How long has it been this time?

I'm really no good at this "blogging" thing.

It's not like I haven't done anything in the past week. I've had two articles over on the Mindset, I babysat, I've been on some nice long motorcycle rides with my parents (as a passenger--I don't have my license), my dog had a seizure, the first few family members are trickling into town for a reunion... Yeah, there's been plenty I could have blogged about. It just sort of hasn't happened.

I'd say it comes down to this: If you want something to get done, give it to a busy person to do. I am not even remotely busy, so nothing is getting done. My three loads of laundry took all day yesterday to do. I really need to go pick up my contacts from the eye doctor, but, well... that hasn't happened.

I suppose I could crotchet, but I could also put that off for when I can't sleep or I'm visiting my grandmothers. I've been working on the same blanket for a year and a half now, and it's still not done. In fairness, it's almost done, and it's big enough for a twin-sized bed. (Pity I don't have a twin-sized bed.) For a while now, I've been working on it every time I go to see Grandma, which is every Saturday night when I'm home. (Yes, I'm a college student with such a non-existent social life that I spend my Saturday nights with my grandmother. But I like visiting Grandma on Saturday nights.) When I'm off at school, she apparently asks my parents how I'm doing on my blanket. I think she cares about it more than I do, and I would give it to her without a second thought as soon as I finished it if only the heat in my apartment at school hadn't earned itself a reputation for malfunctioning. Maybe I'll give it to her after I graduate.

We no longer have any Project Linus blankets in the house that I could work on, which is actually good, because in a couple of days my sister will be in town from California, which means we'll have more people than beds in a house where space is already at a premium. It's funny--the house was just the right size when my sisters and I grew up, but then they moved out and my parents spread out a little, and then the oldest and her husband had to move back in, and all of a sudden we're out of bedrooms.

So all that's really left for me to do during the day is write and exercise. But I don't feel like exercising until after I'm put together for the day, and getting put together for the day includes showering, and it just seems silly to shower and then exercise, so that almost never happens.

And that leaves writing. There, at least, I've been making some progress. Not nearly as much as I could, mind you, but it's something.

Counting Blessings

According to the time, it's now tomorrow, but I haven't gone to bed yet, so...

My friend signed in tonight/last night/this morning (?) having just returned from seeing Toy Story 3, which we've been ogling and drooling over and anxiously awaiting for months now. What should have been a rave fest of how incredible the movie is quickly turned into me throwing myself a pity party. I have no money and no job, and don't dare ask my parents for ANYTHING because I know they will answer with a question about my job search, so the chances of me seeing this incredible movie I've been looking forward to all school year are pretty much non-existent... Oh, and it might be more than a small challenge for me to be able to feed myself this coming school year. I know my parents won't let me starve, but I'm sure they'd rather not have to help me, and I'd certainly rather not need their help.

So I could very easily wallow in my misery... Or, I could watch some Muppets, eat some comfort food, and count my blessings so that I'm at least in a good enough mood to potentially sleep tonight.

Today has been a good day. I took the dog for a nice, long walk--granted, a very HOT walk, but a nice long one. I exchanged the yarn Mom didn't want for the yarn she did want, which I wasn't expecting the store to have in stock, since they didn't have it when I went two days ago.

I've finished two blankets for Project Linus, both made from fleece from donated blankets that were too poorly-made to be given to kids as they were. I've never done that before. It felt good to finally feel like I did something for this organization I've helped in smaller ways before, to give something comforting to a child somewhere who needs it, and to take some good intentions that didn't quite work out and turn them into something successful. I've always wanted to actually make a blanket for Project Linus, and I guess now I finally have.

I even got to flex my writing muscles today, not just with the earlier blog post but by helping my mom with her annual "beg letter" for the Ride for Kids fundraiser for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. She had one letter written, but wasn't satisfied with it because it didn't tug at the heartstrings. She was all set to start from scratch, but it just so happens that I specialize in tugging heartstrings, so I stepped up to the computer and edited the heart-wrench in. I usually feel evil (and enjoy feeling evil) for making my readers cry, but this was for a good cause.

I don't think I've quite absorbed that my writing can work towards a greater good, that I could potentially inspire people to get out there and start doing little things to change the world. It won't be one big thing to change the world, you know. It will be millions and millions of tiny things that you wouldn't think count, like smiling and holding doors and picking up litter. A lot of major religions are waiting and praying for the Messiah, for one person to come and set everything right, but one incredible person can't do any good at all if the world isn't full of millions of alright people.

One of the most-quoted Jim Henson quotations is probably this: "When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope still is to leave the world a little bit better for my having been here. It's a wonderful life and I love it."

I've always liked that. From the first time I read it, I've had that same hope--to leave the world a little bit better for my having been here. And I guess the things I did today--the letter-writing and blanket-making--I guess they sort of help with that, don't they?

That isn't so bad. No, that's not a bad thing at all.

Thunderstorm

Hello again, Imaginary Reader. Yes, it's been a little while. I've started to post a couple of times now, but I keep losing interest because I can't decide what to post about.

But right now, we're in the middle of a thunderstorm. I love thunderstorms. I think I always have. I don't ever recall being afraid of the thunder or lightning, and to be honest, I have trouble understanding why anyone would be (with the exception of animals, especially small ones, like my dog who's afraid of air vents). Unless you're dumb enough to go dance around in with a metal pole in the middle of an empty field, you really don't have anything to worry about your personal safety. Just stay inside or in your car, and you'll be fine.

I can understand being worried for your stuff in a thunderstorm. We've all unplugged our computers (yay laptop battery!), and Dad even unplugged our pretty entertainment system. And yes, thunderstorms can damage stuff. I've seen our yard sprinkled with shingles that have blown off our roof--although not in a while, because we got a better roof. Sure, if you've got rotten luck, a tree can fall on your house or car and cause all sorts of expensive problems. But in the twenty-one years that I've been alive, the worst we've had happen is that our back-up sump pump exploded, which had absolutely no negative affects until our main sump pump broke about ten years later, but that's our own fault for not getting the back-up replaced.

So when I started hearing the rumble of thunder, it was soothing, and when my bedroom lights flickered, it made me grin.

There's power in thunderstorms--a reminder to respect Mother Nature. To me, the energy of a thunderstorm is contagious. Lightning shows, when you've got a good seat to see them, are incredible and gorgeous. Dad and I love to watch them. He still talks about "that one time" years ago when we drove to a field a few blocks away and got some great video of lightning from some storms on the other side of the state border. I have fond memories of a family dinner at T.G.I. Friday's by the windows, oohing and ahh-ing with that whole side of the restaurant as we watched the lightning. And then, my first year of college, we had three nights in a row of thunder-snow in February, and I had a great view from my dorm room.

There's not much lightning right now. The thunder is quieter, and the wind has calmed down. The lights haven't flickered in a while. But you know what? I hope the storm picks up again.

Where I'm sitting, I can see a tree that's all wet on one side and dry as bone on the other. Ain't Mother Nature neat?

My New Series on Mindset

Good news, Imaginary Reader! I have conquered The British Correspondent (again) and returned The Muppet Mindset to the rightful hands of--well, me, for now. Ryan should be back tomorrow.

Until then, I the Intern have started a new series for The Mindset: The Epic CD-ROM Family Adventure. I'll be leading the Mindset readers on a guided tour of the Muppet Treasure Island computer game.

It was originally going to be one article of me reminiscing about the game, but then I installed it on my mom's computer and once again have full access to all its glory. Since so few Muppet fans have access to that glory (or even know about it), I feel it is my privilege and duty to share it with them. Really, the game is fantastically Muppety. It would be a shame for the fans to have no idea how great it is. And let's face it--there is just too much greatness for it to fit in one little post.

With the post I have, I haven't even gotten into game play yet. The Game is so packed with Muppety goodness that I couldn't get that far. In fact, when I start the next post, I still won't be at the point of game play. I will finally be at the start of the story, though. All I've gotten through at this point is what I'm calling the First Room. That's where you meet Stevenson the Parrot and figure out how you're going to start playing. You can start a new game, load a saved game, or just automatically start playing from Bristol, the Hispaniola, or Treasure Island. (You can start playing from the Benbow Inn, too, but that's the same as starting a new game, so I'm not sure I get the point of that, but it keeps everything symmetrical.)

Anyway, I'll let you know when I post each part of the series so you can follow along, Imaginary Reader. It should be good.

General Update

Progress on the job front can be so slow. I promised my mom that my cover letter would be done by the time she ate breakfast today so that she could mail my résumé on her way to work. Now, I was under the impression that she would wake me up (as she often does) before she ate breakfast and say, "Alright, where is it?" To which I would have answered, "It's waiting to print." But of course, she didn't wake me up, and in hindsight I had no reason to expect her to. So instead, I woke up in the afternoon, at which point Mom was long gone. So it was a good plan, but it didn't quite work out. I guess I'll be mailing it tomorrow.

In the meantime, The British Correspondent (who was expelled from The Muppet Mindset after Ryan's last vacation) seems to have hacked in again, and with Ryan off gallivanting in LA, it's up to me to stop him. Apparently, TBC seems to think that hacking in and taking over will help him win favor and earn his place back on the staff. Seems like a long shot to me, but if he wasn't crazy, he wouldn't have been hired in the first place.

In other news, it's been raining pretty much since I got up today, so there goes my plan of taking the dog for a walk. Instead, I wrote and posted some more fanfiction over on Muppet Central. A real tear-jerker of a chapter. I'm quite proud of it. I like to drag my readers through the dirt before I bring them to a happy ending. Unfortunately, when writing for nothing more than my own enjoyment, I almost never get around to that happy ending.

So, that's where I've been. Nothing hugely exciting, I suppose... This weather doesn't do much for inspiring excitement.

With Web Design and Typing Classes for All

I've spent the past few hours clicking "Next Blog" at the top of every page Blogger presents me. I don't know what exactly compelled me to start clicking, but like many things that involve clicking and the internet, it turned out to be mildly addicting.

It's kind of interesting to see what else is out there in the world of blogging. At times, it's also mildly horrifying. Having done some blog-stumbling, I feel like there should be some basic rules to which all bloggers subscribe.

First of all, a blog should be legible. I realize most blogs probably don't have very many readers, but you'll never get any readers if your blog is difficult to impossible to read. Yes, I know, it's incredibly fun to play with crazy backgrounds that make your blog unique and cool-looking, but please adjust your font size and color accordingly. Or, better yet, keep the crazy designs somewhat subdued when they'll be behind text.

Actually, generally speaking, just keep the crazy designs in check. I know they look cool. I'm glad you're creative. But aren't the blog posts supposed to be the focus of a blog? I mean, I could be wrong. I'm new to this game. But it seems to me that blog posts are a lot easier to read when the border doesn't take up two-thirds of the post.

Please don't think I'm being snooty because I took one little web design class this semester and I think I know everything. Far from it. I have plenty to learn about web design. I just think some things should be common sense.

Another rule--and really, this is just general web use, and really general writing--bloggers (and anyone else who writes or types anything that someone else will see) should proof-read. It doesn't take very long, and it saves you from countless stupid mistakes like leaving out words, adding random letters, skipping complete sentences, using double-negatives... You get the idea.

Along the lines of proof-reading--well, this one probably IS a case of me being snooty, but I honestly don't understand why some people can't seem to find the "Shift" key on their keyboards. Really? It's on there twice. It is just as easy to use as every other key. Yes, you have to push the "Shift" key at the same time as whatever letter you want capitalized, but even if you use the hunt-and-peck method of typing, that's not terribly hard to do (unless you only have one hand, but even then, you can usually stretch to at least one of the "Shift" keys).

Capitalization is just such a simple little thing that makes it so much easier for your readers. I don't understand why people by-pass it. If you know how to type--I mean really know how to type, and don't even look at the keyboard--then that "Shift" key just comes naturally. I have a hard time typing without capitalization.

In fairness, most of my family considers me some sort of freak of nature in terms of my speed of typing, and I tend to transcribe conversations in the room into Instant Messenger conversations, so maybe my personal experience isn't a fair measuring stick. But even when I'm typing with just one hand (which I often do for no particular reason), I use my "Shift" key.

I wasn't nearly so fast at typing before I took a typing class in summer school. "Mario Teaches Typing" just didn't do much for me in grade school. But now, these little fingers just don't understand why people choose to ignore keys that are specifically placed to be within easy reach.

I could continue my rant and wonder why so many people on the internet don't feel like they need full words, but I'll save that snobbery for another day. My real point at the moment is that the world of blogging could be much nicer if all bloggers studied a little web design and a little typing.

Résumé Blues

A few nights ago, my parents went out to dinner with a family friend, and I'm guessing they mentioned my thus-far fruitless job search. So a couple nights ago, he called them to say that one of his friends was looking for college kids to do some "college grunt work" for the summer, and that applying for this mysterious "college grunt work" would require submitting a résumé via snail-mail.

Regardless of the fact that I have no idea what "college grunt work" entails, this all adds up to me spending today putting together my résumé and sincerely wishing I'd bothered to go to one of those seminars advertised at school this year on résumés and CVs. (I have no idea what the difference is between the two, if there is one at all. Most of the flyers I saw pertained to CVs.)

This is what I thought I knew about résumés before today: résumés should have your previous work experience, do not need references, should NEVER have typos, and should be one page in length.

Enter advice and examples from Mom and Big Sister, stage left. Big Sister took advantage of those résumé seminar things in college, so she's our in-house expert. Her résumé is--*gasp*--two pages! Oh, the HORROR!

So I use these convenient family examples as a starting point, I dig up the sorry excuse of a résumé I made for a sorry excuse of a class at the beginning of Freshman year, and I start listing my job experience. I slip in a mention of the fact that I'm in the Honors Program. I even list how ridiculously active I am in Hillel. Then I go so far as to get fancy by using a sans-serif font for headings and for my name, because sans-serif fonts take longer to read and therefore draw more attention. (That's a handy little tidbit you can pick up in a college education.)

Tragically, this beautiful list of mine is more than a page. It's not quite two pages; it's not even a page and a half. No, it's just long enough that no amount of finessing will bring it down to one page. And what's worse--the page break is smack dab in the middle of all my lovely Hillel experience.

Thinking I have the perfect solution, I divide the résumé into two columns. On the left, I have my work experience, and on the right, I list my education and extracurricular activities. (Sorry, little blog, you didn't make the list. You're just a baby. You're not much to brag about yet.) Of course, it takes a good five minutes of wrestling with the computer's auto-formatting to make it line up all nice and pretty, but I finally get a one-page résumé that looks good to me.

Again... Enter Big Sister, stage left. "Don't make it two columns," she says. Then she tells me to proof-read a dozen times, then have someone else proof-read it, and then proof-read it again. Then she goes to bed. (Note: By this point, it's the middle of the day, but Big Sister works nights, so it's well past bedtime for her.)

Well, grand. I undo all that wrestling and go back to one column. Now I just need to figure out how the heck to either get this all on one page, or just give it a less awkward page break. Using a smaller font size doesn't make enough of a difference. Eliminating the double-spaces between sections just makes it look crowded, and doesn't make enough of a difference anyway. No matter what I do, there's an annoying page break right in the middle of my Hillel experience.

Eventually, Mom presented the answer (as she quite often does). She pointed out that the friend of a friend who will be reading this résumé is probably about the same age as my parents, that being the age of reading glasses, and that the friend of a friend therefore probably won't mind if the font is bigger. Add a little white space, and my two-page résumé doesn't look half-bad.

Sometimes, things are just more complicated than they should be.

Memorial Day

I was going to wish you a happy Memorial Day this morning, Imaginary Reader, but I realized that I have no idea where you live and therefore don't know whether or not you would celebrate it. I would ask where you live, but you don't have any way to answer, do you? Unless of course you post an Imaginary Comment...

Of course, now that it's after midnight, I suppose it isn't Memorial Day anymore, which makes the title and point of this post rather odd.

At any rate, Imaginary Reader, I'm mostly posting to assure you that I am not abandoning My Three Minds. In fact, if you look, you'll see that I've added a page for my "portfolio," which at the moment consists of one image and a brief blurb about an unfinished children's book, even though most of my writing really isn't at all suited for children.

That's really all I have to say at the moment, but I've been brainstorming some post ideas, so this should get more interesting before too terribly long.