There is a missing piece between, "You are responsible for your own happiness" and being happy. Deciding to be happy just doesn't cut it, and fuck you to everyone who says it's that simple. It's not. Beliefs are hard to change ( Read more... )

do you use all those different colored stars? what for? i don't understand how they differ from just labelling things.

I feel as though my sentence structure is gradually becoming both more complex and more compact. I can't tell if this is a good thing. *I* can read it but will it annoy other people? I'm pretty sure it's a result of cleaning up some of my sloppier writing habits, but, true to my tendency towards overcomplicating, I'm afraid the sloppy stuff may ( Read more... )

If only I'd have been a meteorologist like she suggested, I'd be a rock star by now.

• Since starting a tumblr for EW, I've discovered that there's a trend in nature photos to take the coloring and ramp it up way beyond anything resembling realistic. (Here I go pretending to be an art critic again). Playing with your shot to make it look like you had better light than you actually did, okay. Making the flowers in that meadow ( Read more... )

When I was living in NJ, I said I would consider anywhere in the US but wasn't enthusiastic about the Midwest. Where did I end up? In Iowa. This time, I've been saying I'd be open to anywhere in the US, but am not enthusiastic about the deep South, Where is there a major environmental disaster that is going to require decades of cleanup and ( Read more... )

I could get 4 hours overtime today. Or I could work half a day, come home, and sleep before I need to go back down to DSM to look at a motorcycle with Dee and have a dinner date. If I hadn't had to take Monday off b/c of the plumber, it would be a no brainer. As it is, however, I could really use the overtime. But it also means that I'd be up ( Read more... )

I hate the early shift. Don't get me wrong, I love that I get 3 extra hours of paid time on my day and still am home around 4 PM. I love getting an early start on my day. But I hate how it makes me feel. I get up in at 3:45 AM to check my email, wander upstairs, and stare blearily at the TV* while I eat my healthy breakfast. Then I climb into ( Read more... )

Someone stole my wood.  The firewood I hauled and chopped and stacked and wrapped, painstakingly and with plenty of sweat, in preparation for cozy fires this winter, has two boxes plainly missing from the stack behind the garage.  Who steals firewood?  Moreover, who has been poking around behind the garage to even find my stack?  You can't see it ( Read more... )

One thing I've ntoiced about being on time, it makes driving much less stressful.  Not that driving in NJ will ever truly be enjoyable, but it's true, I do feel more relaxed when I'm not running 10 minutes behind.  Go me ( Read more... )