Productivity!

I find that I'm productive in bursts: that I'll accomplish a lot for like, a week, and then the following two weeks are far less impressive. This isn't to say that I'm slothful during the post-productive stretch - I'm just...I don't know, more average. What I'm saying is, this week has been ueberproductive!

I've made my reentry into the world of running. Hook and I went running twice last week in the park, and I did a 5K (without stopping!) this morning on the treadmill. (Note: I feel like treadmill runs are "cheater" runs, but this morning I didn't feel like holding my giant-ass keyring and my iPod as I ran, so I opted for the gym instead. I'm paying for a membership, you know? Might as well use it once in a while!) I'm trying to take it easy & not be overly-zealous, but I have a good feeling about the the coming months and finally entering some races.

Despite my lack of formalized plans, I'm pretty excited about the summer. My dad and Donna and my cousin Matt have (tentative) visits to SF scheduled, and Ali might also come out for a weekend. Dan and Alison are taking a trip to Portland, and I hope that Hook and I will meet up with them there. I'm hoping too to go back to Minnesota for a few days (during the State Fair, ideally), possibly road trip to Galesburg. I can almost smell the green of the cornfields. As much as I love CA, there's something so perfect about late summer cornfields, their rustle and sway.
That said, I am never going back to Cincinnati.

Also: I love my Chacos. They are possibly the best shoes I've ever owned. One of the best pairs of shoes I've ever owned, anyway.

ALSO: anyone want to go to the Grand Canyon during the next few months?

Editing time.

Man, like half of my links under "Friends and Neighbors" are now defunct. C'mon, guys: stop quitting your blogs! Also, update your blogs! I like to read them whilst at my office job.

A quiet, productive day. I deliberately prepared a shorter To-Do list, streamlining it to include only the most necessary of tasks. I still haven't taken my new (or at this point, "newish") jeans to the tailor. Where is motivation for alterations? Finished a full draft of Weirdos, Exes, Telesoliciters, Uncles (a short story I've been working on for, oh, the past year. Not continuously: in little bursts.), and now have to make my corrections to the electronic version. I make all initial revisions by hand. I'm pretty satisfied with Weirdos, satisfied too that it will be in the neighborhood of 27 pages. I never used to write stories this long(!) But now, I do.

Reading Nobody Belongs Here More Than You and am sadly underwhelmed. I don't dislike the stories - I found It Was Romance touching and concise and admirable - but the collection, so far, seems hit or miss. (A common complaint for me lately, I guess.) Am going to keep on keepin' on, though: I bought the book.

Listening to Jolie Holland. Thinking about my hurty teeth and what I'll wear to the party tonight. Enjoying the quiet house.

Sunday, Sunday

Having an uncharacteristically productive day of editing, hence this mini-foray into blog posting. Woke up early (7:00), made a breakfast of hard boiled eggs, toast, sliced strawberries & coffee for E. and myself. Tidied, got showered, and have spent the majority of the day (give or take a few hours) reworking two stories. I still feel like I need feedback on one of them, but things are looking good. Now, if only I can be this productive in the weeks to come...

Am supposed to go to an Oscars party tonight but the cold of death has descended on me. I've been taking cold meds every four hours, drinking tea nonstop, and taking Ricola honey lemon lozenges (which, I've read, are among the best throat lozenges), but nothing seems to be working. Drat, as they say. Drat.

One thing I like about winter is that it facilitates my self-improvement efforts. Deterred from my warm-weather habit of just bummin' around (walking, biking, sitting on a balcony somewhere), I have plenty of time to devote to such self-improvement initiatives as 1) reading a set number of books; 2) having stuff done to my hair; 3) working on the knitting projects I've started over the years; 4) paying semiregular attention to my blog, and other bloglike services. And so on. This is not to say that I wouldn't magically make the air 75 degrees right now, because if I would, I could. But I also appreciate this inside time which has allowed me to be so productive lately.

I am basking in the glory of my own small productiveness.

Some productive things I've done thus far in 2009:

1) Reinstated the use of a loofah (so much more effective at generating a lather than a plain ol' washcloth);
2) Sorted through my clothes/gathered clothes for donation/then donated them;
3) Paid all my billz;
4) Made a few lesson plans for my J-Term class (which starts Monday).

And tonight, I'm going to make a frittata for the first time. It does strike me as odd that I've never made one, considering 1) how much I like eggs(!) and 2) how much I like creating dinners from random stuffs in the fridge. There's a first time for everything, though; tonight, I will bask in the glory of my first (and hopefully awe-inspring) frittata.

Heh.