Thursday, June 13, 2013

Steve Miller Really Knew What He Was Talking About

Time really does seem to be “ticking, ticking, ticking, into the future” at a pretty rapid clip these days. The past few weeks have been super busy learning all this new information on how to start and successfully run my freelance writing career, actually writing and applying to get some freelance writer gigs, chewing on my sequel in the subconscious (yes I’m still going to be writing fiction, no worries there!), and watching lots of exciting, long-winded playoff hockey.

I’ve barely had a minute to put together any kind of comprehendible thought that doesn’t involve SEO, keyword research, content marketing, some other industry specific term, or how many times in a day I can tweet with #BostonBruins.

So some of the stuff I’ve jotted down (because you know I carry a notebook and pen around with me everywhere) or uttered out loud has stuck with me the past couple weeks. In no particular order.

Refinancing your mortgage is kinda like losing your virginity
You wonder if it’s more than you can handle and you know it’ll hurt while it’s happening but it’s such an exciting prospect that you just can’t force yourself to stop moving forward. Especially because you know you’ll come out a different person on the other side. The pressure is off. Things can get back to normal. Maybe. I just hope at the end of it all I’m not left confused and bewildered, wondering if I made the right decision. And the bastard had better call me the next day. And if they can’t get it together to commit forever at least leave my big huge check on the nightstand and get the hell out.

There are at least 83 levels of awesome in “How I Met Your Mother”
Matt and I are TV bingers. When there’s a series that we have interest in watching but didn’t start from the start we add it to our Netflix instant queue and after the series is over we go back to watch all the episodes in one lump sum. Without commercials. “How I Met Your Mother” has been sitting in our queue for about four years and now that they’re coming back in the fall with the last season in the series it seemed like a good time to start watching from the start. I’d seen plenty of disjointed episodes over the years in syndication but something about knowing the full story is legen…wait for it…dary. “The Big Bang Theory” is up next.

Writing with keywords is a pain in the ass on a personal blog
No matter how much I want people to find and read this blog I just can’t make it keyword stuffy. It isn’t what this blog was originally set out to do and I don’t want it to become a chore or I’ll probably stop writing it. I write here to rant and rave and writing for content marketing doesn’t really fit in with that. At least not now. If I figure out how to do it maybe it’ll be so subtle no one will even notice. Until then I always have my website or Green Leaf Reviewer to jam pack with perfectly written keyword articles.

Hockey games should never be five hours long
Don’t get me wrong, I love that the Bruins are in the Stanley Cup Finals and I love that they’re playing the Chicago Blackhawks because having an Original Six matchup for the first time since 1979 is awesome. But there’s a reason I don’t watch much baseball. After the first four hours all I want to do is take a big old nap. So when the Bruins had to play a double overtime game to beat the Penguins and move on to the Stanley Cup Finals I figured that would be the longest game I’d ever seen. I figured wrong. After last night’s game 1 against the Hawks went into triple overtime and the game was within a minute or two of being the longest game ever in NHL history, I slept like a wee baby. All that screaming and excitement can really wear a person out. Please go back to your regularly scheduled two and a half hour running time. My east coast peeps shouldn’t have to be up until 1:00 AM watching these games. Unless the Bruins win of course. Then I don’t care if it takes seven hours. Carry on.

I love the smell of sweat in the morning
I started getting more serious about working out again in the past month or so and it’s all thanks to the stationary bike. That thing was the best $130 investment I’ve ever made. I ride at least five miles every morning, sometimes another five in the afternoon, and I’m already down about four pounds. It isn’t an extreme loss but if I can keep up the pace and intensity I should be up to twenty miles a day in the next few weeks and burning fat regularly. Exercise isn’t on my immediate radar so doing something quick like this really helps me stay motivated to keep doing it. The dancing thing happened a few times but I admit it pretty much fell by the wayside. Oh well.

Still wonky, still have sausage fingers
I found a naturopathic doc who seems pretty cool even though she’s very expensive and not really covered under my insurance. Of course she’s not. She gave me some plant based something-or-another to “completely stop” the wonkiness. It didn’t work. She goaled me to lose ten pounds in the next three months. I’m trying to do more than that. Not sure if I’ll go back or not. None of them seem to have a clue whether trained in east or west. Sometimes I think I’m better left to eating a more natural diet and exercising so I can just work this out on my own.

I’m wearing my hair up until it stops looking like Darth Vader’s helmet
You get what you pay for when you go to the cheapest possible place to get a trim. But really, she went a little too short and blunt this time. I asked her to do a small stack in the back so it would fall more naturally toward my neck instead of fluffing out like it does when it’s all one length. She said no and cut the way she wanted to. In turn I tipped her what I wanted to. Good thing it’s long enough for a ponytail and that I’m okay with my hair being up every day.

I need a new saying because “oh my god it’s a hundred out!” is actually low balling it
Mother fucker it’s blazing hot here. I mean I knew what I was getting into by moving to the desert but its only mid-June and we’ve already had twenty-four days at or above 100 this year according to the National Weather Service. With at least two more months of this on tap I’m just happy to have a pool and central air.


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Published in multiple print and online sources, Author, Blogger and Freelance Writer Jenn Flynn-Shon has been writing for publication since 2001. Follow her antics on twitter @jennshon

8 comments:

Judi FitzPatrick said...

This was a very interesting random-full post - perfect for a blog of this name.

So happy you are still biking and on-track to lose some more weight; I've upped the Jazzercise and swimming and lost a few myself.

Just one question - what's that about "sausage fingers"?

Love you, Mum

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

That's what I call my fingers now because they look like 5 little sausages attached to my hand. Some days they're not as bad and I can wear my wedding rings, other days not so much. I'll get there though!

Joan said...

One of the agents I work for moved here to Sacramento from the Bay Area. Our 107 degree day about killed him! Good thing the temp dropped 20 degrees the very next day.
I would love a pool! A lap pool is what I need.

Launna said...

Jenn if you ever figure out that SEO, explain it to me in layman's terms... lol ... I have a 2 ranking for my blog.. not sure how I even got that... hahaha

Thank you so much for the words you wrote on my blog... I wish my my family would understand that my decisions are mine... I have gained a voice over the years, so I am using it more..

Oh... and wow to the heat... I am freezing here... unless I am having a hot flash, lmao...

disabled account said...

Seriously...the notebook thing. I have to do that too, or make notes in my phone all the time.
Hope the wonkiness takes a hike soon. 😞
FYI - love the random thought process.

Suldog said...

I have found the days just whizzing by since becoming unemployed.

(Not that I'm totally unemployed. As a writer, you know the deal. I'm working. I'm just not getting paid as much as I would like.)

Anyway, yeah, time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping. The good thing about it is that there's less down time between playoff games!

Almost Precious said...

Well you did cover a few bases in this blog post. lol

Glad to hear that you're doing so well on your exercise program - sometimes it helps to switch things up so it doesn't become too regimented and stale - bike for a few days - dancercise a day- rinse and repeat.

Hope that whatever is going on with your fingers improves and goes away soon. Funny how modern medicine gets more and more sophisticated and yet they seem to be less and less able to diagnose things. I've reached the point where I've given up and have pretty much lost faith in all doctors, I may as well consult with a witchdoctor or a shaman, for all the good it would do.

As for a good hair stylist - haven't found one yet and I refuse to spend $40 dollars on a hair cut that may or may not end up being a good one. A $12.95 bad cut is nowhere near as painful as a $36.50 one. :D

It's gonna be a loooooooong hot summer. And I sort of know about your Tucson summers - my daughter Kathi went to the University there. It's one of those;
"If you wear shorts be careful not to sit down on the vinyl car seat, as you might get 3rd degree burns on the back of your thighs", kind of hot.

Anonymous said...

Lol, I referenced the same Steve Miller song in one of my posts from last year: http://pedestrianwriter.blogspot.com/2012/06/time-keeps-on-slippin.html

HIMYM is awesome, isn't it? It's been one of my fave shows over the past few years. I'm glad it's ending next year though, because it does seem to be losing a bit of steam. But now that we know who the mother is, next year should be legen... wait for it... dary. :P

That 3-OT game was just insane. I don't think I've seen a more evenly matched series in any sport since the Yanks-Sox battles in 03-04.

SEO? Keywords? How does all that stuff work? You'll have to explain it to us someday. I know there are websites you can link up to that increase traffic to your blog but I never have the patience to figure 'em out. If it's as simple as adding links I can handle it. Otherwise I'm lost.

I'm so jealous of your ability to exercise daily, on your own schedule. Diana and I were thinking about getting a treadmill but thinking about it ain't gonna get us into shape, is it? Hope that wonkiness goes away as a result of all your hard work. Keep killing it on that stationary bike!