:30 – This is really frightfully unexciting.
1:45 – Are they acting or is this reality tv? Why is the cinemetography so bad?
2:15 – That’s Heidi Montag? Damn, she really must have gotten a lot of surgery. I didn’t even recognize her.
4:29 – Why am I still watching this?
5:20 – Are they trying to be funny? Was that a joke? Should I laugh?
5:27 – Window closed. No more of this, please.
… how did this show make it past the pilot – let alone into multiple seasons?!
In a sense, today has been one like any other. I went down to the bookshop to pick up Will Grayson, Will Grayson, I ran an errand for my mother, I went to work. I found out I’ll be spending my glamorous three days off of work here on the island instead of visiting my fiancé. Lame.
It’s hard to keep your chin up when you’re encountering what starts to seem like an endless chain of let downs – this goes wrong and then that goes wrong and things never seem to pan out like they should. You never get to go to the places you want or see the people you miss, but you have to keep on keepin’ on anyway.
Admittedly I didn’t feel like blogging much when I got off work, and I still don’t now, but it is sort of a bit of a stress relief. My evening feels wasted after coming home – I want to wind down after work, but with what? The same old video games are getting boring, the same old websites have already been skimmed over, the same old shows on Netflix are getting dull. More sitting and waiting, more reading books and hoping something more exciting comes along. Not that I don’t enjoy reading, but I don’t enjoy it as an only option.
So here’s to a better tomorrow I suppose. Maybe things will start to look up.
So I did this as a survey earlier today at the Vault, but I decided it would be fun to do as a blog post too. The objective is simple – you have $1,000,000. You have to buy everything on the “shopping list” – including a new house and car – and then do with the rest as you please, but you can’t go over a million.
Here’s how I “spent” my million. How will you spend yours?
New House: $499,900 – 4 Bed, 5 Bath, Wytheville, VA. 3.6 Acres!!! A big yard is a must.
New Car: $24,900 – 1968 Mustang Convertible, Candy Apple Red.
New Wardrobe: $15,000 – Mostly I would spend this at Mod Cloth, Victoria’s Secret, and maybe just a mall or Macy’s.
Something For A Loved One: $100,000 – I would pay off my parents car payments and everything landon owes, like school loans, etc. Leftover money would help Landon get a car.
A “New Toy” For Yourself: $6,885 – HP sucks at linking, but I built a seven thousand dollar computer with like 24 GB of Ram and two video cards and an all-in-one printer and lots of extra things I don’t really need. So yeah, a new computer.
Something You Really Need: $5,000 – Paying off leftover college bills and my old credit card.
$25,000 – Wedding Stuff. May or may not include honeymoon.
$2208 - Every payment on a 2 year contract with Verizon for a Blackberry.
$1107 - Assorted things for my pets. Doctors visits, toys, perhaps boarding at pet camp while I go on vacation.
$200,000 – Put into a savings account not to be touched.
$120,000 - This remaining amount I would probably use to go traveling, and buy groceries and other necessities in the time I’m off work becuase I’m hauling ass across the globe.
…does not mean having something interesting to say every day. Today, I have nothing interesting to say. Zip. Zilch. Nada. I bought a new pair of shoes and they are FABULOUS despite the nice little hole they put in my wallet – thirty dollars for some 20% off sandals, yikes! They’re beautiful though and I can’t wait to wear them to work tomorrow. :)
So with that little tidbit of a post, I plan on filling out some of my “BEDA” (Blog Every Day in April!) requirements by making some LISTS. So far I’m thinking of sharing with you guys some of my favorite videos on the internet, best ways to waste time, and favorite moments from the American version of The Office. What subject would you like to see me share entirely too much information-in-list-form about? Leave a comment! Let me know!
Perhaps tomorrow I will return with an EASTER SPECTACULAR.
I’ve been meaning to sit down and write a blog post for a few days now, but it’s really been a toss up about what to blog about. Blogging always seems like this distinctive thing where you sit down and accumulate words that serve a purpose, rather than just journaling online…but… well, today I have no purpose. Today I just wanted to update the world on the general goings-on of Mandaland… which aren’t a lot.
In fact, I’m not sure I even have any goings-on to update. I haven’t received any unusual mail (or any mail, actually) lately, I haven’t gone on any grand adventures. I did update my YouTube channel a bit with a new video, but other than that? Just coasting around the island.
So what have you been up to lately? If it’s anything interesting, please share… I’d sure love something to talk about.
Not being able to sleep sucks.
I’ve tried everything. I mean, I know not everything, but aside from just laying down and going to sleep, I’ve exhausted my collection of Game Boy Advance titles1 and keep staring at my computer to decide if I want to play another game. Traverse through a dungeon in DDO? Too much work. Pick up Puzzle Pirates? I’ll be playing for hours. Re-subscribe to Pogo.com2? Costs money. I could read a book, but then, I’ve read all the titles available to me right now and try as I might, I can not get into this Terry Prachett book I brought with me. I could listen to music, but that’s boring by itself. So instead I have turned to the internet, wandering in proverbial circles that have ultimately led me back to my online equivalent of a bedroom: this blog.
The problem tonight is that I’m expecting a phone call. Landon is across the country in a time zone two hours behind mine. Two hours. So by the time he goes to bed and calls me it will be… maybe two AM. Not usually a problem, except I’m ready to sleep. I don’t mind being woken up, but… that’s just it. When I’m waiting for something, I can’t sleep. It’s like my mind turns that option off.
It’s the same obnoxious feature of my brain that keeps me from falling asleep on the nights before I have to wake up at 5 AM to travel. I can’t do it. Going to sleep means that there’s this big, expansive, unaccounted for period of time that just fast forwards my evening until the time I have to wake up. Why sleep until the thing I can wait patiently for and make it come slower?
So here I am, staring at the computer… dot dot dot. Just like that. I don’t even know what to write about, much less do. Do I try to sleep? Do I try to find something productive to occupy my time? Do I watch a movie?
Of course not. That would be too easy. Instead I’m just going to keep up the proverbial circles until something interesting happens, or Kirby becomes not-boring again. I’m only on the third level. There’s a lot to be desired.
Then again, it is just Kirby.
_________
1. To be fair, this collection consists entirely of a Super Mario Bros double-feature (Mario Brothers and Super Mario Brothers 3), Pokemon Leaf Green, and the newest edition – Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland. If you wanna help expand my video game horizons, you can send them to PO Box 1104, Ocracoke, NC 27960. Yes, I’m completely serious.
2. Freeloading again – my account is CocoaMocho54. You’re welcome to buy a subscription for me or friend me so I have someone to play Yahtzee with. I am a champion Yahtzeeioneer. Yes, that’s a word.
I’ve had four entire peanut butter and jelly sandwiches today. I felt like it merited it’s own post becuase I honestly don’t think I’d ever had that many in one day before.
I put the peanut butter on one slice first, then the jelly on the other slice.
It tastes better that way.
So the last few days have been, as they always are when I return to the city, a complete whirlwind of stress and excitement. I’ve been busy as ever since Tuesday night, when I celebrated my birthday with my family, through the Holy Ghost Tent Revival show on Wednesday, the pancake dinner for the Tiny Art Show opening on Thursday, birthday dinner downtown on Friday, a day of shopping and bus hopping on Saturday, and finally relaxing for the Super Bowl today – if you can call it that with all the excitement in my apartment as the Saints marched on in to win. (See what I did there?)
The show. The show, the show, the show. The most important thing of the past week, obviously, and I couldn’t even get a good enough photo to do it justice – I had an amazing vantage point (right up front, I nearly got whacked with the trombone a few times) but the lighting was just too awful for my little Nikon. Afterwards I spoke with the boys and got my CD signed, making for one of the best birthday presents EVER. :) It was really neat to see the guys in such a small venue like Tipsy, I’m used to the big tent stages of Shakori Hills so it was nice to get into such a close atmosphere (and so close to the band!) and just have a good time.
At any rate, it’s been a fun couple of days but it’s about time to get back down to business – packing up the rest of the apartment to get Landon all moved in to the new one, working on some new things here and there, trying to eventually get around to installing Photoshop on the laptop so I can get the shop orders done over at the Vault. It’s been a nice little break but it’s about time to get down to business. I also left my battery charger for the DSLR back on the island, which was totally unfortunate – so my photography has been sparing and far between. I’m hoping to help Landon get some shots of his work for his site this week though.
So that’s me, just checking in – I hope things are going well for you all. Today marks the first Super Bowl I’ve actually sat all the way through and it really wasn’t that awful – the Doritos Samurai was definitely my favorite commercial, and seeing that big pile up at the start of the 3rd quarter was kinda cool too. (Although, I’ll be honest, I don’t know a lick about football – I just thought the dogpile was pretty amusing.)
If you guys are looking for something to poke around with this week – go check out what’s going on at Live Make Create – we’re doing some giveaways from the Tiny Art Show up at Emerge this month, so be sure to put your name in to win some free art!
Peace out, internet.
At the present time I’m writing this, I have a to-do list about a mile long and a couple of things that have to be done by the end of February 1 or else. I mean, nobody’s really imposed these deadlines but me, but… oh man.
So, some background, first I suggest you watch this video by famed YA author Maureen Johnson. Have you watched it yet? No? Well do it now!
This is how my day is going. You see, ages ago over at the Vault I decided it would be a great, wonderful idea to do two things. One of these was opening up a shop where people could buy pixel-y things for their account. The other was saying that every month, on the first of the month, we would post some sort of announcement/content update.
This was a great, wonderful idea until I let these two things overlap and catch up with each other and cause this great big angry snowball of doom. So today I am pulling a Maureen Johnson, I am not allowed to leave my computer chair until complete a substantial amount of things on my to-do list. I am unngh-ing and nnngh-ing with all the might of a six year old on the way to the dentist, but I will not give up hope! After all, it’s all a part of the process…right?
For all it’s worth, though, I really do love what I do. I really do love creating new and clever things for the site, and for other sites, I just have severe motivation issues. Who doesn’t, especially those of us of the self-employed variety? At any rate, I am sitting here, photoshop open, eagerly awaiting the shoe elves that will sneak in during the night and do things for me. Yeeeep.
What gets you motivated?
I’ve been working the past few hours on a sort of “State of the Vault” post for my staff members, and it’s very odd to look back on the fact that another year has already passed. It’s time to do taxes again, time to start looking for spring fashion again, time to…do stuff. But seriously. January is almost over, it’s almost my birthday AGAIN – where does time go?
So I sat down and gave some thought to what Mandaland is like now, compared to how it was last year. Funny enough, I’ve gone in a great big circle the past two years – gone out, explored places, done new things, and landed myself right back in my own room at my parents’ place, staying up too late on the internet. Oops.
But I think everything’s pretty much going okay. I mean, I’m engaged and stuff, and that’s pretty cool. And I’ve got three cats, and while I will miss Templeton, I had a rodent for awhile, and that was pretty cool too. I have one of the biggest Harry Potter RPG’s on the internet, and that’s… that’s just, amazing. I can’t even fathom it. Years ago, before I became in charge of the site – I was a kid. I was a kid in middle school who snuck onto the computer late at night to play this stupid game because I loved a book that much. And now there’s kids in middle school sneaking on to -my- site late at night. It’s such an awesome feeling – knowing that someone else is going to have the same hobby I did, that it’s going to affect them – hopefully – the same way. It’s truly awe inspiring.
All in all, though, I’m looking forward to a good year. At least, I mean, I’m hoping it will be pretty good. I don’t do resolutions or anything because I suck at keeping them, but I want to work on pulling through with things. I tend to make a lot of big plans and never really do anything. Not this year. 2010 is the year of actually DOING.
So, loyal subjects of Mandaland and great and wonderful people of the internet – let’s put this down “on paper” so we can see how far we’ve come a year from now, when I’m writing this same post over again and wondering where the time has gone.
Let’s travel. Everywhere. I’m going to Orlando in July and have plans to head back to Michigan and Virginia. I want to go to DC. I want to go to Boston. I want to see places I haven’t before. I want to experience things that other people do on a daily basis that I can’t even fathom. I want you to travel, too – even if you can’t go across the country, venture into a store you haven’t or something. Go somewhere new in your own hometown – you never know what you’ll find.
Let’s read. A LOT. Two years ago I made a resolution to read, you’ll have to pardon my language, a metric fuckton of books. I didn’t. I got a heap of novels for Christmas and blatantly ignored them. Not this time around – I miss reading, I miss the thrill and excitement of it. So lets read lots of books. How about this, internet – how about I tell you what I’m reading, and maybe you can read along too. Maybe we can do this together so it’s a little less painful. I promise the feeling you get when you finish a book is well, well worth it.
Let’s do something bigger than just us. I’m going to stop focusing on myself for once – okay, even if it’s only just slightly – and do something big. I’m going to open a BIG website or gather lots of attention to something or just… be important. Do something important. I’m starting off the year by sending Health Kits to those in need in Haiti. Before the year’s out, I want to go to Haiti. I want to see those same people I helped and put a face to the stories. To the job well done. Do something for someone this year – even if it’s so tiny and inconsequential that only you will notice.
The internet has been my life for years – I had a computer in my bedroom long before my peers even had one in their homes. I grew up learning to type and write almost simultaneously. I was lucky. So it’s only natural to share things with the internet – but, people of Mandaland, don’t be afraid of it. Let’s share the fun parts together. Let’s do this stuff together, because it sucks being alone. Because as fun as it is to stay up late every night, it gets lonely. Maybe you can read a book with me, or travel with me, or tell me a story and I’ll tell you one. Let’s make the world a little less lonely for everyone.
So that’s how Mandaland is this year. Mandaland is taking a new approach to everything – to changes, to life, to existing, to everything. Maybe this year you can take a new approach too – even if it’s only a little at a time. How are things different for you this year? What are you going to change?
Will you try to do BIG THINGS with me? Leave a message in the comments – let me know what you’re going to do this year. Change starts with one person doing one insignificant thing that sparks a landslide – so Mandaland isn’t going to be a mental retreat from the world, this year. Mandaland is about friends and people and inviting others in.
So, come on in. Say hi. I promise I don’t bite.
