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...

Stupid-scary new thing!

That's right. That's a bottle of 5-hour energy drink in my purse. I'm about to drink it. I have never  drunk one of these in my life, because I suspect I will feel cracked out and spazzy for hours. Which frightens me, and the company I keep, just a little. But I am TIRED, and maybe, just maybe I'm wrong about this one.

What the hell? Bottoms up!

Clam-digging, oyster-shucking, shellfish-cooking fun

Here's my DOUBLE Operation Fear Liberation (OFL) snapshot for the fourth week of February and first week of March. Once again, I've forced myself to do something new.  

 

Week 8: Digging for clams and oysters!

Week 9: Shucking oysters and steaming clams!

A posse of oysters

Why they're on my list: I'm big on eating local food, and when you live on the Puget Sound, local food includes clams and oysters.  I like clams!  I like oysters! I like cooking! It also seems un-Pacific NW of me to have lived here for over 10 years without ever digging clams or cooking clams or shucking an oyster, and going on a clam dig has always sounded like a super fun weekend adventure.

March Spending Diet!

Well, it is Leap Day, which means that my Operation Consumption Liberation (OCL) month of Snack Control is coming to an end.  If you read my last OCL post, you'll know that I was struggling a bit with the "No Eating after 8:30 p.m." part of my February challenge. Despite my resolve to get back on the wagon and stay on the wagon, I've been falling off this particular wagon left and right. 

Why can I go a month without meat or sugar without caving into my cravings, but can't make it through a shorter 29-day month without a 10 p.m. Snack Attack every few days?  I think it boils down to this: I can handle staying clear of certain kinds of foods, but I have very little willpower when it comes to not eating when I want to eat. This is probably linked to how much I dislike the feeling of denying myself that comes hand in hand with dieting. Not eating when I want to eat feels ten times more like dieting than not eating what I want to eat.  I snack pretty healthy, after all; I eat rice crackers, fruit, and low-fat string cheese, not French fries, chocolate bars, and milkshakes. 

On this note, it is clearly time for me to take a break from food-related challenges, but not from diets in the broader sense.  That's because my March monthly challenge is Curb Your Frivolous Spending Redux--a.k.a. the Spending Diet. Last year, May was my month of being a tight wad, during which I gave myself a budget of $132 to spend on unnecessary things like dining out, lattes, mascara, iTunes, haircuts, movie fares, and so on. And that was a good challenge.  This year, I'm trimming that amount by $30, for a monthly budget of $102 dollars. (That extra $2 makes all the difference.)

My homemade pizza beats Pizza Hut's any day.

I Fear Zombies!

Here's my Operation Fear Liberation (OFL) snapshot for the third week of February. Once again, I've forced myself to do something new.  

Week #7: Play a first-person shooter video game on an XBOX 360.

Why it’s on my list: First off, as far as I know, I have never played anything on an XBOX or an XBOX 360. So it is an official new thing. 

 Scary XBOX! (Photo by Wikicommons user Javier Donoso [CC-BY-SA-3.0])

You say Bag-ull, I say Bay-gull

Here's my Operation Fear Liberation (OFL) snapshot for the second week of February. Once again, I've forced myself to do something new. 

Week #6: Make homemade bagels!

Why it’s on my list: About six months or so back, a friend of mine posted a link to a bagel recipe on Facebook. Now this friend is one half of a culinary-inclined duo, who often post about their edible masterpieces in the kitchen. I don’t even think about making most of the stuff they make, because I know that I am no Nigella Lawson. That said, I am often inspired by my culinary amigos, and I actually do cook and bake from time to time. And I also really like bagels; I went through a bit of an obsession with Eltana’s wood-fired bagels last spring. So I thought, “I should totally learn to make bagels!”

An Eltana bagel that I once loved. And ate.

Snacky Crazy!

Overdue, overdue!

This is my long-delayed Operation Consumption Liberation (OCL) update about how my month without sugar (January) went and what February's OCL challenge is all about. But it is February 16th.  I can hardly remember January, I think it might have snowed a bunch.   But the rest of it...big fat blur.

Snowy in Seattle: Ravenna Park

But I did survive No Added Sugar January redux.  Like before, it was challenging at times.  Let's reflect on what I wrote at the end of No Added Sugar January last year: