Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Personal

Writer’s Dyke Unplugged

by

Two days of a temporary stoppage of post topics was followed by a weekend full of enough blog-worthy happenings that i can hardly keep them all in my head at once! Which will i write about first, and which not at all?

A wonderfully tipsy holiday lunch with my co-workers. Unearthing ancient audio and importing Blogathon posts into WP. Watching Superman Returns and crying every time Brandon Routh looked a lot like Christopher Reeve. How finding a great gift for Gina drove home why my holiday gifts are going to be donation-based, and my subsequent call to my mother to tell her not to buy me any presents. Rehearsing with Gina, and how it feels to finally be able to sing harmony. Playing in a new music showcase, where I was invited to be in a Space-Rock-Opera (and, how Tori Amos is the great uniter of people). The cab-driver I think I may have just imagined. Buying used DVDs from Netflix. The new No-Cast, and how I have a perfect example.

I’m sure i’m forgetting things already, but I had a long, busy, breakless day at work – I’m not exactly raring to write several thousand words about my weekend.

However, while I go unwind: I need a good cover song to go with a Trio topic along the lines of “Advice Untaken.” I have a few ideas, but I’m trying to stay away from the artists I hit last month. Any suggestions/requests?

Work-Me and Home-Work

by

My co-workers never quite believe me when i describe the state of disorganization in my home office in the same way that I don’t think any of my friends comprehend what a micro-managing clean-freak i am at work.

A typical day of work starts with my desk completely bare except for my water bottle and two pens (one blue, one red). The only disorder in sight is a few scant papers in my inbox; each of my projects lives in neatly color-coded folder organized by priority.

I start and end each day by writing down the next steps on each of my projects in my notebook. The sorting of my email is completely automated; my inbox has less than four messages in it at all times. I log every phone conversation into a tiny steno book so I can remember what I promised to people, and what messages I need to respond to.

A typical night in my home office starts with my searching for something through three layers of desk (and sometimes floor) detritus: a top layer of recently discarded guitar paraphernalia, a middle layer of mail that i have yet to sort or read, and a bottom layer of things that are on my desk because they have nowhere else to go. There are approximately five square inches of visible desktop, and typically no less than a dozen guitar picks, two ties, and three glasses of water.

I start each night futilely trying to clear a workspace and end it when I can’t think of another website to visit. My inbox is currently hovering near 700 messages, post-spam. I am famous for my call-screening and reluctance to return messages.

At work I hardly ever leave with a task left undone, and at home I barely complete one to-do a day.

Why the contrast? Is it the difference is the organizational tools provided for me at work, or the structure of arriving at a specific time and adhering to a certain dress code, or the hustle of other people working around me?

Today I spent a few hours working from home, and it was a strange dichotomy – my messy desktop combined with my well-pruned work email, my guitar within arm’s reach compared to my rapid response to voice mail. Even with my familiar distractions abounding I switched into corporate-mode without a blink.

When my work-time ended I promptly sat on the floor and fell asleep, face pressed against the crack beneath my door to catch a cool draft from the hallway.

Maybe the difference isn’t anything about the environment, but about how much easier it is to sustain effort without dozing off.

i can’t discern what i’m doing wrong

by

When i was in high school i stubbornly grew out my hair into a pony-tail as a protest against keeping up appearances. I would not mousse and gel every morning like every other sap; i didn’t have the time in my day to preen.

(Plenty of irony in that, of course, as i spent plenty of time preening in high school – just not on my hair.)

I am the opposite now, curls everywhere, always fussing. I am utterly defeated by a less-than-stunning day of hair, and lately it has not been so cooperative. So, this morning i coaxed it, treating it to different products – calming gel instead of volumizing mousse, firming pomade instead of stickifying goup.

My hair looked great, curls tamed close to my head like some latter-day star. I was definitely not defeated. But, in place of defeat instead i feel flat. Just like my hair. As if my nature verve is all about volume, and i am utterly reliant on the combo of volume and beauty to equal and energetic and optimistic day.

Or, maybe i could feel this day coming on, and tamed down my hair in anticipation. The reverse peacock effect.

I don’t know.

Debbie Millman

by

Early on in NaBloPoMo I picked up Debbie Millman’s fascinating blog as a read, but i didn’t realize who she was. Debbie hosts a Voice America Business show called Design Matters, where this season she plans to talk to an utterly stunning list of communicators such as journalist and personal hero Malcolm Gladwell (on her 1/5/7 debut), NYT Mag Creative Director Janet Froelich, and authors Dave Eggers and Ze Frank. And, those are just the names i recognized instantly.

In her bio, Debbie is identified as “Managing Partner and President of the Design division at Sterling Group, one of the country’s leading brand identity firms.” With tongue hardly in cheek, a few days ago she examined the brand of Kate Moss.

Debbie has my dream job, and gets to talk to some of the most forward thinking people in the world in her side job as an internet broadcaster. Essentially, she is living my ideal life. I am in somewhat of a state of shock just thinking about it.

…in bed

by

Several years ago i acted in a show about morals (in both senses of the word), and at the end we handed out fortune cookies to audience members as they filed their way out of the theatre.

It was a lightly attended show, and we wound up with a huge box of uneaten cookies. The cast and crew took it upon themselves to dispose of said box at the cast party, resulting in each of us eating several dozen fortune cookies.

Of course, the most exciting part of eating fortune cookies is the fortune, which is why we were so disappointed to realize that our box of cookies had a finite amount – maybe ten or fifteen – of fortunes. Perhaps I had seen a duplicate fortune once or twice before in my life, but learning just how slim the fortune options were in a given crate of cookies was depressing.

Ever since then i have hated eating fortune cookies, but i have persevered in my hunt for unique and original fortunes. Or, at least ones that aren’t so general as to apply to anyone.

Idleness is the holiday of fools.

For a few years now that has been my favorite fortune. I got it one day when i was out to lunch with my old boss. We both appreciated it equally, so i brought it back with me to pin up at my desk.

Even after three subsequent desk (and boss) moves the fortune still sits pinned directly above my phone, where it frowns down upon me if am ever tempted to twiddle thumbs or sharpen pencils in order to put-off or altogether-avoid something i ought to be doing.

It is highly effective. I would say that approximately 30% of my productivity is the result of that tiny strip of paper. If i ever lost it I would print a new one.

The only downside of “Idleness is the holiday of fools,” is that it isn’t much of a fortune (unless, of course, it was assuming i am an idle fool). It’s really more of a proclamation.

However, last week out to lunch with co-worker Elib i received my new favorite fortune, because this one enforced something i often doubt. It read:

You will always get what you want through your charm and personality.

At first this might seem a little at odds with “Idleness” – it seems to be indicating i can be as idle as i want, so long as idle with charm.

I choose to see it more as a reminder that an absence of idleness alone does not equal success. To find true success i need to be engaged and happy, and that happiness needs to be an almost tangible force to each person i encounter.

As for “in bed,” i remain in favor of the first.

What’s the best fortune you ever received (in bed)?