so fresh and so clean, clean.

That.. would be my bedroom, ladies and gentlemen, a little more than 24 hrs ago. I so cannot believe I'm actually posting this online. I wouldn't even let anyone in it. I feel like I should have a list of things you need to find, like in Highlights for Kids. (It's ALWAYS in the tree, by the way.)

It was bad. The mess even continued onto half my queen-size bed. I just hadn't had time.

However, I start a new job tomorrow (holla!) and I just could not come from an 11 hr (including commute) day to this shit hole. I need a place to unwind.

My whole life, cleaning my room has been a challenge. It's overwhelming. I mean, when your room looks this bad, where the f do you start?? There is so much that needs to be done and so much space that needs to be covered. When I was younger, I would sit down and cry. As I got older, I would just give up and hit up AOL for distraction. I couldn't get through it.

Post-It notes cleaned my room. Seriously. It only took me 24 years, but I found my solution. I need things broken down into pieces and this was the most brilliant way I could ever think of.

I grabbed a package and broke it down into 20 steps: 1) Dump everything from bed onto floor. 2) Throw out trash from that pile.. etc. I had a clear-cut order that things needed to be done and if I didn't know what to do next, I ripped off the next one. It was so simple. It also helped me keep focus for way longer than I usually can. (Concerta probably didn't hurt, either.)

That's all 20. I stuck them to my wall as I finished.

The awesome thing is that it could work for anything. Cleaning the house, working on a project or a school paper, setting up an event. It's so elementary that it almost seems childish, but it works.

Oh, and here's the after shot.. (Enter: fan. It was approximately 90º in my house last night because I had been moving so much and I can't open half my windows. It was time.) Couldn't even see the green rug before.

Bring on new job!

a father's day tribute.

This is my dad and I on our last birthday (my 23rd, his 55th). We have the same birthday and after almost 24, the awesomeness has still not gotten old for me.

My dad has been a lot of things in his life: a father (obviously, or you wouldn't have this blog to read.. lucky you), a brother, a husband, a manager, a basketball player, a softball player, a clarinet player, a devout red sox fan, a purebred bostonian, a computer nerd, a "bagel man," a soccer coach, a baseball coach, a softball coach, a temple volunteer, a shoe salesman, a grade A angel hair pasta cook, a great children's story author (though these stories cannot be found in writing), a heart attack survivor, an entrepreneur, a Santa Claus, a lover, a fighter.. a joker, a smoker, and a midnight toker. ..Anyway..

Whichever one of the above he was at any given time, he always strived to be the best and encouraged my brother and I to do the same. Like a dad should.

In the past 3 years, I have certainly learned not to take these things for granted. Dad, I always appreciated everything you tried to do to help me. Right down to teaching me everything I know about baseball and the soap opera that is The Boston Red Sox, especially during the times when we had very little else in common. You were always there.

I love you, Dad. Happy Father's Day.

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stfu: not what you think.

STFU, it's not what you think. This one stands for Summer Training Friday Update. At first I had SFU, but how could I not throw a T in there? Training works. I'm training to be a better member of society. Count it.

Anyway, I need to track my goals and hold myself accountable for them. I read once in a runner's blog that it helps to blog goals like this because when you know other people are aware of what you're working towards, you're less likely to let down an entire group. I am forcing myself to keep my (three or so) readers content with positive updates. So, here you have it for today:

Ran: my whole W2 for C25K. It started well, did not end so well. My IT band is not in fantastic shape, and while my PT says it feels a little looser, I beg to differ. I've also started ankle strengthening, which should help. Oh, and when a physical therapist looks at your chart and goes, "WOW, you have a lot of exercises on here!" it's not usually a good thing.. I'm going to repeat W2 and we'll see how it goes.

Wrote: a synopsis. The goal is 500 words whenever I write, but I'd say that's a start. I decided to give my own life a break and try something fiction. I liked where I was going with last year's NaNoWriMo project, so I thought I'd see if I could bring it back to life.

Spoke: a good hour's worth of Hebrew. I've had "כותב" stuck in my head. It just means "writes," which is awkward to have hanging in your head all day.

Found: my iPod and my favorite shoes.. huge relief. Next goal: my carpet. I know it's in here somewhere..

Misc: I got a new job. I start on Tuesday. That was my biggest goal of the summer, so YAY(enter: tons of exclamation points). Also, my deposit has been sent into school. Next steps include getting my immunization records from my doctor and setting up placement testing. Getting closerrrrrrrr...

parking FAIL.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaatadouche.

Oh, and the reason this is so crappy is because it's taken through my foggy office window. Some of my neighbors are legit crazy and I didn't want to be seen photographing someone's car outside. I think you can still get a pretty good feel for an ass this person is though.

It wasn't even like, temporary parking. This car was there for at least an hour after I got home. Who knows when it got there in the first place. He doesn't even live here and it's private, tenant-only parking. So wanted to have him towed.

Just thought I'd share.

the adult chore chart.

You remember these. We all had one, at least in the classrooms of our youth, if not on our own fridges at home. They were intended to motivate. Chore charts are the next step up in visual encouragement after getting the dog-pitched "Yaaaaaaaaaaaygoodgirl!" and clapping whenever we do something good. When Mom realizes we're too old to do what it takes for an overzealous clap, suddenly it's discovered that stickers do the trick.

Despite the fact that these colorful, gold star-coated grids are assumed to only belong to children, that doesn't mean they stop working. I suppose at some point all kids find their own way of organizing and setting reminders. They think they grow out of these charts, but they really just become less animated. Newsflash: a planner is a grown-up chore chart. There are just different lines on the pages, different colors, less stickers - unless you're my mom - and different blocks of time.

Keeping the above in mind, what if we went back and realized there are actually some valuable advantages to the ol' block-y grid? The main point of it was to list not the things that you need to get done once, but the things that need to become habit. Clean my room, clean the litter box, don't pick on my sister, take my Ritalin.. Well Steph and I are working on forming new habits (and still trying to nail that last one down, to be honest). We thought we'd start the simplest way we know how.

We made jokes about the chore chart, but I have to admit there is certainly something really motivating about it. I mean, it's very plain and simple; a black and white Excel grid with two weeks worth of days lining the top and the things we'd like to do more often down the left side. (After making that icon, however, I'm considering at least writing "I CAN DO IT!" across the top just for good measure.) However, when I really don't feel like doing something, it makes it seem so much less overwhelming when I just see a little box I could check off next to it. It's so simple. The goal is to mark as many things as I can, and in 10/20/30 min, it's one more. I tend to also start thinking, "If half an hour goes by and I didn't do this one thing, I'm going to feel like I wasted time. If I just do it - even if I'm not in the mood - there's no way I can't feel positive about it 30 minutes from now when it's over with." I'm starting to get good at pushing myself into things. That muscle needs a lot of strengthening before school starts.

Make fun, but if you're having trouble getting in a new habit or routine, I'm actually finding this to be a pretty helpful tool. It only takes a minute to draw up a few boxes. Give it a shot.

The best part is, no, these charts didn't work as well for me when I was actually a child.

the short second life of bree tanner.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Alright, as a Twilight fan (yes, I will shamelessly label myself as such), I think this added some interesting depth to the third book. I am one of those people who likes all the answers and all loose ends tied up, so having some background on these creatures thrown into Eclipse gives a nice dimension to the war with the newborns.

That being said, it was.. "cute." I honestly felt like I was reading fan-fiction for a good portion of the book. I said I like answers, but I'm a big girl; I don't need to be spoon-fed details like, "Once again, I knew there was something I was missing in his expression," until BAM, "I figured out what it was I was missing in his expression." You're a novelist, Meyer, build like one.

It was worth it, and nothing that - writing wise - I wasn't expecting after having plowed through the whole series. For what it was and the three hours it took to read it, I liked it. It'll also be an interesting idea to keep in mind when seeing Eclipse in a few weeks.

If you're a Twilight fan, it's not really something you have the option of not reading.

View all my reviews >>

big plans.

This summer. Oh, this summer.

Let's see.. the deal is that I'm starting school in the fall. (That's right.. I actually have a piece of paper that says, "Hey, you're in our program.. so we expect to see you in September." You know, mas o menos.) I also just quit my job, as some of you may or may not know. That's right. "Ack-more" is done like dinnah. And, no worries, I went out with style. Note to retail: rapping the closing announcements goes over well. One customer clapped in the middle of asking one of my co-workers a question. Awesome.

Anyway, there's totes a point to this. The point being it's time to whip my tush into gear. I've come to see goal completion as a sort of school prep. I'm going to need to be able to push myself if I really want to succeed at school. Therefore, I'm going to practice pushing myself with things I actually want to get done now. When I want to put something off, it's, "No.. do you want to succeed in school? Go $*%&ing do it." And it's been working.

Of course, in doing so, I've come to realize I make chunky goals for myself. This makes them harder to accomplish when they spin me into the downward spiral of, "This is too big I have to get started now but I have other goals and they're too big so if I start this one I won't be able to do the other one and which one's more important if I don't do either I won't have to choose I'll figure it out later.." You can imagine that the success with that thought process is about as big as that sentence is without punctuation. SO, I'm breaking them down. Instead of planning on the ultimate goals (i.e. a 5k, a book, a language..), I have broken them down into easier-to-chew pieces:

• Run 1 mile.
• Write 1,000 words.
• Complete Units 1 & 2 of RS.
• Get an hourly wage job.
• Find a roommate (Aug 1).

I think the most important thing I've learned in this is that.. you can always make new goals. They don't have to be in writing all at once. If I finish 1,000 words in one day, big deal. I'll tack on another thousand more. But if I plan to write 50,000, I'll get overwhelmed and write.. nothing.

Oh, and I'd like one of those wishing airplanes..