Random Dionysian Fandom Chick

Um.  Hi.

I haven't been around much.  And I'm not actually 100% sure that this is a change in that particular trend, but ::shrug::.

I want to write things down and record them.  I want to keep a running tally of my life, online, and use the materials and tools that I have at my disposal to do so... I'm just not sure *how* to do that.

That's not exactly right.  I suppose, in an abstract way, I do know how to do it.  I could write you manuals and papers about how all these things work, but I'm not sure how to apply them to my life.  What things do I want to record?  How do I want to keep up with them?  Like my physical surroundings, if I had a cut and dried system of where things went and how things should be sorted and what kinds of classificiations and distinctions I should be making, then I could impose some kind of order on things.  I'm just not sure what those things are *for me*.

Take ravelry, for instance.   I can record what yarns I own, what projects I'm working on, etc.  There's also a tagging system, that would allow me to organize and categorize and classify my projects, my queue (projects I want to make someday), and my "favorites" (things I just thing are neat) into categories that are meaningful to me.  I know that many people are able to create and use tags in a completely organic way, and that works for them.  I, however, can guarantee you I need a better basic structure than that (because I've *tried* the completely organic thing, and it doesn't work).  So I need to decide at the outset that I'm going to mark all my books with a tag "book" and further that I'm going to call science fiction "speculative" and not "sci-fi", "scifi", "science fiction" and "science fic".  Because I *WILL* do the later if I'm not properly prepared beforehand.

Then there's the age-old question of "what kind of a planning system do I need to be using?  What do I need to keep track of?  I have several little peices and ideas, but I don't know what the picture is yet or even what shape the puzzle is.  I know that I need a hard copy, paper calendar I can carry around, that's small and lightweight, and has the months in it with plenty of room to write.  I finally figured out a year or so ago that I "see" and "think" of time in months, so that's the best way for me to see my schedule.  Daily pages are *way* too excessive, and weekly pages seldom get used.  I know that I need some kind of contact/address book, and it needs to have both a high-tech component and a low-tech (ie, written on paper) component as well.

Going back to calendars for a moment, while I know I need a paper calendar, I also want/need to use my Google Calendar because that's where many of my events and activities first get posted, and I have several friends calendars I'm linked to.

I have my LJ tags where I want them (I think) but none of my others are that organized.  (Also, I feel like I should at some point go back and tag the old LJ entries from the before times when there weren't any tags so that they'll be searchable too.)

Any thoughts/advice/etc would be appreciated.

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In completely other news, I'm on Clue 1 of the new Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl, and while I can't say that the Knit Picks' Gloss Lace is flipping my switch all that much as a yarn overall, I LOVE the color I'm using (Mango).  It's a nice, cheerful orange-y peach that makes me happy when I look at it.  Which is a good thing, considering how depressed I've been lately. 

I've finished one of two socks for the Hogwarts Sock Swap (5), and I know I need to get cracking on the other one (it's due the 28th).  

My swap-ee for the Reducio! swap seemed very pleased with her package, and I'm pretty pleased with the idea/execution of said idea that I came up with.

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The House season finale blew me away and left me climbing the walls for next season.  I still need to go watch the season finale of Dollhouse, but I really liked "Briar Rose".  We're having to wait to watch the last two eps of NCIS because I had to put the Netflix on hold until I can deposit my next check (I was stupid, didn't keep up with my money well enough and accidentally went overdrawn).   Castle was lovely, though, and I'm THRILLED BEYOND BELIEF that it's coming back.  

I'm both looking forward to, and a bit nervous about the new season of Jon&Kate+8 starting on Monday.

I got a look at the 2009-2010 Upfronts at TV.com and I have to say I'm pretty happy with them.  I don't see the House spin-off though?  But there's a bloody lot of genre shows, which pleases me to no end.  And I've already checked out the pilot ep of Glee and can't wait to see more.  

I'm loving the new season of In Plain Sight (Mary/Marshall for the win! though Brandy/Peter are pretty cute, too) and the more I see of Royal Pains the more I want to actually watch it.  

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I'm reading New Moon right now, and liking it ok.  I'm not turning into a rabid fan, but I don't think that it sucks, either.
 

Speaking of rabid fan-girl-ness, I want more Star Trek OMGOMGOMG.  I also loved Wolverine, and was quite pleased with Angels and Demons.  The pacing of A&D is much better than it was in The DaVinci Code, I think.  I've finally see the original Night at the Museum, and want to see the sequel.  I wouldn't mind seeing Terminator: Salvation in the theatres either, which is kind of weird since I never liked any of the original Terminator movies.  But Christian Bale is lovely.  Speaking of lovely, "Australia" was lovely - and Hugh Jackman is ::guhdroolguh::.  

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WhedonFest is going to eat my brain.  I know it is.  And I'm going on a trip the weekend before, and GI Joe comes out somewhere in there.

Oh, and Skin Trade (the new Anita Blake) is out on the 2nd of June.  Want. Badly.

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Finally, I got a Nintendo DS for my birthday this month.  My Brain Age is 42 right now, I've cleared all the Basic Sudoku levels, am on World 6 in the New Mario Bros. and am trying to find all the zoo animals in My Sims Kingdom.

 

Sitting here, waiting (impatiently) for Hex S1 to download - also downloading manga of "Overdose". (Which sounds a bit like Stuart/Vince if they were actually a couple at the time, and Stuart liked girls as well and liked rubbing them in Vince's face. But surely you can see the similarities? Keep in mind I haven't actually read it yet.)

Bored now.

Realized this morning that we're going to be about $500 short in the next week, week and a half. (Rent, traffic ticket for that fucking *stupid* accident that killed my car, more rent, medicine, and credit card payment. You know what's funny? Guess what the cheapest thing on that list is? Nope. It's the credit card payment.)

Also realized on the way home when I plugged Sarah McLachlan's "Remixed" into the van that I have to go back and actually really re-listen to Surfacing, which to date has been my least favorite CD of hers. Sweet Surrender in particular, and here's why:

It doesn't mean much
it doesn't mean anything at all
the life I've left behind me
is a cold room
I've crossed the last line
from where I can't return
where every step I took in faith
betrayed me
and led me from my home

And sweet surrender
is all that I have to give

You take me in
no questions asked
you strip away the ugliness
that surrounds me
(who are you?)
are you an angel?
am I already that gone?
I only hope
that I won't disappoint you
when I'm down here
on my knees
(who are you?)
And sweet surrender
is all that I have to give

No, it's not the complete lyrics (quite), but close. (I luvvvvvvvv EvilLyrics, which is a lyric search tool made for Winamp, which is my new baby since it plays *all* the music formats. It also runs on it's own independent of winamp and lets you search from there - without all the pop-ups that the lyric sites have if you go to them directly. Yummy.)

I need file-advice, btw. What's the best way to sort/organize/maintain your computer files in Windows? And what's the best format to have your CDs/MP3s stored in? What I'd been trying was to label the files w/ the artist name, the album, the track number and the song title and have them all in one folder. I seem to have memories of having trouble with things being in different folders, but most programs/systems use/suggest having them in an artist folder, then an album folder. What is the friendliest way to use with an IPod, or does it matter? How do you sort things on an IPod, anyway?

Just a quick note for all - we can't afford to pay the cable company what they want, so for some reason they won't let us have internet. ::shrug::

(Sarcasm, people, sarcasm.)

Anyway, I'll be off for awhile for the most part, as I can only get online at work. ::pouts:: ::hugs flist::