It's cool to be a dork

Following completion of a Facebook meme in which we became aware that our detective name consists of our favorite color and our favorite animal, A is for Amy and I had the following conversation via text. Warning: significant silliness follows.


AisforAmy: Purple Cat – this is Blue Cat checking in. ;)

PlumTexan: BWA!!! I just embarrassed myself LOLing at that...uh, I mean, roger that, Blue Cat. What's your 20? Over

A: Purple Cat – my 20 is currently at a plus 7. Over. (I confess that my police talk is rusty and I can't remember what 20 actually is.)

P: Blue Cat. Your 20 is your location. Better brush up on your lingo. Over. :-)

A: Will do Purple Cat. Currently en route to a domestic dispute involving yarn. Apparently a bad sweater choice was made. Over.

P: Acknowledged. I expect a full report when the situation is under control. Please advise if said sweater is a cardigan or a pull...over.

A: Hahaha! Roger that Purple Cat. Said sweater is in its second incarnation as a pull...over.

P: *gigglesnort* Roger that, Blue Cat. Over and out.

Best. promo. EVER.

Heroes returns for its fourth season (aka season 3B) at 8 pm Central tonight. Despite its shortcomings of late, I remain a loyal, squeeful fangirl, particularly of the Brothers Petrelli (aka Adrian Pasdar and Milo Ventimiglia), Matt Parkman (aka Greg Grunberg, twittering as @greggrunberg), and Noah Bennett/Horn-Rimmed Glasses (aka Jack Coleman).

I'd seen this Inspirational Poster in advance and already blown a gasket, clueless to the geek-out enablement that would soon be offered in video form. Consequently, this promo made me dang near squee myself out of my skin, right in front of a whole bunch of my husband's bewildered friends.

100% worth it. I don't know how many of my tiny pool of adoring fans are Heroes groupies, so please...speak up if you can help me feel like less of a dork.

Hobbled and unhobbled

Once again, it was a long, tough January. Different reasons this year...but the outcome has been the same: I've spent much of the month hobbled, lacking the energy, brainpower, or stamina (often all of the above) to accomplish all I'd hoped to.

Thus is the outcome when you start the new year with a bad cold, survive a layoff when a dear friend does not, get over the cold only to get the flu, and start to get rid of the flu only to come down with WALKING PNEUMONIA. (Hard to think or function when you find it difficult to breathe or sleep, really.) This caused me to miss my annual Austin trip for Youth & Government...insult to injury, and I've still not quite recovered from that, either.

Yes, I come to bury January 2009, not to praise it. But it's also time to reaffirm that my hopeful outlook for the year hasn't faded. I've managed to accomplish a fair amount of project-monogamous knitting on a gift project for one of my Top 5 people*...which, of course, I can't really show you.

I've managed some maintenance cleaning at home, started cooking dinner more often, and picked up new duties at work, too - and considering my rather pathetic state, I have to say that feels pretty good. I've already noted that January '08 didn't set the standard for the rest of the year, and I'm bound and determined that January '09 won't either. Motivation is still the Word, and one that even an inhaler and C!pr0-class antibiotic did not deter.

I can do it. February ahoy!

* Actually my Top 6, minus the one that's a knitter (aka Amy, my BFF [no longer] Local): my husband, my mom and C-dad, my BFF Emerita Caety, and her TallKid Thomas.

Couldn't have said it better

Laurie (aka Crazy Aunt Purl), in her inimitable and adorable Laurie way, has expressed a whole lot of how I feel about the recession hype. No, I didn't take the plunge and go non-commercial last year (for which I heartily admire her) - but I definitely think that worry, stress, and panic are things that most of us can get plenty of without the media's help.

I'm right on that Avoid The Recession train. I think this downturn is being a) way oversold and b) seriously exacerbated by the overselling. And I think that even worse than the everyday, every-man-and-woman panic is the incorporated panic and excess that is driving companies to let thousands and thousands of people go from their jobs.

And I think that if the media would back off their OMGz WoRst Re-sesh-en EVAR coverage for five minutes, the world might be able to calm the hell down and make a good, reasonable plan - as opposed to entering Drastic Freakout Mode and shutting down for months, then going right back to bad habits as soon as things swing up again. (I'm looking at YOU, gas prices.)

Read Laurie's post, because she's done a much better job than I have of offering up a chill pill. And remember, Douglas Adams said it best:

Don't panic.

One

As someone who makes a living putting words together, it's hard to imagine distilling something as complex as a year into a single one. But I found this (at christinekane.com, through Jeri's blog), absorbed it, and decided it was something worth trying.

The gist, in case you don't want to jump around: Choose a word - just one word - as your goal for the year, instead of making the same old resolutions. Apply this word to everything you can - as Christine says, "Hold that word in your mind throughout the year, and let your word guide you to take action."

To me, the idea feels like naming something that is a common thread across many aspects of our lives. Maybe it's something we've only just aspired to; maybe it's something we keep trying to achieve and never quite feel as though we've succeeded. Maybe it's things we want to do, something we want to be, a feeling we want to express and receive.

But in any case, choosing a Word is like taking the old model of all the promises we make to ourselves and turning it inside out - getting at it from the deepest levels, instead of starting at the surface. Throughout 2008, I started the process of unearthing a lot of old, hidden things in my life in a variety of ways...and I like where it's gone so far, so the Word seems like a natural extension, maybe even the next step in my journey.

Others have chosen words like Compassion. Joy. Release. Now. Yes. There are thousands of possibilitites, each bound to mean more at the end of a year's exploration than they do at the beginning.

My word for 2009 is Motivation.

For now, it's something I keep trying to achieve and never feel as though I've fully succeeded. Maybe it's also something I need to examine when I think of the why of things I do, or don't do.

At the least, I want to use it to inspire me to get up off my rear, literally or figuratively. To do more of the things that need doing, or that I aspire to do. To do the things I already do, but better. Not just to do things. Not just to Be Motivated To.

Maybe just to Be Motivated.

I'd be honored if anyone wanted to join me (and Christine, Jeri, and a lot of other folks) in choosing a Word. Read the original post and give it some consideration. You don't have to make a quick decision; you can choose a different one later; you don't even have to tell anyone (though I'd love to hear it if you do). Just ask yourself: Where could one word take me in my life?

It's an interesting question for a writer to ask herself, at least. In 363 days, what will this one word mean to me that it didn't mean today? What will it have inspired me to achieve? How will it have changed me?

I can't wait to find out.