dianaschnuth

8:51am – Alarm goes off, reminding me that I want to go to aikido at 10am. I roll over and go back to sleep.

10:45am – I realize that I need to leave soon to take Sensei’s digital recorder back to the dojo while someone is still there and the door is unlocked. Get up, get dressed, pull hair back, and drive to dojo.

11:00am – Sensei isn’t at the dojo, and a senior student is teaching the class that is just concluding. I put the recorder on Sensei’s desk and beat a hasty retreat.

11:10am – Arrive home. Eat breakfast of Chocolatey Special K. Read e-mails and blog entries.

12:00pm – Attempt to wake the husband. Am shot down in favor of continued sleep. Come back downstairs and begin trying to fix my iTunes library (another story entirely).

12:30pm – The husband awakes and showers. Begin working on Zen podcast.

1:15pm – Lunch: one breaded, stuffed cordon bleu chicken breast, cooked by Aaron.

1:30pm – Resume editing podcast.

2:00pm – Upload podcast. Send e-mail to Sensei with a link and some potential show notes. Begin backing up CDs with drum corps photos and other materials onto my computer in preparation for sending them to the new Executive Director. Alternate computer availability between WinRAR and iTunes.

3:00pm – Backups complete. Take break to watch Aaron play Bioshock. Eat banana.

3:30pm – Receive e-mail that reminds me to check the drum corps forums’ permissions. Realize, after some research, that there is no foul play and that I have b0rked the permissions myself. Rig a temporary fix so that members can actually see all the forums.

4:00pm – Forums unb0rked. Begin packing up CDs in a makeshift cardboard sleeve to be mailed to the Executive Director.

4:15pm – CDs packed. Do some more work on iTunes library. Talk with Aaron. Look over my to-do list. Cringe.

5:00pm – Talk with Aaron while he gets ready for work.

5:30pm – Say goodbye to Aaron. Feed the cat. Make dinner. Blog while eating at the computer.

It sure seems like I’ve been doing a lot of stuff today. So why do I feel like I’m treading water? Aaron says that maybe it’s because everything I’ve done today (just about) has been for someone else, either the corps or the sangha.

Next on the agenda: Go for a walk and listen to the hour-long podcast I just put together (since I missed the actual talk, being out of town). Review some SQL for tomorrow’s second interview downtown. Do some more cleaning and organizing, maybe.

Coming up on one month of joblessness. Hmm.

ETA: This article saved my ass the next day. Everything is magically fine again, without having to right-click on every damned file and browse to find its new location. Fantastic!

I’m feeling the need to write something, although I don’t really have a topic I want to rant about tonight.

Was pretty productive with the job search today. Applied for three jobs, and have a fourth in the works.

Worked on the redesign of my drum corps’ website. Am satisfied with the first comp for now. Have some feedback from the Executive Director for some tweaks, which I will apply later this week.

Made some banana-coconut (a.k.a. Banana Cream Pie) candles tonight. At this point, I’m trying to whittle down my supply of old, half-used scents so I can justify buying more new ones. Still undecided about the holiday push for candle sales. It would really necessitate a website overhaul to work the way I want.

Am planning to do NaNoWriMo this year, even if I don’t have a job by November. I’ll have to split up my time between writing and job-searching (and working on the corps’ website), but I think I can do it. I’ve never won NaNo before (i.e. written 50,000 words in 30 days), and it’s about time I did. I have a premise and a few characters’ subplots. They’ll all come together at the end of my dystopian future society tale. Somehow.

Trying to get my sleep schedule back on track. Getting up before noon is an accomplishment, as is getting to bed before 2am. I’d sleep ten to twelve hours a night if I let myself, and I really don’t think that’s healthy.

Overall, I’m doing OK. Gained a little weight, am sometimes bored or depressed, but am trying to keep myself upbeat. I can pay bills. I’m relatively healthy. I’ve had a couple job interviews. I’m OK.

Today was Heather’s last day working for our mutual former employer. Today was also the day that many stores opened in The Shops At Fallen Timbers. Including Lane Bryant. So, after she was done having her exit interview and packing up her desk, we got together and went out for an evening of shopping and general girl-time.

First, we did a round of the mall, going into stores I wouldn’t usually even give a second (or first) glance. American Eagle, Pac Sun, the Gap, places like that. We spent an inordinately long time in Bath and Body Works, where I got assaulted by the nice lotion lady — my hand *still* smells like Pomegranate lotion — but where I still purchased two body splash samples, two lotion samples, and a candle with the greatest fresh apple scent (which cost almost as much as all my samples put together).

After B&BW, we hit Lane Bryant, which was our main target of the evening. After standing in the soul-sucking dressing room line twice, I ended up buying one pant suit (brown), one suit jacket (black), one camisole (cream), and a pair of brown trouser socks. Yaye! I have a new interview suit! Two, actually, since the black jacket goes well over a black knee-length dress I bought online recently.

We took our haul out to the car, and went back for more malling. Our next and final stop was Payless, which was having a buy-one-get-one-half-off sale. I bought a pair of patent-leather flats and a pair of brown moccasins with a polka-dot accent bow. Super cute, both. I almost bought my first pair of heels since high school, but they only had it in size 11, and I needed a size smaller. I would have relearned to walk in heels for these shoes, totally.

Our evening had started around 4:30pm. By this time, it was well after 9pm — time for dinner. We drove back toward my house and went to Lone Star for a massive and yummy late dinner.

This really needs to be a monthly occurrence. We both enjoyed ourselves, had fun girlie time, and bought stuff. Maybe next time I needn’t spend $200 on clothes and shoes and lotion and dinner… but I sure had a fun time doing it.