dianaschnuth

I had such plans for my evening. I made my dinner, I did my Yoga For Dummies, I checked my e-mail, I almost-balanced my checkbook… then I took a Harry Potter break.

Six chapters later, I haven’t worked on the LSM website, I haven’t practiced my mellophone, and I haven’t written a review of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

*sigh*

Since faxing my Independent Contractor Agreement back to the company for which I will (hopefully) be doing some new media contracting, I’ve decided that I need to devote a two-hour block each evening specifically to design projects. This is because 1.) I need to get back into the swing of working on a given project without distractions, and 2.) I need to get some of my own projects done before I start accepting freelance projects.

So, my Friday evening and my Monday evening were much the same: make dinner, check e-mail while dinner is cooking, eat dinner while reading a book, finish that chapter. Then come downstairs and finish my e-mailing and blogreading and general crap. Between 7 and 8pm, start designing. Don’t stop until at least two hours have passed, or until I reach a good stopping point (usually after two and a half hours).

These past couple of days, I’ve been working on making more comps for the LSM site redesign. I finally decided that five will have to be enough for a start, and I emailed the Executive and Assistant Directors with the URL to start a discussion of the designs. I think they’ll be duly impressed. My current favorites are #3 and #5, I think.

Next step: learning MySQL and figuring out a database structure to make News and Schedule tables. I’ll do that during tomorrow’s design time. I’m done for tonight.

I hate it when I have a list of things I want or need to do, but none of them sound appealing. I could and/or should be doing any of the following:

• practicing my mellophone and memorizing music
• finishing my dot book for Sunday’s LSM drill rehearsal
• finishing/fixing the halter top I’ve been making for Mom
• posting questions on the t-shirt surgery LJ community
• fixing the straps on my Drum Corps Unplugged tank (somehow)
• putting away my clean clothes
• watering my houseplants
• washing dishes
• exercising (maybe with my Yoga For Dummies DVD)
• working on the LSM site redesign

Instead? I’ve looked up the chords for “Fix You” off of Coldplay’s new album X & Y, and played that through on keyboard and guitar a few times; read a few chapters of All the Weyrs of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, and generally laid around and been a slug. I can’t get excited or motivated to do much else.

I hate that. *sigh*

I should probably wait until I have the time and attention to devote to a full-blown entry on this, but I really wanted to comment about child-rearing while it was fresh in my mind.

Nobody get the wrong idea. We’re not trying for kids yet. Still, that doesn’t stop Aaron and me from discussing our potential child-rearing tips and tricks. For instance:

• As a child, I don’t think I was spanked/punished enough. Aaron feels he may have been spanked a little too much. Between us, I think we’ll have a happy medium.
• Empty threats are useless. Back when my cousin was little, and my aunt would start counting to three, my cousin would shout back, “No counting! Stop counting!” The other day, I heard a neighbor counting to their kid, trying to get the brat to come inside. In neither case did actual spankings occur at “three” — come to think of it, neither parent ever actually *got* to three. My own mother was known to get to “two and three-quarters” quite often.
• Respect is mutual. If Junior tells us the truth and doesn’t give us reason to doubt him, we won’t rifle through his belongings while he’s gone, looking for weed or booze or porn.
• Positive reinforcement good. Distraction good. Constant yelling and smacking bad.
• Sugary snacks bad. Soda-pop bad. Fast food bad.
• TV bad. We’ve seen and read about how exposing young children to television on a regular basis can actually contribute to Attention Deficit Disorder by affecting how the brain develops in the early years. The fast-changing scenes and quick cuts that are so popular in editing can cause a child’s brain to develop in such a way that it expects such things, and is physically unable to concentrate for long periods of time. (If you doubt me on this, I can go Google the study later.) Our progeny will not be allowed to watch television until the age of two.

I know there’s a lot more that Aaron and I have discussed, and I feel it’s healthier to discuss it *now* than to wait until we’ve had Junior and we’re exhausted from all-nighters with the hellian. That will be no time to make important decisions about how to raise our child.

Of course, all plans are subject to change. 🙂

It’s not very often that I want to watch a movie. But when I do decide it’s time to waste two hours of my life on pure entertainment, it really pisses me off when I have to spend another half hour searching through EVERY GODDAMN BOX IN THE CLOSET and I STILL can’t find fucking Victor/Victoria. 75% of the VHS tapes in those boxes will NEVER BE WATCHED AGAIN, and I just sifted through them all.

OMG. WTF. All I want is my goddamn movie. Aargh!

Settle down, Beavis…