Keeping Conscious

Here's a few things to remind all of us to live with meaning.

1. Live simply and live deliberately. By choosing not to get caught up in the details of this fast-paced world, you are doing your part to slow down the . You will also discover that you have more time to enjoy being alive.

2. Stay in touch with yourself. Soul searching, meditation, and journaling are just a few of the many activities you can take part in to stay aware and learn as much as you can about your emotions, reactions, likes, dislikes, dreams, and fears. Having a solid sense of self gives you a firm foundation for living in this world.

3. Support or teach others as often as you can. This can help you form connections with people while also giving you an opportunity to make the world a better place.

4. Consciously choose what you will allow into your being. The media bombards us with visions of hate, war, and pain. Be judicious about what you read, watch, and listen to.

5. Acknowledge the beauty that resides around you. Whether you live in a sprawling metropolis or a stereotypical suburb, there are natural and man-made wonders just waiting to be discovered by you.

6. Nurture your ties to your tribe. If you don't have one, create a community that you can belong to. Modern life can be isolating. When you have a tribe, you have a circle that you are a part of. Its members - loved ones, friends, or neighbors - can be a source of support, caring, guidance, and companionship.

7. See the larger picture. Remember that the way that you choose to live is not the only way to live. Widen your perspective by exploring other modes of being through research, travel, and discussion.

8. Embrace the challenges that life presents to you, and challenge yourself often. After a time, even the most exciting jobs or lifestyles can seem routine. Never stop assimilating new knowledge about whatever you are doing, and your life will never seem dull.

9. Move your body. In this busy world, it can be easy to live a sedentary life. Movement reacquaints us with our bodies and connects us to the earth in a visceral way. It also restores our vitality.

10. Make time for stillness, silence, and solitude. The world can be noisy, and we are subject to all kinds of noises nearly every waking hour. We are also often "on the go" and unable to relax. Being alone in a peaceful place and making time for quiet can help you stay in touch with yourself.

A New Baby

One of my lovely friends was down for a visit this past weekend. I took two days off to spend some time with her and always to take a breather from work. It's been very nice.

It was wonderful catching up with her. She's one of my friends whom I will die with and we will always have each other's back. She can finish my sentences when I don't know how to verabalize my thoughts. She understands the intonations in my sentences and just knows me even during the times when I can't see me.

Before she left, we talked again about starting our own business. We've been scheming about several different ideas for the past five years. I don't think it's necessarily about making money at the end of the day but being able to work for ourselves and doing things we really like to do has been the draw. Being able to work with a white canvass is something that has always attracted the two of us, as well. Some good thoughts were definitely shared. Maybe in the next three years?

A much needed breather

I've been working 9-11 hour days in the past few weeks. This doesn't really count the amount of additional time I spend at home so maybe the count should be more like 10-15 hours. I'm finally taking off tomorrow and Wednesday for some much needed rest. My throat has been scratchy for the past few days so I've been trying to fight that off, too.

I had a little yoga session this morning. I've forgotten how good a little meditation and movement feels first thing in the morning. For some reason, I've been waking up around 7am/7:30am for the past few weeks. Maybe my body is finally trying to regulate itself.

My day and evening were going relatively well until a little situation irked me around dinner. A few of us were gathering at our friends' place and I couldn't find parking on the main street. I had to park in the back of their alley and pass through a portion of the street that was semi-blocked by four car-loads of guys. They had their cars on and were parked on the street talking to each other like no one else was going to drive on the damn street. I'm not really one to ask to be walked somewhere, so you'd think one of the few times I'd ask, the one person who I thought would not question me or put up a fuss did. I was so hurt. And then the stupid prick attempts to playfully make peace by playfully...hell no...bastard! No apology as of yet, at least not a sincere one.

Tomorrow is a new day. I'll do some light work first thing in the morning and wait for Gellie and Bernie to get their asses over here. I don't understand why they haven't figured out that the 405 is the worst freeway to take in this area. Ah well...some people gotta get smacked on the ass a few times before they really get it.

Sad joePod

OMG! Tragedy struck today...my joePod went sad.

I made myself not overreact and calmy went to apple.com to see what they had listed under support. You know it's not a good thing when there's a direct link with the same icon on their homepage for iPod support. After going through all the steps I still couldn't fix it. The primary scare was that I don't have all my songs saved in iTunes so in cases like this, there is major reason to panic.

Then my lovely friend, Hiyas recommends I look through the forums since they are most often times more help than the "geniuses" at the Genius Bar. After reading over the forums, I found one discussion that related to my case. The last resort was to throw it against something and shake it up a bit. I didn't go through exactly the same extent but after I tried resetting it again after I shook it a little, it went into data mode and the light turned on! WOOHOO! Tragedy averted!

I'm currently uploading everything I have in joePod back into my iTunes playlist...never again! Thank you Jesus! I'm still taking it into the Genius Bar to make sure I've updated joePod's software correctly.

Mercury, you suck big knockers right now!

why am i fighting against myself? wtf! another blunder that's costing me a ton! i need some clarity and it needs to fuckin stick!

fun project of the day

just got approved for a grant to create a multi-media program at SIPA. that means all apple products including adobe photoshop, illustrator, indesign and possibly final cut pro and more ram! woohoo! i'm spending someone else's money to buy stuff i luv luv luv! the only downer is that i might end up taking on some of the tech support and training until we get a professional in here.

thank you, oh heavens above for all the days and new challenges you give me. but damnit...mercury in retrogade sucks ass! first strike today kinda hurts!

I HATE THE CITY'S BUILDING AND SAFETY DEPARTMENT!!! I had to call them to get information on a variance that I need to get in order to build a higher fence at our office. They put me on hold for freakin' 18.57 minutes!!! I have it recorded on my damn cell phone. When the stupid code engineer finally answered, he spent TWO FREAKIN' MINUTES talking with me to answer my damn question!!! FIND A BETTER WAY TO ANSWER FREAKIN' QUESTIONS! GET ON EMAIL, BASTARDS! mfs!