012 21:02:39 GMT

Wow, this is getting frighteningly booked up already.

The good news is, I'll be in Boston a couple of times. Also, I'm traveling overnight to DC for work June 14-15, so if those of you in the area are around that Thursday evening, you should let me know!

( June is busting out all over! )

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The perils of a desk job

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:20:03 GMT

You guys, I have so, SO much I could be writing about, and I've just been too slammed to take the time. Which means I have half-finished entries gathering dust from a month ago, and by the time I get around to posting them, they have to be half rewritten. (Not that that's bad, from a literary perspective.)

So here's one piece of the current landscape.

**

Remember those size 8 pants I bought at the end of October? (I'm pretty sure I had posted about them either here or on FB, but I can't find the citation now, so you're going to have to take my word for it. ANyway...)

Yeah, they don't fit anymore. I suspect I've put close to 10 pounds back on since starting my new job Nov. 1. :-P

( nattering about food and exercise )

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Linkfest

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:48:30 GMT

I've been wanting for days and days to write some stuff about what's happening on my interior landscape, but have been too busy churning out actual work (made some updates to my website, though, alongside working on the big book project). So, in lieu of content, you get some of the interesting things that have come up in the past several weeks.

Design & typography

Beautiful and colorful, both from This Is Colossal:
The Chromatic Typewriter: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2011/12/the-chromatic-typewriter/?src=footer
A Massive Black Field of Cut Steel Plants Hides a Colorful Secret: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/01/a-massive-field-of-cut-steel-plants-reveals-a-colorful-secret/

The Met has a new section on their (recently overhauled) website called "Connections", a long series of thematic presentations with voiceovers by various Museum personnel and specialists. It's really nice.
http://www.metmuseum.org/connections/

Of historical interest, courtesy of c1: a film about Linotype (click to read about/see the trailer if you don't know what that is) that premiered in NYC this past weekend:
http://laughingsquid.com/linotype-the-film/

"How to Build a Newsroom Time Machine": Typesetting and layout the old-fashioned way, or, what "on the pasteboard" really means (probably also courtesy of c1, though it's been so long I forget!):
http://journoterrorist.com/2011/08/02/paperball2/

Writing

Gotham Writer's Workshop offers FREE writing classes! (well, one-hour workshops, but it could be fun):
http://www.writingclasses.com/CommunityEvents/index.php

An old one from Neil Gaiman about how to get published and/or how to get an agent:
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2005/01/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about.asp

Work

Fascinating:
Scaling back consumption in service of happiness:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/business/08consume.html?_r=1&hpw=&pagewanted=all
See also: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-case-for-a-21-hour-work-week.html

Useful:
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/the-100-best-lifehacks-of-2011-the-year-in-review.html
(srsly, read only the ones that you find interesting! Skip the rest!)

Relationships

Unbelievably beautiful:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arjuna-ardagh/goddess-worship_b_660896.html

Insightful:
http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/12/11/30-things-to-stop-doing-to-yourself/
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/naming-elephants-10-ways-to-use-radical-honesty-to-improve-your-relationship.html

Not really so insightful, but several people pointed me at it:
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/01/20/the-gingrich-question-cheating-vs-open-marriage/

Mmm!

Scotch tastings in NYC:
http://nycwhisky.com/events-old

Star Wars

I forget who pointed me at this, but I am totally loving it (and I'm on about page 52 of 600+ and counting -- they just got up to Episode IV last month).
Darths & Droids is an "RPG screencap comic" that re-envisions Star Wars: Episode I (The Saga Begins) as a roleplaying campaign. Apparently inspired by DM of the Rings, but funnier in terms of making sense of the weaknesses of the source material.
http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0001.html

This reminds me that I also wanted to post this link when it first came to my attention several months ago:
Secret History of Star Wars: A Tribute to Marcia Lucas
http://secrethistoryofstarwars.com/marcialucas.html

Jewish

Jewish Sacred Theatre – Its Components and Its Means:
http://www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/article_display.aspx?articleID=525

A handy nuts-and-bolts link on kashering your kitchen:
http://njop.org/resources/kosher/how-to-keep-kosher/

comments

Geeking out

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:24:21 GMT

Sometimes I think I should really just take up programming. I apparently have a much neater sense of code than plenty of the geeks I know.

Earlier this month I had to take an ASP script and re-write it by hand to be a different script. Gah.

Then I took a ColdFusion page and moved all the bits around to be a completely different page. Cut-and-paste programming my specialty.

Today, for completely unrelated work reasons, I registered myself as an Apple Developer. (No, I haven't in fact developed anything for iOS, whyever do you ask?)

Right now, I'm downloading the Java SE Development Kit by way of the Android SDK so I can fix the memory issues on my phone.

Yeah.

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Year in review, year in preview

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 02:02:59 GMT

Pro tip: Crossposting from Dreamwidth requires different syntax for LJ user links. But it works, it works!

Anyway.

Ten achievements of 2011: ( 2011 was the year I... )

Ten goals for 2012:

1. Finally replace the Treo 680 with an Android phone
It's coming to be necessary for my professional cred as a web/social media maven.

2. Go contra dancing at least once per calendar month
This represents a sixfold increase over 2011, when I went a total of twice.

3. Establish a habit of walking home from work at least once a week
When I was ~~unemployed~~ on vacation for 2 months, I was walking miles every day and it was great.

4. Implement new website for Ramaz
A professional goal, not a personal one, but then the professional is personal, as they say.

5. Host a Shabbat dinner
With lots of singing. In NYC. Who wants to come?

6. Take (and post) more pictures
Documenting my experience of the city. You see things differently with a camera in your hand.

7. Get net worth up over $100,000
90% of this is locked up in retirement savings, as it should be, but still. It's reachable.

8. Join the Frontstage side of the Blue Hill Troupe
Hoping that next year's shows will be of more interest to me than Utopia. We'll find out this spring!

9. Establish a partnership with the shared goal of having a family
Let's acknowledge that there are lots of possible (and many mutually exclusive) subgoals under this, the exact combination of which will vary highly depending on the chain of circumstances, so I'm not really ready to unpack all of them right now. But I'm naming the intention.

10. Complete a draft of a novel
In some ways this goal feels the farthest away... and reaches the farthest back, since I wanted to Be A Writer from the time I could hold a pencil.

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Testing: Dreamwidth-to-LJ

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:30:48 GMT

Shabbat shalom from Dreamwidth, y'all.

Oh, and because I have only pimped it on Facebook and Google+ so far, see my chief creative accomplishment of this week:

( video behind cut, because I am tired of waiting for it to load every time I view my journal page, and I bet you are too! )

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I Am Large, I Contain Multitudes

state of the chanaleh, March 2026 edition

Year in review, year in preview: 2017/2018

Year in review, year in preview: 2016/2017

Curses!

Editors, help...

Year in review, year in preview: 2015/2016

Snowstorm this weekend

Job search front

I am officially unemployed!

Married life

state of the chanaleh, late August edition

So, I live in Brooklyn now.

to-do

*pant* *pant*

#upgoer5: Putting Things On The Face Book

Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans

Year in review, year in preview

Send me a web developer!

Stop, my brain is full!

June 2012 calendaring

The perils of a desk job

Linkfest

Geeking out

Year in review, year in preview

Testing: Dreamwidth-to-LJ

pant pant