Where I've been

Dear readers,

I apologize for falling off the map. My life has been pretty much turned on its head since I last wrote, but in a good way. See, I've left my freelance lifestyle behind for now in favor of a full-time writing job at one of Seattle's mega corporations. It's a temporary contract, so perhaps I'll be returning to the freelance life come January 2013, but for now... I'm a working girl!

After working as a freelance writer with the occasional seasonal or part-time non-writing job since 2002, working full time in an office of a major corporation is a MAJOR change.It reminds me a little of when I started college as a wide-eyed 18-year old. Learning where everything is, meeting new people, learning to use the in-house computer tools and systems--it really is just like when I was trying to figure out how to register for classes and how to use that crazy internet thing back in 1994.  But I'm three weeks in now, so I have a pretty good idea of where everything is now and what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm settling in.

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During all of this transition and my inability to find time to blog, I actually did uphold my Operation Consumption Liberation challenge to go gluten free for the month of April. And, since I haven't blogged since mid-March, I barely managed not to exceed my $102 frivolous spending budget (I spent $99.73, thus I had $2.27 left on April 1).

For May, I've rearranged my schedule a little, postponing Gasoline until June in favor of reducing Mindless Time-Suck Activities. I made this shift because I suddenly have much less control over how I spend my time, and free time is a valuable commodity. I'm trying to find time to read, write, do yoga, do editing homework, visit friends, exercise, sleep, bathe, cook, clean, grocery shop, and remember to do things like send Mother's Day cards, pay my cell bill, and take the recycling out. I really need to make smart use of my time.

Originally, I imagined this as the month where I would not watch TV or use Facebook or browse the web at all. But now I'm thinking more about sustainability. I am trying to examine and make smart choices about how I use my time, minimizing time-consuming, time-wasting activities rather than abolish them forever.

So I am checking Facebook, but I'm limiting myself to 10 minutes a day. I am checking my email. But I'm trying not to check my personal email more than once while at work, and then once in the morning and once in the evening.

I am also trying not to watch endless hours of television programming. This is challenging, because Mad Men and Game of Thrones are both on Sunday nights right now: I don't obsess about many shows, but MM and GOT are totally level 1 obsessions. I can't NOT watch these things. But I can try not to watch other crap, or if I do, I better be doing dishes and folding laundry and cleaning my apartment at the same time

Anyway, this may be no time-suck lite. I can deal with that.

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I'll blog later about my attempts to do new things and step outside my comfort zone. I will say that taking this job and the steps that led me to it have had me stepping outside my comfort zone and doing new things left and right, and my earlier steps outside the comfort zone were excellent preparation.

Until next time...