2 down, 209 to go

That’s how many boxes there are on my end of year to-do list. Allow me to elaborate:

6 projects (comic and writing related)
28 tasks between them
211 progress boxes (because even the broken-down tasks still have multiple parts that can be done in measurable units)

That’s a lot to do in 6 weeks! (and doesn’t actually count the Christmas knitting I’m trying to get done, as well)

Now, at first glance, one might wonder why I don’t take a week and a project and just concentrate on one thing at a time, module style. A) Burnout B) certain projects will require more than a week

Granted, when I prioritized the 6 projects, 1 or 2 of them can float into January so it’s not horrible, but January will also bring another set of deadlines and I don’t want to have some of these things still hanging over my head. So, in order to facilitate this list getting done I will be much more devoted to work instead of play in the evenings and (this is the hard part) not sleeping in so much on the weekends. That’s gonna hurt, but getting this stuff done is more important. Plus the holiday breaks may help, as well (there’s a possibility of extra days off around Christmas, but not definite yet).

So 2 down, 209 to go, 6 weeks to do it in. Start the over/under pool now, lol.

Rock. On.

Holy cow but I’m beat, my head is pounding, and the dissipating adrenaline rush is causing a low blood sugar attack.

But it was worth it. Oh, my, how it was worth it. Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert for nearly 3 straight hours. I have pictures (crappy cell-phone pictures, of course) but they will get downloaded/uploaded another day. I have no idea how they’ll look being that they are (again) crappy cell-phone pictures but I think they might be okay, really.

The concert was awesome. I now must download their other 2 albums (Lost Christmas Eve and Beethoven’s Last Night) as well as track down some Savatage because I recognized one of the non-TSO songs they performed after the not really an intermission (seriously, there wasn’t much of a break even though some people must have thought it was over when they started introducing everyone) from the radio and now must find it and listen to it some more.

Dude… they so rocked…

Tags: Trans-SiberianOrchestra, music, concert

Exploding Yogurt

Not a band name, that I’m aware of, but it sounds like it would be, right?

Nope, it’s what happened tonight at the grocery store. You know I think that’s the first item I’ve ever actually broken or damaged in any sort of store in my 32 1/2 years. And of course there were two employees stocking the other type of organic yogurt right there to witness (and, thankfully, clean up) as the cup tipped from my fingers and went crashing to the floor. I didn’t even realize, at first, that my slacks got slimed in the process.

It was an inauspicious start to the errand but, thankfully, no other mishaps occurred. It did throw me off, though.

In other news, I was reminded today that it’s only 7 weeks til Christmas. Holy Carp! I think it’s time for a big huge all-encompassing list of things to do before the end of the year just so I can get a handle on everything that needs planning and executing and starting before Jan 1. Next year is looking to be even crazier than this one, in wonderfully fabulous ways and all, but it’s still going to take a boat load of time management skills that I’ve gotten a little rusty on.

Speaking of Old

You know how as you age what you thought was old doesn’t seem as old anymore? Well, reality can really clash that around for you.

Our production supervisor at work called in sick yesterday, thinking he had the flu or something. Later that day he called his wife to come pick him up and take him to the doctor: he was having a heart attack. Today we found out that it was actually his 2nd heart attack, the first one having occurred 4 months ago when he thought he was just having really bad indigestion. Um, yeah. He’s 45.

Holy Crap! I’m 32, okay, and 45 seems like it’s just around the corner. While I know that heart attacks can happen at any age and it didn’t help that he was a smoker and he seldom went to the doctor, still! It’s not a comforting thought.

Thankfully he seems to be doing well after having 2 stints put in 1 artery and strict orders regarding diet, stopping smoking and cholesterol and blood thinning drugs but dude…

Getting Older

My birthday isn’t just around the corner and the approaching new year does not inspire the thought, it’s the events of the past weekend that make me feel positively ancient: Spectrum and I went to the fair

It started simply enough, we wandered through the animal and community exhibits, surveyed the food offerings (ah, the Brown food group!) and then checked out which rides we were interested in before buying tickets for them.

[Sidebar: holy cats has this thing gotten expensive!!! We were given passes that covered the admission (which wasn't that bad, only $7 per person, less than a movie) but the ride tickets were $1 each and most rides took 4 tickets! No wonder there were hardly any lines for the rides!]

We rode two rather harmless rides I remembered fondly from my last visit (some 4 or 5 years ago), the Himalaya and the Scrambler (now known as the Sizzle, apparently). And then we were done. Spec looked positively pale when the Scrambler/Sizzle came to a stop! Both of us were a little wobbly and we decided that we were definitely too old for this.

Still, all was not lost. There was still the Brown food group and we ended the day with foot-long corn dogs, a funnel cake and palm readings. Went home and Spec was asleep before 10pm. It was a good day.