100 words Wednesday, Apr 30 2008 

A few years ago, I read a blog by a woman who wrote one hundred words a day every day for one month. I think I’d like to try that, although I’ve already started thinking of reasons I can’t do it. Hellloooo self-sabotage. But I’m going to do it today, and maybe tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes.

I met a woman who said she smoked socially in college. Now, she’s a buttoned-up corporate climber with an energy-efficient car and a lot of Ann Taylor suits. She said at parties she would “accidentally” burn the girls she didn’t like with her cigarettes. Which I think is a perfectly acceptable reason to smoke. I can imagine some of the girls I’d like to have burned in college. I only smoked once and that was with a girl I was in a play with. She’d never smoked and she was afraid, so I said I’d try it with her in rehersal. “You’re not inhaling!” they said, laughing, while I sucked away. “How can you tell?” I asked, truly unable to breathe in the smoke. I never did inhale anything, and the play was pretty good anyway. 

Update Sunday, Apr 27 2008 

Listening to ”I Should be Writing” and “Writers in the Sky” podcasts

Reading Firethorn (strange little fantasy romance novel…not sure how I feel about it yet)

Making Japanese food from Harumi’s Japanese Cooking book

Tending a foster ferret who was found on Preston Hwy with a broken leg and no name

Writing a story about lunch in hell

Passports Friday, Apr 25 2008 

So I’m going on a trip to work next month. For this, I am required to obtain a passport. Right. Because I might just try to take over the world by setting up my evil villan lair in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. I’m still a little startled that you have to have a passport to get into Canadaland.

When I went to get my passport renewed (can you believe it’s been ten years?? I look like I’m 12 in the old one…) Jan the Post Office Lady took me in the back room, which scared me – there’s a reason they call it “going postal.” Turns out, that back room is full of people who aren’t working, just making jokes and trying to get people to laugh during the passport photo session.

“Don’t smile. Don’t look angry. It’s going to flash, THEN it will take the picture.” In the background, the other postalpeople were making goofy comments. How hard is it to NOT laugh when someone says “Don’t laugh!!” Between the trying not to look too happy or angry, I ended up looking…high. Seriously. My eyes are half shut. My mouth is all squinched up. My face looks huge. I look like a Midwestern housewife applying for her passport to finally get that trip to Cancun.

As long as they let me into Canada…

I love working from home Tuesday, Apr 22 2008 

I’m working on putting together a podcast and since we aren’t allowed to use iTunes or see most blogs/podcasts at work, I brought my laptop home and I’ve got it set up next to my home PC. I worked at home all last summer because I was out of a job and in order to pay the bills, I had to bust a move on some freelance work. I spent a lot of time freaking out about getting enough work. Now that I’ve been in Corporateland for seven months, I miss those days. 

Today, I got up, had a cup of tea, watched the news. Didn’t have to worry about a shower since I’m going to work out later. I can listen to Pandora (can’t do that at work with stupid firewalls). I don’t have to hear the women in the next aisle complaining, nobody on my team is charging up and demanding stuff from me. It’s much quiter at home.

As a writer, and thinker, the environment I deal with at work is difficult. I can’t think. I can’t write. When I put my headphones on to concentrate, people think I’m being antisocial. 

There are many times at work that I just try to look busy. I hate feeling unproductive and on those slow times, it would be really nice to be able to, say, do a load of laundry or run to the drugstore.

This feeling has been growing for a few weeks. Part of it is my unease with this new job, and part of it, I think, is a realization that I probably don’t belong here. I’m not very happy here and for the first time in my life, it’s the work I like and the rest of it (some of the people, environment, etc.) I don’t. My goal now is to learn all I can at this job then start my own freelance business. I’m going to get moving on a plan here. Figure it out. 

Hi again…and cars Monday, Apr 21 2008 

     I’m not going to bother with why I haven’t posted in a skillion years. Let’s just get to today’s post.

     I hate cars. I’ve owned two cars in my life. The first, my beloved Corrolla Ziggy, lost all suspension last summer. Her replacement is a ‘96 Volvo 850 sedan. And I’m so disappointed in it. This was supposed to be my Swedish supercar! What do I have? Well, for starters it only runs on four cylinders now. I didn’t even know that was possible. It is. When I stop at a light or a stop sign, I get the ever-loving juice jiggled out of me while the CHECK ENGINE light flashes maniacally.

    I don’t believe in buying new cars. I hate that wooshing sound they make as you drive them off the lot and the value falls into the pits of hell. RIght now, I can’t even entertain the idea of buying a new car. But I have found myself gazing skyward of late, cursing the gods for my lack of car-prosperity or the fact that my town has a terrible public transit system.

     Next post is about writing.