2011 is the Year of Not According to Plan
I started 2011 with only one plan in mind–to go to Japan in June. My plan for everything else was to just stay as it had been. It ain’t broke, so don’t fix it, so to speak. Well, we all know that came crashing down on Valentine’s Day this year, when Mufasa went from having a breathing problem to dying in a matter of hours. Suddenly, my perfect dog was gone, and that was most definitely not according to plan. Getting two German Shepard puppies a month later was also not part of the plan. And while at the time that seemed to be such a great idea–they’ll have each other, right?–has turned into a bit more trouble than planned. I cannot wait until they’re a year old and start calming down just enough to the point where...
Very Surreal
At my real life job, my fellow co-worker and I pushed it to our boss that she needs an assistant. We even went as far as writing up the want ad for her. Fortunately for us, she was pleased with the thought and thrilled that we had already moved forward on it. Unfortunately, that put us at the task of reviewing resumes and weeding them out for those we want to call for a phone interview. I really, really didn’t like doing that. For starters, I felt incredibly harsh. I dismissed any resumes I found with a single spelling mistake, and any that had odd skills listings. Once we finished culling through them, I started to wonder how the hell I ever got hired for a job. Did my resumes look like that to employers? Does my resume look like that now? Do I list stupid...
Adventures in Potty Training, Days 9-14
I knew it was too early to get excited about Gabe going in the potty on Monday. As of this writing, I am now in possession of all of Gabe’s trains and one of his tracks. The kid just flat out doesn’t care that he’s wet. Or poopy. And he refuses to use the potty. I’ve tried to force him, but it created a horrible fight that I think no one won. I talked out my frustrations with another friend, and she assured me that I’m not alone. It took her awhile to potty train her daughter, and she has several friends who have had similar stubbornness with their kids. It made me feel so much better. Other than that one moment though, this has been a fairly horrible weekend filled with a lot of pee, poop, laundry, and tears. At least now that his...
End of the Kombo Era (and 5 Years of My Writing Portfolio)
I learned yesterday that Kombo.com, the place that originally got me into writing about video games, has gone offline permanently. Instead, it’s an automatic redirect to GameZone.com, and nothing, absolutely nothing from the archives has made it into the GZ archives. On the one hand, I think, “Good riddance.” On the other, I realize that five years of my life has been wiped off record completely. I can’t use anything I wrote there for portfolio pieces. The only proof I have that I even worked there or that the site existed now are my check stubs and my E3 Media Badge. It’s a very disconcerting feeling. While the last few months at Kombo were filled with stress and a lot of unhappiness for me, I still look back on the whole experience...
Adventures in Potty Training, Day 8
Success! Yesterday was our first full day of success. It started off with Gabe asking me early on in the morning to go potty. Of course I immediately obliged, and sure enough, he did! The first thing he said when I congratulated him was, “I get Percy back now.” And yes, he did get Percy back. It looks like I have found the proper motivator for now, but I know that every day will be completely different. I think that putting a potty in the living room has helped as well, because that way, he doesn’t have to entirely stop what he’s doing. Shawn is jealous. He keeps telling Gabe that he’s living the dream, as every man wants a potty in the living room. If I catch Shawn using the Elmo potty, there will be some serious consequences after I...
Adventures in Potty Training, Days 3-7
We have had virtually no success this week. In fact, things got worse. Gabe went from 0-1 accidents at school to 3 a day. He refused to use the potty all weekend, and I didn’t want to force him because everything I’ve read and heard says that forcing makes things worse. However, I started to notice this morning that he no longer cared when he peed on the floor. When he would, he tell me he had and continued on playing. I was at a complete loss as to what to do. I had a Stella & Dot trunk show this afternoon, and when I returned, I learned that Shawn had zero success either. Even he was getting frustrated, and he’s ungodly patient. So something in me snapped as I was watching Gabe throw a fit about having to use the potty and promptly peed on...
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