On the job hunt front....

I've been awfully lax about keeping this site updated, but I have a good excuse: I've been working for almost a month at a new day job! For those of you who know me well and who have been keeping up with my (often amusing) tales during my job search, you know how great this news is for me. And I am happy to report that I love the new job. I'm online content editor for a high-tech company here in Austin, I get to work with a great group of creative people (I hadn't realized how much I've missed working with designers and art directors and having magazines like HOW scattered about), I have a regular schedule and also get to have weekends like normal people.

It took a few weeks to settle into the routine, the putting on of makeup and clothes that don't have stretch waistbands, shoes that aren't flip-flops and doing something to my hair other than putting it up in a ponytail. I miss my dog while I'm at work, but she's thrilled to see me every day when I get home so it all evens out. I also do not love the sitting in traffic, but I love the job so that evens out too (plus it gives me lots of time to listen to my favorite podcasts; time passes quickly when you're catching up on episodes of "This American Life").

And (AND!) I have some great stories about the job search. I had been freelancing since Sept./Oct. of last year so I could take my time and look for the right job for me and went on lots of interviews in an eight-month time period. I was talking to a friend last weekend about Karma and arrogance and hubris and how I often felt like I was being punished for something (pride, lack of compassion, taking pride in my lack of compassion) when I was working my way up the ladder. I believe we can learn a lot from the Universe if we just pay attention and it didn't take me long to start paying attention. In fact, I felt like I had a couple of interviews with the person I used to be - and I didn't like her very much.

I've learned to be grateful. I've learned humility. I've learned how to let go of the past. Most importantly, I've learned that I'll never stop learning. I plan to spend more time here, more time writing, getting back to personal narrative (because my mind is usually itching to after spending a full workday editing high-tech web pages) and to let my job be a job, not my identity.

Speaking of letting a job be a job, I've promised my friend and fellow writer Angie Mizzell a guest post and I'm hoping she hasn't crossed me off of her list yet, as I have a post in mind about that very topic.

Love you, mean it.

Vacation, all I never wanted...

I've never been great about taking vacations, especially as a freelancer when every hour is a potentially billable one. Over the past year - actually since moving to Austin in early 2010 - work-life balance has been one of my priorities.

This holiday weekend, I'm not headed on a jaunt to the islands, to a cabin in the mountains, or on my dream Alaskan cruise (whale-watching!), but I am disconnecting from work and work-related marketing tasks for the weekend. I have a great stack of books to read, my air conditioning works really well, I plan on taking lots of naps (had a good one this afternoon, falling asleep on the couch with a book open on my chest), getting some things in my house in order, re-organizing my home office space, maybe doing some housekeeping on my own personal sites (not really work-related, but I know that one is a stretch), taking the dog to a dog park for some running around and ball-throwing, and sleeping until my furbaby wakes me up instead of the alarm.

Right now, this is the vacation I need: taking my brain to a new creative space, writing for personal gratification instead of professional gain, taking my body outside for some people-watching and dog-bonding, exploring a few parts of the city I haven't seen yet (yes, I've been here a while but there's lots to see in Austin), and reading for pleasure instead of research.

I might even break out the Moleskine and colored pens and do some actual handwriting (can't remember the last time I went there, but my Moleskine dated pages says it's been too long). And I'm charging my camera now in case I feel like wandering around and snapping a few pictures of this crazy city in which I live, maybe find some interesting things off the beaten path, strike up some conversations with strangers, re-set my internal clock. It's not the Caribbean, but it's what I need now - and bonus: it's all here in a 10-mile radius.

I hope you're getting out - of town or in - and doing some exciting things this holiday weekend. And I haven't forgotten why we have a three-day weekend and plan on including some thoughts on gratitude and respect for the brave people who have sacrificed so much to make our country a better place (you can't see it, but I'm waving a tiny American flag right now). For those of you spending the weekend with your families, be grateful. I'm thinking about mine far away right now after having a marathon phone conversation tonight with my older sister, who I know will have the family over for a barbecue on Monday and I'm going to miss out on the chaos and laughter.

Love you, mean it.

How to be alone...

I stumbled across this video in one of my RSS feeds and have watched it four or five times already. As someone living in a still-strange city where it's hard to make friends, it really touched me. Beautiful, strange, and heartwarming.

"If you are at first lonely, be patient. If you've not been alone much, or if when you were, you weren't okay with it, then just wait. You'll find it's fine to be alone once you're embracing it."



Video by the extremely talented filmmaker Andrea Dorfman and poet/singer/songwriter Tanya Davis.

A must-watch for anyone who has ever found themselves in an "alone" situation, and a reminder that "alone" doesn't always mean "lonely." And when it does, "lonely is a freedom that breathes easy and weightless and lonely is healing if you make it."

Because I haven't done one of these in a while...

A "gratitude" post, that is...the last time was in February of 2008, I figured it was time to do a "what I love" list - some Austin-related, others not.

J'adore: Sparkling Lime IZZE soda (they didn't sell IZZE at the Food Lion in my old neighborhood in Charleston), PITT Artist pens are helping me get back to the notebook writing basics, healthy cooking shows on FitTV (love having digital cable again), early morning and late evening dog walking up and down the hills in my neighborhood, my new purple shorts with front and back pockets from The Gap, the Zocalo plate with avocado from Zocalo Cafe for lunch (also love the Tacos Del Mar with watermelon salsa), that I don't need health insurance to get affordable health care here (even with a diabetic specialist), the pet store that's within walking distance of my house - Just for Pets - and the owners who love my dog...I bring Lulu there often to get bully sticks (she loves them, I love them because they keep her busy; I just don't think too hard about what they're made of), my new pink gel iPhone case, two-for-$5 tacos at the taco bar at the gigantic Whole Foods, Sunday afternoon naps, Neutrogena 110 SPF dual spectrum oil-free sunscreen, washing it off, the extraordinarily ugly wide-brimmed sun hat (mine is in black) that makes me look like a total dork (but I love that a. I do not care and b. it protects my face from the brutal Texas sun...seriously, it's not even officially summer here and I'm already freckling), Half-Price Books (one of the most organized used books store I've ever visited), and that I can walk to the grocery store (HEB), CVS, Starbucks, La Salsa, Quiznos, and around the track around the middle school up the street after school hours.

You're fired!

I'm quoted in an article in this week's Charleston City Paper (photo & all...you know how much I love having my picture taken). It's a good piece and I think a lot of people will identify with some of the stories, especially if you're one of the hundreds of thousands who show up for work every day wondering if today is the day you're going to get laid off. Also, I'm thrilled they mentioned my book!

Read the whole thing and see photos here.

The countdown begins...

The past four-plus months have been completely amazing, insane, wonderful...I can't believe tomorrow is finally Election Day. If you haven't voted absentee (I did that on Friday), PLEASE don't skip it on Tuesday! The lines will be long (I waited almost 3 hours to vote absentee myself) and it may rain, but you're going to want to tell your grandkids that you were part of this historic election.

I've been eating, sleeping, and breathing politics non-stop since early July. My entire life has been on hold. Now I get to start thinking about November 5. I have a list I've been keeping in my little Moleskine notebook called "things to do after Election Day."

In no particular order:
1. Sleep.
2. Sleep through an entire night.
3. Read a book all the way through.
4. Read a magazine all the way through.
5. Express gratitude that my cell phone is not ringing every 20 minutes.
6. Pedicure. Do I need to say that my "summer polish" is still hanging on?
7. See my friends and family.
8. Go one day without reading a newspaper, online or otherwise, or watching CNN.
9. Get home for the day before darkness falls.
10. Find where I stored my winter clothes before it gets too cold.

I'm probably forgetting a lot of things, but these are the ones that have been on my mind a lot. And I miss you all too. I miss being able to talk about what's been going on in my life, with my job, and all of the minutiae I used to go on (and on)about. So here's the notice that I'll be back - soon and before the week is out!

P.S. SC District 01 - Vote Ketner! And (especially my dear friends and family who have been volunteering), please come over to our election watch party Tuesday evening from 8 to midnight - Omar Shrine Auditorium on Patriot's Point in Mt. Pleasant. It's free and open to the public - hope to see you there!

I am too disgruntled about too many things...

...to write a coherent post today (unless you really want to hear me bitch about a bunch of stupid, random crap that you won't care about anyway), but I will offer the following:

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
~ Mark Twain

And because I'm doing this new thing where I'm trying to phrase things in a positive manner (don't freak out...I don't think there is any danger of me turning into Ms. Mary Sunshine):

I am lucky that I get to spend so much time around people who are really great and not small.
~Me