Category Archives: Blah Blah Blah

This is my default category and consists mainly of my mundane ramblings.

A New Year is Coming

Elvis celebratesSpent Christmas in Chicago. We ate lots of food. We drank tons of wine and martinis. We watched a bunch of movies. And then we went home. It was pretty awesome.

Right now I am snowed in. I keep thinking of shoveling myself out and going to the grocery store. Or doing work. Or working on the 2nd edition of my book. Except instead I pour another glass of wine, peruse gray paint samples, watch more Elvis, and wonder what would make me happy.

It’s a good thing I don’t have any peppermint ice cream in the house because it would be consumed quickly.

I’ve been thinking of my New Year’s Resolutions… last year’s and the ones for this new year coming up.

A Review of My Resolutions for 2012: How I Did


1. Go ‘Poo Free
SUCCESS! I spent 3 months using baking soda and vinegar as my “shampoo.” My hair got gross and it never got better. It was right around the three month point, my mother and sister organized an intervention. They ganged up on me and told me that my hair was disgusting and I needed to go back to shampooing. And so I did. I am stating this resolution was a success because I gave it a good go, it just wasn’t for me.

2. Write More, Create More, Productize Knowledge
SUCCESS! I hired 3 people to help me with my business. This gave me the ability to work ON the business rather than IN the business. Suddenly I had time to blog and create. In fact, I created a bunch of products that I am selling on my other Website.

3. Join Toastmasters OR find other ways to improve public speaking
SEMI SUCCESS! I didn’t join Toastmasters but I was admitted into the National Speaker’s Association. I speak an awful lot and I video record myself and watch the recording critically. Each time I go in front of an audience I try to improve. I feel like I am getting better… I realize I need to do more but I feel good about what I’ve accomplished.

4. Stop eating shit sandwiches
SUCCESS! I may come across as a bitch but I am definitely not allowing anyone to feed me shit sandwiches.

5. Keep house clean & simplify possessions
SUCCESS! I realized that I am absolutely incapable of keeping my house clean and so rather than forcing the issue, I hired Alba, a very nice woman, to clean my house every two weeks. My house is now clean and I am a lot more happy.

In terms of simplifying possessions, I cleaned out my closets of clothes that I was clinging to because of memories and cheapness. I am still simplifying but I have come a long way since last January. Check this out!

Simplification

Yep! All 5 bags were donated to the Salvation Army! In addition to getting rid of clothes, I’ve been purging things that remind me of Pookie Bear. It took me a very long time to realize that items in my house were reminding me of him and thus causing me pain. It’s getting easier to exorcize him from my thoughts as I remove him from my daily life… even if it’s just silly objects.

6. Travel More
SUCCESS! I traveled to Europe and toured Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Austria. I also spent time in Baltimore and Chicago.

7. Live more, work less: Get better understanding of finances.
SUCCESS! Hiring people has been such a blessing for me. I have time to breathe and do things other than work. I also hired a bookkeeper and he’s been such an enormous help. I still need to do more but again, it’s a huge improvement over where I was last year.

8. Become an early riser
FAILURE with some spots of SUCCESS! Yeah, this comes and goes. Sometimes I awake at 6. Other times I awake at 7. And there are times I will get up at 8. I did come to a realization about why I am prone to sleeping past 6. My father always woke up at 6am. I thought it was because he was disciplined but the more I think about it, the more I think he awoke early because it was his alone time. My entire day is my alone time. I don’t need to get up early for quiet solitude… I have that all the time. Still, I want to be more productive so I will continue to strive to wake up at 6 and maybe eventually I’ll start doing it. Perhaps if I bring someone into my life, I will want to wake up at 6am so I have some alone time.

9. Amplify my business message online
Some SUCCESS! My LinkedIn Group is almost at 2,000 members. I have almost 10,000 LinkedIn connections. Hooray! My Twitter followers are over 1,000 but I wanted to get it over 5,000. I use G+ but I don’t seem to be making much headway with it. On the other hand, my email list is almost at 3,000 which is freaking awesome in my book. I am getting there.

10. I want to better understand how I want the story of my life to turn out
SUCCESS: I know that I want to create. I want to help people. I want the freedom to live on my own terms. I want to love and be loved.

So all in all, I’d say my 2012 Resolutions were a resounding success.

I look back to where I was last year… I was devastated and lost. In twelve months, I have regrouped and got back on track. I feel good about next year. Now I need to come up with new resolutions. That’ll come soon.

38-years-old

I had a lovely birthday… it stretched out over 2 days. On Sept 1, Lisa had a grand surprise party for me. Audra and the kiddies came to celebrate. There was a pinata filled with peppermint patties and my mom made chicken enchiladas. The ice cream cake was mint chocolate chip and there was nothing anyone could have done to make the day any better.

Yesterday, I spent a quiet day fielding tons and tons of Facebook greetings and doing laundry. In the evening, the Toxic Avenger took me out to dinner to a very nice restaurant. It was lovely, truly lovely.

I am happy. I feel blessed to have yet another year and of course I hope to have many, many more. I feel abundant and ready to take on whatever my path provides.

Hot ElvisWhat’s up? Wuz up!?

My early rising routine is slowly going away. I went from 5:00 to 5:30 to 6:00. This morning, I awoke at 6 but didn’t move until 6:30.

Last night I went to the Bensalem Amphitheater and saw two Elvis Tribute Artists perform. As an encore, they came out together and dueted on Viva Las Vegas. I almost wish they had done more of that… something a little anachronistic, a little odd. Maybe performed a Righteous Brothers’ song together. I really like the idea of two Elvises… young and old, singing together.

At any rate, Labor Day is rapidly approaching and along with Labor Day comes my birthday. I will be turning 38, people. I started this Website when I was 22 and I started blogging when I was 25! Heck, remember when I turned 30?

It feels strange and I want to rebel but I am very aware that the only alternative is death so I might as well buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Besides, things have gotten better for me. The passing of my father actually has ushered in some amazing things… of course I would give it all up to get him back but it doesn’t work like that. I remember my dad telling me when he turned 40 he said to his mother, “Ilya, your baby’s turned 40!” I’m not 40 yet but I keep thinking, “Jimmie, your baby’s turning 38!” Effit. I guess the big lesson of the day is to get your heart checked regularly.

What other news do I have? I am on the Tim Ferris, 4 Hour Body, Slow Carb Diet. I am eating nothing but egg whites, spinach, salsa, chicken, lettuce, black beans, guac, coffee, water, and oodles and oodles of wine! I am down 10 lbs at a weight I haven’t seen since… oh gosh, The Baltic Sea? What year was that? 2000? Maybe earlier… I can’t remember.

The Woes of an Early Riser

Early Riser IssuesSince arriving back from Eastern Europe, I used the jet lag to my advantage and became an early riser. I’ve been waking up around 5am each morning. It’s great! I have even started bragging about it in that holier than thou attitude early risers LOVE to affect… “You got up at 10? Well, I got up at 5 this morning.”

There are issues though.

  • By 9am I am hungry for lunch.
  • By 3pm I am exhausted and want the workday OVER.
  • By 9pm all I want to do is go to sleep.

Can it be that I am not any more productive than I was when I woke up at 7? The only difference is my schedule has shifted.

Still, I do enjoy being up before most people. I like the quiet of the morning. I like knowing I have time to putz and do my own thing. Hopefully I can keep it up.

Video Connections, Come Away with Me

Watching Marty Stuart’s Tempted video for the umpteenth time, I noticed the ending has a lot in common with another video…

At 00:04:13, Marty wants to talk to the pretty girl but he’s ushered away and all he can do is shrug, smile, and wave.

SAME EXACT THING HAPPENS in this video by the Moody Blues!

Of course, the Moody Blues video is by far the better video because it contains not only a black and white flashback but a dance sequence and a lesson in personal development.

I have a strong feeling rock performers have been dragged away from pretty girls in other videos too. I just can’t think of any, can you?

In other news, I actually got a text message from that ETA I hooked up with WEEKS ago. He sent me a recording of either him or Elvis singing this lovely ditty:

Problems with rising early and other habits

ElvisSo I finally got into rising at 6am. Turns out all I needed to do was visualize and practice getting up. I had gotten into the habit of turning off the alarm and going back to bed that I actually needed to break that habit and form a new one. With that said, I’ve been getting up at 6am and it’s great! The day is so long and I get a lot accomplished. The main issue I am finding is that my trajectory is shorter. Perhaps the trajectory is the same but because I am starting further, it ends shorter. What I mean is when I got going at 9am, I’d start slowing down at 5. Now that I begin at 6, I start winding down at 2. And winding down at 2 is not acceptable. Maybe I just need to step away and take a breather.

Another new habit I recently formed is using my DVR. I got the DVR almost a year ago but rarely used it. I couldn’t wrap my mind around recording programs for later watching which is crazy since I did it throughout the 80’s and 90’s. At any rate, I started recording movies on TCM and it’s great! I have a backlog of movies and so when I want to watch TV there is now always a movie waiting for me. The other day I watched The Sandpiper with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and a young CHARLES BRONSON! It’s a shame the whole movie didn’t revolve around Charles Bronson as a beatnik artist. But with the ability to fast forward, the movie did pretty much become solely about Charles Bronson.

Speaking of Bronson, has anyone else noticed the proliferation of mustaches? I think they are making a comeback! In fact, just recently, a young man asked me what he could do to be taken more seriously by potential clients. I told him to get a haircut and grow a mustache.

Matchless

Dear Donna:

We regret to inform you that you have been removed from the Match.com Affiliate Program. Removal may occur for a variety of reasons, including violation of copyright/search policies, failure to comply with legal terms, inactivity of your account, or changes in content site. If you feel that you have been removed in error, or would like further clarification on why you were removed, please contact Stephen.Siphron@match.com.

Best,
LinkShare Corporation
http://www.linkshare.com

I totally even forgot I was a Match.com affiliate so this doesn’t bother me but I do wonder why they chose to rescind it? Hopefully it’s because of inactivity… but I don’t care enough to pursue it.

Living breathing believing

What to say, what to say? I’ve been so quiet here. More quiet than ever before.

I write so much with work that I can’t seem to motivate myself to blog for fun. And what is there to blog about? Either it’s boring or it has something to do with work and I don’t want to cross pollinate.

Over the weekend I watched the movie Taxi Driver. It was totally different than what I thought. It was also really good. I could have done without the violence at the end but all in all it wasn’t that bad. I do think the end was a dream though.

I am quite sad over the death of Davy Jones. It has me listening to my Monkee records again. I haven’t watched any old episodes… not yet at least. I will admit that when the first email arrived to alert me of Davy, I read the subject, “Monkee Dead,” and I immediately assumed it was Peter Tork. Peter’s been ill so it made sense. I am still angry over the Peter Dork incident.

Bob’s Burgers has returned and I am delighted. Is it just me or are these newer episodes illustrated differently? The show doesn’t look as raw anymore.

Oh, on Saturday, E-Man took me to a comedy club. We saw Chris Rich perform… along with a bunch of other people. We made friends with the couple seated next to us. The man looked EXACTLY like Peter Lorre. On Sunday, E and I took Bo to the park for a walk and then we had Sunday Dinner with mom and L. It was a great weekend.

See, this is why I rarely write anymore.

How times change

Yesterday we gathered together, friends and family, to do pysanky. Last year pysanky was interrupted. Cousin David and his family were on their way over when my dad died. It’s just one month shy of a full year. I don’t know how that’s possible. I still can feel the heaviness in the air in those days after my dad’s death. There was an otherworldly quality that lingered. I remember sitting out on the deck with Lisa and mom, feeling the air crinkling around me. Friends would visit and sit with us and we just sat there, in a state of shock and numbness.

Fast forward to now and my dad is gone but the family comes and we sit around the kitchen table with our styluses, wax, dyes and eggs. We talk about how it’s not the end result but the process of creating the egg. Cracked eggs teach us the ephemeral, temporal quality of life. And I think, yeah, Daddy’s not here anymore.

Pysanky

And in the midst of it is so much joy. Seeing the kids. Watching them get bigger. Introducing the E-Man to my family. Experiencing normalcy. At the end of the night, I hugged E and said, “Thank you for being so kind and sweet and friendly and talkative and normal!”

“How else would I be?” he replied.

If he only knew what I endured with PB.

But it’s over and I need to stop comparing him… it’s hard when everyone says, “It’s so nice to see you with someone so kind and sweet!”

Dad would be happy. If here were here.

I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like as spring appears… spring was always my dad’s favorite time of year. He loved the blooming trees and flowers.

11 months of unadulterated change.