Follow Through

HELLO yes I decided am going to post AT LEAST once a month in here (because I realized I at the last minute that I can actually follow through on this). I am mentally empty right now but I'm going to make a post about something god dammit! Uhhh school school school. I haven't gotten a haircut in a YEAR because I've been caught up in school and work and life. I need a haircut. So badly. Ugh. But all I can do is obsess about accounting because I am soooo so bad at it. I mean, all my life (until high school) I was a straight A student except in math. Starting freshman year I got 89s in every math class I ever took and it's been DRIVING ME MAD. And of allll the subjects I was alright at, and the few that I was good at, and the ONE subject I was REALLY good at...I chose to get a master's degree in what has amounted to MATH. Fucking hell. My life is hell. I mean...yes, it's hell, but not in a way where I actively fantasize about ending it all, so that's good.

I'm going to strive to name...
FIVE Other things that are good:
- Boyf
- Baby Elephants
- Naps
- Cute Underpants
- Carbs

There. I did it. Wasn't much of a stretch, I'll admit it, but maybe I can do 5 good things every month? I'm dubious about that part because I'm such a curmudgeon but I think I can at least post. Okay. Let's do it. POST POST POST POST POST

New Layout

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I'm scared.

Admin Stuff

I had a new thought about an entry I wrote earlier and made some changes to it, but since it's after the jump you may not see what I did. So here is a link to the entry whose introduction is "The Awl vs. Jezebel". Thanks.

OH MY GOD THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS SAYING

There has been a link to a website of James Joyce's letters to his girlfriend, Nora, under Favourite Links for more than a year, but I doubt ANY of you clicked on it. So here is a comic I found on the matter; hopefully it will pique your interest enough that you FINALLY TAKE HEED.



LOLOLOLOL

MY BRAIN

God dammit, ladies! This is basically how I feel about being a woman. Like, "BE SERIOUS, GALS! THERE ARE IMPORTANT THINGS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED HERE" and simultaneously I am every woman featured...SHOES. Sigh.

This is a comic by a lady named Kate Beaton, and every installment that I've read so far has been very pleasurable. So I'm going to put a link up under Favourites. It's "Hark, a vagrant" and you should click and enjoy immediately.

January NaBloPoMo

Hey guys, you'll notice I put a little image in the left margin - it says January NaBloPoMo. NaBloPoMo stands for National Blog Posting Month. It started in November a few years ago as NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month, wherein a bunch of fucking crazy people got together and tried to write a full-length novel by writing a certain number of words every day for just ONE MONTH omfg. I mean...crazy like a fox. I do want to try it sometime. Anyway. It's morphed into this thing where you can opt into any month you want and try to post every day during that month, not just November. I did this in 2007 and 2008 (it's actually really hard to believe it's been that long since I tried it again [TWO YEARS?] - apparently I really was traumatized by it, haha). You can find those posts by clicking on the pertinent tabs under this entry. So...that's what that's all about. Looks like posting will be another thing I leave till the next decade. In the meantime, I'll girding my loins (read: fortifying my underground bunker) for the inevitable clash of the amateurs that New Year's Eve will be. I suggest you do the same.

PS. I'm, like, compulsively trying to come up with a dirty joke for Girding My Loins = Fortifying My Underground Bunker...and still I got nothing. Help?!

Burgers and Fries

There's a restaurant in Austin called Five Guys (Caroline just told me that they actually have over 400 locations - it's a national chain!). That reminds me of when we were in town for SXSW and every time we drove by it we would make fun of the name. I loved coming up with things to yell. Here is a picture of their signage:



And here is a poll. Which is your favourite hilarious slogan?

This is Why Nobody Takes Journalists Seriously Unless They Write for the NYT

Click to make the image bigger.



WRITING

SXSW Dos and Don'ts!

Hey guys, here are a few videos and advice from SXSW 2K9!

Here's a video of Robert, who was a volunteer at SXSW this year. He quite enjoyed it. He also enjoyed getting married to John this summer!

OH JOHN from Priya on Vimeo.

DO!

Bring sneakers! Wear them!

Take the bus in Austin if at all possible. It's super cheap, and the day pass lasts for 24 hours from the time of purchase - it doesn't run out at 3AM like the ones in LA do.

Go to panels, if you paid for it. I know you have to get up in the morning, but, even if you're not an industry professional, you can learn LOTS of really neat stuff.

Wear something with protected pockets.

Write down your schedule (include the address of each venue).

Double- or triple-book yourself, and list your plans in order of how much you want to see each act/panel/exhibition.

Take walking distance between venues into account. Yes, they're all close together, but not THAT close.

Research bands that you don't know yet - even if it's just by genre. The whole point is to make discoveries!

RSVP to parties and make note of when and where they are. They're good for free food and drinks, and clean(ish) bathrooms.

Document your trip in as much detail as possible! I tweeted, journaled, filmed and blogged (in my Blackberry - that's actually where this list is coming from).

Mingle with strangers: you will get helpful tips, entertainment, and commiseration.

Get a pedicure when you get home. It will be WORTH IT.

Here's a video of Kyle, Lauren, Marion and I eating lunch at the Mellow Mushroom last Tuesday.

At the Mellow Mushroom from Priya on Vimeo.

DON'T!

Bring a purse. Marion did and she seemed to get on okay, but I was glad to have one less thing to worry about.

Have more than a few important things on your person at a time. It'll give you less to think about during a show so you can be in the moment and enjoy your surroundings. My important things were: phone, video camera, ID and money. And sunglasses.

Be a fashion victim! Be realistic about weather changes throughout the day and - this bears repeating - WEAR SENSIBLE SHOES!

Get a manicure before you go. That is so not rock n' roll at all, and it will make you like those girls you'll inevitably see staggering around in short skirts and 5 inch heels, looking puffy and thinking they're quite impressive.

Get uppity with volunteers. They have the power to do you major favors if you are polite.

Here's a parade of Assholes in downtown Austin.

OH JOHN from Priya on Vimeo.

HAHA! Just kidding. That was an accident; here are the Assholes!

Segway Segue from Priya on Vimeo.

What do you think, guys? Did I miss anything?

Listen Up

Alright babies, let me do you a huge favor. You may not agree with it, but this is how it's going to be, okay? You'll resist as much as possible, but soon you'll grow to love it.

No, I'm not moving in with your mom (though she did make a very convincing argument last night). Yet.

I'm putting up a couple of links on the left for you to entertain yourself with while I'm out of town for the next few weeks. I'll be traveling in Dubai and India from December 16th to January 6th, so please, enjoy www.dismissedblog.com and www.failblog.com. Some of you knew about one, some of you knew about the other...but I'm pretty sure none of you knew about both. But now you do.

You're welcome.

Hate The Mandarin Link

Oh, HAI!

Thanksgiving Prep

This week is killing me softly. I can't wait till Thursday. I managed to get Thursday AND Friday off...shopping is MINE! And everybody else's. There will be sales!! And I'm gonna buy the SHIT out of everything. Here's a math equation to show you how I feel.

But first, let me apologize for using math in any capacity other than to tell you how many tequilas is too many (for the record, ONE tequila is too many). Now for the math and feelings n' shit.

Raise + Rent not a part of this paycheck's budgetary deductions = (Priya's Normal Buying Power)X3.5

Now you watch this video. Yay!



Found, courtesy of Heather Armstrong, at Dooce.

Okay, now that we've been officially thrown WAYYYY off track, how are you guys liking my video embedding recently? Badass, no? Awesome, or totally awesome? I vote for FUCKING AWESOME!!!!

I'm in a weird mood, obviously. I can't think of anything today. Have you noticed that I have totally given up on that 5 coherent paragraphs a day thing? It's hard enough posting anything at all, much less something that others would care about. My schedule's been all fucked up recently. For a while there Kyle and I were scheduled for the same time every day, so we'd get off and actually have like six hours to kill until bedtime. It was weird, but fun. So that's where those few days went, where all I posted was, "OMG" and "Why DID I siGN uP 4 ThIz NaBloPoMo B\ullShizznit?!?!!" But I'm back now. Until Thursday.

For Thanksgiving, Kyle and I are going to M2 and Dave's Aunt's house in Long Beach. Then we're sleeping over at their apartment and...Dave called me earlier and asked if I wanted to go to Six Flags. Welllll, I'm not a big fan of the Hepatitis, so not really? But I didn't want to sound like a bitch. So maybe I'll go and have a funnel cake or something. That would pretty much make the day a success, as far as I'm concerned. That, and not getting a venereal disease.

What can I say? I'm ambitious.

Now I'm going to wash my face, brush my teeth, and lie quietly in bed until my thoughts stop screaming around inside my skull. Maybe I will be back for Tetris (did you see I put a link up so you could play Tetris too?)

New Links

I feel kind of embarrassed about that last post. I ran the subject matter by Kyle the other day and he said, "THIS IS WHY I DON'T WANT TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR BLOG." So...I updated my favourite blogs and favourite links list (you can find 'em over there on the left). Please click on all of them! You won't be sorry.

ugh...FRIENDS.

Marion posted on my facebook wall about how she would rather read on itsfunny because my template here was white text on black, whereas my diaryland template was, admittedly, much easier on the eyes. well, now she has no damn excuse. LEARN TO EMBRACE CHANGE, PEOPLE.

keep in mind this will just be a temporary template - it took me about a year to figure out how to do this on diaryland, but i was 15 and probably in history class learning about mussolini. points being:

1. now i have lots more free attention time,

2. said attention will now be undivided in the search to find a pretty picture to write on,

3. i'm 20 and have already figured HTML out once; this should be at least a little easier, and

4. it's midnight and i'm still fucking around on the internet. some things never change.

on other keys, i just watched saving private ryan for the first time. i know, i know. it makes me wish i had seen it when it first came out (no, not because my street cred is suffering right now, thanks) for the social impact it had at the time. now it's pretty much a myth unto itself...i'm trying to say something but i can't put my finger on it.

wow, this bodes well for new readers. i'm going to leave now while i'm ahead.