Since there's a big round number coming up in not much more than a month I've been thinking about what has happened in my life in a DECADE. It turns out quite a lot.
- Married in October, 1999.
- Marriage ended in November, 2004.
- Divorced in May, 2007.
- Friend E murdered in August, 2000.
- Friend S died tragically this month.
- Mom got Leukemia, had a stem-cell transplant, lived.
- Dad got cancer, did a lot of chemo, had surgery, died.
- Got hired thrice.
- Laid off thrice.
- Started 2 businesses.
- Went back to school & got my BA.
- Visited: Texas, Oklahoma, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic, UK, Mexico, Canada, Virginia...
- Had flings. Dated. For the first time since high school.
- Met and became good friends with my rockstar crush, David Gedge.
- Lots of friends had babies. I chose not to.
- Quit drinking for nearly a year.
- Started therapy.
- Went on anti-depressants for 2 years.
- ... and then weaned myself off.
- Wrote most of a memoir.
- Started blogging.
- Grandma Faye died.
- Grandpa Frank developed alzheimer's.
- Nearly got out of debt, but then got in further.
- Bought a digital SLR camera.
- Started doing yoga.
- Discovered the benefits of "friends with benefits"...
- ...and the non-benefits.
- Got a Meyer's Parrot, Beatrice.
- Fritz the iguana died.
- Paid for my elderly cat to be injected with radioactive iodine.
- Lived through my early-mid thirties.
- Lived alone for only the 2nd time ever.
- Started a record label (make that 3 businesses)
- Discovered the joys of cocaine.
- And then stopped.
- Went from having a job to having a sort-of career.
- Sang karaoke. Never imagined I would like that, but I do.
Please enjoy.
I was going to write a novel this month, like everyone else. (I hope someone still reads novels)... Actually I thought I'd finish the one I started last year, which combines a historical lesbian murder mystery with ex-pat magical realism. In Paris. Yeah.
But then 2 weeks ago my former boss called. I stopped working for him in Feb 2008, and he has since hired and fired several replacements, but right now the position is vacant to keep costs down. He needed help writing a proposal for a Microsoft project due in 2 days (how I don't miss those flaming hoops). So I agreed to crank it out for some freelance dollars. And I did, and even went with him to pitch it. All went well, but we didn't win due to the technical complexity... we could have pulled it off, but I am glad not to be working on it. It had a stupid schedule, and I think I already mentioned how I don't miss those flaming hoops.
Meanwhile, he got the opportunity to bid on 23 interactive applications for a museum. I got a copy of the RFP a week ago and agreed to work on this proposal as well... that means basically scoping out each (highly complex) application, budgeting, and a lot of half-sales, half-technical writing... by the 24th.
So all I'm doing, all day and all night, and even on my birthday Monday...is writing proposals. So maybe I'll write a novel some other month.
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
Last night I had a dream, the second of a new theme. In this dream my grandma (who died of cancer in 1983) has come back to life or reappeared from wherever she'd been hiding. I conjectured perhaps she had been in an induced coma all this time, until they finally cured her. And when she comes back home, my grandpa gets his mind back. This is the new recurring theme. Grandpa Frank has alzheimer's and every time I see him there's a bit less of him there. But in my dream world he goes back to his old grumpy yet good-humored and almost entirely sane self. When grandma comes home.
Their house is the childhood home base that my dreams seem to seek out by default. I never feel safe or happy there in my dreams. There are often problems with the plumbing and the lock on the bathroom door. The main plot point in this particular dream is the appearance of Adolf, one of grandma's long-dead cats. I look out the kitchen window and see him sitting in the middle of the dirt yard where grandpa now keeps his backhoe. I recognize his crooked Hitler mustache. He is bigger and rounder than any non-dream housecat. I announce to grandma that Adolf came home and open the door for him. He rushes inside out of the bitter cold and I sit on the kitchen floor where he uncharacteristically snuggles up on my lap (he was a weird, unfriendly cat). I realize with low-level concern that he is way older than cats are supposed to live. I ask grandma, "When was Adolf born?" She tells me, "45 weeks after your cousin." Even in dream math I realize this is simply not possible. My cousin was born in 1973.... which would make this dream cat over 30 years old. This reasoning launches me toward consciousness, where grandma is still dead and grandpa will never be sane again.
Another theme often found in my dreams: Moving in with my mom in some unfamiliar place that always has complex architecture and more rooms than one would think. The last dream like this was last week, and she and I had moved into an apartment complex much like the one I live in now. In this dream the multitude of rooms we share are spread over two units on opposite sides of the hall (and yet it is still somehow one apartment). It dawns on me that if we divide the space it could be almost like having my own apartment, and I go down the hall to suggest this plan. I find mom has gone insane and is making a variety of loud cat noises. This is not altogether improbable in real life. I try to talk to her quietly and rationally, but she continues to make cat noises. There are a bunch of young women neighbors who come over to help her (wearing fuzzy slippers and pink bathrobes). I decide I can be of no help and lock myself in the other apartment.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
from an undead french prostitute. trick? or treat?
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
yays:
- I received free pizza (and salad) delivered to my door last night for being a "super customer" - which undoubtedly means I've spent something like $1,000 on pizza from Pagliacci since I've lived here. But anyway. Free pizza!
- Coming to terms with my doubts about this business venture I'm undertaking. Not getting over them, but honestly dealing with them.
- Although I did not get immediate contract work, it is clear that I've still "got it" and the work is starting to flow again, which means I may be able to sustain my urban bachelor(ette) standard of living and not move to a goat farm in sweden. Maybe.
- Dark (almost black) hair again for the seasonal hair shift.
- Last week: Barbara Ehrenreich and Rachel Grimes on consecutive nights.
- Fasting today means not having to deal with food prep.
- Workouts at homebody's secret gym! (It's not really secret, it is in her condo building, but compared to 24-hr fitness, it's secret).
- Reading Bend Sinister by Nabokov for the first time. Poetic absurdism? It's wonderous.
- The magic of Xanax.
- M-F-ing UTI.... again. Cranberries are my friends.
- Really don't feel like doing much of anything, so I'm spending too much time just sort of treading water.
- Defaulting on a couple of credit cards. Not really my idea.
- The idea of "work" for money still makes me feel a little filthy.
- I'm never going to lose weight at this rate. Step up my game? Or buy new pants?
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